The noblest quest , and other sermons preached in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Cleveland, O.

Contents

SERMON. PAGE.

I. The Noblest Quest, 9

II. The Supreme Master, - - - 29

I. The Noblest Quest

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" — Matt, vi, 33.

These words form but a single sentence snatched from the most remarkable sermon ever preached, — the Sermon on the Mount. That sermon had a great preacher ; great because He knew two important things, two things which are essential for every preacher to know, — He knew God, and He knew men. Too many modern preachers know men better than they know God. Some few may know God better than they know men. Knowledge of both is essential to the highest success.

That sermon had a great pulpit. It stood out under God's open sky, and out in God's open field. That sermon had a great hearing. The multitudes from neighboring villages and cities were crowding the hillside. They were there to listen to what this great preacher had to say That sermon proio The Nobi^st Quest.

duced a great effect. Everything about that occasion was great. We are not yet done measuring the greatness of that remarkable address. Yet a sermon must have more than a mighty preacher, a splendid pulpit, and a vast audience, to produce results that are immeasurable. It must have a mighty message ; and this triumphant sermon had a message which has thrilled the generations. He held out the promise of a pure life to every fallen man. He told them that only such a life could be attained by the forsaking of their sins, and believing in Him as a personal Savior. He insisted that the noblest quest of every earnest life must be "the kingdom of God."

Nearly all the [commandments have attached to them a promise in the form of a reward. In the command contained in this text Jesus attaches a most sweeping promise. He says, "All these things shall be added unto you." You will recall that He had just been talking about things very important to them; such things as wearing apparel, and food and drink. If we are wise, we are anxious to know what course we are to pursue in life which will secure such things for us. We need garments for our nakedness, and something more substantial than angels' food for our fare. We are in the habit of

The Nobles? Quest. ii

saying that they who secure the good things of life are they who have learned best how to relate themselves to such questions as "How shall I be clothed?" and "What shall I eat?" The great mass of people live as though they thought that the chief end in life is to provide for the wants of the body. They call this life a "bread-and-butter battle." They say that that man only is wise and successful who knows how to secure for himself, and those dependent upon him, these physical requirements.

Now, here comes this great Preacher and says to that multitude who heard Him, and all the multitudes following, that the chief business in life is not to secure these physical necessities; that there is something even more important than food and raiment. He tells us that the chief thing to seek after is the very thing which most people think nothing about. He insists that we shall seek this higher good, and that while in pursuit of it, these other things will come to our hand as a natural consequence, without very much concern on our part. This seems like a strange philosophy that puts forth the theory that the things one so much desires and so much needs are to be set aside as a mere secondary consideration ; and then, while in the pursuit of something else, these things will come along as a matter of course. Yet those of us who have had much experience in the ways of the world have discovered that things very desirable in life are often more easily secured by not making a special effort to get them.

We have learned that, when we have busied ourselves to possess some things which we very much coveted, we lacked the ability to enjoy them. You will remember that Sancho Panza was very anxious to govern a little island of his own. When it at last came into his possession, he did not know what to do with it. This is but a comic portrayal of the experience of many people more practical than poor old Sancho. Pleasure is a thing for which most of the world is in hot pursuit ; yet it is such a delicate thing that it is often missed by the very way people attempt to grasp it. It is well known that the least happy people in the world are often those who make a profession of seeking pleasure.

One day my train stopped in a grain-field in Holland. The wheat was dotted thick with bloodred poppies. I opened my compartment door, stepped out quickly, gathered an armful of the beautiful flowers and hastened into the car. To my surprise, I discovered that in my haste I had shaken the petals from off their stems, and there

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was no beauty left in my hand. Then I understood what was meant by the poet when he said,

" Pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, the bloom is shed."

Some of you have long anticipated some experience which you fancy would give you the highest delight. All my life long I had anticipated a ride down the wonderful Vale of Chamouni. The long-hoped-for day came when I was permitted to make that journey. Instead of viewing snow-capped mountains, listening to the music of a thousand waterfalls as they dropped into the valley, it rained all day long, and I was compelled to remain inside the diligence, and see little of the beauties of the far-famed valley.

