USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Harrisburg > Centennial memorial, English Presbyterian congregation, Harrisburg, Pa. > Part 21
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of tenderness and love all alienations must disappear. Unity-unity of affection, of sentiment, of aim, is the law for the genuine Church. In Him, in the glorified Christ, whose earthly struggles and sufferings were met for each, the members of the Church should be now and forever united.
The members of the genuine church are mutually helpful.
"I entreat thee, also, true yoke-fellow, help these women who labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement, also, and the rest of my fellow-workers."
Who this true yoke-fellow was no one knows. It does not matter. Who these other " fellow-workers " were, no one knows. It matters not. In a genuine church all are fellow-workers, all are true "yoke-fellows." The church is a loving workshop. All bear the yoke of service. One is the Master, even Christ. The law of mutual co-operation prevails. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
For every one who has begun to follow Christ there is no other place but the Church of Christ. He belongs there as much as a soldier to an army; just as much as a child be- longs in his father's house. He is out of his place if he is outside the church. He has no right to be outside.
And when he takes his place in the church he has no right to be an idler, to sit down and take his ease. "Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?" is the primal question of every genuine Christian ; consecration to service, putting on the yoke, is a universal law. Then comes working in har- mony. Yoke-fellows we are. It is a grand, good word. It tells of helpfulness. We pull together in rolling the car of salvation. We have entered into a holy alliance. God
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in his almighty love, bids us love, and help, and serve and bless each other. The old fable of the blind man and the cripple is realized every day in the true church. The blind man carries the cripple on his shoulders, and the cripple becomes eyes to the blind man.
" Heaven forming each on other to depend, A master, or a servant, or a friend. Bids each on other for assistance call, Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all."
The members of the genuine church are mutually consid- erate. To these fellow-workers at Philippi Paul writes, " Let your moderation be known unto all men. The word meant forbearance-consideration-the state of mind that does not overrate our own worth and our own plans, nor insist on having our own will. Let every man look on the things of others, Paul elsewhere says. The true church is filled with magnanimous Christians-large-hearted, broad- minded men and women. They are patient toward weak- ness, charitable towards the erring, gentle and forbearing towards the sinful. The natural selfishness and impetuosity of the human heart has been subdued by the unseen pres- ence and influence of Christ. A great vision of faith keeps the serene and loving Master near-a vision that cahns the human passion and brings the soul into a happy order. It can now "believe all things, endure all things, hope all things." Christ seen, felt, rejoiced in as personal friend and Saviour, will make the members of the church for- bearing, considerate, gentle to all men. A true, large- hearted Christian is unselfish. He does not stand on his
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strict rights. He is not punctilious over trifles. He imitates the large generousness of Jesus Christ.
II. The Apostle tells us what the members of a true Church are in themselves. He mentions two characteristics.
1. The first is that of Loyalty to Christ. "They stand fast in the Lord." We cannot stand fast against the forces of this world's evil, we cannot stand fast in our spiritual en- counters with flesh and blood, with the principalities and powers of darkness, we cannot stand fast in charity and helpfulness toward all our christian brethren, we cannot stand fast in large-hearted love for all our fellow-men-in ourselves and by our own strength.
We must find our inspiration in Jesus Christ. Our firm- ness must come from being rooted in Him. We must have unshaken convictions about Him. We must have an everlastingly settled love towards Him-"rooted and ground- ed" "steadfast and immovable" in our faith and love towards Ilim. It gives our weakness heroic strength when we keep our hold on Christ. It kindles our cold hearts with the fires of a divine enthusiasm when we keep close in touch with Jesus Christ. It will sustain our courage, our forti- tude, our constancy amid all perils and disappointments, amid every whirlwind of doubts and fears, if we keep up our fellowship with Christ. He is the vine, we are the branches. Apart from Him we can do nothing. United to Him we can join Paul in his word of triumph "I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me." Inspired with the life of Christ, living day by day in the light of Christ, happy in the love of Christ, glad to bear the easy yoke of Christ, we shall be able to stand. The fires of his
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love for mankind will burn in all our hearts. We shall look out on men with his generous pity and brotherly affection. The miseries and sins of the confederated millions of the human race will not appal us ; the troubles that assail the Church will not terrify us, for being one with Him, we are greater than we thought ourselves to be. His victory is ours.
2. One thing more, for I must leave a large part of my subject untouched.
A true Church will be full of religious joy.
This letter to the Philippians is like an anthem that has running through it from beginning to end a melody-a strain of music. Again and again you catch the notes of the sweet strain until as you listen, you wait for its recurrence and find that the whole anthem is built upon it. The un- dertone of this letter to the Philippians is Christian Glad- ness.
