Sermons, 1919-1924

Here is a selection of sermons delivered by Earl Clement Davis at the Church of Our Father in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1919-1924. It is here that Davis begins to incorporate using broad sermon outlines as opposed to full sermon texts. This series contains a mix of both.

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Did Christ Have the Power of God?

Earl Clement Davis

This sermon provides a detailed discussion and study of the source of Jesus' power -- a faith tried and tested in experience, not a transcendent faith. The scene of the Garden of Gethsemane is the sublime height of Jesus' moral courage and leadership.

Earl C. Davis clearly worked on this sermon. Two envelopes containing text for it survive. The first, with the note on the outside, “Did Christ Have the Power of God?" was preached Sunday evening, Feb., 25, 1923 and contained a beginning-to-end text of the sermon. The second envelope had two sets of extra notes, broadly similar, but one worked over in pencil. The materials below include the full sermon – as found in the first envelope – and both of the alternative texts notes found in the second envelope, and a transcription of all.

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
Is Protestantism in the Midst of a Revolution?

Earl Clement Davis

A short but succinct statement of the Christian options -- Catholic, Evangelical, and Liberal -- and the stance of the Liberal option. Davis states that "The purpose of life is not primarily to secure salvation in the world to come, but to so live and so labor that this world may become better for coming generations."

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
The Land of Promise

Earl Clement Davis

Not a full-text sermon, but an outline. What kind of world should we want to live in? Not a world without hardship and tragedy; that is inconsistent with evolution. Davis wants to strive for greater simplicity and deeper wider knowledge of the higher conceptions of the meaning of life.

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
The Need for a Spirit of Broad Fellowship. What Shall We Do with the Heretics?

Earl Clement Davis

This sermon discusses the history of dealing with heretics and resolving doctrinal differences of opinion. Davis is against creeds and promotes engaging productively with different opinions. He argues that this is part of the essence of the protestant reformation. According to a handwritten notation on the manuscript by Earl Davis, he also read this sermon in Petersham on September 25, 1949.

Date refers to Date Give.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
Morning and Evening Sermon Notes for October 15, 1922

Earl Clement Davis

Notes for two sermons given on Oct 15, 1922. The morning service sermon, "The Mind in the Making", is based on J. H. Robinson's book of the same title. It supports creative thinking based on facts and judgment. The evening service sermon, "The Golden Rule in Religion", comes down to truthfulness, straightforwardness, and "honorable toleration" in matters of differences with respect to convictions and value judgements.

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
Questionnaire Responses, “Young People: Why go to Church?”

Earl Clement Davis

Earl Davis submitted a questionnaire to the “young people” in his congregation seeking information pertinent to the question of why young people go to church. He wrote that the responses would be used – without names or direct quotation – in his sermon on February 5, 1922. Any notes for the sermon itself have not been found. These are the returned questionnaires.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
The Essential Christ

Earl Clement Davis

The bulk of the sermon is a discussion of recent advances in neuroscience. How does consciousness connect with the cerebral cortex? His answer is faith -- a faith that "carries us forward in the direction to which all known facts point...the faith is this: that somehow in that wonderful mystery of conscious personality, that operates in the central exchange of our cerebral cortex, there is a central urge that reaches out towards the truth, goodness and beauty in the world." Davis cites examples from the progress of man through the ages.

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
The Fact of God in Human Experience

Earl Clement Davis

Not a full-text sermon, but an outline. Focuses on the main patterns of 19th century developments: experience and science. Davis asks that we sit humbly at nature's feet and learn. A violation of Christian spirit by political and social developments led to the World War.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
The Power of Understanding: Not Illusion but Truth is Divinity

Earl Clement Davis

Psalm 46:10: "Be Still and Know that I am God." This is not a full text sermon, but an outline. It focuses on the advances of science and technology. There is mention of debates over evolution. "We begin with the observation of fact. We interpret facts. God is in reality in the common place."

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
The Well Fed Mind

Earl Clement Davis

Not a full text sermon, but an outline based around Proverbs 4:7: "Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
An American Sunday

Earl Clement Davis

The emergence, centuries ago, of a day of rest for worship and recreation was a great advance. The question for Davis is how we use this day; for our betterment, intellectually, physically, morally -- or not?

Date refers to Date Given

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
Music in Religion [Assorted Notes]

Earl Clement Davis

Contains items found together in one envelope, all supporting an evening sermon titled "Program of Music." In addition to the notes for the program, there are two sets of supporting notes, "History of Music in Religion" (one page only and very limited) and "Music in the Church" (with more detail, particularly concerning three hymns and their authors: "Lead Kindly Light" by John Henry Newman, "Nearer My God to Thee" by Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, and "In the Cross of Christ I Glory" by John Bowring.)

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
The Dilemma of the Minister

Earl Clement Davis

A response to an article by Lewis Lowry in the New Republic, "The Plight of the Thinking Minister", which demands that you either conform or get out. Davis explodes two myths: (1) There is a transcendent thing, "The Church." No, there is a human institution of churches. If they serve needs, they thrive and persist. If not, they don't. (2) The teachings of Jesus are transcendent or have "magic significance." No, the teachings are one insightful man's powerful attempts to say the truth; but they too need to stand the test of time and in each each.

Davis asserts that a minister's job is to "lead in maintaining, or creating an institution where faith in truth holds sway; where people may breath the atmosphere of integrity and come to understand that men may have standards of conduct beyond the reach of expediency; where honest opinions may be exchanged with frankness and candor; where there is a broad generous tolerance; where the whole nature of man may reach out without fear into the vast mysteries of life's meaning and values."

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
Thanksgiving, Then and Now. An After-thought

Earl Clement Davis

Davis argues for a more liberal view of acceptable activities for Thanksgiving day. Evidently, there were complaints about people engaging in various kinds of recreation (such as theatre, baseball, etc) instead of going to church. Davis sees no harm here, and thinks the recreational approach is truer to the Pilgrim Thanksgiving.

Date refers to Date Given.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
Will a Belief in Immortality Survive?

Earl Clement Davis

Davis argues for immortality of the personality. While psychical research is discussed as possible support, he fundamentally hangs this belief on his experience of the order and purpose of the universe.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.
God and My Neighbor

Earl Clement Davis

This sermon contains three fragments pieced together. The Scripture is Matthew 11:1-19. In this sermon, Davis urges the members of his congregation to get to know their neighbors. This is where divinity is found, in our fellow human beings.

The primary downloadable document contains the original document followed by the transcription. The bottom of each item page also features the primary document as an embedded pdf for browsing.

Transcription by Davis Baird. Item description based off writing and context provided by Davis Baird.