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& :; ' v rJhT?iRtifl.*nitv Primarilv for this a J World. " ] Sermons by the Late Rev, Robert A. Lee. 1 n And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from '' God out of heaven.?Rev. xxi:2. ^ ii On a church spire in a western city, when it was first 11 built years ago, was placed the figure of a hand with index e finder nointine" UDward. It seemed to be turning the at- a ^ ?? I e> i . . tention of men away from this world with its tumults and * cares, and to be directing their thoughts to that which is here- ^ after. It seemed to be a guide to point men to heaven. A F few years ago this church was remodeled ; portions of the r building were torn down and rebuilt, and among other }' V changes the hand was not replaced, but was omitted from the I *, restored building. A significant change?one that indicated i' a radically different view of religion. The hand seemed to * indicate that religion had to do primarily with the unseen, * and the future ; that its attention and energies were not c j: oorfli irirl itc rnnrprnc Vnit that it HiH mnst 6 UUCCICU LU tmo tttllii nu - .. ... accomplish its end and work when it got away from earth, 11 ' and its affairs. The omission of the hand, on the contrary, a seemed to indicate that the sphere and functions of religion v > did not lie in the future only, but had to do with the c present ; that its interests did not so much lie in heaven r *?as on earth. Now which one of these two views more r adequately expresses the truth and meaning of Christianity ? f Is Christianity a steady contemplation and expectation of a g ^ future, oris it a hearty laying hold of a present life? f K Doubtless it is both 7 but which is it primarily and essen- F ;>tially ? Which one of these two views does most adequate- r ly express the essence of the gospel of Christ ? I say that e 'on onemer tr> thic nnpstinn is piven us in the single term in- r "" vw ""w -1- ? O - ? o carnation, that word which expresses to us all religion as t we know it. The only religion we know is the religion v of the incarnation?which is not God in heaven, but God c on earth, God in the Man Jesus, and God in every man who t accepts Jesus. Christ, then, came on eartlj not tell us 1 about heaven, what are to be our duties and employments t there, but to tell us about the world, what are our duties t and employments here, and how we are to meet these ? responsibilities. And He did this by Himself becoming c a man: and by fulfilling all life's duties He has shown us how t to lead the life we ought.to live. Christianity, then, as an t incarnation, is directed to this world and its concerns. It t teaches us about earth rather than about heaven. You t will not misunderstand me. Christ has brought life and im- s mortality to light. He has made certain to us the future, a .And as has been said, "this revelation of the future is our v Hope, our inspiration, our consolation, and warning." We s a look to the future to complete what' is begun here. But r that is all. Christ tells us about the present, not about the c future. For example, consider the Sermon on the Mount t as it is given us in chapters V., VI., VII. of St. Matthew's g > ;Gospel. It points us to a religion that has to do with thts i earth ; not one that is concerning itself about a future world J and heaven. Except alluding to a future existence once or e ..twice, nothing is said on that subject. So in the Lord's c T>? WTa. tViof oc 'e will ic in hpavpn cr? it t /rictJfCl. VTC aon uiai UJ \jv\j ..... .W ... ? , WW .. i^may be obeyed and fulfilled on earth. We are thinking t i:. about this earth, and our duties here, not about heaven, t Religion then is an incarnation ; it brings God and heaven a down to this earth, and bids us seek them in this world : t the religion of Jesus bids us. realize in ourselves God and t heaven now, on this earth, and strive to enable other men c to realize this. It does not direct our attention to the p iv future and unseen world to find God and heaven, but says v th^at we can only know them there by finding them here?in / the Incarnate Christ?in the Church and Christians who do extend and carry on that incarnation. Christianity then is t T-Ol icrir\n nf th* inrarnatinn?Gnd in the Church and IT world ; and so our attention is directed mainly to this and t not to an invisible future life?of the existence of which we I '".''are sure, but of whose duties and conditions we know noth- t p ing. "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, com- v : < ing down from God out of heaven." The new Jerusalem, a ?*. the holy city, is that which every Christian is striving to h enter, and, in the words of our text, it is not to be sought v fy in the clouds, but on this earth, having come down from c God in heaven. A hand, then, pointing heavenward is an i imperfect symbol of Christianity ; it expresses that which J * is subordinate. A truer image is that of the Good Shep- f 'herd?God on this earth saving men ; manhood in Christ r and in his Church furnishing the Body, the Temple for the c indwelling of God. God and salvation for men were not a up in the heaven whither that spire with its hand was point- c irtg, but in the crowds at its base, hurrying here and there h intent upon life's duties, striving in some measure to be in the world what Christ had been?a temple of God?carrying out and realizing among all the cares and relations of L life, the purpose and mind of God. Christ, then, directs