Often, much of life's delights comes to us at times when we do not expect them, and in ways which we have not planned. I recall now a picture that I saw in the National Gallery in Dresden. A nun sat in her cell, holding in her hand a beautiful rose which had 'been thrown by an invisible hand through an open window. I doubt not its perfume was the sweeter and its beauty the more entrancing, because it had come to her so unexpectedly. After all, the most unexpected pleasures bring us the most delight. I have no doubt that there are many here to-day who can testify that most of the good things which they have come to possess in this life came as a result of seeking other things which lay far beyond them. As a boy I soon discovered that I could only throw poorly. So when I played ball behind the bat, and wanted to throw to second base, I always aimed at the most distant fixed star. That is a wise advice given by Emerson: "Hitch your wagon to a star." It is only when we have lofty aims that we gain anything worth while. There are those who tell us to be sane and practical; to aim at the things near at hand ; but the divine law runs counter to this sage philosophy of the world, and gives us to understand that if we aim at the distant, we will also secure that which is nigh. Many a man has sought to secure a good reputation among jnen, and utterly missed it. Whenever men seek sternly to perform their duty, regardless of what effect it may have on their reputation, they stand highest in the world's estimation. When those who are struggling on a sinking ship have the life-line thrown clear over and beyond their sinking vessel, they are far more apt to catch the line and be drawn in safety to the shore.

Moreover, I want to insist that often the things which appeal most to one's ambitions are unworthy of him.

In addressing this great multitude of young people to-day, hundreds of whom are on the threshold of active life, with your college career behind you, I am hoping that within the breast of each are the loftiest ambitions. I would not give much for your future were you lacking in ambition. I want you to seek the best things. I covet for you the richest gifts earth can bestow. Yet I want to warn you that you can not afford to waste your lives in the pursuit of things which are purely temporal. You will find it necessary to struggle to gain a place among men. Competition will be strong. The strife will be intense ; and you will often grow weary in your struggle to maintain your place. The practical necessities of life will press you on. You will frequently be forced to remember that you have need of raiment and food and drink; but you must also remind yourself that these very necessary things are not 'the chief pursuits of a noble life. You will need money ; but you must seek more than wealth. Worldly honors may be bestowed upon you, but your chief business will not be to secure them. You must never forget that you yourself shall be when all these things are not. Do not make the mistake of the wise fool in the Scripture. He was not a fool because he obtained worldly success. He was not a fool because he would build larger barns for his increased harvest. He was a fool because he thought he could satisfy his soul with corn. He said to his soul, "Take thine ease, for I have much goods laid up in store for thee." He was a fool to think that the things that he had gained could satisfy the hunger of an immortal soul. His soul was starving in the midst of plenty ; and he was a fool not to know it. You are larger than anything this world holds. You yourself are worth more than all the stars that glitter in the winter night. Do not allow yourself to live only for the things which perish in the using. Live for the highest things. Seek the kingdom of God. Get into it, — rather, let it get into you. The human soul is the only thing big enough to contain the kingdom of God. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you." Let nothing less than this vast possession satisfy the ambition of your soul. Learn the laws of this kingdom and keep them. Get into harmony with this kingdom and enjoy its richest blessings. You will then discover that, having come into possession of the highest things, you have, through the very process, prepared yourself for the gaining and the enjoying of the lower things. He only is equipped for the kingdom of earth who has found the kingdom of God. He only is best fitted for this earth who has qualified himself for the heavens. Get the kingdom, and the other things less valuable, and yet desirable and essential, will come naturally in its train.

This remarkable statement of this great Preacher not only contains a promise, but it contains an emphatic command. He said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." One very naturally inquires what is meant by this thing called "the kingdom of God." One thing is sure, if God exists, He has a kingdom. If He has a kingdom, that kingdom has its laws, both written and unwritten. It also has its subjects who belong to it; who keep its laws and reverence its King. And wherever His laws are operating, and wherever obedient men and women are seeking to keep them, there is tne kingdom of God. Go where any man is striving to do the will of his Heavenly Father; go where any earnest soul is struggling with temptation, — and there you will find that God has set up His kingdom. That kingdom can be found in the palace or in the cottage. I can take you into the workshop, into the office, into the school-room, into the home, and show you where the kingdom of God is already established.

