USA > West Virginia > The West Virginia pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal church. Sermons from living ministers. With personal sketches of the authors > Part 2
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Now, although the law had been rendered weak-in- efficient to undo the works of the flesh; and to bring the sinner into a state of pardon and acceptance with God, that work was fully accomplished by the atone- ment. When the law failed, the atonement comes in. By it the legal barrier has been removed, sin condemn- ed, the powers of obedience to the Divine Government restored, and motives of obedience, high as heaven, deep as hell, and lasting as eternity, furnished to every one. Then, if any one perish, it will be the re- sult of a voluntary rejection of the atonement. The sinner, until he repents, is just as guilty and liable to the inflictions of retributive justice, as he was before Christ died. I say, until he repents, -for " except ye re- pent, ye shall all likewise perish." "Repent there- fore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
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In conclusion : Though sin has debased, divided, and scattered our race, the Apostle sees, in the atone- ment, the means of our complete restoration to the favor and image of God; and the "gathering together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth."
Then, "unto him that is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end"-Amen.
PERSONAL SKETCH.
JAMES LAWRENCE CLARK * was born in the city of Baltimore, February 12, 1814. His ancestors were all Scotch Presbyterians -his father and mother being the only Methodists on either side of the house. His father, James Clark, received the preliminary classical education for the Presbyterian ministry ; but not ac- cepting the Calvinistic doctrine, and not believing that God had called him to the work of the ministry, he declined to proceed farther in education for that particular work. For a long series of years, up to the time he left the city, he was a constant mem- ber of the City Council from the old Fourth ward, and was al- ways elected without solicitation on his part. He was appointed by the Council to draft a law for the establishment of the first public schools in Baltimore, and wassent by Council to Annapo- lis to secure its passage by the Legislature. After the enactment of the law, he was appointed by the Legislature the commission- er to inaugurate the schools. For a long series of years, to the time of his death in 1876, in the 95th year of his age, he was an official member of the church.
Dr. Clark's mother, Agnes McMillan, was converted and united with the M. E. Church in her 19th year, and by her step father was persecuted for her religious choice. Thomas Paine, the noted skeptic, was employed to reason her out of her religious belief, but was worsted in the argument, and admitted that she was on the safe side, let it be as it may.
James L. Clark received his education at a classical school, taught by Rev. G. Morrison, D.D., a Presbyterian clergyman, in Baltimore, who afterward transferred the school to Dr. Smith. He was brought under religious influences in early childhood, and attended the Sunday school class meetings connected with Asbury Sunday School, No. 3, to which he belonged, which school is now connected with Monument Street Church, Balti- mere. While a member of this Sunday school, in connection with other religious boys, he organized a juvenile missionary society, of which he was the Treasurer. It was at this time that the missionary fire was kindled in his heart, which led him after- ward to consecrate himself to the work of the ministry.
He was licensed to preach in February, 1841, and was received
* Named after the immortal Lawrence, who with his dying breath said, "Don't give up the ship."
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into the Pittsburgh Conference, on trial, in July, 1841. He was ordained Deacon by Bishop Soule in 1843, and Elder by Bishop Hamline in 1845. At the formation of the West Virginia Con- ference in 1848, he fell within its bounds, and, although many inducements have been held out to him to change conferences, he still remains where Providence placed him, in the beginning of his ministerial career.
He traveled the following circuits: Smithfield, Cadiz, More- field, in Ohio, and Harrisville, Weston, Kingwood, Palatine, Mon- ongalia, in Virginia, and Oakland, in Maryland. In the course of his long and useful life in the ministry, he has filled the fol- lowing stations, and always with acceptibility to the people : Charleston, Chapline Street and North Street, Wheeling, Tria- delphia, Grafton, Clarksburg, Cameron and Fairmont. He also traveled the Charleston, Wheeling and Parkersburg Districts as Presiding Elder.
