The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1869-10-18
LOCAL DEPARTMENT.


CHURCH.
AT this church, yesterday morning, Rev.
DR.. Drinkhouse preached at II O'Clock, TAX
Ing for his subject, "service or Sacrihce."
"For me TO live Is Christ, and TO die Ia
gain"
The Baptist Missionary Union has q seal
which presents for Its device an OK standing
patiently with plow on one side and an
altar on the other; and underspa inning this
device Ia the beautifully expressive legend,
i" Ready for either" How comprehensive
Of all Christian duties Is tho design as inter-
prcted by the Inscription. The inscription
Itself, when Interpreted, means service or
sacrifice; and these two words so accurately
express the sense Of the text that II IL every
way probable Il suggested the motto: "Ready
for ether" " For me TO live Is Christ, and
TO die Is gain"
The subject, then, Is service or sacrifice,
with Paul as the eminent example. lie was
now prisoner at Rome, having appealed
from Festus, the Roman proconsul, to Nero,
the emperor, In the year Of our Lord 81.
During his first Imprisonment Of two years
at Rome, or from the year u to 90, he wrote
his epistlc to the Philippians, In which he
assures the prosecuted Church OF Christ that
his residence at Rome had fallen out rather
unto the furtherancc OF the gospel, etc
Having liberty to preach and access to those
Of the Emperor's household, the word Of tn,
Lord found Its witnesses among them. II,
now stood like the hunted stag at bay, an,
calmly looked back upon the trodden path
no longer even vexed at the fury Of his pur
suers. He was such an Zone as Paul, th,
aged" and In his present circumstances b,
reviews the past hud glances into the sbori
future that might remain to him. Having
counted all things but loss for the excellepcy
Of the knowledge of Christ, the ruling pas.
sion of his consecratcd nature Is exhibited
In these deliberate words: Phil. |, 20-25.
And at this stage Of our exposition We can
offer no better upon these words Of self
abnegation and utter resignation to the
Divine will than that already suggested by the
motto; Ready for either" service or sacri.
fee.
"For me to live Is Christ" Let US look
somewhat at the history OF the remarkable
man whose purpose Is embodied In these
words. The speaker briefly traced his ca.
recr down to his calling as the Apostle to
the Gentiles," and his subsequent work. Nor
Is he more illustrious for what he did than
for what he suffered. He has summed 1t up
In that defence to which he was driven by
the traduction of his enemies. 1t is bead.
roll of bloody baptlsms, a lengthy gauntlet
run by a chief victim for truth and righteous
ness. Hear him. Cor. il.22-27. And the
eap-sheaf Of this stack Of sanity honors was
his martyr death. This Is the man who, after
thirty years Of unremltting toll, bearing In
his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, and
bounded. by unrelentlng enemies on every
side, sat down Id his prison cell, and, with
all the past In vivid remembrance, tells us
his purpose" For me to live Is Christ"
The speaker said that II was conclusive
that, from the first, Paul's idea of service
was singleuess of conservation that subor.
dlnAted every Interest Of this world to Christ,
&c. 1t makes lofty type of Christian char
acter worthy OF our emulation. Aud we
shall magnify Its attributes II we difference
1t from that ignoble type which is only con.
spicuous by the contrast. There are two
classes OF protesting Christiaus-those who
begin and end by asking, what will religion
do, and those who ask what can do for re.
llgion The speaker elaborated these points,
and quoted in illustration the example OF
Chrysostom before the Roman emperor and
his noble confessions Of Christ. Also, OF
Rev. John Hacket, of London, who, In the
days Of the civil war, having been forbidden
to read the daily service in church, and who
for so doing was threatened with instant
death by n soldier, who pointed pistol at
his head, and to whom the good man made
answer, d" Soldier, am doing my duty, do
you do yours"
Coming down to ourselves, and making q
personal Issue before the bar Of conscience
and the truth of God, how many OF US can
say, with Paul's idea Of Christly service be-
fore US, "For me to live is Christ :" What
n meagre, starveling thing is the automatic
life chat many lead, and call 1t Christian
service Do we not sometimes look upon
truly COnsecrated man as visionary and a
fool To bear the offence of the cross, to
enter the Christian ministry, with Its tolls
and changes and uurequlted love; to suffer
deprivation Of an accustomed luxury that
you may help satisfy some appealing neces-
sity of the church of God-how you shrink
from 1t US portion for yourselves or your
children, though willing enough that there
should be ministers and churches and self
sacrificing supporters who ill the breache.
and do and dare and die for Christ's sake.
II is the qulntessence Of selfshness, and
however blatantly 1t may cry, "Lord !
Lord " has no fellowship with the sublime
conservation Of the words, "For me to live
il Christ"
''And to die Is gain" II Is a counterpart
OF the first sentence. The consciousness OF
the one Is a prerequisite to an experience Of
the other. They are htly Joined together in
the text.
The use Of philosophy, it has been said, is
to teach men to die. If 50, the use Of re-
ligion is to teach men how TO live. He who
lives right dies right, and may, with the
apostles own explanation of the gain In the
contest. "Galn" is an expressive word, but
II may refer to n thousand things by its com
mon accGptatlon. The apostle has given us
clue to the burden of his own mind, where
he said - have desire to depart and be
with Christ, which Is far better" The
speaker gave an exposition Of these words,
aud showed the metaphor employed In the
FIRST part Of the sentence and the force of
la a. Ear hot Ynl k,,t o
Greek. 1t is the highest superlative which 1t
Is possible TO form in any language. 1t is
the apostles gain" and his estimate of
being 'with Christ" The speaker went on
to show That whatever may be the truth as
to the doctrine of the unconscious state of
the dead, II could not have formed q part OF
the apostles creed, for how could death be
"gain" In view of the line of thought he
was pursulngI If he had known Of the un-
conscious state of the dead, he would GER
tainly have thought 1t better, aye, far better,
to remain In the flesh and win souls TO
Christ than pass into state of Indefinite
Inconsistencies. How could he speak of
such n state as being with Christ :" "To
die is GAIN" because to him and all who
live for Christ, to die is to depart and be
with Christ, which Is far better" We have
only to add that when the apostle said "to
die" his mind was on possible bloody
NulNu ulI-Hl lOlION MS
ment, &c. Service or sacrifice should be
the motto Of every Christian. Let US wear
II as phylactery upon our foreheads-"For
inc to live Is Christ, and to die Is gain"
CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The audience at the hall of the Young
Mems Christian Association Is steadily In
creasing. The pastor, DR.. Boynton, preached
yesterday, morning and evening.
The text Of the morning sermon was,
Isaiah jJi . "But he was wounded for our
transgresslOns, he was bruised for our iniqui-
ties, the chastsemGnt of our peace was upon
him, aud with his stripes we are healed"
world of suffering is an appalling mystic
ry' Once grant the existence of God of inf
ute power and Infinite love, and find no way
Of explaining the existence Of a suffering crea-
ture OF any kind, whether devil, or a man,
or either the poor worm that writhes in his
dying agony. ! do not mean that find In
this fact any ground Of imputation against
God. ! do not mean that II staggcrs al nil
my belief either In his power or his good.
ness, but that 1t Is a fearful aud mysterious
fact that no thought Of mine can explain,
and must humbly wait for the clearer light
and higher Intelligence of some future stage
OF being.
Should this world be visited by creature
oil soEc untallcn race who had never felt q
pahg himself, nor seen another suffer, he
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