You ask me, "What does Jesus mean by seeking this kingdom?" I answer, "Surely, it must mean that we must recognize that the kingdom does exist ; that we want to get into it, and be a part of it ; to keep its laws and to advance its dominion."

The character of a man is determined by the things he most seeks and prizes. I am continually insisting in my ministry that the whole object of the divine effort amongst men is to get them to be Godlike. I am sure that God wants us to seek the kingdom, not so much that good may come to the kingdom, as that good may come to man through the kingdom. The kingdom exists for the good of man, and not man for the good of the kingdom. Jesus was always trying to get men to stretch themselves to the highest and noblest standards. He knew that the kingdom into which He would usher us, if we would only seek it, would furnish an environment for the development of the noblest character. Men take on the color of their surroundings ; and the very government with which one is allied imparts to each citizen something of

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the characteristics of the whole body. To belongto the Greek government in the time of Socrates was in itself a liberal education. No doubt Paul got something of the sweep and power of the Roman government into his nature from the fact that he boasted of being a Roman citizen. There is something in the mere citizenship in a republic like ours which broadens one's soul and puts it in sympathy with the universal struggle for liberty .and freedom for all men. What must it not mean for any man's character to become a part of the kingdom of God? Let a man once comprehend something of the grandeur, stability, and endurance of the kingdom of God, and he will find his soul growing as seeds grow in fertile soil. I promise you young people here to-day, that three elements will enter into your character if you seek and find the kingdom of God. These three things are essential to every successful life. The lack of them, no matter what else is possessed, leaves a weak and worthless character.

I promise you that if you seek and find the kingdom of God you shall in the first place discover your Character growing big and broad with the breadth of the kingdom into which you have come. The trouble with the average man is that he lives in too small a world. He has no large outlook. His energies are too much confined to the trivial and the little. The soul can not grow in a little world. The temptation to so many is to be satisfied with the little and the commonplace. Too many of us see the world only through a narrow slit. Many of us can get down on our knees and look through a keyhole with both eyes wide open. The world needs to-day broad-minded men and women. It is the narrow man who makes all our trouble. It is this narrowness which is creeping into our religious life, making us fanatics. It is this element that makes the crank. The truth is, there is no one creed broad enough to take in all truth. All our creeds might well have written across them the word "amplius," which Angelo wrote across the narrow, contracted painting of his pupil. All our theological creeds need to be ampler, larger, broader. O, if men would only learn to take their stand by the side of Christ, and view the world from the angle of vision with which He beholds it ! How the horizon would stretch out before us, and how many more lovely blessings and beautiful things would sweep into our larger vision!

If we live more in the atmosphere of the kingdom of God, our opinions will be less selfish, our

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ideas less narrow, and our creeds less exclusive, and we would, discover our characters growing like trees in the genial sunshine of summer. I would not lead you to conclude, from what I am saying, that this breadth of outlook is a simple, suave indifference to what one may hold to be the truth. It is easy to be broad when there is no depth. We are apt to be so broad and so thin that our thinking has no moral consistency. I plead for a breadth of character which is only another name for that divine sympathy which knows how to appreciate the view-point of another; and that splendid generosity which attributes an honest motive to him who may differ from us. If you want to get the best conception of this beautiful city, you will not get it by walking its streets and measuring it with a surveyor's chain. But you will get a better view of the city by rising to some eminence and then taking in with the sweep of the eye the vast stretches from that loftier outlook.

I have no doubt that you will find breadth coming to your character by the wise and careful study of the thoughts and opinions of many minds; but I insist to tell you that I know no way by which you may get such breadth of character, such lofty Conceptions of living, as by mingling in the society of Him who is able to lead you out into the broadest fields of contemplation. Note the purposes of God. Learn His plans, and get in sympathy with His kingdom, and you can not be narrow.

