,,addresses    ,,by    ,,the ,,right    
,,reverend    ,,phillips ,,brooks       
,,bishop ,,of ,,massachusetts           
,,philadelphia    ,,henry ,,altemus     
#ahie            ,,contents4            
,,page    ,i4 ,,the ,,beauty ,,of ,a    
,,life ,,of ,,service                #i 
,,ii4 ,,thought ,,and ,,action          
#cd    ,,iii4 ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,the   
,,christian ,,business ,,man      #fc   
,,iv4 ,,true ,,liberty                  
#hh    ,v4 ,,the ,,christ ,,in ,,whom   
,,christians ,,believe        #aaj      
,,vi4 ,,abraham ,,lincoln               
#adj          ,i4 ,,the ,,beauty ,,of ,a
 ,,life ,,of ,,service4      ,i should  
like to read to you again the words of  
,jesus from the #hth  chapter of the    
,gospel of ,st4 ,john3--         ,then  
said ,jesus to those ,jews which        
believed on ,him1 if ye       continue  
in ,my word1 then are ye ,my disciples  
indeed2 and ye shall       know the     
truth1 and the truth shall make you     
free4 ,they answered       him1 ,we be  

,abraham's seed1 and were never in      
bondage to any man2       how sayest    
,thou1 ye shall be made free8 ,jesus    
answered them1       ,verily1 verily1 ,i
 say unto you1 whosoever committeth sin 
is the       servant of sin4 ,and the   
servant abideth not in the house        
forever1       but the ,son abideth     
ever4 ,if the ,son1 therefore1 shall    
make you       free1 ye shall be free   
indeed4    ,i want to speak to you      
to-day about the purpose and the result 
of the  freedom which ,christ gives to  
,his disciples and the freedom into     
which  man enters when he fulfils his   
life4 ,the purpose and result of freedom
  is service4 ,it sounds to us at first 
like a contradiction1 like a  paradox4  
,great truths very often present        
themselves to us in the first  place as 
paradoxes1 and it is only when we come  
to combine the two  different terms of  
which they are composed and see how it  
is only by  their meeting that the truth
 does reveal itself to us1 that the     

truth  does become known4 ,it is by this
 same truth that ,god frees our souls1  
not from service1 not from duty1 but    
into service and into duty1 and he  who 
makes mistakes the purpose of his       
freedom mistakes the character of  his  
freedom4 ,he who thinks that he is being
 released from the work1 and  not set   
free in order that he may accomplish    
that work1 mistakes the  ,christ from   
whom the freedom comes1 mistakes the    
condition into which  his soul is       
invited to enter4 ,for if ,i was right  
in saying what ,i said  the other day1  
that the freedom of a man simply        
consists in the larger  opportunity to  
be and to do all that ,god makes him in 
,his creation  capable of being and     
doing1 then certainly if man has been   
capable of  service it is only by the   
entrance into service1 by the acceptance
 of  that life of service for which ,god
 has given man the capacity1 that he    
enters into the fulness of his freedom  
and becomes the liberated child  of     

,god4 ,you remember what ,i said with   
regard to the manifestations of  freedom
 and the figures and the illustrations1 
perhaps some of them  which we used1 of 
the way in which the bit of iron1 taken 
out of its  uselessness1 its            
helplessness1 and set in the midst of   
the great  machine1 thereby recognizes  
the purpose of its existence1 and does  
the  work for which it was appointed1   
for it immediately becomes the servant  
of the machine into which it was placed4
 ,every part of its impulse flows       
through all of its substance1 and it    
does the thing which it was made to  do4
 ,when the ice has melted upon the plain
 it is only when it finds its  way into 
the river and flows forth freely to do  
the work which the live  water has to do
 that it really attains to its freedom4 
,only then is it  really liberated from 
the bondage in which it was held while  
it was  fastened in the chains of       
winter4 ,the same freed ice waits until 
it so  finds its freedom1 and when man  

is set free simply into the enjoyment of
  his own life1 simply into the         
realization of his own existence1 he has
  not attained the purposes of his      
freedom1 he has not come to the         
purposes of his life4    ,it is one of  
the signs to me of how human words are  
constantly becoming  perverted that it  
surprises us when we think of freedom as
 a condition  in which a man is called  
upon to do1 and is enabled to do1 the   
duty that  ,god has laid upon him4 ,duty
 has become to us such a hard word1     
service  has become to us a word so full
 of the spirit of bondage1 that it      
surprises us at the first moment when we
 are called upon to realize that  it is 
in itself a word of freedom4 ,and yet we
 constantly are lowering  the whole     
thought of our being1 we are bringing   
down the greatness and  richness of that
 with which we have to deal1 until we   
recognize that ,god  does not call us to
 our fullest life simply for ourselves4 
,the spirit of  selfishness is          

continually creeping in4 ,i think it may
 almost be said  that there has been no 
selfishness in the history of man like  
that which  has exhibited itself in     
man's religious life1 showing itself in 
the way  in which man has seized upon   
spiritual privileges and rejoiced in the
  good things that are to come to him in
 the hereafter1 because he had  made    
himself the servant of ,god4 ,the whole 
subject of selfishness1 and  the way in 
which it loses itself and finds itself  
again1 is a very  interesting one1 and  
,i wish that we had time to dwell upon  
it4 ,it comes  into a sort of general   
law which we are recognizing            
everywhere--the way  in which a man very
 often1 in his pursuit of the higher    
form of a  condition in which he has    
been living1 seems to lose that         
condition for  a little while and only  
to reach it a little farther on4 ,he    
seems to be  abandoned by that power    
only that he may meet it by and by and  
enter  more deeply into its heart and   

come more completely into its service4  
,so  it is1 ,i think1 with the          
self-devotion1 consecration1 and        
self-forgetfulness in which men realize 
their life4 ,very often in the  lower   
stages of man's life he forgets himself1
 with a slightly  emphasized individual 
existence1 not thinking very much of the
 purpose  of his life1 till he easily   
forgets himself among the things that   
are  around him and forgets himself     
simply because there is so little of    
himself for him to forget2 but do not   
you know perfectly well how very  often 
when a man's life becomes intensified   
and earnest1 when he becomes  completely
 possessed with some great passion and  
desire1 it seems for  the time to       
intensify his selfishness8 ,it does     
intensify his  selfishness4 ,he is      
thinking so much in regard to himself   
that the  thought of other persons and  
their interests is shut out of his life4
  ,and so very often when a man has set 
before him the great passion of the     

divine life1 when he is called by ,god  
to live the life of ,god1 and to  enter 
into the rewards of ,god1 very often    
there seems to close around  his life a 
certain bondage of selfishness1 and he  
who gave himself  freely to his         
fellow-men before now seems1 by the very
 intensity1  eagerness1 and earnestness 
with which his mind is set upon the     
prize of  the new life which is         
presented to him--it seems as if        
everything became  concentrated upon    
himself1 the saving of his soul1 the    
winning of his  salvation4 ,that seat in
 heaven seems to burn so before his eyes
 that he  cannot be satisfied for a     
moment with any thought that draws him  
away  from it1 and he presses forward   
that he may be saved4 ,but by and by1 as
  he enters more deeply into that life1 
the self-forgetfulness comes to  him    
again and as a diviner thing4 ,by and   
by1 as the man walks up the  mountain1  
he seems to pass out of the cloud which 
hangs about the lower  slopes of the    

mountain1 until at last he stands upon  
the pinnacle at the  top1 and there is  
in the perfect light4 ,is it not exactly
 like the  mountain at whose foot there 
seems to be the open sunshine where men 
see  everything1 and on whose summit    
there is the sunshine1 but on whose     
sides1 and half way up1 there seems to  
linger a long cloud1 in which man  has  
to struggle until he comes to the full  
result of his life8 ,so it is  with     
self-consecration1 with service4 ,you   
easily do it in some small  ways in the 
lower life4 ,life becomes intensified   
and earnest with a  serious purpose1 and
 it seems as if it gathered itself      
together into  selfishness4 ,only then  
it opens by and by into the largest and 
noblest  works of men1 in which they    
most manifest the richness of their     
human  nature and appropriate the       
strength of ,god4 ,those are great and  
unselfish acts4 ,we know it at once if  
we turn to ,him who represents the      
fulness of the nature of our humanity4  

,when ,i turn to ,jesus and think of    
,him as the manifestation of ,his own   
,christianity--and if men would only    
look at the life of ,jesus to see  what 
,christianity is1 and not at the life of
 the poor representatives of  ,jesus    
whom they see around them1 there would  
be so much more clearness1  they would  
be rid of so many difficulties and      
doubts4 ,when ,i look at the  life of   
,jesus ,i see that the purpose of       
consecration1 of emancipation1  is      
service of ,his fellow-men4 ,i cannot   
think for a moment of ,jesus as  doing  
that which so many religious people     
think they are doing when they  serve   
,christ1 when they give their lives to  
,him4 ,i cannot think of ,him  as simply
 saving ,his own soul1 living ,his own  
life1 and completing ,his  own nature in
 the sight of ,god4 ,it is a life of    
service from beginning  to end4 ,he     
gives himself to man because ,he is     
absolutely the ,child of  ,god1 and ,he 
sets up service1 and nothing but        

service1 to be the ultimate  purpose1   
the one great desire1 on which the souls
 of ,his followers  should be set1 as   
,his own soul is set1 upon it           
continually4    ,what is it that ,christ
 has left to be ,his symbol in the      
world1 that we  put upon our churches1  
what we wear upon our hearts1 that      
stands forth  so perpetually us the     
symbol of ,christ's life8 ,is it a      
throne from which  a ruler utters his   
decrees8 ,is it a mountain top upon     
which some rapt  seer sits1 communing   
with himself and with the voices around 
him1 and  gathering great truth into his
 soul and delighting in it8 ,no1 not the
  throne and not the mountain top4 ,it  
is the cross4 ,oh1 my brethren1 that    
the cross should be the great symbol of 
our highest measure1 that that  which   
stands for consecration1 that that which
 stands for the divine  statement that a
 man does not live for himself and that 
a man loses  himself when he does live  
for himself--that that should be the    

symbol of  our religion and the great   
sign and token of our faith8 ,what sort 
of  ,christians are we that go about    
asking for the things of this life      
first1 thinking that it shall make us   
prosperous to be ,christians1 and  then 
a little higher asking for the things   
that pertain to the eternal  prosperity1
 when the ,great ,master1 who leaves us 
the great law1 in whom  our ,christian  
life is spiritually set forth1 has as   
,his great symbol the  cross1 the cross1
 the sign of consecration and obedience8
 ,it is not  simply suffering too4      
,christ does not stand primarily for    
suffering4  ,suffering is an accident4  
,it does not matter whether you and ,i  
suffer4  ,not enjoyment and not sorrow  
is our life1 not sorrow any more than   
enjoyment1 but obedience and duty4 ,if  
duty brings sorrow1 let it bring        
sorrow4 ,it did bring sorrow to the     
,christ1 because it was impossible for  
a man to serve the absolute             
righteousness in this world and not to  

sorrow4 ,if it had brought joy1 and     
glory1 and triumph1 if it had been      
greeted at its entrance and applauded on
 the way1 ,he would have been as  truly 
the consecrated soul that ,he was in the
 days when1 over a road  that was marked
 with the blood of ,his footprints1 ,he 
found ,his way up at  last to the       
torturing cross4 ,it is not suffering2  
it is obedience4 ,it is  not pain2 it is
 consecration of life4 ,it is the joy of
 service that  makes the life of        
,christ1 and for us to serve ,him1      
serving fellow-man  and ,god--as he     
served fellow-man and ,god--whether it  
bring pain or joy1  if we can only get  
out of our souls the thought that it    
matters not if  we are happy or         
sorrowful1 if only we are dutiful and   
faithful1 and  brave and strong1 then we
 should be in the atmosphere1 we should 
be in  the great company of the ,christ4
    ,it surprises me very often when ,i 
hear good ,christian people talk about  
,christ's entrance into this world1     

,christ's coming to save this world4    
,they say it was so marvellous that     
,jesus should be willing to come down   
from ,his throne in heaven and undertake
 all the strange sorrow and  distress   
that belonged to ,him when ,he came to  
save the world from its  sins4          
,wonderful8 ,there was no wonder in it2 
no wonder if we enter up  into the      
region where ,jesus lives and think of  
life as ,he must have  thought of life4 
,it is the same wonder that people feel 
about the  miracles of ,jesus4 ,is it a 
wonder that when a divine life is among 
men1  nature should have a response to  
make to ,him1 and ,he should do things  
that you and ,i1 in our little humanity1
 find it impossible to do8 ,no1  indeed1
 there is no wonder that ,god loved the 
world4 ,there is no wonder  that        
,christ1 the ,son of ,god1 at any       
sacrifice undertook to save the  world4 
,the wonder would have been if ,god1    
sitting in ,his heaven1 the  wonder     
would have been if ,jesus1 ready to come

 here to the earth and  seeing how it   
was possible to save man from sin by    
suffering1 had not  suffered4 ,do you   
wonder at the mother1 when she gives her
 life without a  hesitation or a cry1   
when she gives her life with joy1 with  
thankfulness1 for her child1 counting it
 her privilege8 ,do you wonder at  the  
patriot1 the hero1 when he rushes into  
the battle to do the good  deed which it
 is possible for him to do8 ,no2 read   
your own nature deeper  and you will    
understand your ,christ4 ,it is no      
wonder that ,he should have  died upon  
the cross2 the wonder would have been   
if1 with the inestimable  privilege of  
saving man1 ,he had shrunk from that    
cross and turned away4  ,it sets before 
us that it is not the glories of        
suffering1 it is not the  necessity of  
suffering1 it is simply the beauty of   
obedience and the  fulfilment of a man's
 life in doing his duty and rendering   
the service  which it is possible for   
him to render to his fellow-man4    ,i  

said that a man when he did that left   
behind him all the thought of  the life 
which he was willing to live within     
himself1 even all the  highest thought4 
,it is not your business and mine to    
study whether we  shall get to heaven1  
even to study whether we shall be good  
men2 it is  our business to study how we
 shall come into the midst of the       
purposes  of ,god and have the          
unspeakable privilege in these few years
 of doing  something of ,his work4 ,and 
yet so is our life all one1 so is the   
kingdom  of ,god which surrounds us and 
infolds us one bright and blessed unity1
  that when a man has devoted himself to
 the service of ,god and his            
fellow-man1 immediately he is thrown    
back upon his own nature1 and he  sees  
now--it is the right place for him to   
see--that he must be the  brave1 strong1
 faithful man1 because it is impossible 
for him to do his  duty and to render   
his service1 except it is rendered out  
of a heart  that is full of             

faithfulness1 that is brave and true4   
,there is one word  of ,jesus that      
always comes back to me as about the    
noblest thing that  human lips have ever
 said upon our earth1 and the most      
comprehensive  thing1 that seems to     
sweep into itself all the commonplace   
experience of  mankind4 ,do you remember
 when ,he was sitting with ,his         
disciples1 at the  last supper1 how ,he 
lifted up ,his voice and prayed1 and in 
the midst of  ,his prayer there came    
these wondrous words3 ,for their sakes  
,i sanctify  myself1 that they also     
might be sanctified8 ,the whole of human
 life is  there4 ,shall a man cultivate 
himself8 ,no1 not primarily4 ,shall a   
man  serve the world1 strive to increase
 the kingdom of ,god in the world8      
,yes1 indeed1 he shall4 ,how shall he do
 it8 ,by cultivating himself1 and       
instantly he is thrown back upon his own
 life4 ,for their sakes ,i  sanctify    
myself1 that they also might be         
sanctified4 ,i am my best1 not  simply  

for myself1 but for the world4 ,my      
brethren1 is there anything in  all the 
teachings that man has had from his     
fellow-man1 all that has  come down to  
him from the lips of ,god1 that is      
nobler1 that is more  far-reaching than 
that--to be my best not simply for my   
own sake1 but  for the sake of the world
 into which1 setting my best1 ,i shall  
make that  world more complete1 ,i shall
 do my little part to renew and to      
recreate  it in the image of ,god8 ,that
 is the law of my existence4 ,and the   
man  that makes that the law of his     
existence neither neglects himself nor  
his fellow-men1 neither becomes the     
self-absorbed student and cultivator  of
 his own life upon the one hand1 nor    
does he become1 abandoning  himself1    
simply the wasting benefactor of his    
brethren upon the other4  ,you can help 
your fellow-men3 you must help your     
fellow-men2 but the  only way you can   
help them is by being the noblest and   
the best man that  it is possible for   

you to be4 ,i watch the workman build   
upon the  building which by and by is to
 soar into the skies1 to toss its       
pinnacles up to the heaven1 and ,i see  
him looking up and wondering where      
those pinnacles are to be1 thinking how 
high they are to be1 measuring  the     
feet1 wondering how they are to be      
built1 and all the time he is  cramming 
a rotten stone into the building just   
where he has set to work4  ,let him     
forget the pinnacles1 if he will1 or    
hold only the floating  image of them in
 his imagination for his inspiration2   
but the thing that  he must do is to put
 a brave1 strong soul1 an honest and    
substantial  life into the building just
 where he is now at work4    ,it seems  
to me that that comes home to us all4   
,men are questioning now  as they never 
have questioned before whether          
,christianity is indeed the  true       
religion which is to be the salvation of
 the world4 ,they are  feeling how the  
world needs salvation1 how it needs     

regeneration1 how it  is wrong and bad  
all through and through1 mixed with the 
good that is in  it everywhere4         
,everywhere there is the good and the   
bad1 and the great  question that is on 
men's minds to-day1 as ,i believe it has
 never been  upon men's minds before1 is
 this3 ,is this ,christian religion1    
with its  high pretensions1 this        
,christian life that claims so much for 
itself1 is  it competent for the task   
that it has undertaken to do8 ,can it   
meet all  these human problems1 and     
relieve all these human miseries1 and   
fulfil  all these human hopes8 ,it is   
the old story over again1 when ,john the
  ,baptist1 puzzled in his prison1 said 
to ,jesus1 ,art thou ,he that should    
come8 or look we for another8 ,it seems 
to me that the ,christian ,church  is   
hearing that cry in its ears to-day3    
,art thou ,he that should come8  ,can   
you do this which the world unmistakably
 needs to be done8    ,christian men1 it
 is for us to give our bit of answer to 

that question4  ,it is for us1 in whom  
the ,christian ,church is at this moment
 partially  embodied1 to declare that   
,christianity1 that the ,christian      
faith1 the  ,christian manhood1 can do  
that for the world which the world      
needs4 ,you  say1 ,what can ,i do8 ,you 
can furnish one ,christian life4 ,you   
can  furnish a life so faithful to every
 duty1 so ready for every service1 so   
determined not to commit every sin1 that
 the great ,christian ,church  shall be 
the stronger for your living in it1 and 
the problem of the  world be answered1  
and a certain great peace come into this
 poor1  perplexed phase of our humanity 
as it sees that new revelation of what  
,christianity is4 ,yes1 ,christ can give
 the world the thing it needs in        
unknown ways and methods that we have   
not yet begun to suspect4  ,christianity
 has not yet been tried4 ,my friends1 no
 man dares to condemn  the ,christian   
faith to-day1 because the ,christian    
faith has not been  tried4 ,not until   

men get rid of the thought that it is a 
poor machine1  an expedient for saving  
them from suffering and pain1 not until 
they get  the grand idea of it as the   
great power of ,god present in and      
through  the lives of men1 not until    
then does ,christianity enter upon its  
true  trial and become ready to show    
what it can do4 ,therefore we struggle  
against our sin in order that men may be
 saved around us1 and not simply  that  
our own souls may be saved4    ,tell me 
you have a sin that you mean to commit  
this evening that is  going to make this
 night black4 ,what can keep you from   
committing that  sin8 ,suppose you look 
into its consequences4 ,suppose the wise
 man tells  you what will be the        
physical consequences of that sin4 ,you 
shudder and  you shrink1 and1 perhaps1  
you are partially deterred4 ,suppose you
 see  the2 glory that might come to you1
 physical1 temporal1 spiritual1 if you  
do not commit that sin4 ,the opposite of
 it shows itself to you--the  blessing  

and the richness in your life4 ,again   
there comes a great power  that shall   
control your lust and wickedness4       
,suppose there comes to you  something  
even deeper than that1 no consequence on
 consequence at all1  but simply an     
abhorrence for the thing1 so that your  
whole nature  shrinks from it as the    
nature of ,god shrinks from a sin that  
is  polluting and filthy and corrupt and
 evil4 ,they are all great powers4  ,let
 us thank ,god for them all4 ,he knows  
that we are weak enough to need  every  
power that can possibly be brought to   
bear upon our feeble lives2  but if1    
along with all of them1 there could come
 this other power1 if  along with them  
there could come the certainty that if  
you refrain from  that sin to-night you 
make the sum of sin that is in the      
world1 and so  the sum of all temptation
 that is in the world1 and so the sum of
 future  evil that is to spring out of  
temptation in the world1 less1 shall    
there  not be a nobler impulse rise up  

in your heart1 and shall you not say3 ,i
  will not do it2 ,i will be honest1 ,i 
will be sober1 ,i will be pure1 at      
least1 to-night8 ,i dare to think that  
there are men here to whom that  appeal 
can come1 men who1 perhaps1 will be all 
dull and deaf if one  speaks to them    
about their personal salvation2 who1 if 
one dares to  picture to them1 appealing
 to their better nature1 trusting to    
their  nobler soul1 that there is in    
them the power to save other men from   
sin1  and to help the work of ,god by   
the control of their own passions and   
the fulfilment of their own duty1 will  
be stirred to the higher life4          
,men--very often we do not trust them   
enough--will answer to the higher       
appeal that seems to be beyond them when
 the poor1 lower appeal that  comes     
within the region of their selfishness  
is cast aside1 and they  will have      
nothing to do with it4    ,oh1 this     
marvellous1 this awful power that we    
have over other people's  lives6 ,oh6   

the power of the sin that you have done 
years and years ago6  ,it is awful to   
think of it4 ,i think there is hardly   
anything more  terrible to the human    
thought than this--the picture of a man 
who1  having sinned years and years ago 
in a way that involved other souls in   
his sin1 and then1 having repented of   
his sin and undertaken another  life1   
knows certainly that the power1 the     
consequence of that sin is  going on    
outside of his reach1 beyond even his   
ken and knowledge4 ,he  cannot touch it4
 ,you wronged a soul ten years ago4 ,you
 taught a boy how  to tell his first    
mercantile lie2 you degraded the early  
standards of  his youth4 ,what has      
become of that boy to-day8 ,you may have
 repented4 ,he  has passed put of your  
sight4 ,he has gone years and years ago4
 ,somewhere  in this great1             
multitudinous mass of humanity he is    
sinning and sinning  and reduplicating  
and extending the sin that you did4 ,you
 touched the  faith of some believing   

soul years ago with some miserable sneer
 of  yours1 with some cynical and       
sceptical disparagement of ,god and of  
the  man who is the utterance of ,god   
upon the earth4 ,you taught the soul    
that  was enthusiastic to be full of    
scepticisms and doubts4 ,you wronged a  
woman years ago1 and her life has gone  
out from your life1 you cannot  begin to
 tell where4 ,you have repented of your 
sin4 ,you have bowed  yourself1 it may  
be1 in dust and ashes4 ,you have entered
 upon a new  life4 ,you are pure to-day4
 ,but where is the sceptical soul8      
,where is the  ruined woman whom you    
sent forth into the world out of the    
shadow of  your sin years ago8 ,you     
cannot touch that life4 ,you cannot     
reach it4 ,you  do not know where it is4
 ,no steps of yours1 quickened with all 
your  earnestness1 can pursue it4 ,no   
contrition of yours can drawback its    
consequences4 ,remorse cannot force the 
bullet back again into the gun  from    
which it once has gone forth4 ,it makes 

life awful to the man who  has ever     
sinned1 who has ever wronged and hurt   
another life because of  this sin1      
because no sin ever was done that did   
not hurt another life4 ,i  know the     
mercy of our ,god1 that while ,he has   
put us into each other's  power to a    
fearful extent1 ,he never will let any  
soul absolutely go to  everlasting ruin 
for another's sin2 and so ,i dare to see
 the love of ,god  pursuing that lost   
soul where you cannot pursue it4 ,but   
that does not  for one moment lift the  
shadow from your heart1 or cease to make
 you  tremble when you think of how your
 sin has outgrown itself and is  running
 far1 far away where you can never      
follow it4    ,thank ,god the other     
thing is true as well4 ,thank ,god that 
when a man  does a bit of service1      
however little it may be1 of that too he
 can  never trace the consequences4     
,thank ,god that that which in some     
better  moment1 in some nobler          
inspiration1 you did ten years ago to   

make your  brother's faith a little more
 strong1 to let your shop boy confirm   
and  not doubt the confidence in man    
which he had brought into his business1 
to establish the purity of a soul       
instead of staining it and shaking it1  
thank ,god1 in this quick1 electric     
atmosphere in which we live1 that1  too1
 runs forth4 ,do not say in your terror1
 ,i will do nothing4 ,you  must do      
something4 ,only let ,christ tell       
you--let ,christ tell you that  there is
 nothing that a man rests upon in the   
moment1 that he thinks of1  as he looks 
back upon it when it has sunk into the  
past1 with any  satisfaction1 except    
some service to his fellow-man1 some    
strengthening  and helping of a human   
soul4    ,two men are walking down the  
street together and talking away4 ,see  
what  different conditions those two men
 are in4 ,one of them has his soul      
absolutely full of the desire to help   
his fellow-man4 ,he peers into  those   
faces as he goes1 and sees the divine   

possibility that is in them1  and he    
sees the divine nature everywhere4 ,they
 are talking about the  idlest trifles1 
about the last bit of local ,boston     
politics4 ,but in  their souls one of   
those men has consecrated himself1 with 
the new  morning1 to the glorious       
service of ,god1 and the other of them  
is asking  how he may be a little richer
 in his miserable wealth when the day   
sinks4 ,oh1 we look into the other world
 and read the great words and  hear it  
said1 ,between me and thee1 this and    
that1 there is a great gulf  fixed2 and 
we think of something that is to come in
 the eternal life4 ,is  there any gulf  
in eternity1 is there any gulf between  
heaven and hell  that is wider1 and     
deeper1 and blacker1 that is more       
impassable than  that gulf which lies   
between these two men going upon their  
daily way8  ,oh1 friends1 it is not that
 ,god is going to judge us some day4    
,that is  not the awful thing4 ,it is   
that ,god knows us now4 ,if ,i stop an  

instant  and know that ,god knows me    
through all these misconceptions and    
blunders  of my brethren1 that ,god     
knows me--that is the awful thing4 ,the 
future  judgment shall but tell it4 ,it 
is here1 here upon my conscience1 now4  
,it  is awful to think how the          
commonplace things that men can do1 the 
commonplace thoughts that men can think1
 the commonplace lives that men  can    
live1 are but in the bosom of the       
future4 ,the thing that impresses  me   
more and more is this--that we only need
 to have extended to the  multitude that
 which is at this moment present in the 
few1 and the world  really would be     
saved4 ,there is but the need of the    
extension into a  multitude of souls of 
that which a few souls have already     
attained in  their consecration of      
themselves to human good1 and to the    
service of  ,god1 and ,i will not say   
the millennium would have come1 ,i don't
 know  much about the millennium1 but   
heaven would have come1 the new         

