The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-30
! RETROsPECT.
,,rn. Aspect OF Ohristianity from the
Ina Of a Thirty Years P"stOrate-A
- Ir..hodIst Church.

Of israeli lsread1 a done to the impotent man, by what
Sesns he is made whole oe IL khoMn W. the nse
ana .s W O., christ OF Nazareth, whom ye oruclHeo
X1bon God raised from Ihe S u,S, st,oTe S1o whole
WI This man now stand mere ueIOIe yOu WtiO.Oi i
Tis ts the stone that was seJ ~ noHgnS vi yV%uI %
builders WhaTi WIZ is there salvation in any other
coIhsS5t 80 is none other name under heaven
Tiven 51 among men whereby we must Do saved
ACTS Apsntecost x was Just past and its glory was
,itg gfesming in the souls fthe disciples Peter
ssnd John had gone up TO the temple at the
-Four of prayer and at the Beautiful Gate had
toTnd y and healed a certain lame man. The
noor man made almost frantic with joy and
Gratitude by his sudden cure, followed the
apostles, leaping and pT9ising God, and the
amazement To this crowd Peter preached,
and only stopped when the authorities arrested
and locked him up for the night.
The preaching seems to have been very sue
cessfui, so much so that the Jewish authorities
prisoners were brought from their confinement,
they were solemly asked the question:-"B BY
what power or by what name have ye done
this?" The Pentecostal zeal of the Apostles had
not been weakened or even dimmed by confine-
ment, and Peter not only promptly answered
the question. but proclaimed that Jesus Christ,
of Nazareth, in whose name the miracle had
been wrought, was the Saviour of the world, the
cornerstone of the Church of God, the only
being through whom men could be saved.
This declaration ne STUCK 10 In defiance OF
career of all the Apostles is only continuous,
multiform repetition and Illustration OF the
same declaration. Paul reasserts it when he
says:-"If we, or an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed,"
and he tells us what that Gospel is in the most
compressed form when he says that "Christ
unto salvation to every one that believes"
The meaning of the text, the meaning of the
whole Bible, is that the Gospel OF Christ is the
only power that can save the world.
We have selected this theme to-day to enable
us to express in a single discourse the particu-
lar conviction which has gal hered emphasis
and power during ministry of thirty years. L
am about to leave the pastorate and to enter
upon new form of my divine calling; and as I
look back over my ministrysin the Church of
Christ, and over the history of the times for the
last three decades, feel most profoundly and
Rolemnly that m en- as individuals, that human
society, whether considered as q whole, or as
separated into nations, can only be saved, puri-
fed, and elevated by Christianity. This is the
standing as / do, at the terminus OF a long and
la6orlous pastoTate this s'my deepest and dearest
My theme, then, is Christianity, the saving
and purifying power of humanity
First of all, we take it for granted that purity
is an attainment possible to men, One good
man is proof and an example of what is pos
sible for man as man. II millions OF lndivi-
brought under the control of holy motives
have become pure, benevolent, peaceful and
achievement should be impossible, in due
time, for the whole race Human nature is
cases in which evil is suDdued, and good
T%c I'd eaOy %SO Sya asEP 6FS PGPhng Ss nSs oF
renewed who have appeared on earth to adorn 1
the page of history and to draw men towards
IT. then, there have been good men, and not
few of them, and if they are justly TO be con
sidered specimens of what any man may be
come, our next remark is that the renewing
she 5de Sf rseson far i forth as o pGF
character and life can be regarded as the worl
of ideas, the ideas themselves must be tn
very highest And where are such ideas fount
butin religion? In politics, for example, tn
great idea is Justice or right in its application
To earthly RELATIONSHIP life, liberty, and thu
pursuit of happiness. In art, whose refining
aim, is to crafty the demand for the beauti
full. In morality, as far as 1t may be consi
most important: man must be just to his fel
low-men; he must form his own charac.
Snd g PG Gonesty. @ dt9 But why must sifS Seq i ReI
gion must furnish the answer, or we shall have
without religion is mere collection of deat
rules, drawn from the fitness of things. IL
ideas are cold and bloodless, and virtue unde
such system would have neither root nor OBJ
legation, relationship to vastness or grandeur
Religion. on the contrary, is at home amids
the noblest of all ideas. Indeed, these ideas are
part and parcel Of herself What are they
why, chiefly God, future life, and the servic,
which the creature owes to God. In the idea o
God we have the infinite in power, wisdom
holiness; in the future life, we have the ideas o
reward and punishment, that is, happiness o.
misery in another world; and in the service
owing from the creature to God, we have wor
Divine viii. Now here are the highest, mos
fearful, most sublime, and hence, too, the mos
powerful Ideas of which 1t Is possible to con
ceive. If goodness is to be called into eXistenc
in the fallen soul by the touch of an Idea, ther
power. The Infinite breadth and height ant
depth of the idea of God, linked with that of
future life OF misery or happiness must CIV
Infinite weight to duty. These are the concep
tions which are native In the sphere of reli
gion, and which, II Ideas can, will Stir the torp
soul of sin to its depths. Nay, further witt
these great conceptions of religion once in pos
session, we can raise to dignity the other chic
spheres of life. Morality only comes to have
meaning when religion touches 1t. Rooted II
religious ideas, 1t becomes divine. So of ar
the beautiful is its aim, but II is religion tina
Keeps IL nom debasement, that puts the polls
OF purity upon the soul of genius, and wins
Tor the uses of moral Improvement. The sam
~ true OF politics. But for the divine motive
that come to 1t from religion in the souls of th
PeCeer people tne only politics possible woul
Yes, 1t is plain that If our race is to be purihe
tne power 10 accomplish IL must come from I'd
side OF religion. The ideas of God, of worshi
of obedience to Divine law, and of the futul
life, must have large share in the renovation
This is the verdict of the whole Werld. III
father of the latest system of philosophy, false
so called, Comte, who denies the existence
God and the Immortality of the soul, thougl
at first that he had no need of religion, b
towards the close of his life, even in that barre
waste of n soul without God, and eXpectii
vindicated itself, and the atheist constructed
oatechism, with sages and warriors in the pla
OF GOD, lie felt his system of philosophy W
not complete without a religion. 1t lacked,
the absence of that the highest element.
But where, brethren, shall we look for d
needed religion, from which is to come q
longed-for publication? The answer is pa
there is only one religion that survives d
light Of modern science, and IL is the religion
the founders and promoters of that scienC
For these thirty years of pastoral labor an
thought, as have looked at the Wickedness
our great clties; as have heard the roar
drunkenness and profanity in our streets: a,
have seen the worst classes of men and Wom,
massinR themselves up before the movil