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THE PULPH.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. G. H. EGGLESTON.
Subject: The Measure of Duty.
Jersey City, N. J.—Preaching at
the Greenville Reformed Church, Jer
sey City, on the above theme, the
Rev. G. H. Eggleston, pastor, took
Luke 17:10: “We are unprofitable
servants, we have done that which it
was our duty to do,” as his text. He
said: +
In the vocabulary of Christianity
love is the supreme word. Operating
in life it becomes the supreme law.
It is so because it was supreme in the
life of Jesus. But outside the religion
of Jesus, duty is perhaps the con
spicuous word. Upon duty the non-
Christian heart lays extreme em
phasis. Duty, interpretated in terms
of the best each age could produce,
has been the ideal of life.
To-day the very atmosphere is sur
charged, as by an electric current,
with the importance of faithfulness
to duty. That which is in the air of
the age is made tangible continuous
ly from pulpit and from press, in
school and club and home. Ministers
and teachers, leaders in business and
in civic life, are pleading for the en
thronement of duty in human hearts.
Public sentiment, finding expression
in courts and investigations and laws,
is being aroused in the interest of
duty. Traitors to duty are being
branded at their true worth.
We admire the devotion to duty
in that rising nation of the East
which characteristically found ex
pression in the speech of the captain
of the Japanese battleship Asama.
who said to his men as they drank
in turn from a cup of cold water,
bidding each other a last good-bye:
“In sending you on the duty of block
ing the harbor entrance of Port Ar
thur—a duty which affords you only
one chance out of a thousand to re
turn alive —I feel as if I were sending
my beloved sons. And if I had a hun
dred sons I would send them all on
such a bold adventure as this; and
had I only one son I should wish to
do the same with him. In perform
ing youY duty, if you happen to lose
your left hand, work with your right;
if you lose both hands, work with
both feet; if you lose both feet, work
with your head, and faithfully carry
out the orders of your commander.
What I ask of you all is to do your
duty regardless of your life. The cup
of water I now offer you is not meant
to give you courage. It would be
shameful if our men needed courage
to go to the place of death. It is only
to make you representatives of the
honor of the Asama. Submit yqur
life to the will of Heaven, and calmly
perform your duty.” That is the
utterance of the spirit of the age,
crystallized in those nations that
stand in the vanguard of progress.
It is the emphasis upon duty.
Do we realize what that spirit
would mean if we had it beating in
the life blood of the Christian
church? It would mean the purifica
tion of our ideals. It would mean
the strengthening of the Church of
Jesus in work and worship. It would
mean the broadening of our vision
so we could see the brotherhood of
man. If'that loyalty to the duty of
patriotism which is characteristic of
the best citizens could be translated
into terms of the moral and religious,
it would mean that the message of
the Cross, love, service and sacrifice,
would find expression, in every life.
What a result if Christians and the
Christian church would do its bare
duty! But is it being done? Nom
inally this is a Christian country.
And yet the deadly child labor in all
Its horror exists in this country. It
could not exist if the united Christian
church should say it shall not. Nom
inally a Christian country, and yet
the sale of the stuff that kills men
and women physically, mentally and
morally, that destroys domestic hap
piness and undermines the stability
of our nation, goes on. It could not
be so, were it not sanctioned and pro
tected by the sentiment and power of
Christian people. But why the need
of citing illustrations of that which
we all know? The conclusion is
clear. There are those who, though
faithful to duty in home and in pri
vate life, when it comes to moral
issues affecting the welfare of hu
manity at large, are afflicted with
myopia or indifference. Can it be
that the cup of cold water tasted by
men of a pagan religion contains a
greater inspiration to the perform
ance of duty in the face of danger,
than does the sacred brotherhood
of the Christian church? They touch
their lips to the cold water; then
face duty unflinchingly, though it
Cost hand, or foot, or life. So the
true Christian from time to time
touches his lips to the wine of the
Communion in pledge of his loyalty
to the Master and in memory of the
love of that Master. So the majority
gain therein the inspiration that sets
their face unflinchingly toward duty
without thought of what it may cost.
There are many who flinch. These
break the solid phalanx of the Chris
tian army, and so put off the day of
victory over evil. Many to whom a
dollar is of more worth than a moral
principle. Many to whom their own
personal well-being counts for more
than a needy brother or sister. Many
to whom gold is of greater value than
the welfare of their fellowmen.
