The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1913-12-16
TWO ABLE SERMONS.
Preached by Rev. w. NJ. McPheeters,
ID. D., OF Columbia

~. ~, VI
The pulpit of the PRESBYTERIAN
church was supplied by DR.. w. NJ.
McPheeters, ID. D., of the Columbia
Theological Seminary at both morn
ing and night services Sunday. In
the morning the text was Romans
Alp, 80 that eve-y one Of us shall
give account of himself to God"
The first point made was as to the
certainty of the judgment 1t was
fixed and unalterable and not con
trolled by our wills.
The next was the universally of
the judgment. Not only the fifteen
billions of people now living, but the
countless billions who have lived
and died on the earth must appear to
be judged The third point was the
personal, individual character Of the
judgment All persons will stand
at the judgment bar of God on one
plane and be Judged for their own
deeds, the black man and the white
man, alike. The question each per
son should consider is MY personal
responsibility to Almighty God" We
seek to loose sight of our personal
responsibility. We seek to merge
ourselves into the individuality of
others, thinking we will escape re-
sponsibiity. Men will unite with
others in doing something wrong
that they would not think of doing
by themselves. Directors in a cor
poration were given as an example.
What is needed in these times is
for men of moral courage like Mar
tin Luther, when before the Diet of
Worms, facing an empire and
prostituted church, could say: Here
| stand, / cannot do otherwise. so
help me God" We need to fear God
more than man. The speaker CON
trasted physical and moral courage,
saying that some men could stand
up before a gun and be shot down
who were moral towards. We should
only want in all of our actions the
approal Of Christ Jesus. 1t matters
not what Tom, Dick or Harry may
say. The fourth and last point was
that God is the only Judge.
At the night service the text was
Hebrew 2:3, "How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation"
The minister said that so momen-
tous matter as the salvation Of
ones soul was not regarded by the
great majority of people with much
concern. Yet the fate of the soul
was decreed for veal or for woe this
side of the grave. How indifferent
people are to the matter Unsaved
people arise from their beds in the
morning and go about their business
too much engaged in the race after
the dollar to give this greatest Of all
matters any consideration whatever
The matter of death is certain, the
time when the eye will not respond
to the light OF heaven and the ear to
sound is certain, yet men go on seem
ingly oblivious to the fact. God in His
providence saves a soul as silently as
the morning sun chases away the
shadows of the night That night
comes down with no sudden crash;
the sun goes down and darkness al
most imperciptibly spreads her man
tie over the earth SO with the
event of the souls saIvation 1t is
saved or lost, sometimes as silently
as the forces of nature which usher
in the day or the night. The speak
er further illustrated the thought bv
the signing of the treaty of Ports
mouth, which ended the war between
Russia and Japan. The lives of
thousands of men and the peace of
as many homes were decided in a
quiet moment by few strokes of the
pen which could not be heard three
feet from the peace commissioners.
He spoke Of the constant. arduous
struggle with sin. Every morn
ing" said he. before rising from
my bed l think of the renewed war
fare against sin" "And yet" said
he, there are young men who fire.
quent blind tigers and come home
late at nights seemingly obvious of
the fact that one must fight against
the devil at all times to save their
souls" The desperate struggle was
graphically depicted when he compar-
ed struggling soul to the captain of
a ship, who instead of running his yes
sci into some nook or haven near the
shore where 1t would be shattered,
directs her prov in the teeth of the
gale, and inch by inch, with her en-
gines throbbing, weathers the storm
until 1t has spent its'force. We don't