There is another quality in human character which is always admirable; if it is lacking in the most distinguished he is universally despised. Youth needs to be on its guard here. You are entering upon life's duties and striving to make a place for yourself in the world. In this competing world, no one else will give way for you. Each must look out for himself and win his own way. Herein is the danger. The personal struggle will beget selfishness. You will find yourself giving too much thought to things which are yours, and not enough to the things which belong to others. Do not lose your self-respect in your strivings for your own. "Take heed unto thyself ;" but also be on your constant guard lest you grow selfish. I want you to get into the kingdom of God because there you will find it easier "to look upon the things of others." Selfishness can not flourish in the soil of the kingdom of God. I promise you that if you seek and find the kingdom of God, no sooner will you have entered it than all that ugly selfishness will have dropped from you. You may get into the kingdom by seeking your own good; that is necessary; but I warrant you that you will not stay in the kingdom if you continue to seek only your own good. I covet for you young people the character graced by this Christly unselfishness; and that is why I want you to obey the command and seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness. I know full well that your character will not be beautified unless you catch the spirit and emulate the example of Jesus Christ, the Founder of this kingdom.

Another reason why I am anxious that you shall seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness is, that if you thus come into possession of it your character will take on another royal attribute of the kingly soul. For the want of a better name, I call it "eternalness." So many good things in life are ephemeral. They are so short-lived. There are elements in character which are beautiful and attractive, and yet they are not essential. Jesus came to show men that the greatest thing in the world is the individual soul. God Himself, in the person of His Son, traversed the universe in search of a lost soul. That is the one thing in the universe which has in it the element of perpetuity. It can not die. Now, I contend that the soul's character should take

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on something of the solidity and permanency of that kingdom, which, unlike other earthly kingdoms which so quickly pass away, shall abide forever. I intimated a while ago that to belong to a government like that which had its capital on the Tiber, and which was supposed to be so strong that it could never cease to be, was to give to the citizen something of the same feeling of stability and permanency. Surely, there is a type of character which can only be produced by citizenship in the kingdom which gives promises of eternal duration. I feel sure that once you have entered the kingdom of God, you will find your powers broadening; and as you throw out your energies along the outgoing of the divine laws, you will find yourself growing virile and mighty, taking on the very qualities of the kingdom of God.

Let me, in conclusion, urge the members of this graduating class to put the accent upon the word "FIRST" in this text of ours. You are on life's open threshold. You have been dreaming what your life-work would be; wondering what success is awaiting you out in the world into which you are hastening. You are pausing here this morning, amid the environment of this Commencement-time, and all this is like the launching of a ship amid the shouts of the watching multitude. Doubtless the more thoughtful of you have been looking beyond this day of the launching. You are anticipating the storms which will sweep over your life's bark when once you are put out fairly to sea. Many of you are to have a struggle to secure a firm footing in the world; and with the most of you it will be a serious problem to secure the needy raiment and the necessary bread. Hence, you will find yourselves tempted to keep these divine claims, of- which I have been speaking, in the background of your life. You will say to yourself, "I will think of these higher relations to God when I get settled in life. I will attend to the more needy questions now." I want to assure you that you will never be called on in all your career to decide a more important question than the one I put to you this hour. It is vital now. It will help you settle other questions which may arise. Once get yourself properly related to God's kingdom, and all other things will easily right themselves. I tremble as I look into your faces this hour, knowing your possibilities and your dangers.