,jerusalem  would be here4 ,there are   
men enough in this church this morning1 
there  are men enough sitting here      
within the sound of my voice to-day1 if 
they  were inspired by the spirit of    
,god and counted it the great privilege 
of  their life1 to do the work of       
,god--there are men enough here to save 
this city1 and to make this a glowing   
city of our ,lord1 to relieve its       
poverty1 to lighten its darkness1 to    
lift up the cloud that is upon  hearts1 
to turn it into a great1 ,i will not say
 psalm-singing city1 but  ,god-serving1 
,god-abiding city1 to touch all the     
difficult problems of  how society and  
government ought to be organized then   
with a power with  which they should    
yield their difficulty and open         
gradually4 ,the light  to measure would 
be clear enough1 if only the spirit is  
there4 ,give me  five hundred men1 nay1 
give me one hundred men of the spirit   
that ,i know  to-day in three men that  
,i well understand1 and ,i will answer  

for it  that the city shall be saved4   
,and you1 my friend1 are one of the five
  hundred--you are one of the one       
hundred4    ,oh1 but1 you say1 is not   
this slavery over again8 ,you have      
talked  about freedom1 and here ,i am   
once more a slave4 ,i had about got free
  from the bondage of my fellow-men1 and
 here ,i am right in the midst of  it   
again4 ,what has become of my           
personality1 of my independence1 if ,i  
am  to live thus8 ,ay1 you have got to  
learn what every noblest man has  always
 learned1 that no man becomes           
independent of his fellow-men  excepting
 in serving his fellow-men4 ,you have   
got to learn that  ,christianity comes  
to us not simply as a luxury but as a   
force1 and no  man who values           
,christianity simply as a luxury which  
he possesses really  gets the           
,christianity which he tries to value4  
,only when ,christianity is  a force1   
only when ,i seek independence of men in
 serving men1 do ,i cease  to be a slave

 to their whims4 ,i must dress as they  
think ,i ought to  dress2 ,i must walk  
in the streets as they think ,i ought to
 walk2 ,i must  do business just after  
their fashion2 ,i must accept their     
standards2 but  when ,christ has taken  
possession of me and ,i am a total man1 
,i am more  or less independent of these
 men4 ,shall ,i care about their little 
whims  and oddities8 ,shall ,i care     
about how they criticise the outside of 
my  life8 ,shall ,i peer into their     
faces as ,i meet them in the street1 to 
see  whether they approve of me or not8 
,and yet am ,i not their servant8 ,there
  is nothing now ,i will not do to serve
 them1 there is nothing now ,i will  not
 do to save them4 ,if the cross comes1  
,i welcome the cross1 and look  upon it 
with joy1 if1 by my death upon the cross
 in any way1 ,i may echo  the salvation 
of my ,lord and save them4 ,independent 
of them8 ,surely4 ,and  yet their       
servant8 ,perfectly4 ,was ever man so   
independent in ,jerusalem  as ,jesus    

was8 ,what cared ,he for the sneer of   
the ,pharisee1 for the  learned scorn of
 the ,sadducee1 for the taunt of the    
people and the  little boys that had    
been taught to jeer at ,him as ,he went 
down the  street1 and yet the very      
servant of all their life8 ,he says     
there are  two kinds of men--they who   
sit upon a throne and eat1 and they who 
serve4 ,i am among you as he that       
serveth4 ,oh1 seek independence4        
,insist upon independence4 ,insist that 
you will not be the slave of the  poor1 
petty standards of your fellow-men4 ,but
 insist upon it only in the  way in     
which it can be insisted upon1 by       
becoming absolutely the servant  of     
their needs4 ,so only shall you be      
independent of their whims4 ,there  is  
one great figure1 and it has taken in   
all ,christian consciousness1  that     
again and again this work with ,christ  
has been asserted to be the  true       
service in the army of a great master1  
of a great captain1 who goes  before us 

to his victory1 that it is asserted that
 in that captain1 in  the entrance into 
his army1 every power is set free4 ,do  
you remember the  words that a good many
 of us read or heard yesterday in our   
churches1  where ,jesus was doing one of
 ,his miracles1 and it is said that a   
devil  was cast out1 the dumb spake8    
,every power becomes the man's          
possession1  and he uses it in his      
freedom1 and he fights with it with all 
his force1  just as soon as the devil is
 cast out of him4    ,i have tried to   
tell you the noblest motive in which you
 should be a  pure1 an upright1 a       
faithful1 and a strong man4 ,it is not  
for the  salvation of your life1 it is  
not for the salvation of yourself4 ,it  
is  not for the satisfaction of your    
tastes4 ,it is that you may take your   
place in the great army of ,god and go  
forward having something to do  with the
 work that ,he is doing in the world4   
,you remember the days of  the war1 and 
how ashamed of himself a man felt who   

never touched with  his finger the great
 struggle in which the nation was       
engaged4 ,oh1 to go  through this life  
and never touch with my finger the vast 
work that  ,christ is doing1 and when   
the cry of triumph arises at the end to 
stand  there1 not having done one       
little1 unknown1 unnoticed thing to     
bring  about that which is the true life
 of the man and of the world1 that is   
awful4 ,and ,i dare to believe that     
there are young men in this church  this
 morning who1 failing to be touched by  
every promise of their own  salvation   
and every threatening of their own      
damnation1 will still lift  themselves  
up and take upon them the duty of men1  
and be soldiers of  ,jesus ,christ1 and 
have a part in the battle1 and have a   
part somewhere  in the victory that is  
sure to come4 ,don't be selfish         
anywhere4 ,don't be  selfish1 most of   
all1 in your religion4 ,let yourselves  
free into your  religion1 and be utterly
 unselfish4 ,claim your freedom in      

service4          ,,ii4 ,,thought ,,and 
,,action4      ,i want once more to read
 to you these words from the eighth     
chapter of  the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john3  
,as ,he spake these words1 many believed
 on ,him4 ,then said ,jesus to          
those ,jews which believed on ,him1 ,if 
ye continue in ,my word1 then       are 
ye ,my disciples indeed2 ,and ye shall  
know the truth1 and the       truth     
shall make you free4 ,they answered     
,him1 ,we be ,abraham's seed1       and 
were never in bondage to any man3 how   
sayest ,thou1 ,ye shall be       made   
free8 ,jesus answered them1 ,verily1    
verily1 ,i say unto you1                
,whosoever committeth sin is the servant
 of sin4 ,and the servant       abideth 
not in the house for ever3 but the ,son 
abideth ever4 ,if the       ,son        
therefore shall make you free1 ye shall 
be free indeed4    ,there are two great 
regions in which the life of every true 
man resides4  ,they are the region of   
action and the region of thought4 ,it is

  impossible to separate these two      
regions from one another and to bid  one
 man live in one of them alone and the  
other man live only in the  other of    
them4 ,it is impossible to say to the   
business man that he shall  live only in
 the region of action1 it is impossible 
to say to the  scholar that he shall    
live only in the region of thought1 for 
thought  and action make one complete   
and single life4 ,thought is not simply 
the  sea upon which the world of action 
rests1 but1 like the air which  pervades
 the whole solid substance of our globe1
 it permeates and fills  it in every    
part4 ,it is thought which gives to it  
its life4 ,it is  thought which makes   
the manifestation of itself in every    
different  action of man4 ,i hope we are
 not so deluded as men have been        
sometimes1  as some men are to-day1 that
 we shall try to separate these two     
lives  from one another1 and one man    
say1 ,everything depends upon my action1
  and ,i care not what ,i think1 or1 as 

men have said1 at least1 in other       
times1 ,if ,i think right1 it matters   
not how ,i act4 ,but the right  thought 
and the right action make one complete  
and single man4    ,now we have been    
speaking1 upon these ,monday noons1 with
 regard to the  freedom of that highest 
life which is lived under the           
inspiration of  ,jesus ,christ and which
 we call the ,christian life4 ,we have  
claimed that  it is the highest of all  
lives because it is the freest of all   
lives1  that it is the freest of all    
lives because it is the highest1 and it 
may be that we have thought that it was 
true with regard to the active  life in 
which men live1 it may be that we have  
somehow persuaded  ourselves1 that it   
has seemed to us as if there were       
evidence that a man  who lived his life 
in the following of ,jesus ,christ was a
 free man in  regard to his activity4   
,but now there comes to us the other    
thought1 and  it is impossible for us to
 meet together as we have met together  

again  and again here without asking    
with regard to the other region of man's
  life and how it is with man there1 for
 there are a great many people1 ,i      
believe1 who think that while the       
,christian faith offers to man a noble  
sphere of action and sets free powers   
that would otherwise remain  unchanged1 
yet when we come to the region of       
thought or belief1 there it  is         
inevitable that man should know himself1
 when he accepts the faith of  ,jesus   
,christ1 it is inevitable that there the
 man should become less  free than it   
has been thought that he was before the 
blessed ,saviour  was accepted as the   
,master and the ruler of his life4 ,men 
say to  themselves and to one another1  
,yes1 ,i shall be freer to act1 ,i shall
 be  nobler in my action1 but ,i shall  
certainly enchain mind and spirit1 ,i   
shall certainty bind myself to think1   
away from the rich freedom of  thought  
in which ,i have been inclined to live4 
,we make very much of  free thought in  

these days4 ,let us always remember that
 free thought  means the opportunity to 
think1 and not the opportunity not to   
think4 ,we  rejoice in the way in which 
our fathers came to this country and in 
their children perpetuated the purpose  
of their coming1 in order that  they    
might have freedom to worship ,god4 ,do 
we worship ,god8 ,simply to  have       
attained freedom and not to use freedom 
for its true purpose1 not  to live      
within the world of freedom according to
 the life which is given  to us         
there--that is to do dishonor to the    
freedom1 to disown the  purpose for     
which the freedom has been given to us4 
,i want to speak to  you then1 while ,i 
may speak to-day1 with regard to the    
freedom of the  ,christian thought4     
,i want to claim1 that which ,i believe 
with all my soul1 that he who  lives in 
the faith of ,jesus ,christ lives in the
 freest action of his  mental powers1   
and there sees before him and makes     
himself a part of the  large world into 

which man shall enter1 in which he has  
perfect liberty  and can exercise his   
powers as he could never have exercised 
them  without4 ,it is not very strange  
to think that men should have sometimes 
come to think that the religion of      
,jesus ,christ was a slavery that was   
laid upon the mind of man1 because very 
often those who have been the  disciples
 of that religion1 those who have been  
the preachers and  exponents of that    
religion1 have claimed just exactly that
 thing4 ,they  have seemed to say to    
themselves and to one another1 to the   
world to  which they speak1 that man    
does give up the powers of his reason   
when he  enters into the powers of his  
faith1 when he enters into the great    
realm  of faith4 ,led by some sort of   
influence1 led by some heresy with      
regard  to the capacity of man1 or with 
regard to the dealing of ,god with man1 
or with regard to the purposes of man's 
life upon the earth1 they have  been    
content to say that man must give up the

 power of thought in order  that he     
might enter into the ,christian life and
 attain to all the  purposes of the     
,christian discipline1 they have been   
content to say that  man must give up   
the noblest power of his nature in order
 to enter upon  the highest life4 ,well 
might a man hesitate1 hesitate whatever 
the  blessings that were offered to him 
in the fulness of the ,christian        
experience1 if he were called upon to   
give up that which made the very  centre
 and glory of his life1 that which      
linked him most immediately to  the ,god
 from whom he sprang4 ,it would be as if
 in the storm the ship  should cast over
 its engine in order to save its own    
life4 ,the ship  might be saved a little
 while from going down in the depths of 
despair1  but it never would reach the  
port to which it had been bound2 it     
never  would accomplish the purpose of  
the voyage upon which it had set forth4 
,let us put absolutely away from1 us all
 such thoughts4 ,let us come under  the 

inspiration of ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 
who says to us1 in these words  which we
 have repeatedly read to one another1   
that it is the truth that  is to make us
 free1 and that the entrance of the man 
therefore into that  freedom is the     
largest freedom1 of every region of     
man's life4    ,i want to speak to you  
of the way in which my ,master1 ,jesus  
,christ1  appeals to the intelligence of
 man1 of the way in which ,he comes to  
us  in the noblest part of our nature1  
and claims us there for our true life   
within ,himself4 ,i would feel          
altogether wrong if ,i let you depart1  
if ,i  allowed you to meet here with me 
week after week and say these words     
which ,i am privileged to speak to you  
unless ,i did thus claim that the       
,christian life is the largest life of  
the human intellect1 that in it  the    
noblest and central powers of man shall 
attain to their true  liberty4 ,it is   
given for us perhaps to ask ourselves   
for one moment why  it is that man      

thinks1 is ready to think1 that he must 
give up the very  noblest part of his   
life1 his powers of thinking1 in order  
that he may  enter into ,christianity4  
,it seems to me that there are certain  
reasons  for it which we can see2 but   
how fallacious those reasons are6 ,is it
 not  partly because man1 when he is    
called upon to live ,jesus' life1 when  
he  is called upon to be a spiritual    
creature1 immediately sees that he is   
entering into a new and different region
 from that in which his reason  has     
always been exercised4 ,he has been     
dealing with those things that  belong  
to this earth1 with the different duties
 and opportunities and  pleasures that  
present themselves to him every day1 and
 that higher and  loftier region into   
which he has entered seems to have no   
capacity to  call forth those powers    
which he has been using in this lower   
region4  ,and then ,i think again there 
is upon the souls of men who deal with  
,christianity one great conviction which

 is very deep and strong4 ,it is  that  
the ,christian religion cannot be       
absolutely that which it presents       
itself to human mankind as being1       
because it is so rich in the blessings  
that it offers1 because it comes with   
such a large enjoyment to our  human    
life1 and opens such great opportunities
 for human living4 ,is it  not because  
it seems to us too good to be true that 
we sometimes turn  away from            
,christianity1 and think that if we     
enter it at all we must  enter it in the
 dark1 that it cannot possibly appeal to
 these human  natures and make them     
understand its truth1 and let them take 
it into  their intelligence that thence 
it may issue into the soul and become   
the  guiding power of the life8         
,sometimes it seems as if ,christianity 
were  so high that it was impossible    
that man should attain to it1 as if it  
were something altogether beyond our    
human powers4 ,do you want me1 a        
creature with this human body and this  

human relationship1 with this  body and 
with these perpetual bindings and       
connections with my  fellow-men1 do you 
want me to mount up and live among the  
stars and hold  communion with the ,god 
of all8 ,and if you want me to1 is there
 any  possibility of my doing it8 ,such 
a life is glorious1 but not for me4 ,it 
goes beyond any capacity that ,i        
possess4 ,ask yourselves1 my friends1 if
  something like this which ,i have     
tried to describe is not very often in  
your minds as you hear the magnificent  
invitations which ,christ gives to  the 
human soul to live its fullest life1 to 
man to be his fullest being4  ,there    
are1 no doubt1 other reasons which      
present themselves to men1 and  of those
 ,i do not speak4 ,i will not think that
 the men who are listening  here to me  
now1 in a base and low way shrink from  
the evidence of  ,christianity and from 
the life of ,christ because they do not 
want to  enter into that religion       
because it would make too great demands 

upon  them in the sacrifices that they  
would be called upon to make4 ,it is    
said sometimes1 and ,i doubt not that it
 is sometimes true1 that men will  not  
see the power and truth of ,christianity
 because they do not want to  see it4   
,it seems to me that the other is also  
often true1 and it is  that upon which  
we would much rather dwell4 ,men        
sometimes hesitate at  ,christianity and
 tremble1 and will not enter into the   
great region that  is open to them1     
because they do not want it so          
intimately4 ,the  critical1 the         
sceptical disposition is very often born
 just of man's  perception of the glory 
of the life that is offered to him1 and 
of the  intense desire that is at the   
bottom of his soul to enter into that   
life4 ,who is the man that criticises   
the ship most carefully as she lies  at 
the wharf1 that will see what capacity  
she has for the great voyage  that she  
has set before her8 ,is he the man who  
means to linger  carelessly upon the    

bank and never sail away1 or the man who
 is obliged1  if she can sail across the
 ocean1 to go with her8 ,just in        
proportion to  the depth of interest    
with which we look upon all ,christian  
truth we  must be deep questioners with 
regard to the truth of that truth4 ,we  
must  search into all its evidence4 ,we 
must try to understand how it commends  
itself to all our minds4 ,but first of  
all we want to know certainly what      
,christianity is1 if it is able to deal 
with the thing with which we are        
puzzling or never to give an intelligent
 definition of it4    ,how is it now8 ,i
 go to a certain man and ask him1 ,why  
do you not  believe in ,christianity8   
and he says1 ,it is incredible4 ,i      
cannot  believe in it4 ,what is it that 
you cannot believe in8 and then he      
takes forsooth some little point of     
,christian doctrine1 some speculation   
of some ,christian teacher1 some dogma  
of some ,christian church1 and  says1   
,that is incredible1 as if that were    

,christianity4 ,over and over  again men
 are telling that they do not believe in
 ,christianity1 when the  real thing    
that they do not believe in is something
 that is no essential  part of          
,christian faith whatsoever4 ,they never
 have given to themselves  a real       
definition of what the ,christ and the  
,christianity in which they  are called 
upon to believe1 into which they are    
invited to enter1 really  is4 ,the      
lecturer goes up and down the land and  
in the face of mighty  audiences he     
denounces ,christianity4 ,he declares it
 to be unintelligible  and absurd1 to be
 monstrous and brutal4 ,and when you ask
 what it is that  he is thus denouncing1
 what it is that he is thus convicting  
over and  over again1 you find that it  
is something not simply which makes no  
part  of ,christianity1 but which is    
absolutely hostile to the spirit of     
,christianity itself4 ,many and many a  
sceptical lecturer is denouncing  that  
which ,christian men would1 with all    

their hearts1 denounce2 is  declaring   
that to be untrue which no true         
,christian thinker really  believes1    
that which is no real part of the great 
,christian faith1 which  is our glory4  
,do not think when ,i speak thus1 when  
,i say that there are  things attached  
to ,christianity which men do not       
believe1 that they do  not believe in   
the great truth of ,jesus1 without them1
 which men  denouncing think that they  
are denouncing the religion which is    
saving  the world4 ,do not think that ,i
 am simply paring away our great        
,christian  faith1 and making it mean   
just as little as possible in order that
 men  may accept it into their lives4 ,i
 am coming to the heart and soul of it4 
,i want to know1 if my life is all bound
 up with this religion of ,jesus        
,christ1 ,i want to know intrinsically  
what that religion is4 ,i will  scatter 
a thousand things which in the devout   
thought of men have  fastened themselves
 to it4 ,it is but clearing the ship for

 action1 the  making it ready that it   
may do its work1 the binding everything 
tight  just before the storm comes on1  
for that is just the moment when nothing
  essential to the ship itself must be  
cast away1 when ,i make sure1 if ,i     
can1 that every plank and timber1 that  
every iron and brass is in its  true    
place and ready for the strain that may 
be put upon it4    ,but what1 then1 is  
the ,christian religion8 ,it is the     
simple following of  the divine person1 
,jesus ,christ1 who1 entering into our  
humanity1 has  made evident two         
things--the love of ,god for that       
humanity1 and the  power of that        
humanity to answer to the love of ,god4 
,the one thing that  the eye of the     
,christian sees and never can lose is   
that majestic1  simple figure1 great in 
its simplicity1 in its innocence1 in its
 purity  and in its unworldliness1 that 
walked once on this earth and that walks
  forever through the lives of men1     
showing ,himself to human kind1         

manifest in human kind4 ,the power to   
receive it1 the divine life wakened  in 
every child of man by the divine life   
manifested in ,jesus ,christ4  ,that is 
the great ,christian faith1 and the man 
becomes a ,christian in  his belief when
 he assures himself that that           
manifestation of the divine  life has   
been made and is perpetually being made1
 and he answers to that  appeal of the  
,christ4 ,he manifests his belief in    
action when he gives  himself to the    
education and the guiding of that       
,christ1 that in him  there may be      
awakened the life of divinity1 which is 
his true human  life4 ,is it not        
glorious1 this absolute simplicity of   
the ,christian  faith8 ,it is not       
primarily a truth2 it is a person1 it is
 ,he who walked  in ,galilee and ,judea1
 who sat in the houses of mankind1 who  
hung upon  the cross1 in order that ,he 
might perfectly manifest how ,god could 
live  and how man could suffer in the   
obedience to the life of ,god1 and then 

sent forth out of that inspiration and  
said1 ,lo1 ,i am with you always1  doing
 this very thing1 being this very       
,saviour1 even to the end of the  world4
 ,that which the ,christian man believes
 to-day as a ,christian1  whatever else 
he may believe in his private           
speculation1 in his personal  opinion1  
is this3 ,the life of ,god manifest in  
,jesus of ,nazareth and  thenceforth    
going out into the world wakening the   
divine capacity in  every man4    ,you  
say1 ,how can a man believe that8 ,what 
evidence is there of it8 ,the  personal 
evidence of ,jesus ,christ himself4 ,it 
is the self testimony of  ,christ that  
makes the assurance of the ,christian   
faith4 ,does that sound  to you all     
unreasonable8 ,do you turn here in your 
pew or in your aisle  and say1 ,after   
all1 it is the old story which ,i have  
tested and know to  be untrue4          
,suppose yourself back there in         
,jerusalem4 ,suppose the self testimony 
came to you from the very person of     

,jesus ,christ4 ,suppose the words that 
,he absolutely said and the deeds that  
,he absolutely did bore to you a        
testimony that some greater than a human
 life was there1 and that then1  as you 
pressed close to ,him and became a part 
of ,his life1 you found  your own life  
awakened and became a nobler man1       
ashamed to sin1 aspiring  after         
holiness1 thinking noble thoughts1      
lifting yourself not above the  earth1  
but lifting yourself with the whole     
great earth1 which then is  taken up    
into the presence of ,god and made      
sacred through and through4 ,i  know no 
man in whom ,i trust except by the      
personal evidence that he  bears to me  
of himself4 ,i know no man's nature     
finally but by that  testimony which the
 nature gives me of him4 ,bring me all  
evidence that  the man is trustworthy1  
and then when ,i am convinced ,i will go
 and stand  in the presence of that man 
himself1 and he shall tell me4 ,so the  
world  stood1 so the world stands to-day

 in the presence of ,jesus ,christ4 ,his
  presence on earth is an historic fact4
 ,the words that ,he spoke are  written 
down in a true record4 ,the deeds that  
,he did are the history of  the         
manifestations of ,his character1 and   
the story of ,his christendom is  the   
continued manifestation of ,his life1   
the divine life in the life of  man1    
made divine through ,him4 ,now1 a       
question that comes in the  ,christian's
 mind is ,why don't people believe this8
 ,why should they  not8 ,is it not      
written in the historical record8 ,has  
it not manifested  itself in the        
experience of mankind8 ,if it has1      
surely then it appeals  to man's reason1
 and is not merely the act of the blind1
 stupid thing  which we call faith1 but 
it is the noblest action of that hour in
 which  ,i believe1 in the heavens above
 me and in the earth under my feet1 in  
the brother with whom ,i have to do in  
the long course of history1 in the      
total humanity which has grandly lived4 

