USA > Delaware > New Castle County > Wilmington > Centennial services of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilmington, Delaware, October 13-20, 1889 > Part 5
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
Of the thousands of souls-I mean thousands-converted at your altars we need not tell you. Their names are in "The Book of Life." In this, where is the church that transcends you? Nor is it the least of the facts of which you may exult that God has made you the mother of so many churches. The light of their knowledge and purity is shining all around you, and yet in the brightness of their beams you are not eclipsed or obscured. He that holds the seven stars in His right hand will cause you to shine on. In all that constellation there is no "Star called wormwood, whose fall makes the waters bitter." Organizations do not, like saints, have crowns in heaven ; but Asbury is crowned on earth. Shall we say with eleven stars ?
Oh, to-day as you are about entering uponfiyour second century. resolve that with additional opportunities you will give it a character not less exalted for wisdom, for virtue, and for usefulness. Let it be .seen that the ardor of your zeal in the past is equalled by the fires of your love in the present. Oh, honor your origin. Emulate the graces of the fathers, and still exhibit the energy that made you what you are. Increase if you may. if you may not multiply the successes of the past.
May the pulpit be as true to the Truth ! May the altar glow with intenser fires ! The living this day celebrate the victories of a hundred years. But the dead ! the ascended saints, have they no share in this
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great interest and assembly ? It seems not fancy but fact. It is vision. The veil lifts and I behold a cloud of transported witnesses. They look with love; their shining faces tell the "joy of the Lord above;" even greater than we are having below. I recognize inany of them. Some seem incapable of perfect rest till they see us crowned. Rest! rest departed ones, we will join you ; in the race where you ran, run we; on the field where you fought we are making our arms tell. We have the same great enemies that you encountered ; some of them seem even stronger, but by the means of your conquest we shall be victors. Even now our hearts are saying, "Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."
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The Power of Christ's Resurrection.
BY THE REV. CHAS. HILL.
"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection." Phil. 3: 10.
Experience is the test of truth, a fact which is recognized in the realm of nature and of grace, of science and religion. However skeptical a man may be concerning a discovered fact of nature, if he will submit the truth to the proper tests without prejudice or cavilling, all doubts will disappear from his mind, and compelled by the light of truthful investigation, he will exclaim, "I know." When Fulton announced the theory that boats and ships could be propelled by steanı, his statements were doubted, and the people were ready to regard him as a monomaniac and his theory the product of a diseased brain. But when his theory was tested, and the little craft, under the influence of steam, moved forward as a thing of life, their doubts disappeared and they could say, " We know it to be true, vessels can be propelled by steam." So when Professor Morse in 1832 conceived the idea of a magnetic telegraph and sought in 1837 an appropriation from Congress for an experimental line from Baltimore to Washington, he was met with skepticism ; the people doubted the truth of his theory. The idea of sending messages on a wire to distant points with the rapidity of the lightning's flash appeared to them as an absurdity. But when they saw the theory tested, when they saw the message sent and the answer received on the trembling wires, skeptism gave way and now men everywhere have such a conviction of the truth o telegraphy that they talk of its wonders without doubt. So when Cyrus Field spoke of laying the Atlantic cable, to establish telegraphic communication between England and America, many doubted the
REV. CHAS. HILL,
Pastor of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, 1861-'63, 1869-'72, and 1880-'83.
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possibility of such a thing. But when the cable was laid and the experiment made, when they saw the firey message go into the sea and almost the same moment flashing out the words on the other side "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will to inen," all doubt on the subject ceased, and men now believe the truth in this respect as finily as they believe their own existence.
As these and other truths are tested they gain experience and experience produces knowledge; indeed all experience is knowledge. They can say, having tested the truth we know its reality. The same thing holds true in religion; tell a man there is power in the religion of the cross sufficient to change the heart and to fashion the soul after the image of the Creator; tell a skeptic that there is efficacy in the great atoning scheme, sufficient to raise him from a life of sin to a life of righteousness, as he listens to your statements perhaps he will say in the language of Nicodemus, "How can these things be?" But let him put the truth to the test, let him examine the doctrines and commit his soul by faith to those doctrines, let him bring his heart to the battery of divine truth and have his soul surcharged with fire from heaven's altar; in a word, let him do the will of God and he will know the truth.
