The Penn's Grove record., 1916-08-18
I'm HIM WAS LIFE
Supreme Proof Of the Messiah.
ship Is to Be Found in the
Words of st. Luke.

up, and the poor have the Gospel
preached unto them."-St. Luke 1920.
That is a most pathetic list. 1t
represents the army of the incom-
plete. Every member of the army is
characterized by some conspicuous
defect. Something is wanting. In
every one there is a black gap. The
blind, the lame, the leper, the deaf,
the dead, the poor. Every one has
something missing; every one gropes
for his lost piece of silver; and my
text afirms that every one finds the
missing piece in Christ. "The blind
receive their sight, and the lame walk.
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the
poor have the Gospel preached unto
them" Says the Apostle Paul: "We
are complete in him." The Christ fits
into u need, and fills us out to per-
lection. "In him was life" All the
missing pieces of life are discovered
and recovered in him.
That is the supreme proof of the
Messiahship. "Art thou he that
should come?' "Go and tell John
that men and women are turning to
Me in their imperfections and de-
formity, and they are all finding in
Me the thing they seek. They are dis
covering themselves in Met"
Every man who comes to the Mas
ter with an empty vessel goes away
with it filed. That is the vast claim
which lies behind the words of my
text. Every human need may be in
terpreted as an index of the Masters
wealth. Every need has it's compile
ment in him. Am 1 blind? In him I
may find energy. Am / deaf? In him
l may find hearing. Am I leprous? In
him | may find health. What does
this mean? 1t means that all restor-
ing and reviving forces center in his
personality, and issue from the en-
ergy of his own transcendent will. 1t
means that he claims to be the foun-
tain, ever creating, never impover-
iShed.
Christ Always at His Best.
Such is the claim. Is his entire
life consistent with the claim? One
might be almost reluctant to apply
such an eXacting test. Was he al
ways the fountain? Was he always
strong, creative, authoritative, full?
Was he never an empty cistern? This
we. know, that all other men are only
occasionally fountains. The water
Outlines fails them. Now the foun-
tain is playing, and now the precious
How has ceased. You know how we
express it in our familiar speech. We
say: "Men are not always at their
best" They have their moments on
the mount, but they travel many flat,
monotonous miles before they reach
the mount. They are not always at
their best. How was it with the
Christ? He was always at the best!
There is only n mood at your dis
posal when you judge the Christ. The
positive and the comparative moods
are obsolete. You can only use the
superlative. The fountain is always
flowing, always full!
The Christ is a specialist in every
direction of human need. Just as the
great ocean flows into the differently
shaped creeks and crannies and coves
OF our understanding shores, and fills
them with it's f~ulness, so the fitness
of the creative life flows into our very
varied and many-shaped vessels, and
transforms them from defect and pov-
erty into partakers of the divine com
pleteness. "He knew what was in
man." says the Apostle John; he
knows our weak points, and the foun-
tain sends its restoring and revivine
influence straight away to the gaping
gap. That is the great glory of the
Christian religion. Every man may
find in Christ the remedy for his own
defects. Virtue goes out Of the Lord,
and the vivifying, saving health
makes for the part hat is manned or
diseased or dead. Art thou blind?
Canst thou not see the beauty of the
beautiful, or the ugliness of the I'M
lovely? What is thy defect? What
dost thou need? "What wilt thou that
| should do unto thee?" Lord, that
| might receive my sight," "And i'm
meulately he received his sight, and
followed Jesus in the way" Art thou
lame? Should thy name be Mr.. Halt.
ing?
All Power in Him.
Has thy will not resoluteness?
Dost thou remain in paralyzing mac
tivity? Take thy defect to the foun-
tain, and the virtue of thy Saviour
shall straightly minister to thy need.
He maketh the flame to walk" He
changes infirmity into firmness. "He
makes our feet like binds feet" swift
q sure-footed, and establishes us in
the pure and lofty place. Art thou
leprous? Is thy spirit loathsome? Is
thy soul a sty, when it was purposed
to be a temple? What dost thou need?
Il will be thou clean.' The fountain
sends the waters of life right away to
the seat of need, and the individual