Show A WORKMANS SERMON He Preaches to the Heralds Large Congregation THE INFINITE LOVE OF GOD nUSTn TD IX THE SACRIFICE OF HIS SOX Tills Horny Handed Layman Has Xo Respect for People Who Are Christians Just Because They Dare Sot Be Anything Else The text to which I invite your careful and considerate attention this morning I that passage of the scriptures which says That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoso believed on Him should not perish but have everlasting life I hava selected this passage because i tells not of the wrath of the infinite Because Be-cause It conclusively proves that the divine di-vine plan of redemption as i is commonly common-ly designated by the theologians Is based on love alone There is no threat or menace men-ace the terrors of the wrath to come are not held up to menace us but in lieu thereof we are Informed that He who rules the uniyerse is a being of love That love described here is beyond the comprehension of mortal man I is of amore a-more intense character than any feeling of to which inspires any us Arrogate ourselves as we may the right to say that we love the Father so fervently that we are willing to make any sacrifice sacri-fice in His behalf we belie ourselves when we make the statement There is a limit to human love there is according to this truth none to the divine The Nazarene himself stated this when ho I I said Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friend A man might under certain circumStances circum-Stances sacrifice himself for the benefit of others but who among all this congregation con-gregation to whom I am speaking would go one step farther Which of you fathers fath-ers and mothers who are sitting here today to-day would consent to offer one of your children to save the life or the honor of an acquaintance Not one Especially is I this true of those whose earthly hopes I and joys are centered in but one child And that the divine love Is far more intense in-tense than the human is shown by this Illustration God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son From His throne of grandeur and majesty ma-jesty from the paradise where angels and archangels sing their everlasting pd C the sunshine of bongs of glory where sonS peace Is never hidden by a cloud where joy reigns through all the cycles of an eternity which cannot be conceived by tho puny mind of the creatures who walk the earth He sent His only son to be born of lowly parentage to live a lowly life death and to die at last a felons And all this that man whom he loved might have everlasting life I There is a lesson in all this I teaches us that in order to convince the erring with chain of we must draw them to us wih a gold instead of iron that the silken cord Is better than the hempen rope We must picture to them not the terrors of an everlasting hell of fire where the worm dieth not but tell them of that better condition which awaits out beyond the stars I dont believe In these Christians who are such because they do not dare to bo anything else I have no respect for the man who docs right just because he fears to do the oth er I have the utmost contempt for that person who says darn It when he means the other thing I can put my trust In a man who bluntly swears great big oaths but I mistrust I think the man who dodges the issue of that statement of 8t Paul where he says that it is that which cometh out ota ot-a man which dcflleth him And I always al-ways think that these sort of people have that as an excuse That no matter what they think so long a they do not say it they have not sinned If there is a hell it is full of such people and the only punishment they get Is the remorse they Indulge In because they were not honest in this respect Not that I advocate profanity The In fanity On the contrary pure heart shall see God And when thesq bad thoughts come i Is hard to get rid of them sO prone are we to sin ut we can rid ourselves of them if we trI tr-I once knew a very devout Methodist lady She was a constant attendant at the prayer meeting and her voice was always the loudest in the Invocation Her husband had in his employ a young fSan who professed to be a free thinker Shefet out to convert him One night and the they yere engaged in a discussion younJfcnan said that It was his belief that young a tat was belet death kas one never ending dreamless dath t once the eye closed it never sleep this world or the other To tmpened m the good sister sad Well i I thought that way I should not hesitate to gratify every desire of my heart cost what i might I said to myself right there and then that I would rather be tile free thinking think-ing man and face young my maker with the evidence of my honest belief in my heart than she who h refrained from indulging in all that this life affords justbecause she waS afraid And I have not got over I et There are some people who still adhere to the theory that beyond the grave there tere gave Is a place of punishment that is so intense in-tense inits agony that nothing that humanity hu-manity ca conceive can compare with I I do not believe It it is a hobby for te especially I revival time to picture pic-ture the burning pit and warn all who do not come to the foot of the cross right there and then that they are hung by a hair and shaken by the breeze right over this pot of woe I renounce any such suggestion That there is a place of punishment a well a reward I do not hesitate to state I is not possible for all of us to walk right into heaven And some of you who are before me today will wonder after death why you were told to take the carriage you arrived at your destination in You will surely In the days when this doctrine was taught men were not as they are now That spirit of love which now prevails was not then in existence Men were put to death in the most horrible ways Human Hu-man life was valued very lightly The customs were so radical that radical measures were necessary to change them And so the Nazarene taught a creed which had two sides For the one ho had the burning pit and the other tho heaven of bliss And I believe He had in mind then the time when the former creed would be obsolete unnecessary As time passed away the customs I have referred to passed away also No longer does civilization advocate the burning of men and women no longer does the cross with its thousands of victims vic-tims blot the landscape But instead thereof we have arrived at a period where I powers tolerance and charity are the ruling I is time now for we who are educated to say We will not be Christians because be-cause we fear to do otherwise but that we will be Christians bbcause i is right and we like i Because we know that if wo are we shall be the better here and in the life beyond And beyond all that sort of consideration we will bo Christians simply because we know that it will make our companions and our friends happier and betteralso I is time for us to say to others that they too should adopt this course Follow after God Oh how many times have I heard these long faced ex I horters say that And why Because i you dont follow after him he will eternally damn you But I say to you follow after God because be-cause he is a God of love Profit as far as you can by the great example he st He sacrificed his only son that you and ahr I r might have a Sl iYnS that land where the circle of love is never broken Ho will not ask you to make such sacrifices as I he made but will tell you that in stretch out the hand of love to the erring one I you will be doing a work which Is fare far-e grand than striking your fellow lW man with the clenched lg ol f I Tho choir will please sing that stanza Down in the human heart crushed by the tempter Feelings Ho buried which love can restore Touched by a loving heart wakened by kindness Chords which are broken will vibrato once more The collection will be omitted A WORKINGMAN |