,the reason that men do not  believe it 
is that of course there seems to be to  
them some strange and  previous         
presumption with regard to it1 something
 which makes the story  incredible4     
,they say it is the supernatural in it1 
that it goes beyond  the ordinary       
experience of man4 ,ah6 it seems also   
strange to me1 the  ordinary experience 
of man4 ,who dares to dream that human  
life has lived  its completest and shown
 the noblest power of receiving ,god    
into itself8  ,who dares to think that  
these few thousand years have exhausted 
this  majestic and mysterious being that
 we call man8 ,who dares to think of    
his own life that1 in these few thirty1 
forty1 fifty years that he has  lived1  
he has known and shown all that ,god can
 do in and for him8 ,who  dares to say  
that it is impossible1 that it is       
improbable1 that he who  is the child of
 ,god shall receive some newer and      
closer access to his  father1 that there
 shall come some new revelation which   

shall be written  not in a book1 not    
upon the skies1 not in the history of   
human kind1 not  on the rocks under our 
feet1 but here in our human flesh1 that 
there  shall be an incarnation1 that the
 ,god who is perpetually trying to      
manifest ,himself to human kind should  
find at last1 should take at last  the  
most exquisite1 the most sensitive1 the 
most perfect1 the most  divine of all   
material on which to write ,his message1
 and in that human  nature show at once 
what ,god was and what man is8 ,until   
there be some  exhaustive sight of human
 nature as that1 it is in no wise       
improbable  that there would be that    
which outgoes our observation1 that once
 in the  long music of our human life   
the great key-note of humanity shall be 
struck1 that once in our great groping  
after the ,god who made us ,he  shall   
seem to draw the veil aside1 nay1 more  
than that1 shall come and  like the     
sunlight crowd ,himself through every   
cloud until ,he takes  possession of our

 humanity4    ,ay1 but you say1 those   
miracles in the life of ,jesus ,christ1 
how  strange those are2 how strange that
 ,he should have touched the water and  
the water become wine2 how strange that 
,he should have called to the  dead man 
and he should have come forth from the  
tomb2 how strange that  ,he should have 
spoken to the waters and the storm grow 
still6 ,ah1 my  friends1 it seems to me 
that there again we are dishonoring     
nature as  just before we did dishonor  
man4 ,there again we are thinking that  
we  have exhausted the capacity of this 
wondrous world in which we live4  ,what 
is the glory of that world8 ,that it    
answers to human kind4 ,in the  mystic  
tradition of the ,book of ,genesis it is
 told how1 when ,god first  made man1   
,he set him master of this world and all
 its powers2 and1 ever  since1 the world
 has been answering to man1 who is its  
master1 and every  message that comes   
back to him1 every response that the    
field makes to  the farmer1 or that the 

rock makes to the scientist1 is but an  
assertion  and the culmination and the  
fulfilment of that which ,god did back  
there4  ,as man has been1 so has the    
world responded to his touch and call4  
,suppose that to-morrow morning the     
perfect man should come1 not the man    
simply of the twentieth century or of   
the twenty-first1 who shall be  greater 
in his humanity than we1 but suppose the
 perfect man1 the  perfect man because  
the divine man1 comes4 ,i cannot dream  
that nature  shall not have words to say
 and a response to make to him that it  
will  not make to these poor hands of   
mine4 ,i can do something with the rock 
and field1 ,i can do something with the 
sea and sky4 ,what shall he do who  is  
to my humanity what the perfect is to   
the absolutely and dreadfully           
imperfect8 ,what shall the divine man   
do8 ,when ,paul speaks in that great    
verse of his and tells us how the whole 
creation groaneth and travaileth        
waiting for the manifestation of the    

,son of ,god1 the whole future  history 
of human science1 of man's knowledge and
 use of the world1 is in  his words4    
,the world shall know man as fast as man
 shows himself1 and  when the ,son of   
,god shall be manifested1 then the      
groaning and  travailing creation shall 
set all its powers free1 and with the   
knowledge with which it floods him and  
with the usages and service with  which 
it supplies him1 it shall claim at last 
its glory as the servant1  the obedient 
servant of man4 ,the ,son of man has    
come4 ,you may at least  suppose it if  
you do not believe it4 ,and if ,he came 
to-morrow morning1  would not this whole
 world lift itself up and answer ,him8  
,who can say  what the hills and valleys
 and trees and oceans and seas would    
have to  say to ,him who at last        
manifested that which the world had been
 waiting  and groaning for1 the         
manifestation1 the complete             
manifestation1 of the  ,son of ,god8    
,that is the reason why ,i claim that   

miracles--,i do not know  that there    
have not been fastened upon the         
miraculous power of ,jesus  stories of  
things1 thinking that they were done    
miraculously1 which ,he  did by what we 
choose in our ignorance to call the     
ordinary powers of  nature--but ,i do   
know that the coming into the world must
 have been more  to this world1 that it 
would have been the most unnatural and  
incredible  thing if the divine man     
coming here had been to the world and   
the world  had been to him only what it 
is to us4    ,and now the question comes
 to each one of us--for ,i must hasten  
on--how  shall a man get within the     
region of that which perhaps you        
recognize1  which ,i do not see how you 
can help believing1 how shall a man get 
within the region of that higher power  
and let it be the rule of his  life1 let
 it manifest itself through him8 ,how do
 you get within the  power of any force1
 my friends8 ,here is ,christ1 a force  
if ,he is  anything1 not a spectacle1   

not a miracle1 not a marvel1 not        
wonderful to  look at1 but a force to   
feel4 ,how do you get within the power  
of any  force8 ,you look out of your    
window1 and men say the frost is        
freezing1  and you see your neighbors   
wrapping their cloaks about them and    
going  down the street as if they were  
cold4 ,men say that a storm is blowing1 
and you see them shelter themselves     
against the storm that blows4 ,how  will
 you make that storm a true thing for   
yourself8 ,go out into it4 ,let  the    
frost smite your cheek1 let the rain    
beat into your face1 let the  wind blow 
upon your back1 and then you know by    
personal experience what  you had known 
by your observation before4 ,and so ,i  
say that only when a  man puts himself  
where he can feel the power of the      
,christ1 where it is  possible for him1 
if there be a ,christ1 if ,christ be all
 that the  ,christian religion claims   
that ,he is1 only when a man puts       
himself where  he needs and must have   

and must certainly feel that ,christ1 if
 there be  a ,christ1 only then has he a
 right to disbelieve if the ,christ be  
not  there1 only then has he a right to 
believe if the ,christ find him there4  
,and where is that8 ,when a man takes up
 the highest duties1 when he  accepts   
the noblest life1 when he lays open his 
soul to the great  exactions and        
obligations which belong to him in his  
spiritual nature1  when he tries to be a
 pure man1 a devoted man1 a noble man1  
only then  has he a chance to know that 
force which only then comes into its    
activity4 ,only when a man tries to live
 the divine life can the divine  ,christ
 manifest ,himself to him4 ,therefore   
the true way for you to find  ,christ is
 not to go groping in a thousand books4 
,it is not for you to  try evidences    
about a thousand things that people have
 believed of ,him1  but it is for you to
 undertake so great a life1 so devoted a
 life1 so  pure a life1 so serviceable a
 life1 that you cannot do it except by  

,christ1 and then see whether ,christ   
helps you4 ,see whether there comes  to 
you the certainty that you are a child  
of ,god1 and the manifestation  of the  
child of ,god becomes the most credible1
 the most certain thing to  you in all  
of history4    ,it may have been that   
such moments have been in some of your  
lives4  ,think of the noblest moment    
that you ever passed1 of the time when1 
lifted up to the heights of glory1 or   
bowed down into the very depths of      
sorrow1 every power that was in you was 
called forth to meet the  exigency or to
 do the work4 ,think of the time when   
you stood upon the  mountain top or     
plunged into the gulf4 ,remember that   
time--it may have  been the death of    
your little child1 it may have been your
 own  sickness1 it may have been your   
failure in business1 it may have been   
the moment of your complete success in  
business1 when you were  solemnized as  
the great shower of wealth poured down  
upon you1 and you  felt that now you    

really had some work for ,god to do in  
the world4 ,ah1  look back to that      
moment and see if then it seemed so     
strange to you  that ,god should come   
into the presence and person of ,his    
universe1 of  ,his children1 and take   
possession of their life4 ,we grow so   
easily to  forget our noblest and most  
splendid times4 ,it seems to me there is
 no  maxim for a noble life like this3  
,count always your highest moments your 
truest moments4 ,believe that in the    
time when you were the greatest and     
most spiritual man1 then you were your  
truest self4 ,men do just the  other    
thing4 ,they say it was an exception1 a 
derangement of my nature1  an           
exultation1 a frenzy1 it was something  
that ,i must not expect again4  ,how    
about the time when they plunged into   
baseness and made their soul  like a    
dog's soul8 ,they shudder at the thought
 of that because they  think it would   
come again4 ,nay1 nay1 shudder if you   
will at the thought  of that1 but       

believe that the highest you ever have  
been you may be all  the time1 and      
vastly higher still if only the power of
 the ,christ can  occupy you and fill   
your life all the time4    ,i said that 
there were many things that people      
attached to ,christianity  that did not 
belong to ,christianity4 ,i know there  
are4 ,it is impossible  that a great    
system like the system of ,christ1 a    
great person like the  great person of  
,christ1 should be in the world1 and men
 not have  speculated and thought in    
regard to ,him4 ,those are not          
,christianity4 ,i  want to-day1 if ,i   
may do nothing else1 to tell you        
absolutely how simple  and single the   
,christian faith1 the ,christ1 really   
is4 ,it is not the  inspiration of this 
book or any theory in regard to its     
inspiration4 ,it  is not the election of
 certain souls and the perdition of     
other souls4  ,it is not the length of  
man's punishment1 whether it is going to
 be  forever and ever1 or whether man is

 to go to his restoration4 ,it is not   
even the constitution of the divine     
life1 the great truth of the way in     
which ,god lives within ,his own nature4
 ,none of these are the essence of  the 
,christian faith1 but simply this3 ,the 
testimony of the divine in man  to the  
divine in man that lifts the man up and 
says3 ,for me to be  brutal is unmanly2 
to be divine is to be my only true self4
 ,why do ,i  believe in ,god8 ,if some  
man asked me1 when on the street1 ,i    
think ,i  should have an answer to give 
him4 ,i could give one great reason--two
  great reasons which are really but one
 great reason--why ,i believe in  ,god4 
,i believe in ,god1 my friends1 ,i      
believe in ,god with all my soul1       
because this world is inexplicable      
without ,him and explicable with ,him1  
and because ,jesus ,christ believed in  
,him2 and it was ,jesus ,christ that    
showed me that this world demanded ,god 
and was inexplicable without ,him2  that
 made certain every suspicion and dream 

that ,i had had before1 and  ,jesus     
,christ believed in ,him4 ,shall ,i go  
to the expert about chemistry  or       
geology and ask him the truth with      
regard to the structure of the  world   
and the meeting of its atoms and forces8
 ,and shall not ,i go to the  spiritual 
expert1 to him in whom the spiritual    
life of man has been  clearest1 and say1
 ,o ,christ1 tell me what is the centre 
and source and  end of all8 ,when he    
says1 ,god1 shall ,i not believe ,him8  
,it is impossible1 as ,i have suggested 
to you again and again in what ,i  have 
been saying1 that a man can have his    
mind open to the receipt of  the truth  
of a person unless he be a certain kind 
of man himself4 ,i do  not know but the 
basest and the wickedest man who lives  
may believe in  the ,copernican theory1 
or that two and two make four1 yet ,i   
cannot help  believing that if he were a
 better and truer man he would believe  
even  those truths1 outside of himself1 
of science and arithmetic1 more fully   

and deeply4 ,men were not all astray in 
the first thing that they were  seeking 
after1 though they were wofully astray  
in many things that they  said about it1
 when they talked about faith and works4
 ,faith enters in  through the soul that
 does a noble deed1 and in the coming in
 of that  faith the higher deed becomes 
possible to him4 ,hear the words that   
,jesus  said1 words that our age must   
take to itself until it shall be wiser  
than it is to-day3 ,blessed are the pure
 in heart1 for they shall see  ,god4 ,if
 any man will do ,his will1 he shall    
know of the doctrine1  whether it be of 
,god4 ,ponder those words1 my friends4  
,see how  reasonable they are4 ,see how 
important they are4 ,see how they have  
the  secret of your own life1 of what it
 is to do1 of what it is to be1  forever
 and ever sealed up in them4 ,these two 
things1 ,i am sure1 are  true with      
regard to the method of belief--that no 
man can ever go  forward to a higher    
belief until he is true to the faith    

which he  already holds4 ,be the noblest
 man that your present faith1 poor and  
weak  and imperfect as it is1 can make  
you to be4 ,live up to your present     
growth1 your present faith4 ,so1 and so 
only1 as you take the next  straight    
step forward1 as you stand strong where 
you are now1 so only  can you think the 
curtain will draw back and there will be
 revealed to  you what lies beyond4 ,and
 then live in your positives and not in 
your  negatives4 ,i am tired of asking  
man what his religious faith is and     
having him tell me what he don't        
believe4 ,he tells me that he don't     
believe in baptism or inspiration or in 
the trinity4 ,if ,i asked a man  where  
he was going and he told me he was not  
going to ,washington1 what  could ,i    
know about where he was going8 ,he would
 not go anywhere so long  as he simply  
rested in that mere negative4 ,be done  
with saying what you  don't believe1 and
 find somewhere or other the truest1    
divinest thing to  your soul that you do

 believe to-day1 and work that out3 work
 it out in  all the action and          
consecration of the soul in the doing of
 your work4  ,this ,i take to be the    
real freedom of ,christian thought--when
 the man  goes forward always into a    
fuller and fuller belief as he becomes  
obedient to that which he already holds4
    ,but yet ,i know ,i have not touched
 the opinion1 the feeling1 nay1 ,i will 
say the black prejudice that is upon    
many1 many minds4 ,ah1 but you have     
bound yourself1 you say4 ,you have given
 your assent to a certain  creed1 you   
believe certain dogmas4 ,to put it as   
simply as you have put  it to us this   
morning1 you believe a certain person4  
,i1 ,i am free1 ,i  believe nothing1 ,i 
can go wandering here and everywhere and
 disbelieve  to my heart's content4     
,yes1 ,i do believe something1 and ,i   
thank ,god for  it4 ,but ,i deny with   
all my intelligence and soul the very   
idea that in  believing that something  
,i have shut my soul to evidence4 ,i am 

ready to  hear any man living1 any man  
living to-day who will prove to me that 
the  ,christ has never lived and that he
 is not the ,lord of men4 ,i will listen
  to any man who is in earnest and who  
is sincere4 ,i will not listen to  any  
trifler1 caviller1 who is merely trying 
to make a point and to get  ahead of the
 poor arguments that ,i can use2 but let
 any fellow-man come  to me with an     
earnest face1 either of puzzled doubt1  
or of earnest and  convinced unbelief1  
and say to me1 ,are you not wrong8 or ,i
 believe  that you are wrong1 and ,i1 of
 course1 will talk to him4 ,do ,i want  
to  believe anything that cannot be     
proved to be true1 anything that my     
intelligence shall not receive8 ,why    
should ,i believe it8 ,shall ,i trust   
myself to the ship merely because ,i    
have refused to examine its timbers1    
when men tell me that it is unsound8    
,shall ,i throw away my truthfulness    
simply for the sake of holding what ,i  
want1 what ,i choose to call the  truth8

 ,it is not because it is safe1 it is   
not because it is pleasant1  it is      
because it seems to the ,christian man  
to be true1 that the  ,christian man    
believes in the presence1 the life1 the 
power of ,jesus  ,christ4 ,therefore    
come1 let me hear every one of you what 
you have to  say4 ,let me see where that
 upon which my soul rests for its very  
life  breaks down2 but1 until ,i hear1  
,i will go forward1 strong in the       
assurance of that which takes hold of   
all my life1 convinces my reason1  lays 
hold of my affections1 enlarges my      
actions1 and opens my whole  being to   
the freedom of the child of ,god4       
,and why should not you1 my friends1 why
 should not you8 ,i honor the  sceptic1 
the faithful and devout sceptic1 with   
all my soul4 ,i am no  scorner of the   
man who1 without scorn1 finds it        
impossible to accept  that which to my  
soul seems to be the absolute truth4 ,i 
will scorn only  that which ,god scorns4
 ,he scorns the scorner1 and only the   

scorning man  is worthy of the scorn of 
human kind4 ,but while ,i honor the     
sceptic1  while ,i invite him to make   
manifest his scepticism1 not merely for 
his  sake but for my own1 ,i will not   
hold1 ,i cannot hold that he is living a
  larger life than the man whom the     
,christ invites to every noble duty1 to 
every faithful fulfilment of himself4 ,i
 will feel that he1 perhaps by  the     
necessity of his nature1 perhaps by his 
circumstances1 perhaps by  something    
which came down to him from his         
ancestors1 is shut in1 is a  contained  
and hampered and hindered man1 and ,i   
will long for the day  when he1 lifting 
up his eyes1 sees that ,christ walking  
in the midst of  humanity1 and yet at   
the head of humanity1 manifesting our   
human nature1  but outgoing our human   
nature1 glorifying our streets while ,he
  interprets our streets for the first  
time into their full meaning1  giving to
 our shops and houses a radiancy which  
they have expected and  dreamed of1 but 

never felt1 and tempting us always into 
a deeper belief  in ,him1 which1        
embodying itself in a completer         
consecration to the right  and true1    
shall lead us on into the fulness which 
he fills4 ,can ,i1 can  you1 have       
,christ in human history1 ,christ in the
 world1 and live as if  ,he were not    
here8 ,will you not give yourself to    
that of ,him which you  know to-day8    
,will you not at least lay hold of the  
very skirts of ,his  garment and say1 ,i
 see that ,thou art good1 ,i see that   
,thou art true4  ,lead me into the      
goodness and truth which by communion   
and sympathy  shall know ,thee more4    
,lord1 ,i believe4 ,i believe just a    
little4 ,lord1 ,i  know that that must  
come which ,thou hast said has come in  
,thee4 ,i would  enter into ,thee1 to   
see whether it has indeed come in ,thee1
 and ,thou  shalt lead me1 ,thou shalt  
teach me4 ,lord1 ,i believe4 ,i have not
 grasped  ,thee4 ,no man has grasped    
,thee4 ,the man who says that he has    

grasped ,thee  proves thereby that he   
does not know ,thee4 ,i know that ,i    
have not  grasped ,thee1 but ,i will    
follow ,thee by doing righteousness1 by 
serving  truth1 by knowing and          
acknowledging ,thee until all of that   
shall become  clear to me4 ,i will      
follow ,thee1 and ,thou shalt lead me   
into the glory  which ,thou ,thyself    
abidest in4 ,lord1 ,i believe1 ,lord1 ,i
 believe1 help  ,thou mine unbelief4    
,the story of the present1 the hope1 the
 pure1  certain hope of the future is in
 those great words3 ,lord1 ,i believe1  
help ,thou mine unbelief4               
,,iii4 ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,the          
,,christian ,,business ,,man4      ,i   
will read to you once again the words   
which ,i have read before1 the  words of
 ,jesus in the eighth chapter of the    
,gospel of ,st4 ,john3         ,as ,he  
spake these words1 many believed on     
,him4 ,then said ,jesus to       those  
,jews which believed on ,him1 if ye     
continue in ,my word1 then       are ye 

,my disciples indeed2 and ye shall know 
the truth1 and the       truth shall    
make you free4 ,they answered ,him1 ,we 
be ,abraham's seed1       and were never
 in bondage to any man3 how sayest      
,thou1 ,ye shall be       made free8    
,jesus answered them1 ,verily1 verily1  
,i say unto you4       ,whosoever       
committeth sin is the servant of sin4   
,and the servant       abideth not in   
the house forever3 but the ,son abideth 
ever4 ,if the       ,son therefore shall
 make you free1 ye shall be free indeed4
    ,i do not know how any man can stand
 and plead with his brethren for the    
higher life1 that they will enter into  
and make their own the life of  ,christ 
and ,god1 unless he is perpetually      
conscious that around them with  whom he
 pleads there is the perpetual pleading 
and the voice of ,god  ,himself4 ,unless
 a man believes that1 everything that he
 has to say must  seem1 in the first    
place1 impertinent1 and1 in the second  
place1 almost  absolutely hopeless4 ,who

 is man that he shall plead with his    
fellow-man  for the change of a life1   
for the entrance into a whole new       
career1 for  the alteration of a spirit1
 for the surrounding of himself with a  
new  region in which he has not lived   
before8 ,but if it be so1 that ,god is  
pleading with every one of ,his children
 to enter into the highest life2  if it 
be so1 that ,god is making ,his         
application and ,his appeal to every    
soul to know ,him1 and in ,him to know  
himself1 then one may plead with        
earnestness and plead with great        
hopefulness before his brethren4 ,and so
  it is4 ,the great truth of ,jesus     
,christ is that1 that ,god is pleading  
with every soul1 not merely in the words
 which we hear from one another1  not   
merely in the words which we read from  
,his book1 but in every  influence of   
life2 and1 in those unknown influences  
which are too subtle  for us to         
understand or perceive1 ,god is forever 
seeking after the souls  of ,his        

children4    ,i cannot stand before you 
for the last time that ,i shall stand   
,in these  meetings1 my friends1 without
 reminding myself and without reminding 
you  of that2 without reminding myself  
also and without trying to remind you   
of how absolutely conformable it is to  
everything that man does in this  world4
 ,the great richness of nature1 the     
great richness of life1 comes  when we  
understand that behind every specific   
action of man there is  some one of the 
more elemental and primary forces of the
 universe that  are always trying to    
express themselves4 ,there is nothing   
that man does  that finds its beginning 
within itself1 but everything1 every    
work of  every trade1 of every          
occupation1 is simply the utterance of  
some one of  those great forces which   
lie behind all life1 and in the various 
ways of  the different generations and  
of the different men are always trying  
to  make their mark upon the world4     
,behind the power that the man exercises

  there always lies the great power of  
life1 the continual struggle of  nature 
to write herself in the life and work of
 man1 the power of beauty  struggling to
 manifest itself1 the harmony that is   
always desiring to  make itself known4  
,to the merchant there are the great    
laws of trade1 of  which his works are  
but the immediate expression4 ,to the   
mechanic there  are the continual forces
 of nature1 gravitation uttering itself 
in all  its majesty1 made no less       
majestic because it simply takes its    
expression for the moment in some       
particular exercise of his art4 ,to the 
ship that sails upon the sea there are  
the everlasting winds that come  out of 
the treasuries of ,god and fulfil ,his  
purpose in carrying ,his  children to   
their destination4 ,there is no         
perfection of the universe  and of the  
special life of man in the universe     
until it comes to this4  ,the greatest  
of all forces are ready without         
condescension1 are ready as  the true   

expression of their life1 to manifest   
themselves in the  particular activities
 which we find everywhere1 and which are
 going on  everywhere4 ,the little child
 digs his well in the sea-shore sand1   
and  the great ,atlantic1 miles deep1   
miles wide1 is stirred all through and  
through to fill it for him4 ,shall it   
not be so then here to-day1 and  shall  
it not be the truth1 upon which we let  
our minds especially dwell1  and which  
we keep in our souls all the time that  
,i am speaking and you  are listening1  
that however ,he may be hidden from our 
sight ,god is the  ultimate fact and the
 final purpose and power of the         
universe1 and that  everything that man 
tries to do for his fellow-man is but   
the expression  of that love of ,god    
which is everywhere struggling to utter 
itself in  blessing1 to give itself away
 to the soul of every one for whom ,he  
cares8    ,it is in this truth that ,i  
find the real secret1 the deepest       
meaning1  of the everlasting            

dissatisfaction of man that is always   
ready to be  stirred4 ,we moralize1 we  
philosophize about the discontent of    
man4 ,we  give little reasons for it2   
but the real reason of it all is this1  
that  which everything lying behind it  
really signifies3 that man is greater   
than his circumstances1 and that ,god is
 always calling to him to come up  to   
the fulness of his life4 ,dreadful will 
be the day when the world  becomes      
contented1 when one great universal     
satisfaction spreads itself  over the   
world4 ,sad will be the day for every   
man when he becomes  absolutely         
contented with the life that he is      
living1 with the thoughts  that he is   
thinking1 with the deeds that he is     
doing1 when there is not  forever       
beating at the doors of his soul some   
great desire to do  something larger1   
which he knows that he was meant and    
made to do  because he is the child of  
,god4 ,and there is the real secret of  
the  man's struggle with his sins4 ,it  