This is what Jesus meant when he said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent mne. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." St. Paul had made a personal test of the truth and realized its saving power. Hence, he said, "What things were gain to me I counted loss for Christ." He had by actual experience such a clear perception of the divinity of Christ, such an unshaken faith in a risen Redeemer that he regarded no sacrifice too great, no labor too severe and no suffering too intense if he could thereby know Jesus and the power of His resurrection. The text suggests that the Christian, in his experience, witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resurrection. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is fundamental to the truth of the Christian system. It is the founda- tion doctrine; with it the whole scheme of human redemption stands or falls. Upon this single doctrine the apostle stakes everything when he says, "If there be no resurrection from the dead, then is Christ not risen, and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith also vain; yea, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep
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in Christ are perished." This is as if he had said, If Christ has not risen from the dead, there is no proof that he has not justly been put to death. If he were a malefactor and justly put to death, he has made no atonement and ye are yet in your sins, under the power, guilt and condemnation of them. If Christ be not risen our preaching is vain and your faith is vain; if Christ be not risen, we are found false witnesses of God. If Christ be not risen then they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. In a word, if Christ be not risen, then the whole system of Christianity built upon it is false. But the Apostle adds, "Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept." This is as if he had said, "His resurrection has been demonstrated by eye-witnesses and by many infallable signs. He has become the first fruits of them that slept and our resurrection necessarily follows; as sure as the first fruits are the proof that there is a harvest, so surely is the resurrection of Christ a proof of ours. He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification." The question arises, How does a Christian, in his experience, witness the truth and attest the power of Christ's resur- rection? I answer in the first place, by the operation of the Divine Spirit upon his heart. Jesus said to his disciples while he was yet with them, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." We have the fulfillment of this promise recorded in the second chapter of Acts. "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." When this was noised abroad, the multitude were amazed and were in doubt saying one to another, "What meaneth this." Others, mocking, said, "These men are filled with new wine." Peter, standing up with the eleven, said, "These are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out of my spirit."
After vindicating the conduct of the disciples and pressing upon the people thie fearful sin of crucifying the Lord of life and glory, he
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said, "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear."
The Holy Spirit was poured out as the result of Christ's deatlı, resurrection and ascension into heaven." He said, "If I depart I will send him unto you. " Therefore we may conclude that the coming of the Spirit is the proof that Jesus has triumphed over death and has ascend- ed up on high, leading captivity captive and receiving gifts for men. The question comes, what is the office of the Spirit in the work of man's salvation? I answer, He reproves of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He enlightens the mind, he takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, he regenerates our nature and attests our ac- ceptance with God. Hence believers are spoken of as being born of the Spirit, renewed by the Spirit, comforted by the Spirit, sanctified by the Spirit, and sealed by the Spirit, unto the day of redemption. Now in as much as the out-pouring of the Spirit or the coming of the Conforter is the proof of the resurrection of Christ, and in as much as the believer knows that the Spirit has been poured ont by the opera- ions of the spirit upon his heart, enlightening his mind, regenerating his nature, attesting his acceptance with God, then we maintain that every Christian in his experience witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resurrection, and can say with Job, "I know that my Redeemer livetlı."
Again, the Christian witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resurrection in his conversion. Conversion signifies in its common use a change; and when applied to moral nature, it is a change wrought in the governing purposes of the soul, in the great aim and object of life. A change of the will, of the heart and of the affections. It is a change from the rejection of Christ to a cordial reception of Christ. It is a change from death unto life. It is a change from hatred to God to love for God, and therefore it is a change of moral nature. This is what Paul meant when he said, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away and behold all things have be- come new." His thoughs are new, his dispositions are new, his objects and aims are new, regulated by new principles and controlled by new laws and consecrated to new ends. It is important to a proper under- standing of our subject to remark that this change is in the will, the affections and the governing purposes of the man. It does not affect immediately his intellect, his mental capacity or his distinguishing characteristics. In conversion the same elements of character and the same mental peculiarities remain as before. It is the new direction
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which the powers take that constitute the change. In conversion the individuality of the man is preserved and his mental characteristics are retained, but the constitutional powers are intensified and turned in a new direction. The things he once hated, he now loves and the things he once loved he now hates.