At the opening of the third chapter Paul had said: "Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord." Rejoice, be of good cheer, was the usual farewell salute of the early christians. It was the last, best word. It was the summing of the religious life. It best expressed the fulness of its meaning-Rejoice, it is the keynote of our faith. It is a strain, the undertone of our christian anthem. And so here, as Paul draws nearer to the end of his letter he re- sumes the melody : "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say it. Rejoice."
Be happy in your religion, be happy in your great Sa- viour and Friend, is a divine command. Happiness is an essential element in genuine religion. Happiness is not
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only a privilege of the disciples of Christ, but a duty. It would seem as if it was as wrong for a Christian to be un- happy as to break any of the ten commandments .. The command to rejoice is founded on the same authority as "Thou shalt not steal." It is repeated a hundred times more frequently.
Is joy possible ? Is perpetual joy possible? Rejoice, re- joice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Old Testament believers were frequently exhorted to rejoice in the Lord Jehovah. New Testament believers are bidden to rejoice in the Lord-the Lord Jesus-God incarnate, God revealed. It is the necessary inference from their knowl- edge of Him, their belief in his being, character and work that they should rejoice in Him. If this Lord Jesus be what Christians believe Him to be, then there is a thousand- fold more in Him to make them glad than there is in all the rest of the universe to make them sad. Christians ought to be always the happiest beings on the face of the earth. Despite their trials and troubles, despite their very sins, they ought to be. Joy is the logical outcome of true religion The church should be the home of irresistible happiness.
But note it well, Christian joy is not joy in any form of mere earthly good, the things that make up the world's happiness ; nor is it joy in our own sure hopes of heaven as forgiven and saved men-it is joy in a person-in the Lord Jesus.
This means two things. It means first, that we have learned to believe. We are the children of a fixed and positive faith. The greatest, the central object of our faith is Jesus Christ. We have a vivid sense of the reality of
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Christ. We are in no region of mist and doubt, but one rather of certainty. It means that our minds work in refer- ence to Christ, just as they do in reference to the things and persons about us, which are felt and known to be real persons and things. We do not doubt their reality; we see them; our hands touch them; we hear them, converse with them, deal with them in a real, substantial way. So stands Christ to us. Hle is real; He is living; He is our living brother. It matters not that to the dull eye of sense He is invisible. Faith sees him. Faith has full, free play in our souls as it turns to Him. It sees Him to be divine; it sees Him to be the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world; it sees Him to be the invisible Ruler watching over and guid- ing all our affairs; it sees Him to be the great Advocate, who in heaven pleads for us in all trouble and danger; it sees Him to be the unfailing and almighty Friend, ready at all times to do us kindly service; it sees Him to be our ascended human Brother, who is preparing for the home coming of all the members of the family. It is the grand privilege of the Christian to have a faith about Christ ; strong, elear and realizing, no wavering, changeful and frightened thing, but a thing of deepest convictions; a trust utter, unmovable, eternal, so that we may repeat the words of olden time, " We believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
This joy in Christ means another thing. We have learned to speak a second great word. That word is Love. Whom having not seen ye love. "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee."
When Christ is realized to be what He is, love has no
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difficulty. It leaps into being; it finds in Him all that it wants. In all earthly love there is need of caution, measure- ment and restraint. We cannot give ourselves up utterly to any human thing or human being. They have weak- nesses. There are spots, flecks and shadows about the best and strongest of earth.
But there is no defect, no shadow, no stain about Jesus Christ. The perfection of humanity and the glory of divinity are His. We may love Him utterly and without reserve. He will meet it all, answer it all, satisfy it all.
Now comes joy. When through our deepest soul the conviction makes its way, of the reality of Christ, that He is divine, good, ahnighty; and that He is for me a friend, a saviour for me, and the soul surrenders to it all thoroughly; then love is born, and gladness flows through the whole being.
A firm faith and a hearty love-without any happiness? Impossible. The believing, loving soul must be a happy soul. The believing, loving church must be a happy church. The man who believes and loves Christ, as he ought, as he may, has in him the seed and the principle of a grand uplifting power of rejoicing. He cannot help him- self. He must rejoice. He must be happy. It is a blessed necessity that compels every one who is in Christ by faith and love to be happy in Ilim.
Many in the world about us, many who stand high among the scholars and great men of the age give their sad answer to the question, Is this life worth living? They are pessimists. They see the heavy yoke that is on the sons of Adam. They note the weary and tragie sides of human
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history, the mystery, the bewildering evil, the want and woe. They are the malcontents, the disappointed, the suicides, for whom death is an escape from tedium or misery. They have lost their hold on faith and the unseen. They have failed to put God in the center of their lives and have exiled themselves from Christ. They have not tasted the good word of God, nor learned what it is to have life by believing in the Son of God, incarnate, crucified, risen, enthroned, and so they know nothing of that peace of God that swept away all the vexations of this mortal life.