is not simply the hatefulness of the    
sin1 as we have said again and again1   
but it is the dim perception1 the  deep 
suspicion1 the real knowledge at the    
heart of the man1 that there  is a      
richer and a sinless region in which it 
is really meant for him to  dwell4 ,man 
stands separated from that life of ,god1
 as it were1 by a  great1 thick wall1   
and every effort to put away his sin1 to
 make himself  a nobler and a purer man1
 is simply his beating at the inside of 
that  door which stands between him and 
the life of ,god1 which he knows that   
he ought to be living4 ,it is like the  
prisoner hidden in his cave1 who  feels 
through all the thick wall that shuts   
him out from it the sunlight  and the   
joyous life that is outside1 who knows  
that his imprisonment is  not his true  
condition1 and so with every tool that  
his hands can grasp  and with his       
bleeding hands themselves beats on the  
stone1 that he may  find his way out4   
,and the glory and the beauty of it is  

that while he is  beating upon the      
inside of the wall there is also a noble
 power praying  upon the outside of that
 wall1 ,the life to which he ought to   
come is  striving in its turn1 upon its 
side1 to break away the hindrance that  
is  keeping him from the thing he ought 
to be1 that is keeping him from the     
life he ought to live4 ,god1 with ,his  
sunshine and lightning1 with the  great 
majestic manifestations of ,himself1 and
 with all the peaceful  exhibitions of  
,his life1 is forever trying1 upon ,his 
side of the wall1  to break away the    
great barrier that separates the        
sinner's life from  ,him4 ,great is the 
power1 great is the courage of the      
sinner1 when  through the thickness of  
the walls he feels that beating life of 
,god1  when he knows that he is not     
working alone1 when he is sure that ,god
 is  wanting him just as truly1 far more
 truly1 than he wants ,god4 ,he bears   
himself to a nobler struggle with his   
enemy and a more determined effort  to  

break down the resistance that stands   
between him and the higher  life4 ,our  
figure is all imperfect1 as all our     
figures are so imperfect1  because it   
seems to be the man all by himself1     
working by himself1 until  he shall come
 forth into the life of ,god1 as if ,god
 waited there to  receive him when he   
came forth the freed man1 and as if the 
working of  the freedom upon the        
sinner's side had not something also of 
the purpose  of ,god within him4 ,god is
 not merely in the sunshine2 ,god is in 
the  cavern of the man's sin4 ,god is   
with the sinner wherever he can be4     
,there is no soul so black in its       
sinfulness1 so determined in its        
defiant obstinacy1 that ,god has        
abandoned his throne room at the centre 
of the sinner's life1 and every movement
 is the ,god movement and every  effort 
is the ,god force1 with which man tries 
to break forth from his  sin and come   
forth into the full sunlight of a life  
with ,god4 ,do you not  think how full  

of hope it is8 ,do you not see that when
 this great  conception of the universe1
 which is ,christ's conception1 which   
beamed  in every look that ,he shed upon
 the world1 which was told in every word
  that ,he spoke and which was in every 
movement of ,his hand--do you not  see  
how1 when this great conception of the  
universe takes possession of  a man1    
then all his struggle with his sin is   
changed1 it becomes a  strong struggle1 
a glorious struggle4 ,he hears          
perpetually the voice of  ,christ1 ,be  
of good cheer4 ,i have overcome the     
world4 ,you shall overcome  it by the   
same strength which overcame with ,me4  
,and then another thing4 ,when a man    
comes forth into the fulness of that    
life with ,god1 when at last he has     
entered ,god's service and the          
obedience to ,god's will1 and the       
communion with ,god's life1 then there  
comes this wonderful thing1 there comes 
the revelation of the man's  past4 ,we  
dare to tell the man that if he enters  

into the divine life1 if  he makes      
himself a servant of ,god and does      
,god's will out of obedient  love1 he   
shall then be strong and wise4 ,one     
great element of his  strength is going 
to be this3 ,a marvellous revelation    
that is to come to  him of how all his  
past has been filled with the power of  
that spirit  with which he has at last  
entered into communion1 to which he has 
at  last submitted himself4 ,man becomes
 the child of ,god1 becomes the  servant
 of ,jesus ,christ1 and this marvellous 
revelation amazes him4 ,he  sees that   
back through all the years of his most  
obstinate and careless  life1 through   
all his wilfulness and resistance1      
through all his  profligacy and black   
sin1 ,god has been with him all the     
time1 beating  himself upon his life1   
showing him how ,he desired to call him 
to  ,himself1 and that the final        
submission does not win ,god4 ,it simply
  submits to the ,god who has been with 
the soul all the time4 ,can there be    

anything more winning to the soul than  
that1 anything that brings a  deeper    
shame to you1 than to have it revealed  
to you1 suddenly or  slowly1 that from  
the first day that you came into this   
world1 nay1  before your life was an    
uttered fact in this world1 ,god has    
been loving  you1 and seeking you1 and  
planning for you1 and making every      
effort that  ,he could make in          
consistency with the free will with     
which ,he endowed  you from the centre  
of ,his own life1 that you might become 
,his and  therefore might become truly  
yourself8 ,through all the years in     
which  you were obstinate and           
rebellious1 through all the years in    
which you  defied ,him1 nay1 through the
 years in which you denied ,him and said
 that  ,he did not exist1 ,he was with  
you all the time4 ,what shall ,i say to 
my  friend who is an atheist8 ,shall ,i 
believe that until he comes to a  change
 of his opinions and recognizes that    
there is indeed a ruling  love1 a great 

and fatherly ,god for all the world1    
that he has nothing to  do with that    
,god8 ,shall ,i believe that ,god has   
nothing to do with him  until he        
acknowledges ,god8 ,god would be no ,god
 to me if ,he were that1 if  ,he left   
the man absolutely unhelped until the   
man beat at the doors of  ,his divine   
helpfulness and said1 ,i believe in     
,thee at last4 ,now help  me4 ,and to   
the atheist there appears the light of  
the ,god whom he  denies4 ,into every   
soul1 just so far and just so fast as it
 is possible  for that soul to receive  
it1 ,god beats ,his life and gives ,his 
help4 ,that  is what makes a man hopeful
 of all his fellow-men as he looks      
around  upon them and sees them in all  
the conditions of their life4    ,and   
this could only be if that were true1 if
 that is true1 which we are  dwelling   
upon constantly1 the absolute           
naturalness of the ,christian  life1    
that it is man's true life1 that it is  
no foreign region into  which some man  

may be transported and where he lives an
 alien to all his  own essential nature 
and to all the natural habitudes in     
which he is  intending to exist4 ,there 
are two ideas of religion which always  
have  abounded1 and our great hope is1  
our great assurance for the future of   
the world is1 that the true and pure    
idea of religion some day shall  grow   
and take possession of the life of man4 
,one idea1 held by very  earnest people1
 embodied in very faithful and devoted  
lives1 is the  strangeness of religion  
to the life of man1 as if some morning  
something  dropped out of the sky that  
had had no place upon our earth before1 
as  if there came the summons to man to 
be something entirely different from    
what the conditions of his nature       
prophesied and intended that he  should 
be4 ,the other idea is that religion    
comet by the utterance of ,god  from the
 heavens1 but comes up out of the human 
life of man2 that man is  essentially   
and intrinsically religious2 that he    

does not become  something else than man
 when he becomes the servant of ,jesus  
,christ1 but  then for the first time he
 becomes man2 that religion is not      
something  that is fastened upon the    
outside of his life1 but is the         
awakening of  the truth inside of his   
life2 the ,church is but the true       
fulfilment of  human life and society2  
heaven is but the ,new ,jerusalem that  
completes  all the old ,jerusalem and   
,londons and ,bostons that have been    
here upon  our earth4 ,man1 in the      
fulfilment of his nature by ,jesus      
,christ1 is  man--not to be something   
else1 our whole humanity is too dear to 
us4 ,i  will cling to this humanity of  
man1 for ,i do love it1 and ,i will know
  nothing else4 ,but when man is bidden 
to look back into his humanity and  see 
what it means to be a man1 that humanity
 means purity1 truthfulness1            
earnestness1 and faithfulness to that   
,god of which humanity is a part1  that 
,god which manifested that humanity was 

a part of it1 when the  incarnation     
showed how close the divine and human   
belonged  together--when man hears that 
voice1 ,i do not know how he can resist1
  why he shall not lift himself up and  
say1 ,now ,i can be a man1 and ,i can   
be man only as ,i share in and give my  
obedience to and enter into  communion  
with the life of ,god1 and say to       
,christ1 to ,christ the  revealer of all
 this1 ,here ,i am1 fulfil my manhood4  
,and do not you see how immediately this
 sweeps aside1 as one gush of the       
sunlight sweeps aside the darkness1 do  
not you see how it sweeps aside  all the
 foolish and little things that people  
are saying8 ,i say to my  friend1 ,be a 
,christian4 ,that means to be a full    
man4 ,and he says to  me1 ,i have not   
time to be a ,christian4 ,i have not    
room4 ,if my life was  not so full4 ,you
 don't know how hard ,i work from       
morning to night4 ,what  time is there  
for me to be a ,christian8 ,what time is
 there1 what room is  there for         

,christianity in such a life as mine8   
,but does not it come to  seem to us so 
strange1 so absurd1 if it was not so    
melancholy1 that man  should say such a 
thing as that8 ,it is as if the engine  
had said it had  no room for the steam4 
,it is as if the tree had said it had no
 room for  the sap4 ,it is as if the    
ocean had said it had no room for the   
tide4 ,it  is as if the man said that he
 had no room for his soul4 ,it is as if 
life  said that it had no time to live1 
when it is life4 ,it is not something   
that is added to life4 ,it is life4 ,a  
man is not living without it4 ,and  for 
a man to say that ,i am so full in life 
that ,i have no room for  life1 you see 
immediately to what absurdity it reduces
 itself4 ,and how  a man knows what he  
is called upon by ,god's voice1 speaking
 to him every  hour1 speaking to him    
every moment1 speaking to him out of    
everything1  that which the man is      
called upon to do because it is the     
man's only  life6 ,therefore time1 room1

 that is what time1 that is what room is
  for--life4 ,life is the thing we seek1
 and man finds it in the fulfilment  of 
his life by ,jesus ,christ4    ,now1    
until we understand this and take it in 
its richness1 all religion  seems1      
becomes to us such a little thing that  
it is not religion at all4  ,you have   
got to know that religion1 the service  
of ,christ1 is not  something to be     
taken in in addition to your life2 it is
 your life4 ,it  is not a ribbon that   
you shall tie in your hat1 and go down  
the street  declaring yourself that you 
have accepted something in addition to  
the  life which your fellow-men are     
living4 ,it is something which1 taken   
into  your heart1 shall glow in every   
action so that your fellow-men shall    
say1 ,lo1 how he lives6 ,what new life  
has come into him8 ,it is that          
insistence upon the great essentialness 
of the religious life1 it is the        
insistence that religion is not a lot of
 things that a man does1 but is  a new  

life that a man lives1 uttering itself  
in new actions because it  is the new   
life4 ,except a man be born again he    
cannot see the kingdom  of ,god4 ,so    
,jesus said to ,nicodemus the ruler1    
,nicodemus the amateur in  religions1   
who came and said1 ,perhaps this teacher
 has something else  that ,i can bind   
into my catalogue of truths and hold it4
 ,jesus looked  him in the face and     
said3 ,it is not that1 my friend1 it is 
not that2 it  is to be a new man1 it is 
to be born again4 ,it is to have the new
 life1  which is the old life1 which is 
the eternal life4 ,so alone does man    
enter into the kingdom of ,god4 ,i      
cannot help believing all the time  that
 if our young men knew this1 religion   
would lift itself up and have  a dignity
 and greatness--not a thing for weak    
souls1 but a thing for the  manliest    
soul4 ,just because of its manliness it 
is easy4 ,is it easy or  is it hard1    
this religion of yours8 people say to   
us4 ,i am sure ,i do  not know the easy 

and the hard things4 ,i cannot tell the 
difference4  ,what is easier than for a 
man to breathe8 ,and yet1 have you never
 seen a  breathless man1 a man in whom  
the breathing was almost stopped1 a     
drowning man1 an exhausted man8 have you
 never seen1 when the breath was  put   
once more to his nostrils and brought   
down once more into his empty  lungs1   
the struggle with which he came back to 
it8 ,it was the hardest  thing for him  
to do1 so much harder for him to live   
than it was for him  to die4 ,but by and
 by see him on his feet1 going about his
 work1 helping  his fellow-men1 living  
his life1 rejoicing in his days1        
guarding  against his dangers1 full of  
life4 ,is life a hard thing for him8    
,you  don't talk about its being hard or
 easy any more than you talk about  life
 itself4 ,the man who lives in ,god     
knows no life except the life of  ,god4 
,let men know that it is not mere       
trifling1 it is not a thing to be       
dallied with for an instant1 it is not a

 thing for a man to convince  himself by
 an argument1 and then keep as it were  
locked in a shelf3 it  is something that
 is so deep and serious1 so deep and    
serious that when  a man has once tested
 it there is no more chance of his going
 out of it  than there is of his going  
out of the friendship and the love which
  holds him with its perpetual          
expression1 with the continued deeper   
and  deeper manifestation of the way in 
which the living being belongs to him   
who has a right to his life4    ,now in 
the few moments that remain ,i want to  
take it for granted most  seriously1    
most earnestly1 that the men who are    
listening to me are in  earnest1 and ,i 
want to try to tell them as a brother   
might tell a  brother1 as ,i might tell 
to you or try to tell to you if sitting 
before  my fireside1 ,i want to try to  
answer the question which ,i know is    
upon  your hearts4 ,what shall ,i do    
about this8 ,i know you say2 ,is this   
all  in the clouds8 ,is there anything  

,i can do in the right way8 ,if you are 
in earnest1 ,i shall try to tell you    
what ,i should do1 if ,i were in your   
place1 that ,i might enter into that    
life and be the free man that we  have  
tried to describe1 of whom we believe   
certain special and definite  things4   
,what are they8 ,in the first place ,i  
would put away my sin4 ,there  is not a 
man listening to me now who has not some
 trick of life1 some  habit that has    
possession of him1 which he knows is a  
wrong thing4 ,the  very first thing for 
a man to do is absolutely to set himself
 against  them4 ,if you are foul1 stop  
being licentious1 at least stop doing   
licentious things4 ,if you1 in any part 
of your business1 are tricky1 and       
unsound1 and unjust1 cut that off1 no   
matter what it costs you4 ,there is     
something clear and definite enough for 
every man4 ,it is as clear for  every   
man as the sunlight that smites him in  
his eyes4 ,stop doing the  bad thing    
which you are doing4 ,it is drawing the 

bolt away to let  whatever mercy may    
come in come in4 ,stop doing your sin4  
,you can do that  if you will4 ,stop    
doing your sin1 no matter how mechanical
 it seems1 and  then take up your duty1 
whatever you can do to make the world   
more  bright and good4 ,do whatever you 
can to help every struggling soul1 to   
add new strength to any staggering      
cause1 the poor sick man that is by     
you1 the poor wronged man whom you with 
your influence might vindicate1  the    
poor boy in your shop that you may set  
with new hope upon the road  of life    
that is beginning already to look dark  
to him4 ,i cannot tell you  what it is4 
,but you know your duty4 ,no man ever   
looked for it and did  not find it4     
,and then the third thing--pray4 ,yes1  
go to the ,god whom you but dimly  see  
and pray to ,him in the darkness1 where 
,he seems to sit4 ,ask ,him1 as  if ,he 
were1 that ,he will give you that which1
 if ,he is1 must come from  ,him1 can   
come from ,him alone4 ,pray anxiously4  

,pray passionately1 in the  simplest of 
all words1 with the simplest of all     
thoughts4 ,pray1 the  manliest thing    
that a man can do1 the fastening of his 
life to the  eternal1 the drinking of   
his thirsty soul out of the great       
fountain of  life4 ,and pray distinctly4
 ,pray upon your knees4 ,one grows tired
  sometimes of the free thought1 which  
is yet perfectly true1 that a man  can  
pray anywhere and anyhow4 ,but men have 
found it good to make the  whole system 
pray4 ,kneel down1 and the very bending 
of these obstinate  and unused knees of 
yours will make the soul kneel down in  
the humility  in which it can be exalted
 in the sight of ,god4    ,and then read
 your ,bible4 ,how cold that sounds6    
,what1 read a book to  save my soul8    
,read an old story that my life in these
 new days shall be  regenerated and     
saved8 ,yes1 do just that1 for out of   
that book1 if you  read it truly1 shall 
come the divine and human person4 ,if   
you can read  it with your soul as well 

as with your eyes1 there shall come the 
,christ  there walking in ,palestine4   
,you shall see ,him so much greater than
 the  ,palestine in which he walks1 that
 at one word of prayer1 as you bend     
over the illuminated page1 there shall  
lift up that body-being of the  ,christ1
 and come down through the centuries and
 be your helper at your  side4 ,so read 
your ,bible4    ,and then seek the      
,church--oh1 yes1 the ,church4 ,do you  
think1 my friends1  you who stand       
outside the ,church1 and blame her for  
her inconsistencies1  and tell of her   
shortcomings1 and point out the         
corruptions that are in  her history1   
all that are in her present life        
to-day--do you really  believe that     
there is an earnest man in the ,church  
that does not know  the ,church's       
weaknesses and faults just as well as   
you do8 ,do you  believe that there is  
one of us living in the life and heart  
of the  ,church who don't think with all
 his conscience1 who don't in every day 

in deep distress and sorrow know how the
 ,church fails of the great life  of the
 ,master1 how far she is from being what
 ,god meant she should be1  what she    
shall be some day8 ,but all the more ,i 
will put my life into  that ,church1 all
 the more ,i will drink the strength    
that she can give to  me and make what  
humble contribution to her ,i can bring 
of the  earnestness and faithfulness of 
my life4 ,come into the ,church of      
,jesus  ,christ4 ,there is no other body
 on the face of the earth that          
represents  what she represents--the    
noble destiny of the human soul1 the    
great  capacity of human faith1 the     
inexhaustible and unutterable love of   
,god1  the ,christ1 who stands to       
manifest them all4    ,now those are the
 things for a man to do who really cares
 about all  this4 ,those are the things 
for an earnest man to do4 ,they have no 
power  in themselves1 but they are the  
opening of the windows4 ,and if that    
which ,i believe is true1 ,god is       

everywhere giving himself to us1 the    
opening of the windows is a signal that 
we want ,him and an invitation  that ,he
 will be glad enough to answer1 to come4
 ,into every window that  is open to    
,him and turned ,his way1 ,christ comes1
 ,god comes4 ,that is the  only story4  
,there is put aside everything else4    
,election1  predestination1 they can go 
where they please4 ,i am sure that ,god 
gives  ,himself to every soul that wants
 ,him and declares its want by the open 
readiness of the signal which ,he knows4
 ,how did the sun rise on our city  this
 morning8 ,starting up in the east1 the 
sun came in its majesty into  the sky4  
,it smote on the eastward windows1 and  
wherever the window was  all closed1    
even if it were turned eastward1 on the 
sacred side of the  city's life1 it     
could not come in2 but wherever any     
eastward window had  its curtains drawn1
 wherever he who slept had left the     
blinds shut1 so  that the sun when it   
came might find its way into his        

sleepiness1 there  the sun came1 and    
with a shout awoke its faithful servant 
who had  believed in him even before he 
had seen him1 and said1 ,arise1 arise   
from the dead1 and ,i will give thee    
life4 ,this is the simplicity of it     
all1 my friends4 ,a multitude of other  
things you need not trouble  yourselves 
about4 ,i amaze myself when ,i think how
 men go asking about  the questions of  
eternal punishment and the duration of  
man's torment in  another life1 of what 
will happen to any man who does not obey
 ,jesus  ,christ4 ,oh1 my friends1 the  
soul is all wrong when it asks that4    
,not  until the soul says1 ,what will   
come if ,i do obey ,jesus ,christ8 and  
opens its glorified vision to see all   
the great things that are given to  the 
soul that enters into the service of the
 perfect one1 the perfect  love1 not    
until then the perfect love1 the perfect
 life1 come in4 ,a man  may be--,i      
believe it with all my heart--so        
absolutely wrapped up in the  glory of  

obedience1 and the higher life1 and the 
service of ,christ1 that  he never once 
asks himself1 ,what will come to me if  
,i do not obey8 any  more than your     
child asks you what you will do to him  
if he is not  obedient4 ,every impulse  
and desire of his life sets toward      
obedience4  ,and so the soul may have no
 theory of everlasting or of limited    
punishment1 or of the other life4       
,simply now1 here1 he must have that    
without which he cannot live1 that      
without which there is no life4 ,jesus  
the soul must have1 the one  yesterday1 
to-day1 and forever2 ,he that is and was
 and is to be4 ,men  dwell upon what ,he
 was1 upon what ,he is2 ,i rather think 
to-day of what  ,he is to be4 ,and when 
,i see these young men here before me   
looking to  the future and not to the   
past1--nay1 looking to the future and   
not to  the present1 valuing the present
 only as it is the seed ground of the   
future1 the foundation upon which the   
structure is to rise whose  pinnacle    

shall some day pierce the sky1--,i want 
to tell them of the  ,jesus that shall  
be4 ,in fuller comprehension of ,him1   
with deeper  understanding of ,his life1
 with a more entire impression of what  
,he is  and of what ,he may be to the   
soul1 so men shall understand ,him in   
the  days to be1 and yet ,he shall be   
the same ,christ still4 ,the future     
belongs to ,jesus ,christ1 yes1 the same
 ,christ that ,i believe in and that  ,i
 call upon you to believe in to-day1 but
 a larger1 fuller1 more  completely     
comprehended ,christ1 the ,christ that  
is to be1 the same  ,christ that was and
 suffered1 the same ,christ that is and 
helps1 but  the same ,christ also who1  
being forever deeper and deeper and more
  deeply received into the souls of men1
 regenerates their institutions1        
changes their life1 opens their         
capacities1 surprises them with         
themselves1 makes the world glorious and
 joyous every day1 because it  has      
become the new incarnation1 the new     

presence of the divine life in  the life
 of man4    ,men are talking about the  
institutions in which you are engaged1  
my  friends1 about the business from    
which you have come here to worship for 
this little hour4 ,men are questioning  
about what they care to do1 what  they  
can have to do with ,christianity4 ,they
 are asking everywhere this  question3  
,is it possible for a man to be engaged 
in the activities of  our modern life   
and yet to be a ,christian8 ,is it      
possible for a man to  be a broker1 a   
shopkeeper1 a lawyer1 a mechanic1 is it 
possible for a  man to be engaged in a  
business of to-day1 and yet love his    
,god and his  fellow-man as himself8 ,i 
do not know4 ,i do not know what        
transformations these dear businesses of
 yours have got to undergo  before they 
shall be true and ideal homes for the   
child of ,god2 but ,i do  know that upon
 ,christian merchants and ,christian    
brokers and ,christian  lawyers and     
,christian men in business to-day there 

rests an awful and a  beautiful         
responsibility3 to prove1 if you can    
prove it1 that these  things are capable
 of being made divine1 to prove that a  
man can do the  work that you have been 
doing this morning and will do this     
afternoon1  and yet shall love his ,god 
and his fellow-man as himself4 ,if he   
cannot1  if he cannot1 what business    
have you to be doing them8 ,if he can1  
what  business have you to be doing them
 so poorly1 so carnally1 so             
unspiritually1 that men look on them and
 shake their heads with doubt8  ,it     
belongs to ,christ in men first to prove
 that man may be a ,christian  and yet  
do business2 and1 in the second place1  
to show how a man1 as he  becomes a     
greater ,christian1 shall purify and    
lift the business that he  does and make
 it the worthy occupation of the ,son of
 ,god4    ,what shall be our universal  
law of life8 ,can we give it as we draw 
toward our last moment8 ,i think we can4
 ,i want to live1 ,i want to live1  if  