On Harrisville Circuit, he preached twenty-nine times every three weeks, and eighteen months of the time averaged two ser- mons a day. Palatine Circuit, at the time Dr. Clark traveled it, embraced what is now Palatine, Smithtown and Morgantown Circuits. I mention these facts to show the vast amount of work Dr. Clark has done, and the wonderful powers of endurance with which he is possesed. Even now, he can undergo more hard- ships than many of our younger men.
Dr. Clark twice represented his Conference in the General Con- ference of the church. He was nine consecutive years Secretary of the West Virginia Conference, and for many years he has been Treasurer of the West Virginia Educational Society, and also Treasurer of the Conference Permanent Fund.
August 31, 1842, he was married to Miss Mary Louisa Ber- ger, who, prior to her marriage, had thoughts of going as a missionary to Africa. Mrs. Clark has shared with her hus- band all the privations of an itinerant life for more than forty years. They sometimes were forced to live on potatoes and salt. Once, the Doctor says, their children cried for something to eat, when they had nothing to give them. In the early days of Methodism, the privations of an itinerant minister were many and great, and Dr. Clark had his full share of them; but he always managed to weather the storm, never failing to do his duty, faithfully and well. He and his faithful companion enjoy the pleasures of a comfortable home in Parkersburg, and expect, by-and-by, to enter into the joys of their eternal home in the life that is beyond.
Dr. Clark is still in the active ministry, and expects to labor still more in the field of the Master.
The honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity was conferred upon him, a few years ago, by the Ohio Wesleyan University, one of the best and highest grade educational institutions in the West ; and it is universally admitted, by those who are familiar with Bro. Clark's attainments in theology, that the honor was worthily bestowed.
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REV. JAMES L. CLARK, D. D.
The years are rolling on, and Brother Clark is nearing the land of rest-" the summer land of song."
" Only a few more burdens must he carry In heat and toil beneath the scorching sun ; Only a little longer must he tarry- Only a little longer ' till He come,'
" Only a little more of life's long journey Through the world's desert, till the day is done ; Only a few more desert scenes of conflict, Only a few more Marah's 'till He come.'
" Only a little longer, thinking gladly Of the uprising of the brighter Sun ; Only a little longer, waiting sadly, In the fast falling twilight ' till He come.'
" Only a few more billows wildly tossing, Beating him backward from the longed-for shore ; Only a few more snares, his pathway crossing- Then all the trials of the way'll be o'er."
SERMON II.
BY
REV. JAMES L. CLARK, D.D.
THEME :- THE GREAT COMMISSION.
TEXT :- "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."-MARK XVI: 15.
This last commandment of the blessed Savior was given to his disciples, and through them to his Church, under circumstances peculiarly interesting. He had finished the work he came into the world to accomplish. He had selected bis chosen witnesses. He had in- structed them by precept and example. He had offered himself as the sacrifice for the sins of a guilty world, amidst scenes the most stupendous the world ever saw. He had broken the bars of death, and triumphed over the power of the grave. He had by many infallible proofs, showed himself alive to his Disciples, for the space of forty days. And now, the time having come for him to be received up into Heaven, he led his dis- ciples forth as far as to Bethany, and there. amid the hallowed recollections of past associations, while lift- ing up his hands to bestow on them his parting bless- ing, he delivered unto them his final command, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
How emphatic every word. "Go." You are not to wait until you are sent for, and receive a special call, with numerous signatures, well footed up with mater-
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ial aid and comfort. But go and call the people, and extend to them the gracious invitations of my redeem- ing love. Do not send others out into the hedges and highways to gather in the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, and bind burdens upon them, that you would not touch with one of your fingers. But "Go ye " every one of you, and be mutual sharers of the burdens and sacrifices of this itinerant system that I have introduced, and which I now command you to perpetuate. Confine not your labors to .Jerusa- lem, nor yet to Judea, but "Go ye into all the world," to the gentile as well as the Jew, and proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, until the North gives up and the South no longer keeps back, and my sons are brought from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Neither limit ye your labors to the popu- lous cities and towns, or to the wealthy villages; but go ye into the hedges and highways; take the by paths and go out into the wilderness, and hunt up the lost sheep which have strayed away from the fold. Go to the rich and to the poor; to the bond and to the free; to the civilized and to the barbarian ; to the moral and to the vile, to every creature under Heaven go, and preach the gospel.