Love and hate exists after conversion even as before but they are turned upon different objects. Old things have passed away and all things have become new. To be converted is to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, created anew in Christ Jesus and therefore the subject of this change knows God, loves God, has peace with God and rejoices in God his Saviour by whom he has received the atone- ment. The question comes, How does a Christian in his conversion, witness the truth and attest the power of Christ's resurrection ? I answer because, faith in a living Redeemer is the condition of conver- sion. St. Paul in writing to the Romans said, "The righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise; say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring Christ again from the dead, but what saith it, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart ; that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The apostle evidently teaches that faith in a living Redeemer is the condition of salvation. If thou wilt believe that he was delivered for thy offences, has been raised again for thy justification thou shalt be saved. The faith then which bringeth salvation is faith in a living Rodeemer ; not simply in the fact that Christ was crucified, although falth takes hold of this also ; but it rests implicitly for justification upon the glorious truth of his resurrection. He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. St. Peter teaches the same truth when he said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who accord- ing to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptable, undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salva- tion ready to be revealed in the last time." Faith in a living Redeemer is the condition of conversion, and just as soon as the penitent shall grasp by faith the great truth that Jesus was delivered for his offences and raised again for his justification, as soon as his faith appropriates the merits of a living Redeemer, who ever lives to make intercession
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for li111; as soon as he believes in his heart that God hath raised him from the dead, just as soon will he know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Nothing but the power which raised Jesus from the dead can possibly raise a soul from the death of sin to a life of righteousness, and this saving power becomes available only on con- dition of faith in a living Redeemer. When the Philippian jailer cried out, "What minst I do to be saved," he received the ready answer. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. " When Paul was earnestly inquiring what he should do, Ananias, under the direction of the Spirit, went to him and said, "Brother Sanl, the Lord even Jesus who appeared to thee in the way as thou camest hither. hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost." Paul, in his conversion, exercised faith in a living Redeemer, and in his experience witnessed the truth and attested the power of Christ's resurrection. So every convert knows Jesus and the power of His resurrection. They know Him as their living Redeemer; they know Him as their personal and all-sufficient Saviour; they feel the resurrection power in their hearts; they realize the efficacy of the great atoning scheme, and as they realize the power of His resur- rection they sing,
"I know that my Redeemer live :
What joy the blest assurance gives,
He lives, He lives who once was dead,
He lives, my everlasting head.
He lives, and grants me daily breath,
He lives, and I shall conquer death,
He lives, my mansion to prepare,
He lives, to bring me safely there.
He lives, all glory to His name,
He lives, my Saviour still the same, What joy the blest assurance gives, I know that my Redeemet lives."
Do you ask, what this faith is which brings the knowledge of a living Redeemer into the soul ? I answer, it is taking God at His word; it is believing the testimony which God has given of His son; it is taking hold with a firm grasp of such truths as these. "He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification, and ever lives to make intercession for transgressors." Again-a Christian in conversion, witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resurrection, because conversion is the gift of a living Redeemer. We have seen that conversion is the work of God in the soul, changing the moral nature to such a degree that the individual now lives to glorify God. We have also seen that the atonement as completed by the sufferings, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, constitute the ground of God's ability to save the soul from
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sin and renew it in righteousness and true holiness. If this be true, then it follows that conversion is the gift of a living Redeemer. "The God of our fathers, " saith the apostle, "hath raised up Jesus and hath highly exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and the forgiveness of sins." He is exalted for the express purpose of giving repentance and remis- sion. He says, "I am He that blotteth out thy transgression for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Again, he says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Therefore when a penitent comes to a throne of grace, he comes to afliving Redeemer; or in the language of St. Peter, he comes to a living stone, rejected of men but chosen of God and precious. He has not enteredjinto the holy place made with hands, which is the figure of the true, but into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for us, and now he bestows repentance, forgiveness or conversion, upon all who come to the throne of grace with boldness. If there are persons present who are seeking the great blessing of pardon and, peace, let me say to them-look to Jesus the living Redeemerjand expect to receive these blessings as a gift. You can do nothing to merit salvation; you can do nothing to purchase salvation. No pilgrimage, no penance or bodily mortification can bring peace to the soul.
"Could my tears forever flow, Could my zeal no languor know, These for sin could not atone, Thou must save and thou alone ! In my hands no price I bring; Simply to the cross I cling."
