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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, ^MAY 11, 1907.
His Mother’s Sermon
station,
tho world to
sinners'*—The Apostle Paul.
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
Pastor Second Baptist Church
W IEN’ I read the headlines ot the
newspaper this week which
broke the sad mews to the
world that Dr. John Watson wns dead,
the World was at once lovelier to me.
I suppose millions of people on this
earth have been thinking this week
ot "The Bonnie Brier Bush." and of
Drumtochty 1 .and Us dear people. The
sweetest, tenderest story of a half cen
tury Is in that book. Andrew Car
negie has said that he defied any man
to reail it without tears. It Is entitled
"His Mother’s Sermon.” It tells the
talc, probably John Watson’s own ex
perience. of a young preacher's first
sermon. Ambitious to give a scholarly
account of himself, he prepared with
labor a learned discourse, came down
to dinner satisfied and proud. Tiled
his maiden aunt reminded him anx
iously of his mother's dying wish In
her last farewell to him, that when
some day he stood In his own pulpit
lie should speak “a gude word for
Jesus Christ.” He turned pale, left the
table, thrust teh learned deliverance
Into the fire and began the night-long
wrestle in an agony of love to make
ready for the morrow when he should
fulfill her request. Dr. John Watson
tells with an Infinite pathos how on
the next day he went Into his pulpit
and so spake of Christ that a Holy
Presence filled the place and the people
"saw no man save Jesus only.”
I have taken Ian Moclaren's b<*-k
down and read that story again with
my heart yonder in the Iowa city,
where John Watson lies cold under his
wife’s caress, far away from the high
lands of Scotland and his “Drumtochty
folk." "His mother's sermon!" I have
wondered what Its text was, from
which the loyal boy spoke his "gude
word for Jesus Christ" that day. Over
and over I have pondered the many
loving words Christ’s greatest lover
•poke of Him, but none has seemed so
sure, so good as this;. "It is a (pithful
saying and worthy of all acceptance
that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief." |
If J may have my earnest guess this
was the text of "his mother’s sermon*"
Paul's "gude word for Jesus Christ.”
Now I hold this faithful, this wor
thy, -this all-believable saying up be
fore you and ask you Just two ques
tions about it:
/ First. Did you ever hear of any one
else coming into the world with such
Second. Did He accomplish His pur
pose? Does Christ really save sinners?
Try to rub out this saying from
your mind. Forget that you have ever
heard of Jesus Christ and try to im
agine that you are in this world with
no knowledge of the Gospel, and then
look out on life with some such ques
tion In your minds as this: ‘‘What do
men come" into the world for. »»h a t
do they nlm to do during the years they
have on this earth?"
What Are You Here For?
• Of how many people you know you
would have to confess that you could
not make out what they they had come
Into tha world for? Search as you
will, you can lind no evidence of any
serious nnd set purpose. Their lives
appear to be vague and weak. In their
work they ore eddying about from one
position to another, quite as contented
111 one as another. In their thoughts
and feelings they drift with every cur
rent. They are wafted hither and
thither by «ach vagrant breexe. And
no clear Idea of what they are living
for nr of what they mean to be can he
gathered. Tho best that can be Justly
said of them la that they have come
Into the world to be and do nothing
In particular and that they do tt to
admiration. .
Concerning others we ot»ene
we have to confess that they are Intel
ligent and capable, but there is no den-
nlte moral almln their 11 v t n K. MIh f< j J-
tune or evil teaching ha* spoiled
of Its serious and noble Into"!- T, ‘**
are pessimist*. They are llving for
nothing because nothing to them is
worth living for. They own them-
selves confused. Moral values are de
mented They live—they keep on-
ESlVEu for? The invarlahleanswer
Is "Because we can not help °n™
It’s all a Joke or tragedy to be Pjsyod
out helplessly and ns comfortably as
possible. The best that »n be ssJd ls
that they have come Into the worm
to be at wnr with fate andto despise
life and to be victim* of necessity, and
There'remains a tine body of other
people of whom you must sav vey
have a purpose, but you can not say It
Is n noble one. They arc living with
definite aims day by day and their
plans are ambltlou* and unrelenting.
Their stakes are securely ***. They
are doggedly driving after them, meas
uring even- chan” ^ erl S u t ,°
on further and further. But the aim*
are all on tho level of “Hand the
goals are all set to *elf-aggrandl«;
ment. Incidentally and as a minor
consideration, ‘hey maintain high Ideals
and noble sympathies. bu ‘ always In
subordination to an overruling purpoao
to achieve selfishly. £' on '® 1
to you have corn© Into *°
make money, to amass an cs tat $* .g
ers to seek pleasure; others to.ggre£
tlse themselves and to raako a bubble
reputation, while other*, Wjdl appear
ances, have come Into the world toaI
vertlse their tailors and dressmakere.
or to make tho greatest possible dis
play of jewelry In the smallest possi
ble space.