Followers of the risen and glorified Christ, you ought to rejoice. If any in the world have a right to rejoice, it is you. You ought to be the happiest beings on the face of the earth. If you are sad and gloomy Christians, you should be filled with shame because of it. Believing in such a Saviour as you have, accepting Him as your eternal friend, accepted by Him, loved by Him, cared for by Him, it is a sin in you not to be happy all the day long. The world should see it beaming in your faces. The flags of joy should wave over every assembly of Christ's friends. He is worthy to be rejoiced in. " Rejoice in the Lord alway," again I will say, rejoice.
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THE DUTY OF OUR SECOND CENTURY.
By GEORGE B. STEWART, Minister.
Psalms 16:6.
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; Yea, I have a goodly heritage.
The events of the past week have brought to our attention in an emphatie and delightful way God's exceeding goodness to this congregation, the honor and the power which he has been pleased to bestow upon us. In view of the glorious past and the exalted present, every one of us is inspired to make the words of the Psalmist our own: "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; Yea, I have a goodly heritage." We have been encouraged to retrospection- "looking backward" over the century of history in which many of us have borne some part, and in which this Church has had multiplied evidence of the divine presence and guidance. The last week has been one of unalloyed delight, of inspiration, of sincere thanksgiving.
The history of a hundred years has been no mean story. The struggles, the labors, the trials, the successes of the century have been rehearsed with mingled feelings of grati- tude to our heavenly Father, and of legitimate admiration for our noble ancestors. Those who have gone before us bore a praiseworthy part in the establishment of the kingdom of Christ in this community. They were not faultless, but they were God's own; and they wrought well and nobly in
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his name. They have left to us a precious legacy in a good reputation. We are happier than ever in being identified with a Church whose name is honored in this community, and throughout the world. We have come into a goodly fellowship and we know better now than ever how priceless is our inheritance in this congregation.
Grateful as we are for the past, happy as we are for the memory of it, we nevertheless must turn from it. Centenary anniversaries are delightful occasions. It would not be surprising if we were disposed to say in the language of the old hymn :
" My willing soul would stay In such a frame as this, And sit and sing herself away To everlasting bliss."
But that we cannot do. We cannot, we must not, tarry in these delightful fields of memory. It is our duty to raise our Ebenezer, to put up our monument to the glory of God and the praise of his servants, and then pass on. Duty beckons us to new labors, trials and achievements.
The Duty of Our Second Century.
I. Our duty stated broadly.
It is impossible within the limits of a single discourse to particularize all the duty that devolves upon us as disciples of Christ, as a congregation of his people. I can only hope at this time to draw your attention to certain duties which are emphasized by the occasion. Our feet are standing upon the threshhold of a new century. Our faces are turned toward the dawn of another hundred years. We
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have been looking over our possessions, examining our inheritance, rejoicing in the large accumulations of the past which are now ours, andwe are sensible of the responsibility which wealth always brings.
Truly the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage. We must not be unmindful that the Psalmist used this expression with reference to Jehovah. "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and my cup; thou maintainest my lot." Jehovah is his God, is to him the sum of all good. In the words of Paul, the great apostle, "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." From our Jehovah comes all the blessing, all the treasure, all the honor. He always remains ours. Things may pass away, the portion of our lot may grow smaller and smaller, the generations may move on and disappear, but he remains the same yesterday, to-day and forever, our eternal possession. We rejoice in him, we magnify Him, we exalt Him above all other beings. We preach Christ, and Him crucified. In Him we glory. To all the world we proclaim that having Him we have all things; having Him we lack nothing. He truly is our inheritance and our portion. We rejoice that our noble sires, our sturdy forefathers accepted the Christ and the gospel when presented to them; that they took Him into their hearts and lives to be their Lord and Saviour; that they preserved the gospel in its purity and power; that they taught their children after them the blessed truth as it is in Jesus; and that each succeeding generation, believing in Him, told those who were to come after them the story of the cross, and inspired in them by their words and example
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a true loyalty to the Master and Saviour of men. Thus it has come to be that the Lord Jehovah is our inheritance; that Jesus is our Saviour ; that the Holy Spirit is our Sanc- tifier and Guide. This is the sum of the blessing in which we rejoice. This is the priceless heritage to which we have fallen heir.
This is the heritage we are to transmit to our children. This knowledge of the living God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, we must give to others. We are cus- todians of the truth, not "to have and to hold," but to have and bestow. As we have freely received, we must freely give. We are debtors to the world by so much as we have the gospel of light and life and love.
II. Our duty stated more particularly.
The words of our text readily adapt themselves to the peculiar temper of our mind and heart at this time. Our lot has specially bright aspects which the century of history presents to us. In our great treasure-trove we note brilliant jewels in which we find peculiar delight. It is not difficult to mark them. To these I desire to call your particular attention, and to the duty growing out of them.
