The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-10-03

On the Parable OF the GOOD sauna
llams, In the Fl
I 1.-THE following sermon will be of
interest to readers Of The Gate City
inasmuch as DIR. Williams was for o
number of years pastor OF the First
Congregational church OF Keokuk,
leaving his charge here to locate in
Newton. The sermon is printed by
request.-Ed.
The parallels of Jesus. like all his
teaching, are intensely practical.
They had to do With the wise order
ing of life, and the conscientious dis
charge Of the duties which we owe
to God and our fellow men. He
seems to have had no time for the
many things that have come into the
thought and belief Of the Church, but
declaring that God and Duty were
the two great words that we hold sa-
cred, He proceeded to show our rela-
ton to both.
Hence we find Him continually
dwelling upon the fact that the prac-
tical is the true end of life, and that
whatever our belief, or however we
may express our faith, these things
are a means and not an end.
This does not mean that He spoke
only of the things that we can see
and measure in the realms of charac-
ter and conduct He recognized
what we are slow to perceive, that
the unseen things were as real as the
actions that we could appraise and
criticize The inner spirit was as
real as the outer activity.
Many of the unseen things are the
most real Without them the activ-
tiles Of life would be impossible
The mind is reality. A reality as
great as the thought which 1t formu-
lates and expresses. We hear tine
spoken word or read the printed SEN
tence. and we say can understand
this. But the mind which formulat-
ed the thought is as real as the
thought which nnds expression.
Practical things IRE OF at least two
orders. The real which is seen and
the real which is unseen. A man
stands in the presence Of wonder
full piece Of machinery, and he can
appreciate that. 1t is something
which appeals to his senses. But
what Of the Electricity which drives
It? That at least is as great reali-
ty tho it is unseen. We speak OF
physical activity. But the heart
which unseen goes, steadily on with
its work Is as great a reality as the
physical expression Of health and
strength. We may make too much
OF the revealed and too little Of the
unseen. And the teaching of Jesus
is corrective for this in our relig-
ious life.
Now this is essentially true of the
soul qualities Of which we take so lit
tie account The best qualities are
like tho flowers. The roots are hid
den in the dark. but the blossoms
are no more real than the roots. We
make a great mistake in thinking
that the seen are the only real things.
The man who stood at Niagara and
said he did mt see what hindered
the water f~or' becoming great
cataract considering the height OF
the rock, gave utterance to things
greater than he knew. He was &C
entirely ignorant Such laws as
those of chemical. affinity by which
the water was made possible. The
laws of cohesion and of gravitation,
without which there would have
been no great and wonderful specta-
Gle, but only clouds of flying mist.
we act under laws which we do not
understand But If we have all
knowledge and do not the things
which the law demands we are worse
of, infinitely so, than the man who
without knowledge of law lives his
life in constant effort to adjust him
self to his relationships SO that he
stands true in his efforts to please
God and serve his fellow men.
Let me say further, that Jesus very
happily suggests the connection be-
tween the two. II they are to exist
at all, the connection will be found
in the activity which is proof OF
both. It is great thing to love
God, and great thing to love our
fellow men, but the greater achieve
ment is to find the connecting link
between them.
What Religion 10.
Perhaps this is one of the Difficult.
ties of the life which we are called
to live. The great danger in life is
that we shall break its related duties
into classes and give our whole
strength to one or the other, to the
neglect OF all else. Men divide
themselves into classes VIXEN we
come to the consideration of what
true religion really Is. Some men
think they have discharged their
whole duty when they have attended
religious services, when they sing
hymns, or even when galddened
by the environment and atmosphere
created by worship. There are some
who enjoy the emotional side Of re-
ligion. and never give any thought to
its practical side. To some there is
the intellectual enjoyment which
comes from the consideration Of
problems, theological, religious or
social, and they think their duties
discharged when they have given
time and thought to these things.
Others are Intensely practical. The
feeding of the hungry, the care Of the
unfortunate, the help. Of the Cypress
xLo-> onH rA1ofod cffvffioS