Henry T. Sell

“ The message of Paul to the men in this charmed circle of civilization was the same that he had set forth in the rough mountain towns of Asia Minor. Human nature, under a rough or a polished exterior, is the same the world over. Paul was seeking men, to bring them to a knowledge of their alienation from God through sin, and to show them the way of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ? Greece, over whom the Romans held sway at this time, had been divided into two parts: Achaia on the south and Macedonia on the north. A great Roman road ran from east to west through Macedonia. ”

“ Without this Christian faith which tells us of a revelation from God and His plan and purpose for man we should be helpless, ever seeking for light in this universe which we could not find. Then again we might believe in a first great cause of all things, but without a revelation we could not know God as the Creator of all things and as our Father who cares supremely for us—made known in the manifestation of Jesus Christ. ”

“ The gospel was now to try its strength with the keenest philosophers and the most seductive fascinations of immorality, masquerading under the guise of religion in the licentious rites of the heathen temples and groves. What could this missionary do? What could he preach? If philosophy, if art, if beauty could have saved the souls of men then they would not have needed the gospel which Paul preached. ”

“ If a man thinks evil in his heart and cherishes that evil, while outwardly his life is moral and upright, it is only a question of time when the inner badness will break through the thin crust of outer goodness. The real battle of life is in a man's soul and if a man sets himself to win this battle he need have no fear of outward evil circumstances ”

“ The book of Acts shows in a very graphic way the rapid growth and marvelous progress of Christianity in the midst of great opposition. We see in process of fulfillment the promise of Jesus Christ to his disciples that they should receive power after the Holy Ghost had come upon them and that they should be witnesses unto Him "both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Those were earnest times and full of stirring events, when men went forth to conquer a hostile world not with swords, but by the preaching of a gospel of peace and good will. ”

“ Its mission is not only to regenerate the heart of the individual but to penetrate and transform society. "Its work is to leaven the whole mass of human interests with a divinely purifying power. It touches every act and every relation of humanity with a life from above, and interpenetrates all that a man can do with a new spirit and a heavenly light. It affects governments, moulds education, rectifies manners, sweetens fellowship, makes the common ways of men better, healthier, happier, as well as holier. Its endeavour is to realize a divine society not hereafter only, but upon earth ”

“ ANSWERS TO PRAYER Nothing could indicate more plainly that God cares for and loves men, and is not indifferent to their wants, than the great stream of prayer flowing through the Bible. He is not a God afar off, neither has He wound up the universe as a great machine and left it to its fate. He is in touch with His people. He hears them when they cry to Him. He is long-suffering, merciful and righteous. Happy is the man who loves God with all his heart and who seeks constantly to commune with Him. ”

“ So long as men think only of the inequalities of life—and there are glaring inequalities—the unfair distribution of wealth and the comparatively obscure positions which they hold, they will be discontented and will fight to better themselves, no matter who suffers. The spirit of discontent and contention finds lodgment in the heart of the humblest working man, up through all grades, to that of the richest employer, for no man, however wealthy, ever thinks he has enough of this world's goods ”

“ USES OF CHRISTIAN FAITH To Make Plain the Great Cause of All as Father.—We live in an immense universe, in the midst of giant forces of which, after science has made its most searching investigation and said its last word, we know comparatively little and that little imperfectly. No set of men is more ready to admit this state of affairs than that which has made the closest scrutiny of the phenomena of nature. There is a host of questions to which the most painstaking investigation on the part of the philosophers can afford us no answer. ”

“ There is no condition of man that it cannot meet and satisfy. The crying wrongs of the home, society, the industrial world, the state, arise out of its neglect and condemnation. Men seek to make good their claims for things which they think belong to them, they fight for them, gain them or lose them, fight again or are fought, and in consequence race hatred, class and industrial hatred embitter the hearts of men.
This law applied to the life of the individual, sweetens it in its lowest depths and makes the strongest kind of a character. ”