,god will give me help1 such a life     
that1 if all men in the world were      
living it1 this world would be          
regenerated and saved4 ,i want to live  
such a life that1 if that life changed  
into new personal peculiarities  as it  
went to different men1 but the same life
 still1 if every man were  living it1   
the millennium would be here2 nay1      
heaven would be here1 the  universal    
presence of ,god4 ,are you living that  
life now8 ,do you want  your life       
multiplied by the thousand million so   
that all men shall be  like you1 or     
don't you shudder at the thought1 don't 
you give hope that  other men are better
 than you are8 ,keep that fear1 but only
 that it may  be the food of a diviner  
hope1 that all the world may see in you 
the  thing that man was meant to be1    
that is1 the ,christ4 ,ah1 you say1 that
  great world1 it is too big2 how can ,i
 stretch my thought and imagination  and
 conscience to the poor creatures in    
,africa and everywhere8 ,then  bring it 

home4 ,ah1 this dear city of ours1 this 
city that we love1 this  city in which  
many of us were born1 in which all of us
 are finding the  rich and sweet        
associations of our life1 this city1    
whose very streets  we love because they
 come so close to everything we do and  
are1 cannot  we do something for it8    
,cannot we make its life diviner8       
,cannot we  contribute something that it
 has not to-day8 ,cannot you put in it1 
some  little corner of it1 a life which 
others shall see and say1 ,ah1 that  our
 lives may be like that6 ,and then the  
good ,boston in which we so  rejoice1   
which we so love1 which we would so fain
 make a part of the  kingdom of ,god1 a 
true city of ,jesus ,christ1 we shall   
not die without  having done something  
for it4    ,i linger1 and yet ,i must   
not linger4 ,oh1 my friends1 oh1 my     
fellow-men1  it is not very long that we
 shall be here4 ,it is not very long4   
,this  life for which we are so         
careful--it is not very long2 and yet it

 is so  long1 because1 long1 long after 
we have passed away out of men's sight  
and out of men's memory1 the world1 with
 something that we have left  upon it1  
that we have left within it1 will be    
going on still4 ,it is so  long because1
 long after the city and the world have 
passed away1 we  shall go on somewhere1 
somehow1 the same beings still1 carrying
 into the  depths of eternity something 
that this world has done for us that no 
other world could do1 something of      
goodness to get now that will be of     
value to us a million years hence1 that 
we never could get unless we got  it in 
the short years of this earthly life4   
,will you know it8 ,will you  let       
,christ teach it to you8 ,will you let  
,christ tell you what is the  perfect   
man8 ,will you let ,him set ,his        
simplicity and graciousness close  to   
your life1 and will you feel their      
power8 ,oh6 be brave1 be true1 be  pure1
 be men1 be men in the power of ,jesus  
,christ4 ,may ,god bless you6  ,may ,god

 bless you6 ,let us pray4          ,,iv4
 ,,true ,,liberty4      ,an earnest     
appeal to all that enter that ,liberty4 
,may ,i read to you a  few words from   
the eighth chapter of ,st4 ,john8 ,then 
said ,jesus to those  ,jews which       
believed on ,him1 ,if ye continue in my 
word1 then are ye my  disciples indeed2 
and ye shall know the truth1 and the    
truth shall make  you free4    ,let us  
not think1 my friends1 that there is    
anything strange about the  spectacle   
which we witnessed this morning4 ,the   
only strange thing that  there could be 
about it is that anybody should think   
that it is strange  that men should turn
 aside for half an hour from their      
ordinary business  pursuits1 that they  
should come from the details of life to 
inquire in  regard to the principles1   
the everlasting principles and purposes 
of  life2 that they should turn aside   
from those things which are occupying   
them from day to day and make one single
 hour in the week consecrated to  the   

service of those great things which     
underlie all life--surely there  is     
nothing very strange4 ,there is nothing 
more absolutely natural4 ,every  man    
does it in his own sort of way1 in his  
own choice of time4 ,we have  chosen to 
do it together1 on one day of the week  
during these few weeks  which the       
,christian ,church has so largely set   
apart for special thought  and prayer   
and earnest attempt to approach the ,god
 to whom we belong4 ,it  is simply as if
 the stream turned back again to its    
fountain1 that it  might refresh itself 
and make itself strong for the great    
work that it  had to do in watering the 
fields and turning the wheels of        
industry4 ,it  is simply as if men      
plodding along over the flat routine of 
their life  chose once in a while to go 
up into the mountain top1 whence they   
might  once in a while look abroad over 
their life1 and understand more fully   
the way in which they ought to work4    
,these are the principles1 these are    

the pictures which represent that which 
we have in mind as we come  together for
 a little while each ,monday in these   
few weeks1 in order  that we may think  
about things of ,god and try to realize 
the depth of  our own human life4 ,the  
first thing that we ought to understand 
about it  is that when we turn aside    
from life it is only that we go deeper  
into  life4 ,this hour does not stand   
apart from the rest of the hours of the 
week1 in that we are dealing with things
 in which the rest of the week  has no  
concern4 ,he who understands life deeply
 and fully1 understands  life truly2 he 
has forever renewed his life2 and if    
there comes into our  hearts1 in the    
life which we are living1 a perpetual   
sense that life  needs renewal1 a       
richening and refreshing1 then it is in 
order that we  may go down into the     
depths and see what lies at the root of 
things--things that we are perpetually  
doing and thinking4 ,it is this  that   
brought us together here3 it is that we 

may open to ourselves some  newer1      
higher life4 ,it is that we may         
understand the life that we may  live1  
along side of and as a richer           
development of that life which we  are  
living from day to day1 which we have   
been living during the years  of our    
life4 ,how that idea has haunted men in 
every period of their  existence1 how it
 is haunting you1 that there is some    
higher life which  it is possible to    
live6 ,there has never been a religion  
that has not  started there1 lifted up  
its eyes and seen1 afar off1 what it was
  possible for man to do from day to    
day1 in contrast with the things  which 
men immediately and presently are4      
,there is not any moment of the  human  
soul which has not rested upon some     
great conception that man was  a nobler 
being than he was ordinarily conceiving 
himself to be2 that he  was not destined
 to the things which were ordinarily    
occupying his life2  that he might be   
living a greater and nobler life4 ,it is

 because the  ,christian ,scriptures    
have laid most earnestly hold of this   
idea1 it is  because it was represented 
not simply in the words which ,christ   
said1  but in the very being which      
,christ was1 that we go to them to get  
the  inspiration and the indication1 the
 revelation and the enlightenment  which
 we need4 ,i have read to you these few 
words in which ,christ  declares the    
whole subject1 the whole character of   
which ,his life is and  what ,his work  
is about to do1 because it seems to me  
that they strike at  once the key-note  
of that which we want to understand4    
,they let us enter  into the full       
conception of that which the new life   
which is offered to  man really is4     
,there are two conceptions which come to
 every man when he  is entering upon a  
new life1 changing his present life to  
something that  is different from the   
present life1 and being a different sort
 of  creature and living in a different 
sort of a way4 ,the first way in which  

it presents itself to him--almost always
 at the beginning of every  religion1   
perhaps--is in the way of restraint and 
imprisonment4 ,man  thinks of every     
change that is to come to him as in the 
nature of denial  of something that he  
is at the present doing and being1 as   
the laying  hold upon himself of some   
sort of restraint1 bringing to him      
something  which says3 ,i must not do   
the thing which ,i am doing4 ,i must lay
 upon  myself restraints1 restrictions1 
commandments1 and prohibitions4 ,i must 
not let myself be the man that ,i am4   
,you see how the ,old ,testament  comes 
before the ,new ,testament1 the law     
ringing from the mountain top  with the 
great denials1 the great prohibitions1  
that come from the mouth  of ,god4 ,thou
 shalt not do this1 that1 or the        
other--,thou shalt not  murder4 ,thou   
shalt not steal4 ,thou shalt not commit 
adultery4 ,thou shalt  not covet thy    
neighbor's goods4 ,that is the first    
conception which  comes to a man of the 

way in which he is to enter upon a new  
life1 of  the way in which the denial in
 his experience is to take effect4 ,it  
is  as if the hands were stretched out  
in order that fetters might be placed   
upon them4 ,the man says1 ,let some     
power come that is to hinder me from    
being this thing that ,i am4 ,and the   
whole notion is the notion of           
imprisonment1 restraint ,so it is with  
all civilization4 ,it is perfectly      
possible for us to represent            
civilization as compared with barbarism1
 as  accepted by mankind1 as a great    
mass of restrictions and prohibitions   
that have been laid upon human life1 so 
that the freedom of life has  been cast 
aside1 and man has entered into         
restricted1 restrained1 and  imprisoned 
condition4 ,so it is with every         
fulfilment of life4 ,it is  possible for
 a man always to represent it to himself
 as if it were the  restriction1        
restraint1 and prohibition of his life4 
,the man passes  onward into the fuller 

life which belongs to a man4 ,he merges 
his  selfishness into that richer life  
which is offered to human kind4 ,he     
makes himself1 instead of a single1     
selfish man1 a man of family2 and it  is
 easy enough to consider that marriage  
and the family life bring  immediately  
restraints and prohibitions4 ,the man   
may not have the  freedom which he used 
to have4 ,so all development of         
education1 in the  first place1 offers  
itself to man1 or seems to offer itself 
to man1 as  prohibition and imprisonment
 and restraint4 ,there is no doubt truth
 in  such an idea4 ,we never lose sight 
of it4 ,no other richer and fuller idea 
which we come to by and by ever does    
away with the thought that man's        
advance means prohibition and           
self-denial1 that in order that man     
shall  become the greater thing he must 
cease to be the poorer and smaller      
thing he has been4 ,but yet there is    
immediately a greater and fuller4  ,when
 we hear those words of ,jesus1 we see  

immediately that not the idea  of       
imprisonment but the idea of liberty1   
not the idea of restraint but  that of  
setting free1 is the idea which is      
really in ,his mind when he  offers the 
fullest life to human kind4 ,have you   
often thought of how the  whole ,bible  
is a ,book of ,liberty1 of how ,it rings
 with liberty from  beginning to end1 of
 how the great men are the men of       
liberty1 of how  the ,old ,testament1   
the great picture which forever shines1 
is the  emancipator1 leading forth out  
of imprisonment the people of ,god1 who 
were to do the great work of ,god in the
 very much larger and freer life  in    
which they were to live8 ,the prophet1  
the psalmist1 are ever  preaching and   
singing about liberty1 the              
enfranchisement of the life of  man1    
that man was not imprisoned in order to 
fulfil himself1 but shall  open his     
life1 and every new progress shall be   
into a new region of  existence which   
lie has not touched as yet4 ,when we    

turn from the ,old  ,testament to the   
,new ,testament1 how absolutely clear   
that idea is6  ,christ is the very      
embodiment of human liberty4 ,in ,his   
own personal life  and in everything    
that ,he did and said1 ,he was forever  
uttering the  great gospel that man1 in 
order to become his completest1 must    
become  his freest1 that what a man did 
when he entered into a new life was to  
open a new region in which new powers   
were to find their exercise1 in  which  
he was to be able to be and do things   
which he could not be and do  in more   
restricted life4 ,it is the acceptance  
of that idea1 it seems to  me1 that     
makes us true disciples of ,christ and  
of that great gospel1 and  that         
transfigures everything4 ,when my friend
 turns over some new leaf1  as we say1  
and begins to live a new life1 what     
shall we think of him8 ,i  learn that he
 has become a ,christian man1 that he is
 doing something1  that he is working in
 a way and living a life which ,i have  

not known  before4 ,what is my          
impression in regard to him8 ,is not    
your impression1  as you look upon that 
man1 that somehow or other he has       
entered into a  slavery or bondage1 that
 he has taken upon his life restrictions
 and  imprisonments which he did not    
have before8 ,and you think of him1     
perhaps1 as a man who has done a wise   
and prudent thing1 who has done         
something that is going to be for his   
benefit some day in some distant  and   
half-realized world1 but as a man who1  
for the present1 has laid a  burden and 
bondage upon his life4 ,that is never   
the tone of ,christ2 it  is never the   
tone of the ,christian gospel4 ,when a  
man turns away from  his sins and enters
 into energetic holiness1 when a man    
sacrifices his  own self-indulgence and 
goes forth a pure servant of his ,god   
and his  fellow-men1 there is only one  
cry in the whole gospel of that man1 and
  that is the cry of freedom4 ,as soon  
as he can catch that1 as soon as ,i  can

 feel about my friend1 who has become a 
better man1 that he has  become a larger
 and not a smaller1 a freer and not a   
more imprisoned  man1 as soon as ,i lift
 up my voice and say that the man is    
free1 then ,i  understand him more      
fully1 and he becomes a revelation to me
 in the  higher and richer life which is
 possible for me to live4 ,but think of 
it for yourselves1 for a moment1 and ask
 what freer life really is4 ,try  to    
give a definition of liberty1 and ,i    
know not what it can be said to  be     
except something of this kind3 ,liberty 
is the fullest opportunity for  man to  
be and do the very best that is possible
 for him4 ,i know of no  definition of  
liberty1 that oldest and dearest phrase 
of men1 and  sometimes the vaguest also1
 except that4 ,it has been perverted1 it
 has  been distorted and mystified1 but 
that is what it really means3 the       
fullest opportunity for a man to do and 
be the very best that is in his         
personal nature to do and to be4 ,it    

immediately follows that everything     
which is necessary for the full         
realization of a man's life1 even though
  it seems to have the character of     
restraint for a moment1 is really a     
part of the process of his              
enfranchisement1 is the bringing forth  
of him  to a fuller liberty4 ,you see a 
man coming forward and offering himself 
as one of the defenders of his country  
in his country's need4 ,you see  him    
standing at the door where men are being
 received as recruits into  the army of 
the country4 ,he wants liberty4 ,he     
wants to be able to do  that which he   
cannot do in his poor1 personal         
isolation here at home4 ,he  wants the  
badge which will give him the right to  
go forth and meet the  enemies of his   
country1 and he enrolls himself among   
these men4 ,he makes  himself subject to
 obligations1 duties1 and drill4 ,they  
are a part of  his enfranchisement4     
,they are really the breaking of the    
fetters upon  his slavery1 the sending  

him forth into freedom4 ,he is like a   
bit of  iron or steel that lies upon the
 ground4 ,it lies neglected and         
perfectly  free4 ,you see it is made by 
the adjustment of the end of it so that 
it  can be set into a great machine and 
become part of a great working  system4 
,but there it lies4 ,will you call it   
free8 ,it is bound to be  nothing there4
 ,it is absolutely separate1 and with   
its own personality  distinct and       
individual and all alone4 ,what is to   
make that bit of iron  a free bit of    
iron1 to let it go forth and do the     
thing which it was  meant to do1 but the
 taking of it and the binding of it at  
both ends  into the structure of which  
it was made to be a part8 ,it seems to  
me the  binding of a man1--it seems to  
me that the binding of the iron is not  
the yielding of its freedom4 ,it is not 
merely after finding its place  within  
the system that it first achieves its   
freedom and so joins in the  music and  
partakes of the courses with which the  

whole enginery is  filled4 ,is not it1  
then1 for the first time a free bit of  
iron1 having  accomplished all that it  
was made to do when it came forth from  
the  forge of the master1 who had this  
purpose in his mind8 ,this1 then1 is    
freedom2 everything is part of the      
enfranchisement of a man which helps  to
 put him in the place where he can live 
his best4 ,therefore every  duty1 every 
will of ,god1 every commandment of      
,christ1 every  self-surrender that a   
man is called upon to obey or to        
make--do not  think of it as if it were 
simply a restraint to liberty1 but think
 of it  as the very means of freedom1 by
 which we realize the very purpose of   
,god and the fulfilment of our life4 ,it
 is interesting to see how all  that is 
true in regard to the matter of belief1 
doctrine1 and opinions  which we are apt
 to accept4 ,how strange it very often  
seems that men go  to the ,church1 or to
 one another1 and say3 ,must ,i believe 
this doctrine  in order that ,i can     

enter into the ,church8 ,must ,i believe
 this  doctrine in order that ,i may be 
saved8 men say1 with a strange sort of  
notion about what salvation is4 ,how    
strange it seems1 when we really  have  
got our intelligence about us and know  
what it is to believe6 ,to  believe a   
new truth1 if it be really truth and we 
really believe it1 is  to have entered  
into a new region1 in which our life    
shall find a new  expansion and a new   
youth4 ,therefore1 not ,must we believe8
 but ,may ,i  believe8 is the true cry  
of the human creature who is seeking for
 the  richest fulfilment of his life1   
who is working that his whole nature may
  find its complete expansion and so its
 completest exercise4 ,we talk a  great 
deal in these days and in this place    
about a liberal faith4 ,what  is a      
liberal faith1 my friends8 ,it seems to 
me that by every true  meaning of the   
word1 by every true thought of the idea1
 a liberal faith  is a faith that       
believes much1 and not a faith that     

believes little4 ,the  more a man       
believes1 the more liberally he exercise
 his capacity of  faith1 the more he    
sends forth his intelligence into the   
mysteries of  ,god1 the more he         
understands those things which ,god     
chooses to reveal to  his creatures1 the
 more liberally he believes4 ,let       
yourselves never  think that you grow   
liberal in faith by believing less2     
always be sure  that the true liberality
 of faith can only come by believing    
more4 ,it is  true1 indeed1 that as soon
 as a man becomes eager for belief1 for 
the  truth of ,god and for the mysteries
 with which ,god's universe is filled1  
he becomes all the more critical and    
careful4 ,he will hot any longer1 if  he
 were before1 be simply greedy of things
 to believe1 so that if any             
superstition comes offering itself to   
him he will not gather it in            
indiscriminately and believe it without 
evidence1 without examination4  ,he     
becomes all the more critical and       

careful1 the more he becomes  assured   
that belief1 and not unbelief1 is the   
true condition of his  life4 ,the truth 
that ,god has entered into this world in
 wondrous ways  and filled its life with
 ,jesus ,christ1 the truth that man has 
a soul and  not simply a body1 that he  
has a spiritual need1 that ,god cares   
for him  and he is to care for himself1 
that there is an immortal life1 and that
  that which we call faith is but the   
opening of a gate1 the pushing back  of 
a veil1--shall a man believe those      
things as imprisonments of his  nature1 
and shall it not make him larger8 ,shall
 it not be the indulgence  of his life  
when he enters into the great           
certainties which so are  offered to his
 belief1 believing them in his own way8 
,let us always feel  that to accept a   
new belief is no to build a wall beyond 
which we cannot  pass1 but is to open   
the door to a great fresh1 free region1 
in which  our souls are to live4 ,and   
just so it is when we come to the moral 

things of life4 ,the man puts aside some
 sinfulness4 ,he breaks down the  wall  
that has been shutting his soul out of  
its highest life4 ,he has  been a       
drunkard1 and he becomes a sober man4   
,he has been a cheat1 and  becomes a    
faithful man4 ,he has been a liar1 and  
becomes a truthful man4  ,he has been a 
profligate1 and he becomes a pure man4  
,what has happened  to that man8 ,shall 
he simply think of himself as one who   
has crushed  this passion1 shut down    
this part of his life8 ,shall he simply 
think of  himself as one who has taken a
 course of self-denial8 ,nay4 ,it is    
self-indulgence that a man has really   
entered upon4 ,it is an indulgence  of  
the deepest part of his own nature1 not 
of his unreal nature4 ,he has  risen and
 shaken himself like a lion1 so that the
 dust has fallen from  his mane1 and all
 the great range of that life which ,god
 gave him to  live lies before him4     
,this is the everlasting inspiration4   
,this is the  illumination4 ,i don't    

wonder that men refuse to give up evil  
if it  simply seems to them to be giving
 up the evil way1 and no vision opens   
before them of the thing that they may  
be and do4 ,i don't wonder that1  if the
 negative1 restricting1 imprisoning     
conception of the new life is  all that 
a man gets hold of1 he lingers again and
 again in the old life4  ,but just as   
soon as the great world opens before him
 then it is like a  prisoner going out  
of the prison door4 ,is there no        
lingering8 ,does not  the baser part of 
him cling to the old prison1 to the ease
 and the  provision for him1 to the     
absence of anxiety and of energy8 ,i    
think  there can hardly be a prisoner   
who1 with any leap of heart1 goes out of
  the prison door1 when his term is     
finished1 and does not even look into   
that black horror where he has been     
living1 cast some lingering1 longing    
look behind4 ,he comes to the           
exigencies1 to the demands of life1 to  
the  necessity of making himself once   

more a true man among his fellow-men4   
,but does he stop8 ,he comes forth1 and 
if there be the soul of a man in  him   
still1 he enters into the new life with 
enthusiasm1 and finds the  new powers   
springing in him to their work4 ,and if 
it be so with every  special duty1 then 
with that great thing which you and ,i  
are called upon  to do--the total       
acceptance by our nature of the will of 
,god1 the total  acceptance by our      
nature of the mastery of ,jesus ,christ4
 ,oh6 how this  world has perverted     
words and meanings1 that the mastery of 
,jesus ,christ  should seem to be the   
imprisonment and not the enfranchisement
 of the  soul6 ,when ,i bring a flower  
out of the darkness and set it in the   
sun1  and let the sunlight come         
streaming down upon it1 and the flower  
knows  the sunlight for which it was    
made and opens its fragrance and beauty2
  when ,i take a dark pebble and put it 
into the stream and let the silver      
water go coursing down over it and      

bringing forth the hidden color that    
was in the bit of stone1 opening the    
nature that is in them1 the flower  and 
stone rejoice4 ,i can almost hear them  
sing in the field and in the  stream4   
,what then8 ,shall not man bring his    
nature out into the fullest             
illumination1 and surprise himself by   
the things that he might do8 ,oh6  the  
littleness of the lives that we are     
living6 ,oh6 the way in which we  fail  
to comprehend1 or when we do comprehend1
 deny to ourselves the  bigness of that 
thing which it is to be a man1 to be a  
child of ,god6  ,sometimes it dawns upon
 us that we can see it opening into the 
vision of  these men and women in the   
,new ,testament4 ,sometimes there opens 
to us  the picture of this thing that we
 might be1 and then there are truly the 
trial moments of our life4 ,then we lift
 up ourselves and claim our  liberty or1
 dastardly or cowardly1 slink back into 
the sluggish  imprisonment in which we  
have been living4 ,how does all this    

affect that  which we are continually   
conscious of1 urging upon ourselves and 
upon  one another8 ,how does it affect  
the whole question of a man's sins8 ,oh6
  these sins1 the things we know so     
well6 ,as we sit here and stand here    
one entire hour1 as we talk in this sort
 of way1 everybody knows the  weaknesses
 of his own nature1 the sins of his own 
soul4 ,don't you know  it8 ,what shall  
we think about those sins8 ,it seems to 
me1 my friends1  that all this great    
picture of the liberty into which       
,christ sets man1  in the first place   
does one thing which we are longing to  
see done in  the world4 ,it takes away  
the glamour and the splendor from sin4  
,it  breaks that spell by which men     
think that the evil thing is the        
glorious  thing4 ,if the evil thing be  
that which ,christ has told us that the 
evil  thing is--which ,i have no time to
 tell you now--if every sin that you do 
is not simply a stain upon your soul1   
but is keeping you out from some  great 

and splendid thing which you might do1  
then is there any sort of  splendor and 
glory about sin8 ,how about the sins    
that you did when you  were young men8  
,how can you look back upon those sins  
and think what  your life might have    
been if it had been pure from the       
beginning1 think  what you might have   
been if from the very beginning you had 
caught sight  of what it was to be a    
man8 ,and then your boy comes along4    
,what are the  men in this town doing   
largely in many and many a house1 but   
letting  their boys believe that the    
sins of their early life are glorious   
things1 except that those things which  
they did1 the base and wretched  things 
that they were doing when they were     
fifteen and twenty and  twenty-five and 
thirty years old1 are the true career of
 a human nature1  are the true entrance 
into human life8 ,the miserable talk    
about sowing  wild oats1 about getting  
through the necessary conditions of life
 before  a man comes to solemnity6      