our thoughts not to a future heaven i. but to a holy city, a Jerusalem, that has come down from \ God, and has been established on this earth. To this b v- world, then, and its concerns, does our religion direct us. We are not to desire to be separated from this world ; to shun all contact with it, to avoid intercourse and association with it. This world and its life, with all the touch h and association with matter that belongs to it, we are not v to shun as bringing contamination to our spirits. Christ n ha<; rnme into this world, and taken hold of it with its t earthly associations, and shown what a mightly instru- a ment for the glory of God it might become. On this earth c . then, and not up in the clouds, Christ has built the holy I city ; and it is on this earth, in a full and varied and nor- a mal life that we are to find this city, enter it, and realize in li ourselves its blessings, and help to extend the blessings to oth- p ers. We are not to be conformed to the world; our religion a is an incarnation?God taking the weak and beggarly ele- n ments of this earth and conforming them to the divine s life. The mission of the Church, then, is to bring God into n the world ever more and more, to carry on to its hnal ac- s coinplishment God's incarnation in the world?the molding a by the Spirit of God all the parts and powers of this earth h into the divine ideal. That is what Christ did in Himself; 1 and that is what he has commissioned His Church to carry 1< on to its completion. The world, then, is to be redeemed for t Christ. No part of it is to be lost. It is all valuable ; it t all has its part to play in carrying out the divine purposes, t The holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, then, is on the earth; 1< it is on the earth to conquer the earth for God, to stamp p out in all this earth sin, to make this earth a fit dwelling place for God. That is what the Church ought to be do- b ing. But is not her gaze often turned away from earth and v fixed on heaven ? Instead of stamping out sin from the tl face of the earth, is not the Church content to wait for a b future state into which sin shall not enter ? Instead of tl conquering this world for Christ, the Church too often is C absorbed in contemplation of the future world, and is ready ii to give up and throw away this world to grasp that. In- b stead of raising her voice boldly against wrong and oppres- t< sion, the Church says to the weak and helpless that there v is a future world in which their wrongs and oppressions will c all be righted. To those laboring under unjust and un- a equal conditions, she says that there is a future life in which g " mi L A*? a 1 ,:?ui ,.?A E an inequalities win De ngxucu. men ucuid.nu ngui aim t. justice, and the Church offers a futile heaven. Is it any e \ " ^ ' ? X l .. ' J u - l-..s wonder that the great masses of men are driven away from JI 11 religion, when such a p-osDel is preached to them ?,< n ' ^ ' O x a thousands of men in the world to-day are longing for aid c nd relief from hard and grinding conditions of life. They 1 lesire relief ; they need relief if they are ever to fulfil < heir duties toward God and men. How often are such s nen told that religion has to do with the spiritual which is i n heaven, and not at all with the material which .is on ? his earth. They are told that, if their souls are but saved < n a few short years they will be in heaven-; so that it is a 1 natter of little concern what their conditions are on this i arth. Oh how utterly empty is such a religion to worn t .nd toil laden humanity ! How utterly false is such 1 eaching to the gospel of the incarnation?which is i iod on this earth, putting an end to sin and opiression, enabling every man to develope himself, nore and more, in a Iile ever truer, Detter, more goa- 1 ike. Little wonder that men, to whom such a gospel 1 5 preached, finding this future world so far away and vis- 1 onary?finding this present world so real and pressing, f urn away with disgust from a religion that can't meet 1 he needs and wants of this daily life. A devoted member i if the Brotherhood of St. Andrew writing from a South- ] :rn City says : "Some time ago I had an experience here i nuch like that related by Bishop Potter, in his Washington ! iddress on 'The City and Nation.' The street car men { ^ere working seventeen hours a day, with no rest on Sun- i lav. They struck, and a bitter struggle followed. In the ' nidst of the struggle, I sent a printed letter to every clergy- ] nan in the city whose address I could get, setting forth the < acts, and among others the fact that these men could not i ;o to church if they wanted to. Yet no word was heard 1 rom any of the clergymen in support of the men. The 1 >rinters in the office where the letter was set up were 1 nuch interested. As I looked over the proof several gath:red around me and all, without exception, declared that < lone of the clergy would do anything. I am glad to say i hat the men, nevertheless, won their righteous cause." Why i vere these clergymen indifferent ? Was it not that they ' :onsidered this struggle between the street car men and heir employers as being a worldly question with which re- I igion had nothing to do ? I suppose that they thought ' hat, as ministers of religion, no duty devolved upon them 1 o interpose in this worldly and business matter, that such < LCtion on their part would have been improper and unbe- I :oming. Had an