“ No man ever brought himself into the world. No man ever originated his own talent; some men have been endowed with what seems to be greater possibilities than others. To one man has been given the talent for administration, to another that of a ministering spirit, to another mechanical genius, to another that of wealth and to another the power of song or speech. But whatever the talent given, great or small, it is distinctly set forth in the New Testament that it is given in trust and is to be used in the service of Him who has bestowed it. ”

“ Incompatibility of temper is a reason sometimes given for the breaking up of a home, but the real reason is an undue familiarity and freedom of speech. Because persons live together in families there should be no license to say everything and anything, no matter who is hurt.
Home happiness is a tender plant, it needs much care and watching, but when it blooms the flowers are of a rare beauty of form and their fragrance exceeds that of all others. ”

“ He is the great source of our knowledge of what God, man, sin, righteousness, duty and salvation are.
Our interest in the books of the Old Testament lies in the fact that they lead up to Him. We study the books of the New Testament because of their vivid portrayal of His life, teachings, death and resurrection. With Jesus Christ a new era dawned for the world with new principles, ideas and aspirations for humanity. His teachings touch every department of human life and, where they are accepted and followed, they show their marvellous transforming power. ”

“ We are to judge men, however, by what they are capable of and are, at their best, rather than at their worst. The art world regards Michael Angelo's statue of Moses as one of the greatest creations of the sculptor's genius. Suppose, however, some one should maliciously deluge this masterpiece with ink, smash it into fragments with a huge hammer, and then ask as he looked upon the marred and blackened bits of marble, "Is that a masterpiece of Michael Angelo's genius?" So we look upon a man who has been marred and broken by sin and ask the question, "Was that man created in the image of God? ”

“ Adaptability. The Bible is at home with all races in all climes. It adapts itself to all conditions of life, the most humble and the most exalted. The Asiatic, the African, the European, the American accept it as their book. It finds men, as men, in the deepest needs of their nature and shows them the all loving Saviour. ”

“ One of the ablest writers upon "The Social Unrest" says, "At the heart of the larger labour movement is the race longing for a society in which at least the spirit of equality shall be realized. Most radical remedies are only means to this end. Beyond, and deeper than all the machinery of social reconstruction, is this master passion of democracy." ”

“ According as this ideal is striven for, and attained, will the true home be realized.
Many a man has wrecked his business, betrayed his friends and gone down to a dishonoured grave in the struggle to surround his family with luxuries which he could not afford, but no man ever sincerely tried to cultivate the graces of love and kindness in himself and in his family, who did not succeed, in a large measure, in realizing the great purpose of the home. ”

“ The great hindrance to the entering of heaven is disobedience of God, not only acts of disobedience but a state of disobedience, where the soul of man desires to have no fellowship with God or His righteousness. There is a disobedience of God through carelessness, through ignorance and through willfulness; there is little hope for a man when he deliberately turns his back upon God. It is wonderfully shown in the Bible how God has sought to make Himself known to man and to save him here and hereafter. Every possible appeal has been made to man to turn to God. ”

“ What kind of men has the Christian faith made? What kind of communities has it produced? Two pertinent questions are asked in a recent book of sermons, What would be the effect upon this world if everybody was a consistent Christian? What would be the effect upon this world if everybody was a consistent infidel? "The argument is a crushing one, for of a truth Christianity can stand such a test with a glory that would astonish even the most ardent enthusiasts. And it is the one test, let it be admitted with sorrow, that a reviling world is not willing to have it judged by." ”

“ Man, alone among God's works, can enter into and approve of God's purpose in the world and can intelligently fulfill it. Without man the whole material universe would have been dark and unintelligible, mechanical and apparently without any sufficient purpose. Matter, however fearfully and wonderfully wrought, is but the platform and material in which spirit, intelligence and will, may fulfill themselves and find development."
The Bible seeks to show men in how many ways they resemble God and to urge them to be worthy of their likeness to God. ”

“ Trace back the cause of the degradation of the individual or society or state and we always find the root to be in some transgression of a righteous law of God.
The Bible uniformly asserts that God is not the author of sin or man's fall into evil ways, but that he has sufficient light to follow right ways, if he will. But that an evil man has this marvelous heritage of being God-born is shown by the fact that even when he has marred "the likeness of God" in him, by sin, beyond human recognition there is still a possibility of its being restored. ”