I. IN PRESENTING OUR SUBJECT, LET US, IN THE FIRST PLACE, CONSIDER THE NECESSITY OF MISSIONARY OPERATIONS.
1. There is a necessity for missionary operations growing out of the moral condition of the world. Look at the fearful picture that the pen of inspiration has drawn of man's deplorable state. "There is none that understandeth ; there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips ; whose mouth is full of curs- ing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them 3
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over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteous- ness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malicious, ness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, back biters, haters of God, despiteful, proud- boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedience to par- ents, without understanding, covenant breakers, with- out natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." Is this sad picture too darkly colored ? Let observation and conscience answer.
Where are those found who have never trampled upon the authority of God, and resisted the influences of his spirit ? Look abroad upon the world, and what is its history but degradation and crime. Look at the ignorance, the profanity, the licentiousness, the dis- honesty and the intemperance that prevails, even in our own highly favored country. See the cruelty of the savages who roam over our western wilds. Con- template the senseless mummeries and superstitious traditions of Popery, by which it makes the command- ments of God of none effect. Look at the devil wor- shippers of India, who enshrine satan in their hearts instead of God. Behold the Hindoo widow burn upon the funeral pyre of her husband, and the devotee of Juggernaut cast himself beneath the bloody wheels of the car of his false god. See the heathen mother offer her own babe in sacrifice ; while children im- brue their hands in the blood of their parents, rather than support them in old age. Witness the beastly licentiousness of idol worship, where crime, and lust of the most debasing character, is the highest adora- tion, paid to heathen gods. In the general disregard of the authority of God, in the general prevalence of ignorance, of infidelity, of fraud, of violence, of impos- ture and of licentiousness, we have a strong evidence of the truthfulness of this fearful description of man's moral condition ; and on this fact we found our first plea for the necessity of missionary operations.
2. Again : Missionary operations are necessary, to preserve the Church in a healthy and prosperous condition.
The whole scheme of man's redemption and salva-
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tion, as devised by God, is missionary in its character. Christ, the great head of the church, was a missiona- ry. He did not remain in heaven and send invitations of mercy to our sin-ruined race ; but he came himself to earth on an errand of love, to labor, and suffer, and die, that he might gather the outcasts of the human race, with the arms of his love, and press them with filial embrace, to the bosom of their God.
The Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit, sent forth by the Father and the Son, into the world, to reprove of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and to give power to the church, and impart consolation to the believing heart.
Angels are all missionary beings. Whatever may be the position they occupy in regard to the extension of Christ's kingdom in this world, they are "all minis- tering spirits, sent forth to minister to them, who shall be heirs of salvation." If it were possibile for an anti-missionary spirit to enter Heaven, the flame of pure missionary zeal and love, which burns in angelic bosoms, would burn such a being out of existence there.
Every truly converted soul is missionary in its feel- ings. Our poet has beautifully expressed this, when he sings
" O that the world might taste and see, The riches of his grace ;
The arms of love that compas me, Would all mankind embrace."
As the Church is composed of individuals, in order to make her what she ought to be, God has strongly infused the missionary spirit into the feelings that flow from a converted state. And when the Savior established his Church, he constituted it a missionary Church. with the missionary element, as the law of its well being. So that the missionary fire, the spirit of aggression, is the life blood, and vital energy of the church.
While the Church continued missionary in her movements, she flourished like the palm tree, and grew like the cedars of Lebanon. She marched onward to the conquest of the world. Heathen temples were demolished, and idol gods were thrown down, dis- honored, in the dust. Although persecution raged,
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and storms of fury burst upon her, she triumphantly outrode the storms, and far and wide she spread the savor of a Savior's name. Illuminating the moral darkness of the world with the outbeamings of divine light, for "out of Zion the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."