,shame upon any man who1 having passed  
through  the sinful conditions and      
habits and dispositions of his earlier  
life1  has not carried out of them an   
absolute shame for them1 that shall let 
him say to his boy1 by word and by every
 utterance of his life within  the house
 where he and the boy live together1    
,refrain1 for they are  abominable      
things6 ,to get rid of the glamour of   
sin1 to get rid of the  idea that it is 
a glorious thing to be dissipated       
instead of being  concentrated to duty1 
to get rid of the idea that to be       
drunken and to  be lustful are true and 
noble expressions of our abounding human
 life1  to get rid of any idea that sin 
is aught but imprisonment1 is to make   
those who come after us1 and to make    
ourselves in what of life is left  for  
us1 gloriously ambitious for the freedom
 of purity1 for a full  entrance into   
that life over which sin has no         
dominion4 ,and yet1 at the  same time1  
don't you see that while sin thus       

becomes contemptible when  we think     
about the great illustration of the will
 of ,god and ,jesus  ,christ1 don't you 
see how also it puts on a new horror8   
,that which ,i  thought ,i was doing in 
the halls of my imprisonment ,i have    
really been  doing within the possible  
world of ,god in which ,i might have    
been free4  ,the moment ,i see what life
 might have been to me1 then any sin    
becomes  dreadful to me4 ,have you ever 
thought of how the world has stood in   
glory and honor before the sinless      
humanity of ,jesus ,christ8 ,if any life
  could prove1 if any argument could    
show on investigation to-day that       
,jesus did one sin in all his life1 that
 the perfect liberty which was  his     
perfect purity was not absolutely       
perfect1 do you realize what a  horror  
would seem to fall down from the        
heavens1 what a constraint and  burden  
would be laid upon the lives of men1 how
 the gates of men's  possibilities would
 seem to close in upon them8 ,it is     

because there has  been that one life   
which1 because absolutely pure from sin1
 was  absolutely free2 it is because man
 may look up and see in that life the   
revelation and possibility of his own2  
it is because that life1 echoing  the   
great cry throughout the world that man 
everywhere is the son of  ,god1 offers  
the same purity--and so the same        
freedom--to all mankind2 it  is for that
 reason that a man rejoices to cling to1
 to believe in1  however impure his life
 is1 the perfect purity1 the sinlessness
 of the  life of ,jesus4 ,when you sin1 
my friends1 it is a man that sins1 and a
  man is a child of ,god2 and for a     
child of ,god to sin is an awful thing1 
not simply for the stain that he brings 
into the divine nature that is  in him1 
but for the life from which it shuts him
 out1 for the liberty  which he         
abandons1 for the inthrallment which it 
lays upon the soul4  ,there is one thing
 that people say very carelessly that   
always seems to  me to be a dreadful    

thing for a man to say4 ,they say it    
when they talk  about their lives to one
 another1 and think about their lives to
  themselves1 and by and by very often  
say it upon their death-bed with  the   
last gasp1 as though their entrance into
 the eternal world had  brought them no 
deeper enlightenment4 ,one wonders what 
is the revelation  that comes to them   
when they stand upon the borders of the 
other side  and are in the full life and
 eternity of ,god4 ,the thing men say   
is1 ,i  have done the very best ,i can4 
,it is an awful thing for a man to say4 
,the man never lived1 save he who       
perfected our humanity1 who ever did    
the very best he could4 ,you dishonor   
your life1 you not simply shut your     
eyes to certain facts1 you not simply   
say an infinitely absurd and  foolish   
thing1 but you dishonor your human life 
if you say that you have  done in any   
day of your life or in all the days of  
your life put  together1 the very best  
that you could1 or been the very best   

man that  you could be4 ,you6 what are  
you8 ,again ,i say1 ,the child of ,god1 
and this  which you have been1 what is  
it8 ,look over it1 see how selfish it   
has  been1 see how material it has been1
 how it has lived in the depths when  it
 might have lived on the heights1 see   
how it has lived in the little  narrow  
range of selfishness when it might have 
been as broad as all  humanity1 nay1    
when it might have been as the ,god of  
humanity4 ,don't  dare to say that in   
any day of your life1 or in all your    
life together1  you have done the best  
that you could4 ,the ,pharisee said it  
when he went  up into the temple1 and   
all the world has looked on with mingled
 pity  and scorn at the blindness of the
 man who stood there and paraded his    
faithfulness2 while all the world has   
bent with a pity that was near to  love1
 a pity that was full of sympathy       
because man recognized his  condition   
and experience1 for the poor creature   
grovelling upon the  pavement1 unwilling

 and unable even to look upon the altar1
 but who1  standing afar off1 said1 ,god
 be merciful to me a sinner6 ,whatever  
else  you say1 don't say1 ,i have been  
the very best ,i could4 ,that means that
  you have not merely lived in the rooms
 of your imprisonment1 but that  you    
have been satisfied to count them the   
only possible rooms of your  life1 and  
that the great halls of your liberty    
have never opened  themselves before    
you4 ,shall not they open themselves    
somehow to us  to-day1 my friends8      
,shall we not turn away from this hour  
and go back  into our business1 into our
 offices1 into the shops1 into the      
crowded  streets1 bearing new thoughts  
of the lives that we might live1 feeling
  the fetters on our hands and feet1    
feeling many things as fetters which  we
 have thought of as the ornament and    
glory of our life1 determined to  be    
unsatisfied forever until these fetters 
shall be stricken off and we  have      
entered into the full liberty which     

comes to those alone who are  dedicated 
to the service of ,god1 to the          
completion of their own nature1  to the 
acceptance of the grace of ,christ1 and 
to the attainment of the  eternal glory 
of the spiritual life1 first here and   
then hereafter1  never hereafter1 it may
 be1 except here and now1 certainly here
 and now1  as the immediate1 pressing   
privilege and duty of our lives8 ,so let
 us  stand up on our feet and know      
ourselves in all the richness and in all
  the awfulness of our human life4 ,let 
us know ourselves children of ,god1  and
 claim the liberty which ,god has given 
to every one of his children  who will  
take it4 ,god bless you and give some of
 you1 help some of us1  to claim1 as we 
have never claimed before1 that freedom 
with which the  ,son makes free6        
,v4 ,,the ,,christ ,,in ,,whom          
,,christians ,,believe4      ,i want to 
read to you again the words of ,jesus in
 the eighth chapter of  the ,gospel of  
,st4 ,john3 ,then said ,jesus to those  

,jews which believed on  ,him1 ,if ye   
continue in my word1 then are ye my     
disciples indeed2 and ye  shall know the
 truth1 and the truth shall make you    
free4 ,they answered  him1 ,we be       
,abraham's seed1 and were never in      
bondage to any man3 how  sayest thou1   
,ye shall be made free8 ,jesus answered 
them1 ,verily1 verily1  ,i say unto you1
 ,whosoever committeth sin is the       
servant of sin4 ,and the  servant       
abideth not in the house for ever3 but  
the ,son abideth ever4 ,if  the ,son    
therefore shall make you free1 ye shall 
be free indeed4 ,the  service of ,god is
 not self-restraint1 but                
self-indulgence4 ,that is the  first    
truth of all religion4 ,that is the     
truth which we found uttered in  those  
words of ,jesus when we were thinking of
 them the other day4 ,that  is the truth
 to which we return as we come back     
again to think of those  words and all  
that they mean and all that the speaker 
of them means to  us and to our lives4  

,when we remember that truth1 when we   
recognize that  no man is ever to be    
saved except by the fulfilment of his   
own nature1  and not by the restraint of
 his nature1 when we recognize that no  
man1  no personal1 individual man1 is   
ever to be ransomed from his sins except
  by having opened to him a larger and  
fuller life into which he has  entered1 
we seem to have displayed to us a large 
region1 into which we  are tempted to   
enter1 and which is so rich and inviting
 to us that we  immediately begin to ask
 ourselves if it is possible that there 
should  be such a region4 ,it is simply 
a great dream that we set before us4 ,it
  is something that we imagine1         
something that comes out of the         
imaginations and anticipations of our   
own hearts1 simply stimulated by  the   
possibilities of the life in which we   
are living4 ,it would be very  much     
indeed1 if it were only that4 ,it would 
bear a certain testimony of  itself1 if 
it simply came out of the perpetual     

dissatisfaction of men's  souls1 even if
 there were no distinct manifestation of
 that life and no  possibility of       
entering into it at once with our own   
personal  consecration1 with the        
resolution of our own wills4 ,but if it 
were  simply a dream1 ultimately it must
 fade away out of the thoughts of  men4 
,it is impossible that men should keep  
on1 year after year1 age  after age1    
this simple dream of something which    
does not exist4 ,it would  be like those
 pictures which the poet has drawn1     
something which appeals  to nothing in  
our human nature and stands only as a   
parable of something  that is a great   
deal lower than itself4 ,the poet       
pictures to us in his  imagination those
 things which do not appeal to our life1
 because they  find nothing to          
correspond to their high portraits1 to  
show those  transformations of nature   
into something that is entirely         
different and  foreign to itself4 ,if   
religion be simply the dream that some  

men hold it  to be1 if it simply be the 
cheating of man's soul with that which  
has no  reality to correspond to it1    
then it will be no more than this4 ,is  
there  any assurance that is given to   
us1 that is before the soul of man1 of  
some great new life which it is given   
for man to seek1 without which it  is   
given for no man to be satisfied8 ,i do 
not know where any man could  find that 
assurance absolutely and entirely1      
unless there had stood  forth before us 
the person of ,him who spoke these words
 and who  manifested them in ,his life4 
,and therefore it is that1 having       
pictured  to you the richness of the    
life which is open to every man1 his own
 true  life1 the large freedom into     
which he may go if1 giving up his sins  
he  enters into the fulness of the life 
of ,god1 ,i cannot help now calling  you
 to think about ,him who gives1 not     
merely by ,his words1 but by the  whole 
of ,his own person and life1 that       
manifestation of the reality of  the    

divine existence and tempts us to follow
 after ,him4 ,in other words1  we come  
to-day to think of ,christ1 ,christ who 
claims to be the master of  the world1  
,christ from whom the revelation of that
 higher life has come1  not in its first
 instance in the manifestation of the   
words which he  spoke1 for it had been  
the dream of human hearts through all   
the ages1  but who made it so distinct  
and clear that ever since the time of   
,christ  men have been able to cease to 
seek after it1 men have never been able 
to give up the hope and dream that it   
was there4 ,it is our ,christ in  whom  
we ,christians believe4 ,it is the      
,christ in whom a great many of you     
listening to me now claim to believe--,i
 do myself--in whom many of you  do     
believe1 whom many of you have followed 
into that newer life4 ,i would  to ,god 
that ,i could so set ,him before you    
to-day1 could so make you feel  his     
actual presence in the life which we are
 living1 which we may be  living1 that  

there should be no question in any man  
of the power that is  open before him to
 enter into the higher life and to      
fulfil his soul to  ,god4 ,what ,i want 
to do1 in the few moments which ,i may  
speak to you this  morning1 is--laying  
aside all the theological conceptions   
regarding  ,him1 laying aside everything
 that attaches to the complications and 
mysteries in which ,his nature has been 
involved in men's dreams of ,him1       
laying aside everything which the       
churches are holding as the special     
doctrine of their especial creed--to go 
back to the very beginning and  see if  
we can understand anything of what it   
is--this personal ,christ1  who lives   
here in the world and manifests the     
power of ,god and opens the  possibility
 of every man4 ,surely it is good that  
we should know  something about ,him of 
whom we speak so much1 that there should
 be some  clear and directest conception
 of one whose name has been upon the    
lips  of men for eighteen hundred years2

 and it is possible for us1 in the      
simplest way1 to understand how ,his    
power has come into the world and to    
see where it is possible that it should 
come and enrich our lives and  make us  
different men4 ,we go back1 then1 to the
 very beginning of the  aspiration after
 ,god1 which is in the heart of man     
everywhere4 ,there has  never been a    
race that has been without it4 ,there   
has never been a  generation that has   
not reached forward and thought there   
was a higher  life1 a fuller liberty1 to
 which it could come4 ,it has been in   
all the  religions which have been not  
simply fears1 but which have been the   
highest utterances of all the different 
races in all the different  generations 
of mankind and all the different        
countries of the world2 and  there was  
one especial race in one especial part  
of the world in whom  that aspiration   
was especially strong4 ,we will not ask 
how it came to be  there4 ,there it was 
in this strange people living on the    

eastern shore  of the ,mediterranean    
,sea1 and in all its history marked out 
by the  strange peculiarity that it was 
a spiritual people1 that in the midst of
  all its sins1 blunders1 and weaknesses
 it was forever lifting up its  soul to 
,god and striving to find ,him out4     
,very often it blundered  strangely and 
sadly4 ,very often it failed to get that
 for which it was  seeking1 by the very 
impetuousness1 rashness1 and earnestness
 of search4  ,but it was always seeking 
after ,him4 ,and the years rolled by1   
and by and  by in the midst of that     
great nation there was a little company 
of men  who1 accompanying one another   
from the beginning of their lives1 had  
been searching after this ,god and      
trying everywhere if they could find    
,him4 ,and one day they heard that down 
by the river which ran through  their   
country1 which was sacred to them from  
the multitude of old  national          
associations1 there was a great teacher 
come1 who was declaring  that for which 

the human soul was forever reaching     
after1 the need of  escaping from sin   
and entering upon and leading a higher  
life4 ,this  little company went down   
and met two disciples of ,john the      
,baptist1 and  learned from them        
everything that they had to teach them4 
,their souls  were stirred by that which
 he had to say4 ,but one day1 while he  
was  teaching them1 it seemed as if they
 had come to an end of that which he    
could teach them4 ,he looked up1 and    
there upon the hill just above the      
river there was passing one upon whom   
the gaze of the fishermen by the  river 
immediately kindled1 and he lifted his  
hand and said1 ,he is the  one who is to
 teach you now4 ,you must go after him4 
,behold the ,lamb of  ,god1 which taketh
 away the sin of the world4 ,great and  
mysterious  words1 that filled in that  
which men had believed in all the       
records  they had read and the thinking 
they had done before6 ,and they turned  
away from ,john and went after this new 

teacher and1 following to ,his  house1  
there they abode with ,him during that  
day and the days that  followed after4  
,little by little1 as we read the story 
of their being  with him1 we can see    
them taken into ,his power1 we can see  
how there was  a certain fascination in 
,his presence which laid hold upon them4
 ,it  seemed at first to be purely      
human1 to be the way in which one strong
  man takes possession of his fellow-man
 and compels him to rely upon him4  ,it 
was upon purely human ground4 ,it was in
 the manifestation of the  excellence of
 this human nature of ours that they    
believed in ,jesus and  gradually became
 ,his disciples4 ,little by little it so
 commanded them  that at last the moment
 came when it was impossible for them to
 separate  themselves from ,him2 and one
 day1 when the people were turning away 
from  ,him when ,he was preaching and   
saying things that it was hard for them 
to  understand1 ,he looked around upon  
them and said1 ,are you going also1     

will you leave me now8 ,and then there  
burst forth from the lips of one  of    
them1 the most strong and characteristic
 act of the little company1  those great
 words that declared how ,he had become 
necessary to them3  ,lord1 to whom shall
 we go8 ,thou hast the words of eternal 
life4 ,you  see the power that ,jesus   
had acquired over these men4 ,you see   
the way in  which ,he had taken them    
absolutely into ,his dominion1 simply   
because of  the manifestation of        
character and life1 simply because ,he  
had shown  them what man might be and   
opened the springs of the better life in
  themselves by the words ,he had spoken
 to them4 ,and then they lived on  with 
,him still1 and by and by they had      
become so convinced by ,his truth  and  
wisdom1 ,his character had so taken     
possession of them1 that they  were     
ready to believe anything that ,he said4
 ,one day ,he lifted up ,his  voice and 
declared that which had gradually been  
dawning upon them all  the time1 that   

,he was more than they were1 that ,he   
had brought in some  mysterious way a   
divine life into this world and had much
 to communicate  to them4 ,he told them 
that ,he was the ,father from whom ,his 
life and  their life had come4 ,he told 
them that ,he and the ,father were one4 
,he  told them1 not in theological      
statement1 not as men have worked out   
since in their desire to know it fully1 
but in the simple statement of  the     
truth that could be the inspiration of  
their life1 that in ,his  presence there
 was here the very presence of ,god     
among them4 ,it was not  strange to     
them1 though human creatures1 though    
men1 that the highest  aspiration of    
their humanity had never thought ,god so
 far from this  world that it seemed to 
them strange that there should be in    
very human  presence the divine life    
here with them4 ,they could not explain 
it and  did not try to explain it4 ,here
 it was1 that which they had seen       
shadowed in the divinest men whom they  

had known1 that which they had          
recognized4 ,here it was before them in 
this being who had won such a  power    
over them that they were ready to accept
 ,his testimony with regard  to         
,himself4 ,oh6 my friends1 let us not   
feel that the evidence of our           
,christian faith fails when it is seen  
to rest upon the word of ,christ        
,himself4 ,my neighbor knows more of    
himself than ,i know of him4 ,i know    
more of myself than any man can know of 
me1 if only ,i be earnest and  sincere4 
,and that the greatest of men who ever  
trod this earth should  not know more of
 ,his nature than any other man should  
know1 and that  therefore ,his word     
should not be the richest revelation of 
that which is  in ,his life and makes   
,his power over mankind1 that is        
incredible4  ,therefore the men were    
right when they believed ,jesus' own    
word and  looked to ,him for the        
divinity which ,he said was present with
 ,him upon  the earth4 ,then ,his life  

went on1 and by and by fulfilled itself 
in the  one great action in which ,he   
declared those two things which ,he     
longed  to know1 the life and newness of
 ,god and the power of their human      
nature4 ,he gave ,his life for them1    
indeed1 in the awful suffering that     
preceded and that culminated upon the   
cross4 ,he gave ,his life in            
crucifixion for them1 and in that       
crucifixion opened the divinest doors   
of ,his life1 when opening a sanctuary  
of sorrow2 and ,he bade them enter  in  
and know there the absolute life of ,god
 and the great capacity of  human nature
 to sacrifice itself for ,god4 ,and     
before ,he died1 and  afterward1 ,he    
again appeared to them4 ,he spoke great 
words which said  that this was not the 
end of things1 that after they had      
ceased to see  ,him and touch ,him and  
hear ,his voice ,he still was to be     
present in the  world4 ,he said that the
 mysterious presence of those who had   
passed  away1 which all had known1 was  

to culminate and be fulfilled in ,him4  
,i  am with you alway1 even unto the end
 of the world4 ,wherever you are        
together in my name1 there am ,i4 ,words
 and words and words again like  those  
,he spoke1 in which ,he declared that   
,he was to be an everlasting  presence  
among mankind1 and therefore that which 
had taken place in the  life of those   
disciples might forever take place2 that
 that which ,jesus  had done in the days
 when ,he was present upon the earth    
should be  continually repeated1 in that
 ,he was forever to do that which ,he   
had  been doing1 giving ,himself to     
human kind for their inspiration1 for   
their elevation1 for their correction1  
for their reproof1 as ,he had been      
doing1 their salvation1 as ,he had been 
doing in those days in which ,he  was   
here among them4 ,men have believed that
 simply4 ,they have recognized  that    
word of ,christ1 and found the          
fulfilment of it in their own lives2    
and that has been the ,christian        

religion1--just exactly what it was in  
the old days when ,jesus was present in 
,jerusalem and ,galilee4 ,just  exactly 
what men did then men have been doing in
 all the generations  that have come    
since4 ,just exactly what was possible  
then is possible  for them now--that we 
may become the followers of that same   
,christ and  the receivers through ,him 
of the divine life1 by which alone the  
human  life is perfected and fulfilled4 
,that is the ,christian religion4 ,that 
is the ,christian faith4 ,is it not     
clear and simple1 whether it be true or 
not8 ,my friends1 you may believe  it or
 you may disbelieve it1 but the         
,christian faith is clear and simple    
enough surely in this statement1        
stripped of a thousand difficulties1    
perplexities1 and bewilderments4 ,that  
is it1 that there is in the world       
to-day the same ,christ who was in the  
world eighteen hundred and more  years  
ago1 and that men may go to ,him and    
receive ,his life and the  inspiration  

of ,his presence and the guidance of    
,his wisdom just exactly  as they did   
then4 ,if you and ,i had been in        
,jerusalem in those old days1  what     
would we have done1 if we were more than
 mere creatures of others1  more than   
men merely absorbed in our business1 if 
there were any  stirring in our souls   
after the deeper and diviner desires1   
could we1  would we have been satisfied 
until we had gone wherever ,he might    
be1--in  the temple1 in the courts1 or  
on the country road1--and found that    
,jesus1 and entered into some sympathy  
with ,his life1 that ,he might give  to 
us what revelation of life and what     
guidance of will it might be  possible  
should come from ,him to men who trusted
 ,him1 until we had  entered into       
sympathy with ,him and the fascinations 
of ,his character8  ,that is the        
,christian life1 my friends1 the thing  
we make so vague and  mysterious and    
difficult4 ,that is the ,christian life1
 the following of  ,jesus ,christ4      

,what is the ,christian8 ,everywhere the
 man who1 so far as he comprehends      
,jesus ,christ1 so far as he can get any
 knowledge of ,him1 is ,his servant1    
the man who makes ,christ a teacher of  
his intelligence and the guide of  his  
soul1 the man who obeys ,christ as far  
as he has been able to  understand ,him4
 ,what1 you say1 the man who imperfectly
 understands  ,christ1 who don't know   
anything about ,his divinity1 who denies
 the great  doctrines of the ,church in 
regard to ,him1 is he a ,christian8     
,certainly  he is1 my friends4 ,there is
 no other test than this1 the following 
of  ,jesus ,christ4 ,so far as any soul 
deeply consecrated to ,him1 and wanting 
the influence that it feels that ,he has
 to give1 follows ,christ1 enters  into 
,his obedience and ,his company1 and    
receives ,his blessings1 just so  far   
,he is able to bestow it4 ,i cannot     
sympathize with any feeling that        
desires to make the name of ,christian a
 narrower name4 ,i would spread it  just

 as wide as it can be possibly made to  
spread4 ,i would know any man  as a     
,christian1 rejoice to know any man as a
 ,christian1 whom ,jesus would          
recognize as a ,christian1 and ,jesus   
,christ1 ,i am sure1 in those old days  
recognized ,his followers even if they  
came after ,him with the blindest       
sight1 with the most imperfect          
recognition and acknowledgment of what  
,he was and of what ,he could do4       
,and then1 again1 is it not very        
strange1 certainly1 that there should   
be1 in these later days1 in all these   
centuries that have passed between  the 
day of ,jesus ,christ and us1 that there
 should have come a vast  accumulation  
of speculation and conjecture1 of       
theorizing and thought  with regard to  
,christ and what ,he was1 and that a    
great deal of it  should have been very 
strange and should seem to us to-day to 
have been  very silly1 a great part of  
it should have seemed to be but a work  
of  intelligences that were half dulled 

and blinded1 full of prejudice1 and     
shrinking from the error and the danger 
in which they stood8 ,what does  it     
mean--all these complicated theologies  
that we say are keeping us  away from   
the simple following of the grandest    
figure that has ever  presented ,himself
 before human kind8 ,i know not how else
 it can be when  ,i see what has been   
the power of ,jesus over thoughts and   
homes and  hearts of men through all    
these years4 ,it seems to be a previous 
necessity that ,he who most fastens the 
heart and life of man1 who seems  to be 
most necessary to the soul of men1 shall
 so attract their thought1  shall so    
draw them all to ,himself that their    
crudest speculations1 that  their most  
erroneous conceptions1 shall fasten upon
 him1 and they shall  be in some true   
way a testimony of the way in which ,he 
has always held  the human heart4 ,this 
is the way in which all crudities of    
theology1 all  the weaknesses of        
speculation1 all even of the most       

strange and foul  thoughts in regard to 
the life of ,jesus and ,his             
manifestation in the  world1 have       
accumulated around that gracious figure1
 so simple and  strong1 which walks     
through our human life and manifests to 
us the ,god4  ,surely it is in one      
conception of it1 and the true          
conception of it1 the  great perpetual  
testimony of how men have cared about   
,jesus1 that they  have speculated about
 ,him in such strange perplexing ways4  
,but ,he about  whom the world does not 
care walks through the world and bears  
,his  simple being4 ,there is nothing   
that fastens upon ,him1 that perplexes  
,his  life1 that makes mysterious and   
strange the life ,he lives4 ,but where  
is  the great man in all the history of 
human kind that has not gathered  about 
his person and work the speculations of 
those whom we find1 with  their crude   
and unguided minds1 have formed their   
theories in regard to  ,him8 ,it is the 
very abundance of the strange           

speculations with regard to  ,christ1 it
 is the very strangeness of the theories
 that have been formed  with regard to  
,him1 that has shown me how ,he has     
drawn the hearts of  men1 how ,he has   
not let them go1 but compelled them to  
fasten themselves  to ,him1 to think    
about ,him and try to follow ,him in    
such poor1 blind  ways as they were able
 to give themselves to ,him in4 ,this1  
then1 is the  ,christian faith4 ,this is
 the way in which the larger life opens 
before  mankind1 by the following of a  
person1 by the giving of the life into  
the dominion and the guidance and the   
obedience of one who goes forward  into 
that life1 himself thoroughly believing 
in it--for ,jesus believed  in it with  
all ,his human soul4    ,but then1 we   
ask ourselves1 is it possible that we   
can gather from such  a life as ,jesus  
lived so long ago1 a life that was lived
 back in the  very dust of history and  
that has come down to us in records     
which seem  sometimes to be flecked with

 tradition and obscured with the        
distance in  which they lived1 is it    
possible that ,i should get from him a  
guidance  of my daily life here8 ,am ,i1
 a man of the nineteenth century1 when  
everything has changed1 in ,boston1 in  
this modern civilization1--can  ,jesus  
really be my teacher1 my guide1 in the  
actual duties and  perplexities of my   
daily life and lead me into the larger  
land in which  ,i know he lives8 ,ah6   
the man knows very little about the     
everlasting  identity of human nature1  
little of how the world in all these    
changeless ages is the same1 who asks   
that2 very little1 also1 of how in      
every largest truth there are all       
particulars and details of human life   
involved2 little of how everything that 
a man is to-day1 upon every  moment1    
rests upon some eternal foundation and  
may be within the power  of some        
everlasting law4 ,the wonder of the life
 of ,jesus is this--and  you will find  
it so and you have found it so if you   

have ever taken your  ,new ,testament   
and tried to make it the rule of your   
daily life--that  there is not a single 
action that you are called upon to do of
 which you  need be1 of which you will  
be1 in any serious doubt for ten minutes
 as  to what ,jesus ,christ1 if ,he were
 here1 ,jesus ,christ being here1 would 
have you do under those circumstances   
and with the material upon which  you   
are called to act4 ,men have tried to go
 back and imitate the very  activities  
of the life of ,jesus ,christ1 to do the
 very things that ,he  did4 ,souls have 
fled across the sea and tried upon the  
hills and in the  plains where ,jesus   
lived to reproduce the life that has so 
fascinated  them4 ,they were poor and   
unphilosophic souls4 ,the soul that     
takes in  ,jesus' word1 the soul that   
through the words of ,jesus enters into 
the  very person of ,jesus1 the soul    
that knows ,him as its daily presence   
and  its daily law--it never hesitates4 
,do ,i doubt--,i1 who see myself called 

upon to be the slave of these conditions
 which are around me--to do this  thing8
 ,because it is the custom of the       
business in which ,i am engaged1  do ,i 
doubt fora moment if ,i turn aside and  
open this ,new ,testament1  which is    
,jesus' law with regard to that thing8  
,i1 with my passion  boiling in my      
veins1 leading me to do some foul act of
 outrageous lust1  have ,i a single     
moment's doubt what ,jesus would have me
 do if ,he were  here--what ,jesus1     
being here1 really wants me to do8      
,there is no single  act of your life1  
my friend1 there is no single dilemma in
 which you  find yourself placed1 in    
which the answer is not in ,jesus       
,christ4 ,i do  not say that you will   
find some words in ,jesus' teachings in 
the ,gospel  of ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 
and ,john that will detail exactly the  
condition  in which you find yourself   
placed2 but ,i do say that if1 with your
 human  sympathies and your devoted     
love1 you can feel the presence of that 