“ If a man lets the spirit of avarice reign over him, no matter how much money he may have he will still want more and he will not care whom he oppresses to get it. If the spirit of a purely worldly pleasure rules him his money will go into a bottomless pit and he will not care whom he makes suffer to get more money to gratify his insatiable desires.
Better material conditions of work and living can only come from the adoption of high moral and spiritual standards and in advocating these the Christian Church to-day is the truest friend of the oppressed. ”

“ Evangelization.—Beyond the bounds of the Church there are those, near and far away, who need to be taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ. More and more the church is feeling the responsibility for the welfare of individuals and of society and of the state. If there are great evils and giant wrongs which need to be remedied, they have their origin in the evil in men's hearts. For the cure of bad hearts there is no remedy in all the world save that given by Jesus Christ. Hence the activity of the church in seeking to evangelize men not only at home but throughout the world. ”

“ It is like looking at a great piece of complicated machinery, and having it explained how part depends upon part and, because the dependence is plainly shown, being asked to believe that the maker and controller is under its power. We are asked to-day to concentrate our attention upon the levers, the springs and the pulleys and all the machinery of the universe rather than upon the first great Cause and Ruler of all. ”

“ It is only when man succeeds in bringing his will to do God's will and makes God's plan his plan of life that he comes to his best and highest estate. The world is full of sin and misery, and there are many burdens heavy to be borne, because man insists upon having his way instead of seeking God's way. Many great civilizations have gone down and many forms of society have been disrupted because, in them, man strove to set up his glory, rather than God's glory, as the standard to be striven for. ”

“ Jesus Christ makes this truth very plain. He everywhere teaches the great worth of the life of a man and that God is seeking to come directly into touch with this life which is so precious in His sight (John 3:16; Matthew 10:30,31) . This life is not the physical but the spiritual which is the real life of a man. "Not what one has, but what one is, gives the true measure of a man." He said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" ”

“ The fact of a Creator is the fundamental teaching of its cosmogony. God, one God, is here clearly distinguished from a host of heathen gods. He is over and above matter, everything in the universe is subject to Him. Again in this book we have the early history of the human race shown in large outline and also the story of the fathers of the Jewish race from the calling of Abraham to the death of Jacob. Behind any theory of the construction of Genesis the great representative truths stand firm. Every Bible book can be considered and its plan and purpose shown in this way. ”

“ The man who quotes Jesus and His relation to society, as a justification of attendance upon numerous social functions, ought also to carry out the purpose of Jesus in bringing others to a better life; he ought also to lead the conversation to the same topics. If society sways any man from the right purposes of life, and he finds that he cannot breast its temptations he should remain out of it or increase his spiritual strength.
The Christian Society, composed of a body of persons associated for the common object of exploiting Jesus Christ and His principles, at first was almost wholly social. ”

“ THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN The Inequalities in the Lives of Men are many and far reaching. They divide men from each other and tend, if brooded over, to make them live lives apart, with a lessening sympathy and a growing hostility. They pertain to race, education, business and society. They may be natural, or artificially induced.
The great inequality to-day, however, upon which men place an acute emphasis is that of wealth or the lack of it. A man once came to Jesus and said, "Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me" (Luke 12:13) ; there is the same demand to-day. ”

“ In Jesus Christ and His life upon earth we see the goodness of God in its largeness. "In His gospel holiness is the ideal, the substance of Christian character and the end in view in Christian experience." ”

“ THE PERFECT EXAMPLE God's Measure of a Man.—What is the standard by which man is to compare himself? Great things are expected of a man but how is he to work them out? These are fair questions.
Jesus Christ has two titles in the New Testament, "The Son of God" and "The Son of Man." If we want to know what God is like we look into the face of Jesus Christ. If we want to know what man ought to be we look into the face of Jesus Christ (John 14:5-9; Matthew 5:48) .
Jesus Christ is the Perfect Example. ”