The Washington herald., 1918-01-27
The Herald's Sunday Sermon

| The following sermon was written
I especially for The Washington Herald
| by Rev. f.. NJ. Mott, rector of the
Church Of the Advent. Second and U
streets northwest.
Text: Genesis XII, Sin thee shall
ell the families of the earth be
blessed"
Isaiah Lx. 1-"Arise. shine. for thy
light is come" -3s ~
Isaiah LIv. 5.-"The God Of the
| whole earth shall He be called"
| Prophecy, history, religion, home,
| education. divine truth, fact. philoso-
ply and common sense combine in
/ these three texts.
There is, some miles above the city
| of Washington, a great natural OBJ
/ ject very grand to behold. the Great
Falls of the Potomac. one OF the great
waterfalls Of the country. Thousands
/! upon thousands have looked upon Il
| with awe and delight But this Is not
all. Every instant of time, science
tells US, nature releases incalculable
| power such as those masses Of water
| pour over the great rocks. That
| power, harnessed and set to work.
| would bring to the hundreds of thou
|
| light, comfort and help and the reduc-
| ton of many heavy burdens. What
unseen and unknown influence has
kept our city and its people and gov
ernment from entering into the pos
session of this great source OF power
rightfully belonging to themE
There is a state Of affairs existent
| today which has compelled people to
| think as never before. Men are won
| dering why things are SO who never
before gave consideration to civic mat
| ters. Men, law abiding, honorable
devout Christian men, are questioning.
not the government, not the law, not
religion, but why things are so that
ought to be otherwise.
No man can live entirely for him
self and his family; he must look
to the fate of mankind: he must
| have the general interest as well
as the special object; so we go, In
this, as in every other great mat
ter, to the ancient people for our
lession. Their experience is ours
But their experience has the one
true moral quality. God called to
Abraham far off in the east
ern land: God gave him to under
stand His divine will and wish: Go
| far away, west, to the land OF
Canaan. and then I will take care
of thee and thy family: and IN thy
seed shall all the families Of the
earth be blessed" Thus God gave
to this man a promise, something
| for himself and his family and
something for the whole human
| race.
God. as the record tells us in the
| ola G1riYAfuro fIIl6lIad
J this promise to Abraham and his
family. God, as the record tells
us, fulfilled His promise to all the
/ families of the earth when He gave
to all mankind through and by the
race and family and daughter of
Abraham. Jesus. the Son OF Mary.
the Saviour of Mankind. the Hope
and Blessing of the World.
Men have become selfish. 1t is
said, self-preservation is the first
| law OF nature. So the law of God
is: Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself," which does not prevent
the truth of that higher and nobler
thought. Greater love hath no man
than this that a man lay down his
| life for a friend" God gave the
ancient people the law. which was
| holy and just and good, which
| pointed to Christ. And what did
the ancient people do. but put a
wall around their law and their re-
ligion and exclude all the world
| from its benefit. The most narrow
and exclusive, the most set and re-
served. the most selfish and most
| bound within the laws and pre-
] cepts of their own race; the most
! disdainful and arrogant and apart
from other races and nations, the
| most secure and certain in their
| confidence as to their own rights
of possession and prefogative were
the Jewish people and their ruling
| classes.
And yet there is no record of any
people so absolutely positive as to
their worldwide mission, no race
has within it's history so clear and
profound a presage OF it's own des-
tiny to influence all the nations Of
the world. Privileged above all
races and peoples, how terribly
they failed to deserve their favors
If there is anything in this world
today which is a gift, a privilege, a
blessing wholly undeserved, wholly
and absolutely incapable of having
been achieved and acquired by mems
| own unaided efforts, it is the life,
the gospel. the church of Jesus
Christ. Who dares. in the presence
of the terrible struggle that is rem
ding nations in pieces. to say what
the world can expect without Jesus
| Christ and his truth?
You must observe that am
speaking of a principle. that / am
going back to basic ideas. that l am
appealing to thought in relation to
the great fundamental facts and
truths of life. Why should any man
or set of men have II in their power
to absolutely control the lives and