A Singular Life.
Now, Imagine that among alt these
you saw one moving about with one
thought ever tn Ms mind, and one
purpose running through every action,
and that thought and purpose was not
to blame men nor to shame them nor
to condemn them, and not to cast them
away from his presence as unworthy
and unclean, but to save them from
their sins and redeem them from their
unworthiness and cleanse away their
stains.
When he saw the great throng of
purposeless people he did not bentean
them, but put his faith In them and
energized their Irresolution by giving
them purpose and Inspiration.
To the despairing and the perplexed
who" are living for no reailxcd Ideal he
brought the commission of a great and
worthy aim and to the pessimistic
sweetness and light and purposeful life.
For the multitude living for' them
selves and for earthly (sordid and self
ish ends, the strong and strenuous
worker under the whip and In the
bondage of the struggle for material
glory he brought a loving warning and
the call to noblest ambitions and la
bors to save their souls from the prof
itless contest of gaining the world.
When he met a proud and covetous
man he did not say. "So stuck up. so
stingy.” He sought to lead htm to a
better worship than Idolatry of self
or pelf.
When he met a boy who was the
slave of lust or a girl who waa the
victim of frivolity he did not turn
away In disgust, but set to work to
save them from their debasement and
make them pure and earnest and true.
When he saw a man degrading his
manhood and grieving his wife and
friends by drink he leu pel to his side
nnd put his arms about him and drew
Min out of the way of death nnd
shame. How wonderful such a life
would be! How different from most
men’s lives. "Why.” you would say,
"that man ’ doesn’t live for himself;
does not think of himself.” You would
suppose that he had nothing to do but
to help men and to save them.
Now. we know that *uch a man has
lived on this earth and that He was
the man Christ Jesus. His testimony
about Himself was, "The Son of Man Is
come to seek and save that which was
tout." His contemporaries said of Him:
"He went about doing good and heal
ing all that were oppressed of the
d *And. my friends, though these words
are nothing new to you. 1 want to
remind you afresh of the absolute
originality of the life of which ‘hey are
true. There ha* never been another
human life quite like Christ * 0? no
other man can It be said. He came
Into the world to save sinners, as It
can of Jesus Christ. .
Here and there, ‘hank God, there
hnve been men who have had Inkling*
of the divine Idea of life, and who
have loved the soul* and bodies of their
fellow-men with a noble love, ana who
have labored with hand and fortune to
rescue the fallen nnd save the outcast
and open the prison* to them who were
hound. Oh, we can not forget that
noble earl who lived and labored forthe
noor of London, nor John Howard,
Who heard the sighing of the prisoneni
in European dungeons and let the clean
sunshine into them! . .
They were the highest types AnglD*
8axon civilisation has seen; but at
their best how far are they Moved
from Him who comprehended^ all
classes in Hla ministering love and His
limitless redemption. No, youma£r*n-
sack history and explore literature to
Ita Innermost recesses and ita furthest
boundaries, and Jesus Christ stands out
not less, but more original, unique and
alone. Of Him and Him only can this
cood word ho spoken without reserve
and in all tho height and depth and
length of its meaning: "Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners.
«He might have reared a palace at a
Who sometimes had' not where .to lay
His head. __ . , .
Time was when He who nourished
crowds with bread
Would not one meal unto Illmselr af
ford.
He healed another's scratch; His own
side bled—
Side, feet and hands with cruel pierc
ings gored.
Twelve legions, girded with angelic
sword.
Stood at His beck, tho scorned and
buffeted.
Oh wonderful, tin* wonders left undone.
And scarce less wonderful than thoso
He wrought!
Oh, - self-restraint, surpassing human
thought.
To have all power, yet btf as having
none!
Oh, self-denying love that thought
alone
For need of oth<*rs, never for His
own!” .
Did Christ Fail?
Did Christ accomplish His purpose?
He Himself declared that He was
"straitened till * it bo accomplished."
Was He doomed to disappointment?
Did He fall?
. There were at tho time some, and
some are now, who regard the life of
Christ a pathetic tragedy, ending In a
public murder. What is tin* fact?