In view of the fact that so many
fall short of doing their bare duty,
dare we state the ideal of the Chris
tian religion, or will it be so lofty as
to discourage us in our humble ef
forts? No! We will set before us
the ideal which Jesus gave to life,
and it will be the means of inspiring
us to greater effort. Jesus asked
of His followers more than mere
duty, noble as that is. If there had
been no Jesus, no Gospel, if Confu
cius and Socrates and Buddha were
the greatest, then duty would have
been the supreme w r ord. But be
cause Jesus Himself in His life tcfok
that final step beyond the point of
bare duty, it has become forever obli
gatory upon the followers of the man
of Nazareth to take that final step in
service. Jesus did it. He over
stepped the bounds of naked duty.
He made a new standard. The story
of that precious life of love and ser
vice, the martyr's death upon the
cruel Cross, for twenty centuries has
touched the hidden depths of human
hearts. Why? Because love took a
step beyond duty.
Jesus put His new standard of ser
vice in Christian life in the words of
which our text is a part. Jesus
causes the servants who had been
faithful to every detail of their duty,
to say: “We are unprofitable ser
vants, we have done that which was
our duty to do.” Listen! Not profit
able servants because they had done
their whole duty, but unprofitable be
cause they had done only their duty.
What a transformation of values ’was
that! No one ever heard such .teach
ing before. The wise men of all ages
and all races never said anything like
that. They all taught that duty was
the supreme thing. Nothing greater.
A man was to be commended when
he his duty. But Jesus takes the
final step into the realm beyond the
point of duty, and bids us follow. We
are unprofitable servants, for we
have done only our duty. What does
it mean? It means that a man is not
a man unless he does his duty. It
means that the very least a man can
do and maintain his respect in the
sight of God and his own conscience
is to do his duty. That is, the least
a person can do according to the
teaching and life of Jesus: not the
most, as the worldly pagan philoso
phers would have us believe —and
some of the Christians also. • For the
fulfillment of the obligations of home
and of life, of morality, of brother
hood, of religion and the church, no
praise is deserved. These are duties.
We are unprofitable servants if we
have done only what we are com
pelled to do.
Christian duty is not measured by
demand, or opportunity, or even by
ability. This is partially realized in
’the world of business. The young
man who does only what is absolute
ly required of him, is not the one
who succeeds and wins the employ
er’s commendation. He who does
more than his duty is the one who
forges ahead. He never gets very
far or becomes of great value to life
who docs only what passing oppor
tunity permits him to do. But he
who hustles to find opportunities,
and if they are not forthcoming
makes them, is the one who gives
worth to life. It is even thus in re
ligious life and work. We are un
profitable servants in the sight of
God, if we have done only that which
it was our duty to do, and have never
tasted the depths of sacrifice. Some
times we do not realize it; neverthe
less it is true that not even ability
limits duty. That seems strange. Is
a man ever asked to do more than
apparently he is able to do? Yes.
Jesus did not limit duty by a poor
mortal’s ability. The power of the
omnipotent God was the limit, and
that power is illimitable. Does it
seem impossible to break that habit,
that sin, which has been undermining
your moral constitution and throt
tling your spiritual life? You say
you are not able to do it. The obli
gation to do it still exists. Does it
seem impossible for the Christian
church to conquer the evil in the
world and bring the message of the
Master to all mankind? Often we
hear Christians say, “It cannot be
done.” But the obligation is still
there.
Christian duty is measured by
human need. Wherever there is need
of help; wherever there is need of
reform; wherever in this harsh world
there is need of sympathy and love;
wherever strong hands are needed to
lift sinning humanity from the
depths, and brave hearts to carry the
message of the Cross into darkness.
There is the duty of the Christian
church—at home or abroad, in pub
lic or in private life, it matters not.
Fidelity to the Master means the
taking of the step one point beyond
the limit of the ordinary conception
of duty—even to the point of sacri
fice. William Carey took that step
when he left his homeland and faced
the terrors of India into which no
white man had ever penetrated with
the Gospel. According to no stand
ard of conduct the world then recog
nized was it his duty thus to throw
his life into jeopardy. Clara Barton
took it, as she staunched the flowing
blood upon the battle fields. John
Paton took it, when he faced the
cannibals of the South Sea Islands.
According to what standard of con
duct was it that hero’s duty to re
main among that beastly people after
he had seen five of his fellow mis
sionaries butchered and eaten; after
he had, with his own hands, close by
the corner of the house in the coral
beds, dug the grave for his dear wife
and little one, victims of the terrible
fever, according to what standard of
conduct was it his duty to stand
alone among those heathen peoples?