invitation, however, been extended to 1 hese ministers to preach to these car men, to set before 1 hem the powers and glories of the future, and to exhort ] hem to be in a proper spiritual condition to gain that fu- 1 ure, I suppose that they would gladly have availed them- '< :elves of the opportunity. But as to this matter of right 1 ind justice ? all such questions as that have to 1 vork themselves out to a conclusion. Such, in sub- ] tance, would doubtless have been the answer of these i ninisters had they been asked why they left these 1 :ar men to fight their own battles unassisted. And why did ' hese clergymen take such a position ? Because they had no [rasp of the gospel as an incarnation?the bringing of God 1 nto the world?the bringing the holy city, the heavenly 1 erusalem down from heaven and establishing it on this 1 :arth. Because they wished to point men to heaven ; they 1 lid not understand a religion that brings God and heaven o men on this earth; brings God on this earth by making i his world and all of its affairs righteous, godlike. Alas 1 hen for a Christianity that stands by in silence when men 1 .re being oppressed, and denied their rights! It is false to 1 he Incarnate life of its Founder. Alas for a Christianity ' hat, unable to conquer the world for Christ, worsted in its 1 onflict with sin, seeing around it nothing but lust and op- 1 iression and grasping covetousness, folds its hands and 1 vith a pious sigh looks away from this earth to heaven! ] das for it; because it is a sham and a failure! 1 Lastly, in what direction is your religion turning your houghts and energies, my friend? Towards a holy city, a lew Jerusalem ? It ought to be doing that. But where is hat city and kingdom of God ? Is it in the future only ? lave you been weaned away from earth ? are you living in he future? It is true that we are told "not to love the vorld, neither the things in the world." We are told that1 'if my man love the world, the love of the Father is not in lim." We are commanded not to be conformed to this vorld. but we are to conform it to the ideals and purposes >f God. Christianity is the power of God to change and nform and shape this world until, in the language of St. ohn, "it shall become a new earth." My friend, is this gos>el of Christ, this incarnation of God, working in you to nake you a new creature ? Through you is it spreading >ut to the world to make it a new earth ? and this, here ,?/1 nrwtr ind nnt in fVlA flltlirp? 4<AnH T Tnfin CDW thp Vinlv kllU ilVIV| ailU HVfc AAA HIV AUbUi V . ***?? * J V**?? v.?w J ity, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of ' leaven." 1 < Good Out of Evil. ; Jesns answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents : nt that the works of God shonld be made manifest in him. St. John 5, 3. a This ninth chapter of St. John's gospel relates the tealing of the man born blind, and tells us, too, of the arious discussions and developments that grew out of the niracle?the investigation of the matter by the Phariseesheir high-handed casting of the man out of the synagogue, nd of his subsequent interview with Christ and acceptance if Him. The account is opened by a question put to our ?ord by the disciple. Seeing this man, whose terrible ffliction it had been to have passed all the years of his ife in utter darkness, the disciples had felt once more the * >roblem of evil brought home to them, and pressed for an t nsvyer. Why so terrible an affliction ? To what was this ^ nan's suffering to be attributed ? Had his parents sinned, c o that his blindness was to be considered as God's punish- l nent for their transgressions ? Or, had the man himself ^ omewhere, perhaps in a previous state of existence, sinned t gainst God, so that he should be considered as now in limself experiencing the just reward of his evil deeds ? T( lie problem of evil?why this man's total, unbroken, life- * :>ng blindness ? In reply, our Lord utters the words of the ? ext : Neither hath man sinned, nor his parents : but that * he works of God should be made manifest in him. This y eaches of course not that the man or his parents were sin- e sss, but that on account of his sins, or those of his 11 arents, the disciples were not to suppose that God was in- t licting punishment on this man. Whatever may have a >een the man's sins, or those of his parents, this blindness t /as not to be regarded as a punishment from God ; but c hat on the contrary, it was that the works of God should 11 e made manifest in him. Now, this does not mean that ^ he man was made blind, in order that he might be healed. v )ur Lord does not teach that the man was born blind that jt "i the healintr of his infirmitv God's honor and edorv miirht 0 _ Q _ J o * ?