The duty of our second century, expressed in a single phrase, is loyalty to our traditions. This is the gist of what I am to say to-night. All that follows will be to illustrate and enforce this commanding duty.
Loyalty to our traditions does not mean narrowness, or bigotry, or conservativeness, or any ecclesiastical bour- bonism. The whole spirit of progress, of aggressive, intel- ligent, large-minded, large-hearted sympathy with the présent, of skillful adaptation of truth and activity to the
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needs of the hour are wrapped up in the observance of this one duty.
We have a goodly heritage and must keep it. The traditions of the Church are the character of the Church. New Churches are apt to be heterogeneous and unformed in their character but as the years lengthen out into decades, and scores, and centuries, they come to have their own particular way of doing their work, of viewing truth, of developing their life. They come to have an individuality which is recognized as their own. This means simply that they have each a mission to perform, and they go about it in their own way. The fact that some people like one Church better than another, feel more at home in it, or feel more in sympathy with its aims and spirit, is a recognition of this that each Church has its own individ- uality.
What we commonly call the traditions of a church are the marks by which it is known. It is not at all surprising that many of the traditions which I mention this evening as belonging to us to some extent belong also to other Churches. Everybody has a nose, and eyes, and cars; but there is just enough variety in these to make faces differ. Traditions are so combined and compounded in us as to give us an individuality which makes us, a Church, in no small degree, unlike the other churches whose fellowship we delight in, and whose magnificent progress we rejoice over. I call you, therefore, to note the traditions of this Church, as I understand them, and to press upon you loyalty to them, that is to say, to urge you to maintain the character of this Church. If it has gained anything during the past hun-
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dred years that is worth keeping, it is its character. The individual acts and events of the preceding generations have contributed toward its formation. The past activities have converged toward the present moment. A hundred years have written their lines upon our face, and men know us as we are. Our name stands for a distinct idea in this city, and of it we are justly proud, and for the maintenance of it we should bend our efforts.
I am constrained to say that I know no Church whose traditions are more to my liking; and, as I believe, more Scriptural. When, nine years ago or more, I was delib- erating whether I should accept your unanimous call to become your Pastor, one of the considerations which led me to make a decision agreeably to your wishes was the charac- ter of this Church as I gathered it from the traditions cur- rent among you. I felt that I would be at home among a people whose past and whose present place the emphasis yours do upon certain phases of the Christian life. In this I have not been disappointed. As the Minister of this Church, "The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage." Each one of you is justified in making the same declaration in view of your membership here.
What are some of these traditions which indicate our past life and our present character?
1. Loyalty to your Minister, and those who have the rule over you.
The fact that you have had but five Pastors in a hundred years is evidence of this. If I read your history correctly there has been an unvarying loyalty to and an affectionate
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regard for, your Ministers. They have always felt that they could depend upon their congregation to sustain them in every good work. In time of crisis, when your Minister and your officers have been called upon to make momen - tous decisions as well as in the ordinary routine of church activity, they have not failed of your cordial and hearty support. To secure this co-operation in any undertaking it has only been necessary for them to make known to you that they deemed the undertaking expedient. Your trus- tees, your deacons, your elders have never appealed to you in vain for support in any good work. Happy are the official boards, happy is the Minister who are of a church with such a character as this. I cannot but believe that this will characterize your future attitude toward your Min- ister and officers. The second century ought to witness the same cordial, liberal and unvarying loyalty toward those who bear the rule among you. It is a tradition worth maintaining.
2. Large benevolence.
The reputation of this congregation in the city and Pres- bytery for liberality toward church causes and local char- ities, organized and unorganized, is truly enviable. For generations this has been your reputation. It has led many to infer that this is a rich Church, and to speak of it as such. The fact is, that this is not a rich Church, but a liberal one. And this is more to your credit. And it is more to the advantage of all good enterprises. You and your predeces- sors have counted it a great privilege to give generously for the advancement of every good work. This characteristic should continue. Every individual member of this Church
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should count it one of the highest privileges the Master bestows to give out of his abundance and out of his poverty for the support of good works. It is jokingly said by some, that we take a collection on every occasion. It is to our praise that we embrace every opportunity to give to the Lord's work. May we ever merit this praise.
There are vast undertakings, there are mighty interests, there are great causes to be maintained and advanced. We must bear our part, every one of us. Count this as a prec- ious portion of your inheritance. Have you little, give little; have you much, give much. You who are young, upon whose mind the memory of this past week will linger for many years, will soon come into the responsibilities, the duties and the obligations of this Church. Begin now to cultivate the spirit of liberality. Count it your privilege to give out of your small possessions. This generation must not drop below the past in the liberality of our gifts. Every member of the congregation ought to be spurred by the magnificent generosity which has characterized the past years to an equally magnificent generosity in the days and years to come.
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