Then* sire just four points «>f vir\^
for the understanding and appreciation
of the life and death of Christ. From
the standpoint of the world and its
standard of judging the llfo ot Christ
was a series of disappointments and
His death an assassination. From the
standpoint of God the life and death
of Christ was a divine appointment
The Apostle ‘Peter, speaking on the
day of Pentecost, set these two aspects
in their exact relation. "Him being
delivered up by the determinate coun
sel hnd foreknowledge of God, yet by
the hand of lawless men did crucify
and slay.” Now the third viewpoint
Is the viewpoint of Jesus Himself. To
Him His life and death w*as a volun
tary sacrifice. "I lay down My life
that I may take it up again. No man
taketh it from Me. but I lay it down
of Myself." Ho was a voluntary offer
ing. not a helpless victim. Christ's
will fitted perfectly Into the determi
nate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. There is nothing unreconciled
In the three aspects of Christ's.'Ufa
and death. It was a murder, It was a
divine appointment, it was a voluntary
offering. The responsibility for tho
murder rests with the murderers who
acted utterly outside any conscious co.
operation with the divine appointment
and were swayed by motives and pas
sions born of the devil.
Tho responsibility for the sacriflco
rests with Christ, who acted utterly
within the consciousness of the divine
appointment and was moved by mo
tives born of God.
The best judgo of his success or fail
ure in a given program is tho actor
himself, who knows, os other! do not,
what the end to bo accomplished Is.
Judged by Christ Himself, His purpose
was accomplished. He did what He
camo to do. He finished His work and
the last word on the cross was a cry
of achievement Ho plainly understood
tho failure of His enemies and their
Ignorance of tho real fact in His cru
cifixion. "Father, forgive them; they
do not know what they do." Oh. If
they had known what they were doing,
they would not have been murderers.
They would have been priests at the
highest and holiest altar ever raised In
this world and fellow helpers in the
will of God to bring redemption and
salvation down to men.
But there is still another point of
view from which the success or fail
ure of the life and death purpose of
Christ must bo regarded. It is the
standpoint of the sinner.
Does tho crucified Christ really save
from tho standpoint of the sinner?
"He camo into tho world to save
sinners.” Has He saved them? Does
He save them? Hero tho appeal Is
confined to history and experience. All
Christian apologetics narrow to this
point. It Is a simple test that mokes
up or down for Christianity. Paul
supplies tho material for the test when
he says "of whom I am chief." If
Christ lias saved a sinner and one who
was the chief of sinners, can we not
submit that it is a-faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
is tho Savior of sinners? Or even go
further bock and lay the test at tho
case of the first disciples. Did Christ
redeem the men who gathered round
Him during His life on earth? Com
pare the sort of men they were when
He began with them with what Ho
made of them. Compare the Peter of
tho Gospel with tho Peter of tho book
of Acts, the boaster and tho traitor
with the humble hero and apostle, and
then ask: "Did he save?” Yes, He did.
Has He redeemed men from their
sins during the centuries between that
day and this? Let men like Justin,
martyr, saved from the suicide of de
spair; and Augustine, saved * from
chambering and wantonness, and Bun-
yan and Luther, crying, "Oh, my sins,
my sins," saved from doubt and dread;
and John Newton, whose epitaph writ
ten by himself and now on his tomb
stone, reads thus: "John Newton, clerk,
once an Infldbi and libertine, a serv
ant of slaves in Africa, waa by tho
rich mercy of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, par
doned and appointed to preach tho
faith he hail long labored to destroy;”
and John McGowan, on whose head
stone In Bonehill Fields 1 read, "John
McGowan, who at tho hand of God
merited nothing but final destruction
yet through the grace of Christ waa
enabled to hope In a finished salvation
—let them reply.
After all, tny friends, the test of a
religion, like the test of a machine, ia
not its philosophic or scientific or the
ological exactness, but "Does it work?*
We will examine Into tho rope when wo
get on shore out of the grip of death;
wo will study tho mysteries of redemp
tion to better advantage when we are
rested from tho turmoils of life, not
far hence. But now, does Christ sovo
us from our seas? In Him do we find
temptations baffled? Does Christ make
us better men and women? Can Ho
pull the sting of sin out of our lives*
and Inspire the power of goodness Into
them? That is the question. If not,
wo Christians arc most miserable, and
I am tho vain preacher of a Redeemer
who does not redeem, a Savior who
can not save.
But Christ has saved, does save and
can save. That Is not our theology. It
Is our experience. We never did a
wrong, committed a sin, that we did
not first pull away from and get free
from Christ to do It. •
There Is not a sin In our past lives,
nor a sinful disposition In our present
hearts, of which He will not be Master
and Deliverer, If we will repent and
lay hold upon Him In sincerity.
"There’s a Joy for overy sorrow,
There's a euro for every pain,
There's a sweet for every bitter,
And for every loss a gain.
There is light beyond the darkness,
There Is hope beyond the grave.
If wo only will remember
That Christ Jesus came to save.”
Not Faster Than 10 Miles.
nuiMiru.iiuiD **ui—c siT-iiu*
may be jrarmlMd has posted a, sign rend
ing: “Ye that toil shall not spin In auto
mobiles along b * ‘ “ '
hour. Ho salth I
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