-? e set forth. He does not mean to teach that God sen- P snced this man to blindness simply to have some one upon } /horn the miracle of healing might be shown. Christ de- 1J lares only that in this man's blindness, terrible and afflictive ^ s it is, an opportunity ancj an occasion is present for a P reat act of divine power. Our Lord says in substance : 11 ?vil as is this blindness, however it mav have been caus- t d, it is the means and opportunity for God's bestowing n h . V, a-. blessing upon the world, and upon the man. In a word, Christ does not entertain or discuss the question of the )rigen of that sad affliction which had cursed this man's ife. He waives altogether the question of the origen of jvil. Turning away from that altogether, he says that :arl and nitiahle as is the lot of this Door man. for whatever -eason existing, to whatever fact it might be attributed, in ind through it all a signal of God's mercy would be made. 3ut of this evil there would come to this man good. In lim God's works would be manifest. And this was not nerely that he should have sight given him ; it meant also hat along with the bestowal of sight there would go other -ilpssintrs. esDeciallv the er:.ft of spiritual vision, the accept ~"""" o~' ~ r j u x ince of Christ as Saviour. And so the disciples' question was not answered, rhey were told that their views of the origen of the evil in his man's life were not correct; but our Lord did not :ell them what was the real cause of suffering and evil in iim, or in any man. He does tell them, however, a greater and more practical truth. The real cause of evil in :his world is one that lies too deep, perhaps, for men to understand. And could they understand it, the knowledge perhaps would be without value, useless. And so, turning iway from the idle speculation as to the origen of evil, our Lord shows us that out of evil and suffering we may get *ood, that in and through it all, God's power is displayed in our behalf ; through it God's work is accomplished in us. In the man bora blind the disciples saw only the problem of evil. Whence is it ? Christ offers no solution 3f this mystery, but he directs our attention to the greater, and more important truth that out of this evil great good would come to the man and to the world. Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents ; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. As then we see the face of this world, and look at its evil?its sin and suffering?so universel, so intense?how utterly dark and mysterious does it all seem. ' Instinctively the question arises in our minds, Is there a great and good God who has made this world, and yet he permits all this ? Now, I want to show you this morning that while our Lord furnishes us no answer to this problem, he yet does in the words of our text give us a truth that is vastly more important and valuable than such a solution of the problem of evil could be, and I wish to show you that your Lord does not tell us the cause of evil and sin. He does show us i-hot thp pyiefenre of these furnishes a great opportunity for the exercise and disply of God's power, and the accomplishment in us of good?He does show that evil and sin being in the world, thereby God's works are manifested and accomplished in us. Therefore, I say that sin and evil and temptation in this world do seem to afford opportunity for our growth and advance in the divine life. The presence of sin in this world, and of temptation to it, admittedly evil and sinful and against God's will, as sin must ever be, yet does seem to be the necessary condition out of which alone we can become truly righteous and holy. Without temptation, without being tested and tried, withDUt being confronted with sin, and turning from it and choosing purity and truth, we could never be properly righteous and holy. Without coming into conflict, and conquering sin, we might be innocent, but not righteous. 1 ne presence, men, ui bin in mc wunu ocuuo ug necessary condition for the attainment of that which is highest and best. Without the presence of sin in this world, we might be innocent; but we must meet and overDome sin if we are to be truly righteous and holy. Without the presence of sin and of temptation, we might be innocent, but innocence is not an end and purpose of any man's life. The goodness of innocence is that of the man who does not know sin, of one who has been shielded and protected from all temptation. No credit attaches to him for not having sinned, because he has not had an opportunity of sinning. The goodness, too, of innocence is uncertain and unstable, because it has never been tested, and proven. It is necessarily weak, because it has never been strengthened in contest and struggle with sin. On the other hand, righteousness and holiness belong to him who has met sin and temptation, and overcome it; af him who if he has fallen into sin at all, has in the depth Df his being repented ; and in abhorrence of it turned unto God and truth. Now, God wishes us to be righteous, and not innocent merely. He wishes us to be *ood, not because we have had no opportunities of sinnine:, but because we have rejected all opportunities ofj doing wrong. He wishes us to be good, not because we riave been prevented from sinning, but because we have scorned sin, and chosen the right. Without sin in this tvorld then, we might be innocent; but it does not seem possible that we could have the strong and developed charicter of the man who has overcome sin, and chosen for limself the right. Unexplained then as is the problem of >in and evil, unable as we are to see why God should have permitted it, we yet do see that in and through it, we do ittain that righteousness and holiness without which no nan shall see the Lord! Wonderful and inexplicable as it nay appear, it does yet seem .that our highest welfare - and lappiness are somehow strangely bound up with the presmce of sin in this yvorld, and of those temptations to vhich it gives rise. Without these?without that desperite and relentless struggle with these we could never reach :hat plane God would have us attain?the fixed and settled character of the hatred of sin, and the choice and delight n virtue and goodness and God. Because of sin