But alas for the Church! alas for the world ! the missionary fire died out. The light of the Church waned away, until the light that was in her became darkness ; and O, how great was that darkness, how dreary, the long night of superstition, and error, that cursed the world.
Once more, however, the missionary spirit revived. A Luther imbibed it, from a chained Bible, " but the word of God was not bound." A Melancthon, a Cal- vin, a Zwingle, a Knox, a Wesley, a Whitefield, and a host of others, caught the missionary spirit, and ran to and fro, and the knowledge of the Lord increased. " The Lord gave the word ; great was the company of those that published it." You will always find, that the prosperity of God's work in our own souls; the prosperity of God's work, in any branch of the Church, or in the general Church, will be indicated by a corres- ponding effort, for the salvation of mankind. Mission- ary effort is a good thermometer by which to measure how high the flame of piety rises in the Church, or in individuals. So that for our own spiritual interests, and for the prosperity of our beloved Zion, the miss- sionary flame, like the fire on the Jewish altar, should never die out. The Lord kindle it anew in our souls to-day.
II. LET US NOW CONTEMPLATE, THE REMEDY WHICH GOD HAS DEVISED, TO RECTIFY THE MORAL DISORDERS OF THE WORLD, NAMELY: THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL.
The Divine being, in order to accomplish his pur- poses, frequently makes choice of agencies, that, to human reason, appears very unlikely, to effect the ob- ject contemplated. When our Savior opened the eyes of a blind man, he spat on the ground, and out of the earth, made clay, and annointed the eyes of the man, and he, thereupon, received his sight. As contrary to human reason as a remedy for blindness as clay is,
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the preaching of the Gospel as a remedy for the mor- al disorders of the world, is perhaps equally so. For, while the preaching of the Gospel was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, blessed be God, to them that believe, it is Christ, the wisdom and power of God unto salvation. The whole plan is simple yet efficatious, and is thus stated by St. Paul : " How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ; and how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard ; and how shall they hear with- out a preacher; and how shall they preach except they be sent ? So, then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
1. But what is the Gospel ? It is emphatically good news-the best intelligence that ever fell upon the ear of man. Our Anglo Saxon word, Gospel, was orig- inally written Godsspell-The divine charm; that Heavenly influence that God throws around the sin- ner to win his or her wayward spirit back to the Cross of Christ.
· If we could fully realize the condition of mankind without the Gospel, we would then see and feel that it is indeed glad tidings of great joy. See that be- nighted heathen, oppressed with a consciousness of guilt, vainly seeking relief in self inflicted torture ; shedding his own blood to appease the wrath of God, but shedding that blood in vain. Under a conscious- ness of his condition as a sinner, hear him as he ap- proaches the smoking altar, in the bitterness of his soul inquire, " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first born for my transgression ? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?" But to this inquiry there comes no response of mercy. There is no min- ister of Christ standing by that altar, with the ever- lasting Gospel in his band, and the love of Jesus in his heart, to point him to the Crucified, where the weary may find rest, and the heavy laden be released of their burdens of sin, and the agitated mind and
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troubled heart be calmed by the peace of God, that passeth understanding. No, all is dark and dreary. To this poor, struggling soul, how cheering would be the Savior's invitation, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" it would bind up his broken heart, and make his spirit glad.