None that the world knew. Ah, but
the noble man, so lately gone to his
reward, was living by the standard of
that one who bore the world’s sin and
sorrows and whose loving heart was
broken one gloomy night in Geth
semane —Jesus of Nazareth, who
gave to life the new standard of con
duct, the new conception of duty,
rooted in love. Paton tells us in his
wonderful auto-biography that it was
God’s strength alone made him suf
ficient for these things. In his own
words, “But for Jesus and the fel
lowship He vouchsafed me there, I
must have gone mad and died beside
that lonely grave.”
Christian duty is made potent by
the will of man, and by the power of
God. The human will plus the Di
vine power makes it possible to take
that step. Not, What I can, I will;
but, Wljat I will, I can. You remem
ber when James and John were mak
ing their requests of the
Jesus inquired of them if they thought
they could be baptized with the bap
tism of His life. They said, We can.
Jesus said. Ye shall.
* Thus it is for Christians to say,
when sin threatens in the personal
life, when the work of the Master for
His church and for humanity, needs
tbeir help: Yea, Master, you car
count on me. I will; I can.
Face to face with the vision of the
ideal of what we ought to be and
do, it is a noble person who says, I
will, I can. To such a one shall be
added the words of the Master, Ye
shall. When we perceive what we
ought to do, and make up our minds
we will do it, the power for its ac- -
complishment will come, even as it
came to Israel by the Red Sea, and
to the 5 000 on Galilee's shore.
TYPOS SPENT IMMENSE SLM.
Outlay for Past Year Was $1,642,441 But
Membership Decreased.
The annual reports of the national
officers of the International Typograph
ical Union to the fifty-third session
of the International, which will be
held at Hot Springs, Ark., Augus. 12-
17, have been printed, and are being
mailed to the convention delegates.
The report of the president, James
M. Lynch, touches on the struggle for
an eight-hour work day, and says the
strike roll has been reduced compara
tively to inoonsequential propor.ions
in all except a few cities.
Considerable space is devoted to the
efforts toward sanitary conditions and
the effort to stamp out tuberculosis.
Various other matters of general in
terest to the members of the Interna
iional, including the relations between
the five international unions in the
printing trades, the Union Printers’
Home, the apprentice problem, etc.,
are set forth.
The report of the secretary-treasu
rer, J. W. Bramwood, shows that there
was received during the year end d
May 31, 1907, $1,804,950, and that there
was expended during the same period
$1,642,441.
The assets of the organization as
represented by the money in the vari
ous funds May 31, 1907, is given at
$283,952, an increase during the year
*in the regular fund of $162,489.
The report shows that the average
paying membership of the last year
was 42,357, a decrease of 2,623 mem
bers. It is stated, however, that “in
this connection it is well to remember
that for tw'enty months the organiza
tion has been battling for a universal
eight-hour work day in 'all branches
of the printing trade.”
The report shows that there were
576 local unions May 31, 1907, a de
crease of 66.
• BLOODY DAY IN TENNESSEE.
Six People Killed in Three Separate Dis
turbances in One County.
Six men were killed fti Lake county,
Tennessee, Sunday, and Blue Landing,
on the Mississippi river, was the
storm center of the trouble. Pat
Words was shot and killed at Blue
Landing in a fight with Luther Ran
kin.
Later, at the same place, two ne
groes, names unknown, engaged in a
pistol duel, and both wfere killed.
At Blue Landing late in the after
noon a man named Red Dublin shot
and killed a negro in a quarrel over
a debt. At Ridgeley in Lake county,
a man named Smith became engaged in
a quarrel with a negro and knocked
him down. The negro arose and
knocked Smith down, when several
wdiite men came to Smith’s assistance
and Smith cut the negro.
The negro had his wounds dressed,
and left with his brother. Their dead
bodies were found on the railroad track
Monday morning. It is supposed they
had been lynched.
*
TELEGRAPHERS REMAIN FIRM.
Strikers Refuse to Accept Concessions Of
fered by Companies.
The striking commercial telegraph
ers, at a regular union meeting in Oak
land, California, Thursday, refused to
accept concessions as framed by their
•national executive committee.