in the vorld, God's grace is bestowed upon us; through his grace, )ur weakness becomes strong; and so God's righteousness md holiness are accomplished in us, and his works are nade manifest. And so, my friends, as you have thought of the trenendous interests, and issues involved in life?in your own ife?and likewise of the presence of sin and temptation in he world, that threaten to wreck these interests, you have elt, doubtless, that the struggle was very unequal and me-sided. You have felt like asking, wny nave sucn merests?those of an immortal soul?been so hazarded ? Vhy did not God so shield and protect me from temptaion that I could not fall away, and be lost ? Doubtless Sod might have done that. He might have so placed nan, so guarded and protected him, as to shut out orever the possibility of sinning. And yet, had he done o, God would have stood across the pathway of your lighest good and happiness. He would have secured for rou the less and inferior good. He would have made former impossible any growth and development. And so, nv friend, when sin is pressing upon you, with all its en */ > m. w igements, and you feel yourself so powerless to resist it, nd therefore rebellious and bitter against it all, remember hat sin in this world, and struggle with it, is the necessary ondition for your attainment of righteousness and holiless. That man only is truly virtuous who rejects the landishments of vice. And therefore you could not be irtuous unless you had the possibility of sinning. God herefore has put it in your power to be intemperate, in rder that you may lead a sober life. Likewise God has >ut it into your power to defraud your neighbor in order hat vou may be an honest man. Now, an honest man ; not one who has no opportunities of cheating his neighbor, but one who does refuse to take advantage of his opiortunities to defraud his neighbor. And in the same rianner God puts it in your power to be impure that by he rejection of impurity and choice and love of purity, you . L_i j f nay iruiy leau a iioiy uiju uiiui/uuyi "|t. ?? mv.. resence of sin in the world, then, you would never be I guilty of sinning?you would be innocent, but you would flHB never attain the plane of positive goodness?the hatred of evil, and the love and realization of goodness. As our Lord said of the blindness of the man whom he healed, so we may say of all evil and sin in this world, in it and through it all, God's works are made manifest. Now, in all that has been said my purpose has not been to apologize for the presence of sin in the world, l^act nf all tn attpmnt anv pvnlanation of its orifren. or to "t" *-~j ?I O ? -- give the reason for its existence. I have not thought to relieve for you its blackness, nor to justify God's ways and dealings with men. My purpose is wholly a practical one, and is, to say to you that mysterious and unexplained as is the presence of evil and sin, yet that, in and through it all, you may, and you ought to be becoming better. You ought, then, to be seizing and making your own that good which seems to be dependent and contingent upon the presence of sin and temptation?purified and redeemed character. You. ought to make the evils and temptations of the world stepping-stones for your advance in the divine life. Let me then remind you that you are all passing away from the innocence of your childhood. Some of us may have advanced a long distance from that. All are destined to leave the innocence of childhood far behind. And this necessarily. Time and advancing experience do bring the knowledge of good and evil, and so to take away our innocence. Nor need we'regret this, if we advance in the right line. Beautiful and idylic as is the life and character of man in Eden, it is inferior to that of man today \ who out of the stress and struggle of sin has been regener- Y.; ated after the image of Christ, And so you need look \?V with no regret upon the innocence of childhood forever . ^ gone, if for it you have substituted positive virtue and righteousness. Have you then as you faced life and came into touch with sin?have you hated and loathed it ? As with advancing age you have more and more fully entered upon life and its various duties and relations, there has ?inaiM+oVilir crroafpr tnr*w1pHcrp and amnaintance L.U111C L\J )UU ill*-, v iittiyijf ^iviAwv* .. x with sin. With this growing knowledge of sin, has there increased in you a correspondingly greater hatred and < loathing of it ? And if at any time you have fallen into sin, have you repented ??so repented that today you are a better and stronger character because of the practical experience that you have had of the evil caused by sin ? or has knowledge of sin brought compliance ? Have you, at first sight of sin, perhaps been repelled ? But, afterwards, have you learned to endure it, then to find pleasure in the contemplation of it, and finally to embrace ? If so, you have lost innocence, but instead you have not attained that virtue and holiness that God designs should take its place. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor ? hi<s nnrents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. It is an inspiring thought, then, that the very evils and sins of this world are means and instruments for God's work of regenerating and purifying our characters being accomplished in us. Mysterious and terrible as is sin, out of its presence we may get good. This is an inspiring thought. 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