The New York herald., 1872-10-14
SEVENTH AVENUE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH.

Sermon by Rev. DR.. Wild-Faith Made
yisibie-Spiritual Conception FIcshly
Fact-Lifc Revealed and Theory Proved.
DR.. Wild preached an effective discourse yester-
day morning, selecting his text from the first chap
ter Of John aud the first clause OF the fourteenth
verse, 'And the Word was made fesh" con-
tInung as follows:-Marvellous ana grand are the
doctrines Of salvation as revealed to us In the
Bible. Pure and sublime are the words Of ever
lasting truth-heathful and saving In their effect
and experience upon all who accept and practise
the same. Life finds In them happy certainty and
death o healing balM-eternty an increasing and
inviting glory. Happy the people whose God Is the
Lord, and wise Is the man who believes to live and
trust in His name. love to contemplate the full
ness OF the Gospel and speak Of Its freedom, its
emancipating and elevating power. How sad the
consequences how vast the ruin and destructi We
the forces OF sin! How deceitful and wretched,
corrupt and polluted weak and uncertain the
conduct OF mani but how vast the love, how great
the power, how safe the work and clear the way
that leads to life eternal! The thoughts of God be-
come Word and the Word becomes fesh The Life
OF that flesh becomes the light OF men, and the
death OF the same becomes an atonement for sin.
Great Is the mystery OF godliness The resurrec-
ton of the Word through the flesh is the Father's
pledge, Chrst's seal the Spirits witness Heavens
JOY mans type and earnest Of good things to come.
FAITH MADE VISIBLE.
The ancient realm Of faith was very much larger
than the present domain, for the anclents had to
believe In a Saviour to come many OF the prop,e-
cies were then unfuhed. Now some have been
fulfilled, and the promised Messiah, which the
prophets foretold and whose day they but dimly
saw, became living fact to the Apostles Jesus to
them was prophecy fulfilled the invisible was now
visible, and the Word OF the past was the nesh Of the
then present, so that the object of faith and dim
visions OF prophetic day was noontde splend0r ana
living fact with the ApOstles-they could say I'VE
have looked upOn and our hands have handled OF the
word OF life" 1--we carefully analyze the term word,
Human language Is designed to convey idea, s0nti-
ment and lndividuality-thus language is revela-
ing the viii Of God, especially touching redemp-
tl0n; He also is divine sentiments sentiment
S ers @ anS m a %e vi the me wSs
Scriptures are the great revelation Of Christ and
Divine idea and sentiment become living, ieshly
fact in Christ. So should the ideas and sentiments
should, as Christians, be 'livng epistles read and
known OF all men," Christ is the wisdom OF God
the saints M are are the wisdom Of Christ Jesus is the
Jesus Christ reveals the Father clearly and cor
rectly unto u.s. so should we reveal Jesus faithfully
and truly 1t Is not enough that we have spiritual
IDEAS creeds and naming theories. To resist temp
tatons and overcome sin 1t is essential that these
daily walk and experience expound and prove our
theories. We are not saved by idea alone. If God
only had had an idea OF theory of redemption, we
would not have been redeemed The divine idea
went forth to live, suffer, do the right, and must
we. Christ, in assuming flesh, came near to us,
that we, in Hin, might be near to God. The "Wora
becoming nesh' was O. divine accommodation,
adapted to and beautifully meeting human imita-
tion. In this thing God met suitably the
universal instinct OF man for visible Cod
Living In world Of visible and material existence,
as we do 1t Is very natural for us to ask, to DESIRE
a God that we can see and enc whose power, WIS.,
dom and disposition shall answer to the arguments
Of the senses. All this we have IN the highest
in the person OF Christ. He asks u.s. as well the
Jews OF His day. to believe Him for His works sake.
He subjected the divinity and invsibity within 10
the Judgment and test OF the sense without. And
we, His followers, have only right to be credited
for our faith and divine life within, as our works
without will allow: BY the rules Of common sense
we must be judged. And we should remember that
many man that can neither prove nor disprOve
our creed In the abstract can easily discern the
truth or lasity OF the same when submitted to his
senses In living form.
SUM- LIGHT AND HEAT
by the regular course OF nature are soidlhed, are
visible In the vegetable world; here they can ba
they can be made to serve Thousand purposes
tnat they could not in their volatile and invisible
state. SO divine life ana warmth should soidify by
assuming seen and tangible form. The sun In
this way reappears, descends from the heavens to
dwell on eartd--s0 the sun ofRighteousness desires
10 retve on earth through His saints When the
ploughman shall overtake the reapcrs. az the
prophet says, then shall the millennium come.
That means, presume, when our hearts and heads
shall be equal; when We shall do what we know
to be right; when no right shall remain unborn;
when our practice shall be equal to our creeds and
our devotion equal to our profession. My dear
friends, let your theories be proved by your liie-
work. rake the Impressions God has given to you,
ana use them In His service and for His glory, and
may wisdom be justified to you, that you NAV ~
!. couelsQ Youi mission " yoW present Alea-