The Western Union and Postal Tel
egrah companies’ concessions were de
clined. They offered 25 per cent in
crease of pay, and would take back
all but three of the strikers. The
Postal would reinstate 80 per cent
of the strikers.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MKXTS FOR JULY 2N BY THE
REV. I. W. HENDERSON.
Subject: The Golden Calf, Ex. 32:1-8,
30-35—Golden Text, 1 John 5:
Hl—Memory Verses, 34, 35
Commentary.
Moses was up on the mount plead
ing with Jehovah for Israel and Israel
knew it. But in, the perversity of
their hearts the people for whom he
plead and for whose welfare he was
so solicitous deliberately denied any
knowledge of his whereabouts. It
was an altogether ignoble action. But
we have seen its like since the days
of Moses and perhaps we shall wit
ness it analogy again.
The lesson of the golden calf has a
meaning and a warning for our gen
eration. It has a particular lesson
for America.
If there is any one thing more than
another that has made the American
civilization and prosperity of to-day
it is the providence of God and the
willingness of Americans in the gen
erations that have passed away to be
led, in some measure, by Him. The
root of righteousness that has always
been active and heard among this
people with reverence and respect, is
at the bottom of our national success.
Whatever success we may have
achieved as a free people may be ac
credited largely to the potency of
that righteousness among us which
ecalteth a nation. That is to say
that America owes its success and its
International preferment to the
guidance and the grace of God. A
careful student of history cannot
conclude that the momentous discov
ery of these western lands simulta
neously with the regeneration of hu
man ideas and ideals in Europe was
simply a coincidence. It was provi
dential. It was divinely planned and
divinely led. Likewise no careful
student of American history can come
to another conclusion so valid as this
that the progress of these United
States is founded upon the grace of
God and the underlying purpose of
thi3 people to keep close to His law.
But some very superficial observ
ers of the trend of events would
seem to have it otherwise. To read
the industrial reports one would be
led to think that the industries and
the railroads and the balance of trade
of this country are the fundamental
bases upon which our prosperity is
built. If we believed the politicians
the central mainspring of all national
prosperity is to be found in political
systems. Some eminent millionaires
would evidently have us bqlieve that
they are the real leaders of the peo
ple on the march to greatness, power
and plenry.
A man coming from a foreign shore
to New York for the first time would
be pardoned if he assumed as he
gazed upon our temples of commerce
and of finance that we worshiped un
adulterated materialism instead of
the true and holy God. P’or among
many peoples the shrines and the
temples which they have dedicated to
the service of God are the dominat
ing feature of the town and country
side.
And too largely for her own good
America Is erecting a golden calf.
And our calf is prosperity and mate
rial success. These be the gods some
say that have made America. And so
we perpetuate evils that prosperity
may continue for a season. And so
we postpone reforms and reforma
tion for fear that in effecting neces
sary changes we may endanger our
prosperity for a time. There is no
worse idol worship than this. There
is no idol worship more insidiously
dangerous than this. For it is the
deification of money, of material suc
cess, above the right. To worship the
calf of prosperity is to exalt oppor
tunism.
And this calf is not a dream calf
with many men. It is not a mere
academic conception. It is all to sad
ly a reality with many men. For
there i 3 many p. man who would glad
ly reform the social order did he not
fear that in the process of revolution
"however cautiously it might be car
ried on he would suffer in his world
ly estate. Many a man there is who
is heartily disgusted with the state of
things as they are who is unwilling
to lose a little himself that the larger
cataclysm which is sure to come as
surely as we delay to mend our ways
may be averted and the fortunes of
the coming generations more effi
ciently conserved. And such a man,
perhaps unconsciously, but more of
ten consciously, worships the golden
calf of prosperity.
America needs to recognize that
God is at the Centre of her being and
the motive of all her phenomenal suc
cess. She needs to acknowledge His
sovereignty and her indebtedness to
Him. She needs to exalt Him and
proclaim her fealty to Him. She
needs to assert her allegiance to His
prophets and to ally herself with His
righteousness. For our" prosperity is
not the gift of men but the gift of
God. We are entirely the architects
of our fortunes. We should not be
able to be the architects of them at
all were it not for the beneficence of
the living God. We do not exist apart
from Him and we cannot be secure
apart from Him. In Him we live and
move and have our being is a truism,
but it is one that we might well pon
der. For it states tersely the ulti
mate fact in life. May God grant us
never to forget It. May we exalt Him
and serve Him and love Him more
than life itself.