,jesus behind the words that ,he said1  
the personal perfectness1 the  divine   
life manifested in the human life1 there
 is not a single sin or  temptation to  
sin that will not be convicted4         
,there is where we rest when we claim   
that ,jesus ,christ is the master of    
the world1 that ,he opens the great     
richness and infinite distances of  the 
human life1 that ,he shows us what it is
 to be men4 ,it would be  little if ,he 
did that simply with the painting of    
some glorious vision  upon the skies    
beyond2 but that ,he comes into your    
life and mine1 into  our homes and our  
shops1 into our offices and on our      
streets1 and there  makes known in the  
actual circumstances of our daily life  
what we ought  to do and what we ought  
not to do--that is the wonder of his    
revelation2  that is what proclaims him 
to be the ,son of ,god and the ,son of  
man4  ,think1 as you sit here1 of       
anything that you are doing that is     
wrong1 of  any habit of your life1 of   

your self-indulgence1 or of that great1 
pervasive habit of your life which makes
 you a creature of the present  instead 
of the eternities1 a creature of the    
material earth instead of  the glorious 
skies4 ,ask of yourself of any habit    
that belongs to your  own personal life1
 and bring it face to face with ,jesus  
,christ and see  if it is not judged4 ,a
 judgment day that is far away1 that is 
off in the  dim distance when this world
 is done--it shall come1 no doubt4 ,i   
know  none of us can know much with     
regard to it1 except that it is sure4   
,but  the judgment day that is here now 
is ,christ2 the judgment day that is    
right close to your life and rebukes    
you1 if you will let ,him rebuke you    
every time you sin1 the judgment day    
that is here and praises you and  bids  
you be of good courage1 when you do a   
thing that men disown and  despise1 is  
,christ4 ,therefore it is no figure of  
speech1 it is no mere  ecstasy of the   
imagination of the preacher1 when we say

 that in the  midst of these streets of 
ours1 more real than the men that walk  
in  them1 more real than the sidewalks  
that are under our feet1 and the        
buildings that tower over us1 there     
walks an unseen presence4 ,an unseen    
presence8 ,yes4 ,are you and ,i going to
 be such creatures of our senses  that  
we shall not believe that there are     
powers that touch us that we  cannot    
see8 ,am ,i going to be so bound down to
 these poor fingers and to  these poor  
eyes that ,i shall know myself in no    
larger connection with  the great1      
unseen world8 ,i will not4 ,no great    
man1 no manly man1 has  ever allowed    
such a limitation of himself4 ,there is 
the unseen presence  in the midst of our
 life1 and he who will feel it may feel 
it1 and that  unseen presence speaks to 
him continually4 ,it knows every one of 
us4 ,it  knows the rich man and knows   
what his wealth has made of him4 ,it    
knows  whether it has made him selfish4 
,shall ,i say it8 ,he1 the ,christ1 the 

present ,christ1 knows whether the rich 
man's riches have made him  selfish and 
base and mean1 covetous and poor and    
little-souled1 or  whether he has been  
glad to rise to the greatness of his    
privilege1 and  be the very utterance of
 the beneficence of ,god upon the earth4
 ,he knows  the poor man and his        
struggles1 he knows the poor man and his
  self-respect4 ,he speaks to the poor  
man's soul1 who has been kept poor      
because he will not enter into the baser
 methods and motives of our  modern     
life1 and is despised1 and says to him1 
,be of good courage1 for  ,i know what  
you are4 ,he speaks to the poor in      
distress and poverty4 ,he  speaks to the
 wretched in their disappointment and   
their pain4 ,he is  their comforter4 ,he
 knows every sin4 ,he knows every sorrow
 of our life4  ,he goes1 unseen on      
earth1 into the chambers where the dead 
lie dead1 and  where the sick lie dying1
 and ,he speaks ,his words of           
consolation1 ,he  opens up the glory of 

the perfect life4 ,he lays his hand upon
 the  mourner whose soul is bowed down  
to the earth and says1 ,look up1 and    
points into eternity and heaven4 ,all   
these things ,christ can do not  merely1
 but ,christ is doing4 ,he is the       
inspiring power of this life1  that     
keeps it from rotting in its corruption 
and degradation4 ,we dwell  too much1 ,i
 think1 upon some of these things2 we   
cannot dwell too much1  perhaps1 but we 
dwell out of proportion1 it may be1 to  
the thought of  ,jesus ,christ1 the     
comforter of sorrow4 ,he is the         
comforter of sorrow1  for he knew and he
 knows what sorrow is4 ,in ,his own     
crucifixion1 in that  which came before 
,his crucifixion1 ,he knew the suffering
 of this earthly  life4 ,there is no    
human being who ever has known the      
misery of man as  ,jesus knows it1 and  
so ,he comes to all sorrows with tender 
consolation4  ,god grant1 ,god grant ,he
 may come to any of you who have come   
into these  doors to-day with a sorrow1 

with a fear1 with a dread upon your     
hearts1  with souls that are wrung1 with
 bodies that are suffering6 ,god grant  
that the ,christ may comfort you1 may   
comfort you6 ,but not only that4  ,shall
 there be no ,christ for those who for  
the moment seem to need no  comfort8    
,shall there be no ,christ for the      
strong men who have before them the     
duties of their life1 and who want the  
strength with which to do them8  ,shall 
there be no ,christ for the young men1  
the young men standing in  danger1 but  
also standing in such magnificent and   
splendid chances8 ,it  is great to think
 of ,christ standing by the sorrowing   
and comforting  them4 ,it is great1--we 
will not say it is greater1--it is very 
great1  when by the side of the young   
man just entering into life there stands
  the ,christ1 saying to his soul1 with 
the voice that he cannot fail to  hear3 
,be pure1 be strong1 be wise1 be        
independent2 rejoice in ,me and ,my     
appreciation4 ,let the world go1 if it  

is necessary that the world should  go4 
,serve the world1 but do not be the     
servant of the world4 ,make the  world  
your servant by helping the world in    
every way in which you can  minister to 
its life4 ,be brave1 be strong1 be manly
 by ,my strength4 ,oh6  young man1 if   
you can hear the ,christ speak to you   
like that behind all  the traditions of 
the street1 behind the teachings of the 
books1 behind  all that the wise and    
successful men say to you1 behind all   
the cynics  and sneerers say to you1 the
 great1 strong1 healthy voice of ,jesus 
,christ1 who believes in man because ,he
 has known man filled with  divinity1   
and believes in you because ,he knows   
that which has been set  before you by  
your ,father in the sending out of your 
life1 and who longs  and prays and waits
 to strengthen you1 that you may do your
 work1 that  you may escape from sin1   
that you may live your life1 this great 
figure  of the present ,christ that     
,christianity can produce--it is not the

  memory of something that is away back 
in the past1 it is not the  anticipation
 of something to come in the future4 ,we
 talk about ,christ  the ,saviour1 and  
think about ,calvary long ago4 ,we talk 
about the ,christ  the ,judge1 and think
 of a great white throne set in some    
mystic valley  of ,jehoshaphat1 where   
some day the world is to be judged4 ,we 
do not so  get hold of ,christ4 ,the    
,christ who is in the past is not our   
,christ  unless ,his power holds forth1 
the power of ,his spirit1 which is the  
whole knowledge of the life in which we 
live4 ,we think of the ,christ of  the  
future1 for whom all the world is       
waiting4 ,he will never enter into  us  
and lead us unless we know that ,he is  
here and now4 ,it does seem to  me      
sometimes that if men would only take   
religion as a real and present  thing1  
and if1 instead of worshipping it in the
 past and expecting it  with fear and   
dread and vain hope in the future1 it   
could be a real  thing with them here   

and now1 something in which they are to 
live1 not  to which they are to flee in 
moments of doubt1 not of which they     
should  make rescue1 but in which they  
should do all their work and live1 then 
religion would be to the soul of man so 
that it could not be cast aside1  so    
that they must enter into it and take it
 into themselves and make it  their own4
 ,religion is not the simple fire-escape
 that you build1 in  anticipation of a  
possible danger1 upon the outside of    
your dwelling and  leave there until    
danger comes4 ,you go to it some morning
 when a fire  breaks out in your house1 
and the poor old thing that you built up
  there1 and thought you could use some 
day1 is so rusty and broken1 and  the   
weather has so beaten upon it1 and the  
sun so turned its hinges1  that it will 
not work4 ,that is the condition of a   
man who has built  himself what seems to
 be a creed of faith1 a trust in ,god in
  anticipation of the day when danger is
 to overtake him1 and has said to       

himself1 ,i am safe1 for ,i will take   
refuge in it then4 ,but religion is  the
 house in which we live1 it is the table
 at which we sit1 it is the  fireside to
 which we draw near1 the room that      
arches its graceful and  familiar       
presence over us2 it is the bed on which
 we lie and think of  the past and      
anticipate the future and gather our    
refreshment4 ,there is  no ,christ      
except the present ,christ for every    
man1 unto whom all the  power of the    
historic ,christ is always appearing1   
and who is great with  all the sweet    
solemnity that comes from the knowledge 
of what in the  future ,he is to be to  
the world and to the soul4 ,i am anxious
 to-day to  impress this upon you3 that 
the ,christian faith is not a dogma1 it 
is  not primarily a law1 but is a       
personal presence and an immediate life 
that is right here and now4 ,i am       
anxious to have you know that to be a   
,christian does not mean primarily to   
believe this or that4 ,it does not  mean

 primarily1 although it means           
necessarily afterward1 to do this or    
that4 ,but it means to know the presence
 of a true personal ,christ among  us   
and to follow4 ,here is the only true   
power by which a religion can  become   
perpetual4 ,men outgrow many dogmas     
which they hold4 ,the lines in  which   
they try to live change their           
application to their lives4 ,but ,i     
know a person with a deep1 true life2 ,i
 enter into a friendship with one  who  
is worthy ,i should be his friend1 and  
he is mine always4 ,what is the  meaning
 of this sort of talk that we hear about
 a faith that they held  once1 but they 
have outgrown8 ,what is the reason of   
this expectation  that seems to have    
spread itself abroad1 of necessity that 
the boy who  had a religion should lose 
his religion some time or other1 and    
that by  and by he should take up a     
man's religion somewhere upon the other 
side  of the gulf of infidelity and     
godlessness1 through which he has passed

  in the mean while8 ,you expect your   
boy of ten years old to be religious    
with a child's sweet1 trusting faith2   
and you hope that your man of  forty and
 fifty1 beaten by the world1 is to have 
found a ,god who can be  his salvation4 
,but the years between8 ,what do you    
think of your young  men of fifteen1    
twenty1 twenty-five1 and thirty years   
old8 ,to have  outgrown the boy's faith1
 and not to have come to the man's      
faith8 ,that  seems almost to be an     
awful fate and destiny which you expect 
for them4  ,but if our faith be this1   
then there shall be no need1 no chance  
that a  man shall outgrow it4 ,know     
,christ with the first conceptions1     
imperfect  and crude1 of his boy's life1
 and he shall go on knowing more and    
more  of that ,christ4 ,that friend1 the
 ,christ he knows at twenty-five1 shall 
be different from the ,christ he knew at
 ten1 just exactly as the friend  ,i    
know at fifty is different from the     
friend ,i knew at thirty1 twenty  years 

ago2 and yet ,he is the same friend     
still1 forever opening the  richness of 
an ever richer life1 filling it with new
 experiences1 with  new manifestations  
of ,himself4 ,let him drop something    
which seemed to  him to be a part of the
 religion1 but was only a temporary     
phase or  condition of it1 going forward
 with the soul all through the opening  
stages of life1 and at last going       
forward with the soul into the life     
where it shall see as all along it has  
been seen1 and know as it has  been     
known4 ,the old legend was that the     
clothes of the ,israelites1 which  the  
,bible said waxed not old upon them in  
the desert during those forty  years1   
not merely waxed not old those forty    
years1 but grew with their  growth1 so  
that the little ,hebrew who crossed the 
,red ,sea in his boy's  clothes wore the
 same clothes when he entered into the  
,promised ,land4 ,it  is the parable of 
that which comes to the man who has a   
true ,christian  faith1 a faith which   

comes in the personal friendship of     
,christ1 a faith  which comes not in the
 belief of certain things about ,him1   
not in the  doing slavishly of certain  
things which it seemed as if it had been
 said  by ,him that we must do1 but in  
the personal entrance into ,his nature  
in  a life for ,him1 in which ,he is    
able to send ,his life down into us4    
,then there is another thing that people
 are always thinking1 that ,i hear  very
 often from men1 and that ,i have no    
doubt that ,i should hear from  many of 
you1 one by one4 ,you talk about your   
earlier religion as if it  had been some
 sort of a bondage from which you had   
escaped4 ,how common  it is to hear men1
 especially in this region1 say3 ,i     
would be1 perhaps1  religious1 except   
that there was so much religion forced  
upon me in my  earliest days4 ,i was    
driven to church when ,i was a boy1 in  
those old  ,puritan days4 ,i went to    
school1 where they forced prayers upon  
me all  the time4 ,i was made to be     

religious1 so now ,i cannot be          
religious4 ,was  there ever a more      
dreadful thing than for a soul to say   
that1 because1  it may be1 of the       
unwisdom1 or the imprudence1 the        
overzeal and the  mistaken zeal of other
 men1 we have not got the full blessing 
of that  rich1 open1 free life with     
,christ which the youth may have1 and   
therefore we will abandon the privileges
 of our higher life which is  given to  
us in our manlier years8 ,it all comes  
of this awful way of  talking as if     
religion were the duty and not the      
inestimable privilege  of human kind4   
,the ,christ stands before us and says1 
,come to me4 ,you  say1 ,must ,i8 ,and  
,he answers1 ,you may4 ,he will not even
 say1 ,you  must4 ,you may4 ,and duty   
loses itself in privilege1 and the soul 
enters  into independence and escapes   
from its sins1 fulfils its life1 lays   
hold  of its salvation1 becomes eternal1
 begins to live an eternal life in the  
accepted and loving service of ,christ4 

,now just one word1 my friends4 ,if this
 be so1 whether you to-day are  ready to
 make ,christ your master and your      
friend or not1 do not1 ,i beg  you1 let 
yourself say that it is a silly or      
unreasonable belief1 thus to  know of a 
spiritual presence which is here among  
us1 in which ,god is  really in         
humanity4 ,do not let yourselves say1 my
 friends1 that the man  who gives       
himself to ,jesus ,christ and earnestly 
tries to enter in deeper  and deeper    
into his life and tries to do his will1 
that he may know the  ,christ and know  
himself in the ,christ more and         
more--dare not call that  brother a     
fool1 as you have sometimes called your 
,christian man who  watched scrupulously
 over his life and prayed1 yes1 prayed1 
the thing  you think perhaps the        
foolishest thing that man can do1 the   
thing that  is the most reasonable act  
that any man does upon ,god's earth4 ,if
 man is  man and ,god is ,god1 to live  
without prayer is not merely an awful   

thing3  it is an infinitely foolish     
thing4 ,when a man for the first time   
bows  down upon his knees and prays1    
,oh6 ,christ1 come unto me1 reveal      
,thyself  to me1 make me to know ,thee1 
that ,i may receive ,thee1 make me to be
  obedient that ,i may take ,thee into  
my life1 then that man has claimed  his 
manhood4 ,i beg you1 ,i implore you1 ,i 
adjure you that1 if you be not  ready to
 be ,christian1 you at least will know  
that the ,christian life is  the only   
true human life1 and that the man who   
becomes thoroughly a  ,christian sets   
his face toward the fulfilment of his   
humanity1 and so  for the first time    
truly is a man4 ,as many as received    
,him1--so the  great ,scripture word    
runs of this ,christ of whom we have    
been  talking1--,as many as received    
,him1 to them gave ,he power to become  
the  sons of ,god4    ,just think of    
it6--the sons of ,god6 ,the power to    
become that to as many  as will receive 
the present ,christ4          ,,vi4     

,,abraham ,,lincoln4#a    ,he chose     
,david also ,his servant1 and took him  
away from the sheepfolds2  that he might
 feed ,jacob ,his people1 and ,israel   
,his inheritance4 ,so he  fed them with 
a faithful and true heart1 and ruled    
them prudently with  all his            
power4--,,psalm lxxviii4 #ga1 #gb1 #gc4 
,while ,i speak to you to-day1 the body 
of the ,president who ruled this        
people1 is lying1 honored and loved1 in 
our city4 ,it is impossible with  that  
sacred presence in our midst for me to  
stand and speak of ordinary  topics     
which occupy the pulpit4 ,i must speak  
of him to-day2 and ,i  therefore        
undertake to do what ,i had intended to 
do at some future time1  to invite you  
to study with me the character of       
,abraham ,lincoln1 the  impulses of his 
life and the causes of his death4 ,i    
know how hard it is  to do it rightly1  
how impossible it is to do it worthily4 
,but ,i shall  speak with confidence1   
because ,i speak to those who love him1 

and whose  ready love will fill out the 
deficiencies in a picture which my words
  will weakly try to draw4    ,we take  
it for granted1 first of all1 that there
 is an essential  connection between    
,mr4 ,lincoln's character and his       
violent and bloody  death4 ,it is no    
accident1 no arbitrary decree of        
,providence4 ,he lived as  he did1 and  
he died as he did1 because he was what  
he was4 ,the more we  see of events1 the
 less we come to believe in any fate or 
destiny except  the destiny of          
character4 ,it will be our duty1 then1  
to see what there  was in the character 
of our great ,president that created the
 history of  his life1 and at last      
produced the catastrophe of his cruel   
death4 ,after  the first trembling      
horror1 the first outburst of indignant 
sorrow1 has  grown calm1 these are the  
questions which we are bound to ask and 
answer4    ,it is not necessary for me  
even to sketch the biography of ,mr4    
,lincoln4  ,he was born in ,kentucky    

fifty-six years ago1 when ,kentucky was 
a pioneer  ,state4 ,he lived1 as boy and
 man1 the hard and needy life of a      
backwoodsman1 a farmer1 a river boatman1
 and1 finally1 by his own  efforts at   
self-education1 of an active1 respected1
 influential citizen1  in the           
half-organized and manifold interests of
 a new and energetic  community4 ,from  
his boyhood up he lived in direct and   
vigorous contact  with men and things1  
not as in older ,states and easier      
conditions with  words and theories2 and
 both his moral convictions and his     
intellectual  pinions gathered from that
 contact a supreme degree of that       
character by  which men knew him1 that  
character which is the most distinctive 
possession of the best ,american nature1
 that almost indescribable  quality     
which we call in general clearness or   
truth1 and which appears  in the        
physical structure as health1 in the    
moral constitution as  honesty1 in the  
mental structure as sagacity1 and in the

 region of  active life as              
practicalness4 ,this one character1 with
 many sides1 all  shaped by the same    
essential force and testifying to the   
same inner  influences1 was what was    
powerful in him and decreed for him the 
life he  was to live and the death he   
was to die4 ,we must take no smaller    
view  than this of what he was4 ,even   
his physical conditions are not to be   
forgotten in making up his character4   
,we make too little always of the       
physical2 certainly we make too little  
of it here if we lose out of  sight the 
strength and muscular activity1 the     
power of doing and  enduring1 which the 
backwoods-boy inherited from generations
 of  hard-living ancestors1 and         
appropriated for his own by a long      
discipline  of bodily toil4 ,he brought 
to the solution of the question of labor
 in  this country not merely a mind1 but
 a body thoroughly in sympathy with     
labor1 full of the culture of labor1    
bearing witness to the dignity and      

excellence of work in every muscle that 
work had toughened and every  sense that
 work had made clear and true4 ,he could
 not have brought the  mind for his task
 so perfectly1 unless he had first      
brought the body  whose rugged and      
stubborn health was always contradicting
 to him the  false theories of labor1   
and always asserting the true4    ,as to
 the moral and mental powers which      
distinguished him1 all  embraceable     
under this general description of       
clearness of truth1 the  most remarkable
 thing is the way in which they blend   
with one another1  so that it is next to
 impossible to examine them in          
separation4 ,a great  many people have  
discussed very crudely whether ,abraham 
,lincoln was an  intellectual man or    
not2 as if intellect were a thing always
 of the same  sort1 which you could     
precipitate from the other constituents 
of a man's  nature and weigh by itself1 
and compare by pounds and ounces in this
 man  with another4 ,the fact is1 that  

in all the simplest characters that line
  between the mental and moral natures  
is always vague and indistinct4  ,they  
run together1 and in their best         
combinations you are unable to          
discriminate1 in the wisdom which is    
their result1 how much is moral and  how
 much is intellectual4 ,you are unable  
to tell whether in the wise  acts and   
words which issue from such a life there
 is more of the  righteousness that     
comes of a clear conscience1 or of the  
sagacity that  comes of a clear brain4  
,in more complex characters and under   
more  complex conditions1 the moral and 
the mental lives come to be less        
healthily combined4 ,they co-operate1   
they help each other less4 ,they  come  
even to stand over against each other as
 antagonists2 till we have  that vague  
but most melancholy notion which        
pervades the life of all  elaborate     
civilization1 that goodness and         
greatness1 as we call them1  are not to 
be looked for together1 till we expect  

to see and so do see a  feeble and      
narrow conscientiousness on the one     
hand1 and a bad1  unprincipled          
intelligence on the other1 dividing the 
suffrages of men4    ,it is the great   
boon of such characters as ,mr4         
,lincoln's1 that they  reunite what ,god
 has joined together and man has put    
asunder4 ,in him was  vindicated the    
greatness of real goodness and the      
goodness of real  greatness4 ,the twain 
were one flesh4 ,not one of all the     
multitudes who  stood and looked up to  
him for direction with such a loving and
 implicit  trust can tell you to-day    
whether the wise judgments that he gave 
came  most from a strong head or a sound
 heart4 ,if you ask them1 they are      
puzzled4 ,there are men as good as he1  
but they do bad things4 ,there are  men 
as intelligent as he1 but they do       
foolish things4 ,in him goodness  and   
intelligence combined and made their    
best result of wisdom4 ,for  perfect    
truth consists not merely in the right  

constituents of  character1 but in their
 right and intimate conjunction4 ,this  
union of  the mental and moral into a   
life of admirable simplicity is what we 
most  admire in children2 but in them it
 is unsettled and unpractical4 ,but     
when it is preserved into manhood1      
deepened into reliability and  maturity1
 it is that glorified childlikeness1    
that high and reverend  simplicity1     
which shames and baffles the most       
accomplished astuteness1  and is chosen 
by ,god to fill his purposes when he    
needs a ruler for his  people1 of       
faithful and true heart1 such as he had 
who was our  ,president4    ,another    
evident quality of such a character as  
this will be its  freshness or newness2 
if we may so speak4 ,its freshness or   
readiness--call it what you will--its   
ability to take up new duties and  do   
them in a new way1 will result of       
necessity from its truth and  clearness4
 ,the simple natures and forces will    
always be the most pliant  ones4 ,water 