2. We will present one more view of the Gospel as glad tidings, before we leave this part of our subject : The comfort it gives under the bereaving dispensa- tions of Providence. Not only has sin an existence in this world, but death has also entered it. "Death by sin, so that death has passed upon all, for all have sinned." To social beings constituted as we are, what can be more afflicting than to witness the expiring struggles of those we love. To see the eye become dim and glassv, and the face ghastly and pale in death, is under any circumstances the greatest calam- ity that can afflict the human race, except the loss of the soul. But without the Gospel, is it not aggravated almost beyond endurance When death invaded your family circle, what would you have done without the consolations of the Gospel. When the parents who watched over you in the helpless hours of infancy, passed down into the valley of the shadow of death ; when the wife of your bosom faded away under the pow- er of disease, until cold in death you laid her away be- neath the clods of earth ; when the husband of your choice was stricken down in the noon of life, and left you alone to toil in all the woes of widowhood ; when that little prattler upon whose fair brow you so often imprinted the kiss of paternal affection, wilted like a rosebud, plucked from its parent stem, and the gloomy grave, closed its mouth on all that seemed worth living for. Where, O, where, in that hour of bitterness could you go for relief ?
As you stood by the graves of your loved ones, now sleeping in death, you turned to philosophy, and with an aching heart inquired, " Is it well with the child ? Is it well with the lost but loved ones of my heart ?" But no kind response of " It is well," was heard in re- ply. Philosophy grew dumb at the question. Her
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lips were sealed in silence, as mournfully she turned away and left you alone in your sorrow. You then turned to infidelity, and at the boasted shrine of reason asked the startling question, " If a man die, shall he live again ?" But infidelity answered no, death is an eternal sleep. Loved ones once lost are lost forever. Overwhelmed with grief, and fainting beneath an ac- cumulation of sorrow, you were about sinking in de- spair, when a being as lovely as an angel of light, with " grace in her step and heaven in her eye," came to you, and while supporting you with one hand, and wiping away your tears with the other, she whispered in your ear in sweeter tones than angels use. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." For of him it is written, "O, death, I will be thy plagues ; O, grave, I will be thy destruction." Then, taking you by the hand, she led you through the vale of humility, up the mountain side, until above the mists of philosophy, and the fogs of infidel- ity, she placed you on Pisgah's top, and revealed to you, in all its beauty, the land that is afar off, where " Sickness and sorrow, pain and death Are felt and feared no more,"
for life and immortality are brought to light through the Gospel of the Son of God.
III. UPON WHOM RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVREY CREATION ?
To this query I answer, Upon the Church, upon her ministers, and upon her members.
1. In the first place, her ministers are responsible. That professed minister of Christ, who sits in his study from week to week, from year to year, in whatever he may be engaged, whether in literature or theology, and makes no personal effort to extend the kingdom of Christ, by bringing under the influence of the gospel all within his reach, may be a man-made minister ; but he has either never been called of God to assume the responsibilities of the office into which he has thrust himself, or he is shamefully recréant to the du- ties of his holy calling. The idea of merely holding the ground, and keeping the members committed to
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us on our fields of labor, never entered the Savior's mind, when he gave the great commission to his Church.
Not only are the most conspicuous, and honorable places to be entered, but every part of the vast field is to be occupied, whether at home or abroad. The min- ister of Christ is to feel that the world is his parish, and that to every place where human beings are found, there he is called by God, and by his sacred office to go. We are not to suppose, however, that in order to accomplish the design of the great law giver, that min- isters are to dissolve ecclesiastical connection, and each one for himself roam from place to place. This would defeat the very object for which the Savior gave the great commission-the universal diffusion of Chris- tianity. For while in this way they would often cross each others paths, and the Gospel would be preached only in the prominent places, and multitudes in the remote and unimportant places, would fail to hear the Word of Life.
, The Gospel is not only to be preached "in all the world," but " to every creature." In order to accom- plish this, a thorough system is necessary. Appoint- ment must be joined to appointment, until every child of man is brought under the influence of the gos- pel. And here let me say, that to my mind, no plan appears so scriptural, and so well adapted to effect this purpose, as our beloved Methodism. Plant down appointment contiguous to appointment. Let circuit join circuit, and conference touch conference, until, not only our own country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is covered, and every inhabitant of our conti- nent has heard the joyful sound ; but until Europe, and Asia, and Africa, and the Isles of the sea become a vast network of the efficient machinery of Meth- odism.
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