Spirit of the Heavcnlies,
The Christian life is not merely
ourselves getting into heaven, but
bringing the spirit of the heavenlies
to bear upon the earthly conditions
that surround us.—W. R. Hotchkiss.
i gathered jor rbc #,
loyiETriou^l,
THE I.ITTLF. FOXES.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee a crown of life. —Revelations 2:19.
Christian, dost thou see them
On the holy ground.
How the troops of Midinn
Prowl and prowl around?
Christian, up and smite them.
Counting gain but loss;
Smite them by the merit
Of the Holy Cross.
Christian, dost thou feel them,
How they work within, •>
Striving, tempting, luring.
Goading on to sin? •
Christian, never tremble;
Never yield to fear;
Smite them by the virtue
Of unceasing prayer.
Christian, dost thou hear them.
How they speak thee fair?
“Always fast and vigil?
Always watch and prayer?”
Christian, answer holdy:
“While I breathe I pray.”
Peace shall follow battle.
Night shall end in day.
Wei! T know thy trouble,
O My servant true:
T'.'ou art very weary--
f was weary, too;
But that toil shall make thee
Some day all Mine own;
And the end of sorrow
Shall be near My throne.
—Andrew of Crete, translated by J. M.
Neale.
Misrepresentation of Facts.
Professor Townsend in one of his
noon addresses in Tremont Temple,
Boston, lately said that sometime the
“new” theology people have been re
markably successful in giving the
impression bat there are scarcely
any advoca cy of primitive orthodoxy
who have standing among scholars
or thinkers, and that the higher crit
ics, beyond dispute, are masters in
the educated world. Since, therefore,
the universities and schools of the
ology are supposed to represent schol
arship, and since they are supposed
to be on the side of the new theology,
there is nothing to do, as we are told,
but bow to the inevitable, move on
with the advancing procession and
yield to “the drift of scholarly opin
ion.”
“In view of these conditions it is
not surprising that a large number
of Christian people are in a theologi
cal mix-up, not knowing precisely
what stand to take,” said the speak
er. “It may be of interest to show
how much, or rather how little, there
is to this tremendously imposing
thing, called ‘the drift of scholarly
opinion.’ ” It was then shown that
a large majority of the theological
schools of the United States are on
the conservative side. Orthodox
scholars and authors were mentioned,
and continuing, Dr. Townsend said
“ Talk about all the schools and
all the scholars in America being
on the side of the new theology! A
ranker piece of misrepresentation
than that never has been perpetrated
upon an innocent and unsuspecting
public. These men and other con
servatives who could be named in
whatever qualifies one to be a critic
of sacred Scriptures will rank —and
some of them a good deal outrank
any of the American scholars and
theologians on the radical side who
in late years have been brought
prominently into notice. And I in
clude on that side such men as the
late President Harper, of Chicago
University; President Hyde, of Bow
doin; Professors Bacon, Ladd and
Curtess, of Yale, and Professor Terry,
of Garrett.”—Christian Work and
Evangelist.
Rules For Contentment.
1. Allow thyself to complain of
nothing, not even of the weather.
2. Never picture thyself to thy
self under any circumstances in which
thou art not.
3. Never compare thine own lot
with that of another.*
4. Never allow thyself to dwell
on the wish that this or that had
been or were otherwise than it was
or is. God Almighty loves thee bet
ter and more wisely than thou dost
thyself.
5. Never dwell on the morrow.
Remember that it is God’s, not thine.
The heaviest part of sorrow often
is to look forward to it. “The Lord
will provide.”—E. B. Pusey.
Sharing Christ’s Burden.
In the New Testament much is
said about suffering with Christ.
Some people are called to suffer for
Christ, but it is stili better to suf
fer with Hirn. This is the way we
are to take part in His great work.
Nearly every great work involves
much suffering. Jesus suffered even
unto death to accomplish the re
demption of the world. His follow
ers are called in a sense to repro
duce His life, passion and death.
This is no doubt what was in the
mind of Paul, when he said- “If we
suffer with Him, we shall also reign
with Him.” Willingness to suffer
with Jesus is one of the best evi
dences that we are the children of
God.—Reformed Church Record.
God Made Us For Himself.
We were made for God. No work,
no engrossment, or culture of nat
ural powers, will satisfy a man who
has once awakened to his heart need.
Only a faith like /hat expressed in
the great words of St. Augustine can
satisfy: “Thou hast made' us for
Thyself, and our heart is restless till
it finds rest in Thee.” —Hugh Black.