bends and shapes itself to any channel4 
,air folds and adapts  itself to each   
new figure4 ,they are the simplest and  
the most infinitely  active things in   
nature4 ,so this nature1 in very virtue 
of its  simplicity1 must be also free1  
always fitting itself to each new need4 
,it will always start from the most     
fundamental and eternal conditions1  and
 work in the straightest even although  
they be the newest ways1 to  the present
 prescribed purpose4 ,in one word1 it   
must be broad and  independent and      
radical4 ,so that freedom and           
radicalness in the  character of        
,abraham ,lincoln were not separate     
qualities1 but the  necessary results of
 his simplicity and childlikeness and   
truth4    ,here then we have some       
conception of the man4 ,out of this     
character came  the life which we admire
 and the death which we lament to-day4  
,he was  called in that character to    
that life and death4 ,it was just the   
nature1  as you see1 which a new nation 

such as ours ought to produce4 ,all the 
conditions of his birth1 his youth1 his 
manhood1 which made him what he  was1   
were not irregular and exceptional1 but 
were the normal conditions  of a new and
 simple country4 ,his pioneer home in   
,indiana was a type of  the pioneer land
 in which he lived4 ,if ever there was a
 man who was a  part of the time and    
country he lived in1 this was he4 ,the  
same simple  respect for labor won in   
the school of work and incorporated into
 blood  and muscle2 the same unassuming 
loyalty to the simple virtues of        
temperance and industry and integrity2  
the same sagacious judgment  which had  
learned to be quick-eyed and            
quick-brained in the constant  presence 
of emergency2 the same direct and clear 
thought about things1  social1          
political1 and religious1 that was in   
him supremely1 was in the  people he was
 sent to rule4 ,surely1 with such a     
type-man for ruler1  there would seem to
 be but a smooth and even road over     

which he might  lead the people whose   
character he represented into the new   
region of  national happiness and       
comfort and usefulness1 for which that  
character  had been designed4    ,but   
then we come to the beginning of all    
trouble4 ,abraham ,lincoln was  the     
type-man of the country1 but not of the 
whole country4 ,this  character which we
 have been trying to describe was the   
character of an  ,american under the    
discipline of freedom4 ,there was       
another ,american  character which had  
been developed under the influence of   
slavery4 ,there  was no one ,american   
character embracing the land4 ,there    
were two  characters1 with impulses of  
irrepressible and deadly conflict4 ,this
  citizen whom we have been honoring and
 praising represented one4 ,the  whole  
great scheme with which he was          
ultimately brought in conflict1 and     
which has finally killed him1           
represented the other4 ,beside this     
nature1  true and fresh and new1 there  

was another nature1 false and effete and
  old4 ,the one nature found itself in a
 new world1 and set itself to  discover 
the new ways for the new duties that    
were given it4 ,the other  nature1 full 
of the false pride of blood1 set itself 
to reproduce in a  new world the        
institutions and the spirit of the old1 
to build anew the  structure of the     
feudalism which had been corrupt in its 
own day1 and  which had been left far   
behind by the advancing conscience and  
needs of  the progressing race4 ,the one
 nature magnified labor1 the other      
nature  depreciated and despised it4    
,the one honored the laborer1 and the   
other  scorned him4 ,the one was simple 
and direct2 the other1 complex1 full of 
sophistries and self-excuses4 ,the one  
was free to look all that claimed  to be
 truth in the face1 and separate the    
error from the truth that  might be in  
it2 the other did not dare to           
investigate1 because its own            
established prides and systems were     

dearer to it than the truth itself1  and
 so even truth went about in it doing   
the work of error4 ,the one was  ready  
to state broad principles1 of the       
brotherhood of man1 the  universal      
fatherhood and justice of ,god1 however 
imperfectly it might  realize them in   
practice2 the other denied even the     
principles1 and so  dug deep and laid   
below its special sins the broad        
foundation of a  consistent1            
acknowledged sinfulness4 ,in a word1 one
 nature was full of  the influences of  
,freedom1 the other nature was full of  
the influences  of ,slavery4    ,in     
general1 these two regions of our       
national life were separated by a       
geographical boundary4 ,one was the     
spirit of the ,north1 the other was  the
 spirit of the ,south4 ,but the         
,southern nature was by no means all a  
,southern thing4 ,there it had an       
organized1 established form1 a certain  
definite1 established institution about 
which it clustered4 ,here1  lacking     

advantage1 it lived in less expressive  
ways and so lived more  weakly4 ,there1 
there was the horrible sacrament of     
slavery1 the outward  and visible sign  
round which the inward and spiritual    
temper gathered  and kept itself alive4 
,but who doubts that among us the spirit
 of  slavery lived and thrived8 ,its    
formal existence had been swept away    
from  one ,state after another1 partly  
on conscientious1 partly on economical  
grounds1 but its spirit was here1 in    
every sympathy that ,northern winds     
carried to the listening ear of the     
,southern slave-holder1 and in every    
oppression of the weak by the strong1   
every proud assumption of idleness  over
 labor which echoed the music of        
,southern life back to us4 ,here in  our
 midst lived that worse and falser      
nature1 side by side with the true  and 
better nature which ,god meant should be
 the nature of ,americans1 of  which he 
was shaping out the type and champion in
 his chosen ,david of  the sheepfold4   

,here then we have the two4 ,the history
 of our country for many years is  the  
history of how these two elements of    
,american life approached  collision4   
,they wrought their separate reactions  
on each other4 ,men  debate and quarrel 
even now about the rise of ,northern    
,abolitionism1  about whether the       
,northern ,abolitionists were right or  
wrong1 whether  they did harm or good4  
,how vain the quarrel is6 ,it was       
inevitable4 ,it  was inevitable in the  
nature of things that two such natures  
living here  together should be set     
violently against each other4 ,it is    
inevitable1  till man be far more       
unfeeling and untrue to his convictions 
than he has  always been1 that a great  
wrong asserting itself vehemently should
  arouse to no less vehement assertion  
the opposing right4 ,the only wonder  is
 that there was not more of it4 ,the    
only wonder is that so few were  swept  
away to take by an impulse they could   
not resist their stand of  hatred to the

 wicked institution4 ,the only wonder   
is1 that only one  brave1 reckless man  
came forth to cast himself1 almost      
single-handed1  with a hopeless hope1   
against the proud power that he hated1  
and trust  to the influence of a soul   
marching on into the history of his     
countrymen to stir them to a vindication
 of the truth he loved4 ,at any  rate1  
whether the ,abolitionists were wrong or
 right1 there grew up  about their      
violence1 as there always will about the
 extremism of  extreme reformers1 a     
great mass of feeling1 catching their   
spirit and  asserting it firmly1 though 
in more moderate degrees and methods4   
,about  the nucleus of ,abolitionism    
grew up a great ,american ,anti-,slavery
  determination1 which at last gathered 
strength enough to take its stand  to   
insist upon the checking and limiting   
the extension of the power of  slavery1 
and to put the type-man1 whom ,god had  
been preparing for the  task1 before the
 world1 to do the work on which it had  

resolved4 ,then  came discontent1       
secession1 treason4 ,the two ,american  
natures1 long  advancing to encounter1  
met at last1 and a whole country1 yet   
trembling  with the shock1 bears witness
 how terrible the meeting was4    ,thus 
,i have tried briefly to trace out the  
gradual course by which ,god  brought   
the character which ,he designed to be  
the controlling character  of this new  
world into distinct collision with the  
hostile character  which it was to      
destroy and absorb1 and set it in the   
person of its  type-man in the seat of  
highest power4 ,the character formed    
under the  discipline of ,freedom and   
the character formed under the          
discipline of  ,slavery developed all   
their difference and met in hostile     
conflict when  this war began4 ,notice1 
it was not only in what he did and was  
towards  the slave1 it was in all he did
 and was everywhere that we accept ,mr4 
,lincoln's character as the true result 
of our free life and  institutions4     

,nowhere else could have come forth that
 genuine love of  the people1 which in  
him no one could suspect of being either
 the cheap  flattery of the demagogue or
 the abstract philanthropy of the       
philosopher1 which made our ,president1 
while he lived1 the centre of a  great  
household land1 and when he died so     
cruelly1 made every humblest  household 
thrill with a sense of personal         
bereavement which the death of  rulers  
is not apt to bring4 ,nowhere else than 
out of the life of freedom  could have  
come that personal unselfishness and    
generosity which made so  gracious a    
part of this good man's character4 ,how 
many soldiers feel yet  the pressure of 
a strong hand that clasped theirs once  
as they lay sick  and weak in the dreary
 hospital6 ,how many ears will never    
lose the  thrill of some kind word he   
spoke--he who could speak so kindly to  
promise a kindness that always matched  
his word6 ,how often he surprised  the  
land with a clemency which made even    

those who questioned his policy  love   
him the more for what they called his   
weakness1--seeing how the man  in whom  
,god had most embodied the discipline of
 ,freedom not only could  not be a      
slave1 but could not be a tyrant6 ,in   
the heartiness of his  mirth and his    
enjoyment of simple joys2 in the        
directness and shrewdness  of perception
 which constituted his wit2 in the      
untired1 undiscouraged  faith in human  
nature which he always kept2 and perhaps
 above all in the  plainness and quiet1 
unostentatious earnestness and          
independence of his  religious life1 in 
his humble love and trust of ,god--in   
all1 it was a  character such as only   
,freedom knows how to make4    ,now it  
was in this character1 rather than in   
any mere political  position1 that the  
fitness of ,mr4 ,lincoln to stand forth 
in the struggle  of the two ,american   
natures really lay4 ,we are told that he
 did not come  to the ,presidential     
chair pledged to the abolition of       

,slavery4 ,when will  we learn that with
 all true men it is not what they intend
 to do1 but it  is what the qualities of
 their natures bind them to do1 that    
determines  their career6 ,the          
,president came to his power full of the
 blood1 strong  in the strength of      
,freedom4 ,he came there free1 and      
hating slavery4 ,he  came there1 leaving
 on record words like these spoken three
 years before  and never contradicted4  
,he had said1 ,a house divided against  
itself  cannot stand4 ,i believe this   
,government cannot endure permanently1  
half  slave and half free4 ,i do not    
expect the ,union to be dissolved2 ,i do
 not  expect the house to fall2 but ,i  
expect it will cease to be divided4 ,it 
will become all one thing or all the    
other4 ,when the question came1 he  knew
 which thing he meant that it should be4
 ,his whole nature settled  that        
question for him4 ,such a man must      
always live as he used to say he  lived 
7and was blamed for saying it7          

controlled by events1 not  controlling  
them4 ,and with a reverent and clear    
mind1 to be controlled  by events means 
to be controlled by ,god4 ,for such a   
man there was no  hesitation when ,god  
brought him up face to face with        
,slavery and put the  sword into his    
hand and said1 ,strike it down dead4 ,he
 was a willing  servant then4 ,if ever  
the face of a man writing solemn words  
glowed with  a solemn joy1 it must have 
been the face of ,abraham ,lincoln1 as  
he bent  over the page where the        
,emancipation ,proclamation of #ahfc was
 growing  into shape1 and giving manhood
 and freedom as he wrote it to hundreds 
of  thousands of his fellow-men4 ,here  
was a work in which his whole nature    
could rejoice4 ,here was an act that    
crowned the whole culture of his  life4 
,all the past1 the free boyhood in the  
woods1 the free youth upon  the farm1   
the free manhood in the honorable       
citizen's employments--all  his freedom 
gathered and completed itself in this4  

,and as the swarthy  multitudes came in1
 ragged1 and tired1 and hungry1 and     
ignorant1 but  free forever from        
anything but the memorial scars of the  
fetters and the  whip1 singing rude     
songs in which the new triumph of       
freedom struggled  and heaved below the 
sad melody that had been shaped for     
bondage2 as in  their camps and hovels  
there grew up to their                  
half-superstitious eyes  the image of a 
great ,father almost more than man1 to  
whom they owed  their freedom1--were    
they not half right8 ,for it was not to 
one man1  driven by stress of policy1 or
 swept off by a whim of pity1 that the  
noble act was due4 ,it was to the       
,american nature1 long kept by ,god in  
his own intentions till his time should 
come1 at last emerging into  sight and  
power1 and bound up and embodied in this
 best and most  ,american of all        
,americans1 to whom we and those poor   
frightened slaves  at last might look up
 together and love to call him1 with one

 voice1 our  ,father4    ,thus1 we have 
seen something of what the character of 
,mr4 ,lincoln was1  and how it issued in
 the life he lived4 ,it remains for us  
to see how it  resulted also in the     
terrible death which has laid his       
murdered body  here in our town among   
lamenting multitudes to-day4 ,it is not 
a hard  question1 though it is sad to   
answer4 ,we saw the two natures1 the    
nature  of ,slavery and the nature of   
,freedom1 at last set against each      
other1  come at last to open war4 ,both 
fought1 fought long1 fought bravely2 but
  each1 as was perfectly natural1 fought
 with the tools and in the ways  which  
its own character had made familiar to  
it4 ,the character of  ,slavery was     
brutal1 barbarous1 and treacherous2 and 
so the whole history  of the slave power
 during the war has been full of ways of
 warfare  brutal1 barbarous1 and        
treacherous1 beyond anything that men   
bred in  freedom could have been driven 
to by the most hateful passions4 ,it is 

not to be marvelled at4 ,it is not to be
 set down as the special sin of  the    
war4 ,it goes back beyond that4 ,it is  
the sin of the system4 ,it is  the      
barbarism of ,slavery4 ,when ,slavery   
went to war to save its life1  what     
wonder if its barbarism grew barbarous a
 hundred-fold6    ,one would be         
attempting a task which once was almost 
hopeless1 but which  now is only        
needless1 if he set himself to convince 
a ,northern  congregation that ,slavery 
was a barbarian institution4 ,it would  
be  hardly more necessary to try to     
prove how its barbarism has shown itself
  during this war4 ,the same spirit     
which was blind to the wickedness of    
breaking sacred ties1 of separating man 
and wife1 of beating women till  they   
dropped down dead1 of organizing        
licentiousness and sin into  commercial 
systems1 of forbidding knowledge and    
protecting itself with  ignorance1 of   
putting on its arms and riding out to   
steal a ,state at the  beleaguered      

ballot-box away from freedom--in one    
word 7for its simplest  definition is   
its worst dishonor71 the spirit that    
gave man the  ownership in man in time  
of peace1 has found out yet more        
terrible  barbarisms for the time of    
war4 ,it has hewed and burned the bodies
 of  the dead4 ,it has starved and      
mutilated its helpless prisoners4 ,it   
has  dealt by truth1 not as men will in 
a time of excitement1 lightly and  with 
frequent violations1 but with a cool1   
and deliberate1 and  systematic         
contempt4 ,it has sent its agents into  
,northern towns to fire  peaceful hotels
 where hundreds of peaceful men and     
women slept4 ,it has  undermined the    
prisons where its victims starved1 and  
made all ready to  blow with one blast  
their wretched life away4 ,it has       
delighted in the  lowest and basest     
scurrility even on the highest and most 
honorable  lips4 ,it has corrupted the  
graciousness of women and killed out the
  truth of men4    ,i do not count up   

the terrible catalogue because ,i like  
to1 nor because  ,i wish to stir your   
hearts to passion4 ,even now1 you and ,i
 have no right  to indulge in personal  
hatred to the men who did these things4 
,but we  are not doing right by         
ourselves1 by the ,president that we    
have lost1  or by ,god who had a purpose
 in our losing him1 unless we know      
thoroughly  that it was this same spirit
 which we have seen to be a tyrant in   
peace  and a savage in war1 that has    
crowned itself with the working of this 
final woe4 ,it was the conflict of the  
two ,american natures1 the false  and   
the true4 ,it was ,slavery and ,freedom 
that met in their two  representatives1 
the assassin and the ,president2 and the
 victim of the  last desperate struggle 
of the dying ,slavery lies dead to-day  
in  ,independence ,hall4    ,solemnly1  
in the sight of ,god1 ,i charge this    
murder where it belongs1 on  ,slavery4  
,i dare not stand here in ,his sight1   
and before ,him or you speak  doubtful  

and double-meaning words of vague       
repentance1 as if we had  killed our    
,president4 ,we have sins enough1 but we
 have not done this  sin1 save as by    
weak concessions and timid compromises  
we have let the  spirit of ,slavery grow
 strong and ripe for such a deed4 ,in   
the barbarism  of ,slavery the foul act 
and its foul method had their birth4 ,by
 all the  goodness that there was in    
him2 by all the love we had for him 7and
 who  shall tell how great it was72 by  
all the sorrow that has burdened down   
this desolate and dreadful week1--,i    
charge this murder where it belongs1  on
 ,slavery4 ,i bid you to remember where 
the charge belongs1 to write it  on the 
door-posts of your mourning houses1 to  
teach it to your  wondering children1 to
 give it to the history of these times1 
that all  times to come may hate and    
dread the sin that killed our noblest   
,president4    ,if ever anything were   
clear1 this is the clearest4 ,is there  
the man  alive who thinks that ,abraham 

,lincoln was shot just for himself2 that
 it  was that one man for whom the plot 
was laid8 ,the gentlest1 kindest1 most  
indulgent man that ever ruled a ,state6 
,the man who knew not how to speak  a   
word of harshness or how to make a foe6 
,was it he for whom the  murderer lurked
 with a mere private hate8 ,it was not  
he1 but what he  stood for4 ,it was ,law
 and ,liberty1 it was ,government and   
,freedom1  against which the hate       
gathered and the treacherous shot was   
fired4 ,and  ,i know not how the crime  
of him who shoots at ,law and ,liberty  
in the  crowded glare of a great theatre
 differs from theirs who have levelled  
their aim at the same great beings from 
behind a thousand ambuscades and  on a  
hundred battle-fields of this long war4 
,every general in the field1  and every 
false citizen in our midst at home1 who 
has plotted and  labored to destroy the 
lives of the soldiers of the ,republic1 
is brother  to him who did this deed4   
,the ,american nature1 the ,american    

truths1 of  which our ,president was the
 anointed and supreme embodiment1 have  
been  embodied in multitudes of heroes  
who marched unknown and fell unnoticed  
in our ranks4 ,for them1 just as for    
him1 character decreed a life and a     
death4 ,the blood of all of them ,i     
charge on the same head4 ,slavery armed 
with ,treason was their murderer4       
,men point out to us the absurdity and  
folly of this awful crime4 ,again  and  
again we hear men say1 ,it was the worst
 thing for themselves they  could have  
done4 ,they have shot a representative  
man1 and the cause he  represented grows
 stronger and sterner by his death4 ,can
 it be that so  wise a devil was so     
foolish here8 ,must it not have been the
 act of one  poor madman1 born and      
nursed in his own reckless brain8 ,my   
friends1 let  us understand this matter4
 ,it was a foolish act4 ,its folly was  
only  equalled by its wickedness4 ,it   
was a foolish act4 ,but when did sin    
begin  to be wise8 ,when did wickedness 

learn wisdom8 ,when did the fool stop   
saying in his heart1 ,there is no ,god1 
and acting godlessly in the  absurdity  
of his impiety8 ,the cause that ,abraham
 ,lincoln died for shall  grow stronger 
by his death1--stronger and sterner4    
,stronger to set its  pillars deep into 
the structure of our nation's life2     
sterner to execute  the justice of the  
,lord upon his enemies4 ,stronger to    
spread its arms  and grasp our whole    
land into freedom2 sterner to sweep the 
last poor  ghost of ,slavery out of our 
haunted homes4 ,but while we feel the   
folly  of this act1 let not its folly   
hide its wickedness4 ,it was the        
wickedness of ,slavery putting on a     
foolishness for which its wickedness    
and that alone is responsible1 that     
robbed the nation of a ,president and   
the people of a father4 ,and remember   
this1 that the folly of the ,slave      
power in striking the representative of 
,freedom1 and thinking that  thereby it 
killed ,freedom itself1 is only a folly 

that we shall echo if  we dare to think 
that in punishing the representatives of
 ,slavery who  did this deed1 we are    
putting ,slavery to death4 ,dispersing  
armies and  hanging traitors1           
imperatively as justice and necessity   
may demand them  both1 are not killing  
the spirit out of which they sprang4    
,the traitor  must die because he has   
committed treason4 ,the murderer must   
die because  he has committed murder4   
,slavery must die1 because out of it1   
and it  alone1 came forth the treason of
 the traitor and the murder of the      
murderer4 ,do not say that it is dead4  
,it is not1 while its essential  spirit 
lives4 ,while one man counts another man
 his born inferior for the  color of his
 skin1 while both in ,north and ,south  
prejudices and  practices1 which the law
 cannot touch1 but which ,god hates1    
keep alive  in our people's hearts the  
spirit of the old iniquity1 it is not   
dead4  ,the new ,american nature must   
supplant the old4 ,we must grow like our

  ,president1 in his truth1 his         
independence1 his religion1 and his wide
  humanity4 ,then the character by which
 he died shall be in us1 and by it  we  
shall live4 ,then peace shall come that 
knows no war1 and law that  knows no    
treason2 and full of his spirit a       
grateful land shall gather  round his   
grave1 and in the daily psalm of        
prosperous and righteous  living1 thank 
,god forever for his life and death4    
,so let him lie here in our midst       
to-day1 and let our people go and bend  
with solemn thoughtfulness and look upon
 his face and read the lessons  of his  
burial4 ,as he paused here on his       
journey from the ,western home  and told
 us what by the help of ,god he meant to
 do1 so let him pause  upon his way back
 to his ,western grave and tell us with 
a silence more  eloquent than words how 
bravely1 how truly1 by the strength of  
,god1 he  did it4 ,god brought him up as
 he brought ,david up from the          
sheepfolds to  feed ,jacob1 his people1 

and ,israel1 his inheritance4 ,he came  
up in  earnestness and faith1 and he    
goes back in triumph4 ,as he pauses here
  to-day1 and from his cold lips bids us
 bear witness how he has met the  duty  
that was laid on him1 what can we say   
out of our full hearts but  this--,he   
fed them with a faithful and true heart1
 and ruled them  prudently with all his 
power4 ,the ,shepherd of the ,people6   
that old  name that the best rulers ever
 craved4 ,what ruler ever won it like   
this  dead ,president of ours8 ,he fed  
us faithfully and truly4 ,he fed us with
  counsel when we were in doubt1 with   
inspiration when we sometimes  faltered1
 with caution when we would be rash1    
with calm1 clear1 trustful  cheerfulness
 through many an hour when our hearts   
were dark4 ,he fed  hungry souls all    
over the country with sympathy and      
consolation4 ,he  spread before the     
whole land feasts of great duty and     
devotion and  patriotism1 on which the  
land grew strong4 ,he fed us with       

solemn1 solid  truths4 ,he taught us the
 sacredness of government1 the          
wickedness of  treason4 ,he made our    
souls glad and vigorous with the love of
 liberty  that was in his4 ,he showed us
 how to love truth and yet be           
charitable--how to hate wrong and all   
oppression1 and yet not treasure  one   
personal injury or insult4 ,he fed all  
his people1 from the highest  to the    
lowest1 from the most privileged down to
 the most enslaved4 ,best  of all1 he   
fed us with a reverent and genuine      
religion4 ,he spread before  us the love
 and fear of ,god just in that shape in 
which we need them  most1 and out of his
 faithful service of a higher ,master   
who of us has  not taken and eaten and  
grown strong8 ,he fed them with a       
faithful and  true heart4 ,yes1 till the
 last4 ,for at the last1 behold him     
standing  with hand reached out to feed 
the ,south with mercy and the ,north    
with  charity1 and the whole land with  
peace1 when the ,lord who had sent him  

called him and his work was done6    ,he
 stood once on the battle-field of our  
own ,state1 and said of the  brave men  
who had saved it words as noble as any  
countryman of ours ever  spoke4 ,let us 
stand in the country he has saved1 and  
which is to be his  grave and monument1 
and say of ,abraham ,lincoln what he    
said of the  soldiers who had died at   
,gettysburg4 ,he stood there with their 
graves  before him1 and these are the   
words he said3--         ,we cannot     
dedicate1 we cannot consecrate1 we      
cannot hallow this       ground4 ,the   
brave men who struggled here have       
consecrated it far       beyond our     
power to add or detract4 ,the world will
 little note nor       long remember    
what we say here1 but it can never      
forget what they       did here4 ,it is 
for us the living rather to be dedicated
 to the       unfinished work which they
 who fought here have thus far so nobly 
advanced4 ,it is rather for us to be    
here dedicated to the great       task  

remaining before us1 that from these    
honored dead we take       increased    
devotion to that cause for which they   
gave the last full       measure of     
devotion2 that we here highly resolve   
that these dead       shall not have    
died in vain2 and this nation1 under    
,god1 shall have       a new birth of   
freedom1 and that government of the     
people1 by the       people1 and for the
 people shall not perish from the earth4
    ,may ,god make us worthy of the     
memory of ,abraham ,lincoln6            
,,footnotes3    ,footnote #a3 ,a sermon 
preached in ,philadelphia1 while the    
body of the  ,president was lying in the
 city4