By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It is not of works lest any man should boast. Now in as much as conversion is the gift of a living Redeemer, and as faith in a living Redeemer is the condition of conversion, then we insist that a Christian in conversion witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resurrection, and possessing this knowledge, he can say with Paul, "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens." Again a Christian witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resurrection in his every day life. Jesus said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." It is just as impossible for a man to do anything acceptable to God while separated from Christ, the true vine, as it is for the branch to live and thrive and bring forth fruit while separated from the vine.
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A living branch attests a living vine. If you pass along the street and see a branch full of verdure and fruit; you know, although you do not see it, that there is a living vine with which that living branch possesses a vital connection. So a living Christian, adorned with the fruit of righteousness, attests a living Redeemer. When a Christiau gains the victory over the world, when he resists and overcomes his spiritual foes, when he triumphs in the midst of the afflictions of life, in every such triumph he attests the power of a living Redeemer, for without Him we can do nothing. The Christian has many enemies to contend with who excel him in strength ; he has many trials to endure which are too great for his unaided strength, he has many temptations to encounter which he is not able to resist successfully without Divine assistance ; hence he needs Divine strength, he must be Divinely aided; he must be strengthened everywhere and everywhere Divinely fortified by the energies of the Holy Spirit or he will be overcome. Therefore when you see a Christian conquering his enemies, resisting temptation and rising superior to the trials of life, when you see him living in the discharge of duties, standing with the world beneath his feet, we conclude that he is Divinely helped, and that there is a redeeming power among men, made available by faith in a living Redeemer. In all this he witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resurrec- tion.
This great truth is illustrated always and everywhere in the experience of God's people. Take Paul as an example: when the great duties of life presented themselves for his consideration, he said, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." When a messenger from Satan was given to buffet him, he took it to the living Redeemer in prayer and received this glorious promise, "My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness." When persecution assailed him and when martyrdom looked him full in the face, he said, "None of these things move me neither count I my life dear to myself so that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God." We need not go back to the days of the Apostles. We read of a gracious woman, in the time of persecution, who was called before bloody Bonner, then Bishop of London, and placed upon trial for her faith in Christ. He threatened to take her husband from her, but she said "Christ is my husband:" he threatened to take away her child, she replied "Christ is better to me than ten sous. He threatened to take away all her outward comforts, she answered "Christ is my comfort and you can not strip me of him." The knowledge of a living Redeemer and the assurance that Christ was hers, sustained
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her heart and quieted her spirit under all her trials. "You may take away my life," said Basil, but you can not take away my comfort, you may take my head but you can not take my crown; if I had a thousand lives I would lay them all down for my Saviour's sake who has done so much for me." John Ardly, when about to be burned for his religion, said to Bonner, "If I had as many lives as I have hairs on my head, I would loose thein all in the fire before I would forsake my Saviour." What gave such triumph in the midst of such trial ? I answer the knowledge of a living Redeemer. But we need not go so far back. Have there not been times in your own experience when you have been sorely pressed ? difficulties have been upon the right hand and upon the left ; the Red Sea rolled at your feet while Egypt's war chariots thundered at your back. Destruction seemed imminent, but at the command of God you went forward. As you advanced the sea of difficulties divided and you passed over without harm. Again, a Christian witnesses the truth and attests the power of Christ's resur- rection, in his death. Death is something from which there is a general shrinking on the part of our nature and yet the dying Christian realizes the truth of Christ's resurrection. As he descends to the tomb he hears it said by Him who conquered death, "I am the resurrection and the life, " and as he hears he exclaims, " Oh death, where is thy sting." Paul realized this truth as he cried out in full view of the executioner's block, "I have fought a good fight; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown." Thousands since the days of Paul have experienced the same in the hour of their dissolution. It was my privilege to visit, during his death sickness, Elijah Reynolds of Port Deposit. His tongue was paralyzed, he could not speak and when I asked him of his religious state, he made signs for the Bible to be handed him, opened to the fifth chapter of Romans and placed his finger on the first verse .- "Being justified by faith we have peace with God;" then turned to CIII Psalm and first verse .- "Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name." He then turned to CXXI Psalm and pointed to the second verse, "My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth." Mrs. Hewitt who died in Elkton, said, as we were leaving at the close of a visit made her in company with several others, "Brother Perkins, I want you to be one of my bearers. When you lower my body in the grave, sing,
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