You young people have so much at stake. There are a thousand things you must not do; there are a thousand places you must not go ; there are a thousand words you must not speak ; you have too much at stake. Listen! It is in the days of the bloody Commune in Paris. Hear the rumble and roar of the mob as it sweeps down the Rue de Madelaine and out into the Place de Guillotine. Now, they are pounding down the gates of the Tuileries gardens ; and now, they are thundering at the doors of the palace. They drag out Louis XVI. They bind him hand-and-foot, and place his head upon the cruel block. They touch the spring, and the knife severs the head from the body. Later, they repair again to the palace, and bring out the queen, Marie Antoinette. They lead her to the same cruel block, and the same awful fate. Now they bring out the little Dauphin, the heir to the French throne, — he who is to be Louis XVII; but, alas! he never became such. There he stands with his golden locks falling down upon his shoulders, clad in softest velvet, trembling and fearing for his life. The mob shouts: "To the guillotine with the Dauphin!" "An end of royalty!" And as they are about to lead him to the bloody block, one man in the crowd cries, "Hold! Don't do that! You will only send him to heaven ; I '11 tell you what to do," — but before he could speak, the mob cries, "Vive la Republique! Vive la Republique! To the guillotine with the Dauphin!" And when the mob has shouted itself hoarse and has ceased for a moment, this man cries out again, "Do n't you do that ! I '11 tell you what to do; hand the little fellow over to 'Old Meg'" (she was the vilest woman in Paris), "and let her clothe him in rags, feed him on filth, and teach him to lie and to steal and to swear, and all the practices of the gamin of the town ; let Old Meg damn his soul and send the little devil to hell!" Somehow the diabolical suggestion met a responsive chord in the breast of the cruel mob. And so, according to some historians (we know they differ), they handed the little Dauphin over to Old Meg. She clad him in rags. She fed him with the castout food gathered from the barrels on the boulevards in the early morning. She taught him to lie, and swear, and steal, and all the wicked ways of the gamin. But it is said that every now and then when Old Meg would have him speak a word a little viler than any he had yet spoken, he would clench his little royal fists, and stamp his little royal foot, and say, "I will not say it! I will not say it! I will not say it ! For I was born to be a king, and I will not say it !"

I repeat to you, there are a thousand places you must not go. There are a thousand things you must not do. There are a thousand words which you must not speak. You have too much at stake. You, too, are born to be kings and queens! Seek ye that kingdom of God, of which you are rightful heirs, and in which on some golden morrow, you shall wear your rightful crowns.

II. The Supreme Master

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." — John ii, 5.

At the first wedding of earth, the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden was heard talking face to face with the happy pair. When sin entered their hearts they went out from His presence, and lived in an environment where the accents of His voice were never heard. From that dark hour man only heard the rushing of God's chariot wheels; but never beheld the glory of His person. Amidst the rolling of thunder man heard not His voice, but saw only the marks of His finger prints on tables of stone. Sheltered in the rock on the mountain side, he dared not look as God walked by. Through all the centuries man waited for the promised coming of His Eord/ By faith only did he pierce the veil of the future, catch glimpses of His beauty and hear the sweet accents of His voice. From the time of that first wedding in Eden, until that other wedding in Cana, the divine voice had not been heard. Christ honored by His presence, the first wedding under the old dispensation, and, again by His presence, the first wedding under the new. The voice was silenced in Eden, but heard once more in Cana. The Master of all worlds was there in human flesh to assert His reign and publish His law. It was left for a woman — the virgin mother — to grasp the great fact of His Divinity, and to inform the waiting world that "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."

My text naturally divides itself into three parts, by the emphasis placed upon three words :

First. — "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it," — with the accent upon "He." There is only One who can speak with supreme authority, and man has ever been seeking that kingly voice. The history of the race has always been a dark seeking after God; not only the most enlightened people, but the benighted savage of every clime has engaged in this search. There is a divine intimation in the soul itself that there is a God somewhere to be found. A vine may creep along the ground, but its upward-stretching tendrils is a token that it was made to climb. The philosopher Krause affirmed, "It is impossible for man to be in a stage of development so low as not in some manner to inquire after the Divine." Jacobi held that our feelings tend toward God, and to them He reveals Himself ; and that a man need but know himself in order to find God. "Faith in God is instinctive," Lichtenberg exclaimed. "This heavenward tendency is no human invention. God made man erect and gave his inner eye to glance toward Himself." The very spirit in many who seek with such diligence to deny Him, is one of the strongest proofs that God exists. Surely, when men so widely separated by time and distance find within themselves an earnest longing to find the Originator of their being and the One worthy of their love, worship, and service, we are justified in concluding that God, the Creator of us all, does not mock His children by inspiring them with a longing which can never be satiated.