The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-05-08

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| Systematic BENEvoLENCE.-Rev. DIR. Ca
Their, of London, Secretary Of the International
the Plymouth Church yesterday morning be-
fore very thin congregation, from the LIST Co.
rinthians, xvi, 5:-.As have given order to
the churches of Galatia even so do ye."
| In commencing tho preacher told the con-
| gregation he bad come to talk to them about
| systematic benevolence, which had been the
chief burden Of his teachings the past twenty
years. Sixteen years ago he started his socie
| ty in London, and the methods that had been
employ ed to bring its wants forcibly before the
public were the press, platform, pulpit and
professors chairs. Bv means of the press its
books and circulars had been widely dissent.
mated; by the platform large halls had been
engaged in the principal cities Of Great Brit
| ain on the occasion of the annual religious
| gatherings, and over 100, 600 souls addressed at
one time without collection being made, the
subject being treated on its own merits, thus
eliminating the purpose of the Society to get
the world to recognize the will of Christ that
all people shall receive careful education in
Christian stewardship The pulpit and the
professors chairs reach the public in a differ
ent way but are equally valuable. The sys-
tematic giving to the cause of Christ is taught
by Paul. People are apt to systematically
skip the passages of Scripture that talk about
the giving Of money. They will keep on in
the old grooves, be protesting Christians but
lock up their pockets. The Christian church
has got the right to convert the world intel
lectualy and it has the power it do it, but
lacks the means end also the right men to get
the means for it. These men are too busy
looking out for self-interest; they are the
fnanciers of the day. The church is rich in
theology but too miseraby poor in heart and
resources to undertake the conversion of the
world. II Christians would know in what
part of the Bible is to be found all the canoni-
cal and ecclesiastical teachings that give the
requisite legislation to the church let them
read the LIST and ID Corinthians. The church
depends on four things, doctrine, morals, fel-
lowship, efforts. The tourth is the fruit of the
other three and it is our works that are to |
save us; the great mistake of the church has |
been that it has allowed its members to con-
slider that they could be good church members |
and give but little to God. Hard work and ha-
bitual giving is taught by Paul whose apostolic |
city meant hard work, and it is by hard work
and enthusiasm that the means are to be Sc
cured to preach the gospel to the 12,O 900 600 of
heather and advance the church and the cause |
of Christ. Giving cheerfully and joyfuly |
lays a foundation for eternal life. The men
who work 80 hard running bank six days in
the week should run it for God's glory. They
should run it with all their might, not for the
means that it furnishes them for their own |
self-indulsence or boarding, but for the great |
opportunities it affords them to aid the church.
God bids you remember that he has said you
cannot servo both God and Mammon, and that |
beyond all other commandment breakers he
abhors the earth-worshipping idolator who
would kill his Maker in order that he might |
keep his gold.
There are four institutions of consummate
power in which all goodness, piety and consis- |
tency are found. They are worship, works,
family and stewardship. Worship makes the
soul what it is, works give it life and power,
family is its heart and stewardship its account
ability to God. Worship is nothing without |
sacrifice, for not q prayer is accepted but |
through the blood of the Lamb; the test of the |
worker is the Sabbath, and the man who don't |
keep it is making fool of himself; family ia |
society which is an impossibilty without men,
women and children. and these families form
the church; finally in stewardship We must re-
member that the body is wasting and dying |
daily, hence the necessity of necessarily using |
its strength to produce for God. Whatever |
you do let your giving be systematic, and done |
every Sunday. Don't be spasmcdic. Don't
get up a sensational drama in three spasms,
the first spasm being the lecture by big
church gun from New York one Sunday in
year for the cause Of benevolence, the second
another lecture from another and third from
third. Let the man who has $4,000 a year
gives as much in proportion as the man who
has only $4,000, and he who has but $4,000 as
muchas he who has Tut $500. =
In the afternoon, at Chestnut street Church,
the Doctor took for his text, st. Matthew "A.
'He answered and said unto. them, man shall
not live by breath alone, but by every wor'l
which pioceedeth out of the mouth of God"
He commenced by saying that the difference
between the man of the world and the Chris
| tian is that the one lives only for the ordinary
things of the world, while tie other lives with
| reference to the higher and infinitely better
possibilities of the life which is to come As
the first towards higher life it is absolutely
necessary to be born again to life of christian
resignation and submission. He proposed this
afternoon TO speak those who have passed from
death unto life, and have been thereby purified
and exalted. The various features of mans
nature and their relation to the Divine will
were alluded to AID deliberately portrayed. The
nature of man is capable Of arriving at the
| high ideal Of christian perfeotibiity Swallowed
forth in the Holy Scriptures and this task is
| by means impossible. Man has an intellectual
nature, and this nature is capable of the high
est cultivation and should draw him nearer to
God. So in all the various phases of our ma
ture the Divine Providence has implanted the
seeds of truth and goodness, which need only
to be cultivated to grow into the high perfec-
ton of christian manhood. An elaborate
analss of tho four dispepsations of the gospel
was entered into, which displayed great re-
search and knowledge. 81. -.
/