The Portland daily press., 1873-08-04
sUNDAI SERVICES.
FREE STREET CHURCH.

AT the morning service the pastor, Rev. DIR.
Small, took his text from I'd Corinthians, VA.
'In whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believeth not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. who
is the image of God, should shine unto Them
The preacher began by saying that light was
not friendly to error, sand when wrong is to sue
coed the light must be banished. Christ, the
image of God, came to be the light of the
world. Nearly all refer to Christ as in some
manner connected with their salvation, but
but who and what he is is the problem. They
cannot understand how he can be what he is;
but does the mystery of this give it any less
worth to us? Is our natural light any less val
liable to us because we cannot understand the
cause of 1t? God knew that the desire of man
was to see him. so he sent Christ in the form
of man, and IN him was the most of God that
it was possible for mortals to understand. He
brings light Immortality, redemption and just
itication. Persons have said that if they could
have the problem of immortality explained it
would be their greatest pleasure. Was it not
solved by the words of Jesus Christ? Did he
not also made this knowledge certain? IF the
light is put out it is the same as though
eyes are put out. All that is necessary to do
to blind the eyes is to keep the mind full of
the things of this world. The gods of this
world will make one think that these things
are of more value than all things else. If you
ing chasm you would say he was blind; thus
when we see men turning their backs npon
this home of glory immortal and pushing di-
recty opposite, after some object of the weird
can we call it any less than total blindness.
NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.
The pastor, Rev. VIM. B. Hayden, gave,
yesterday, very clear, fresh and logical
discourse upon the distinction between Gods
truth and that of man. 1t was most excel
lent suggestion of the reason why Christianity
and its sacred Scriptures have such superior
power in the world The text was from Rev
| XXI, 16, 81, Jesus have sent mine angel to
testify unto you these things in the churches
Truth requires a Divine sanction, in order te
possess quickening or regenerating power
Hence the constant practice of the Scriptures
is to assert their own heavenly origin. THAI
which is delivered is said to come from God
The call to Abraham was-"And Jehouah sait
unto Abram--." The ten commandments are
prefaced-"And God spake all these words "
With reference to the Pentateuch, we are told
'And Moses wrote all the aoords of Jehoudh. u
And SO on, to the book of Revelation. which
| makes like assertion.
There must be this high authority to reach
the conscience and renew the heart; quicken
| ing the sense of sin and producing repentance
of life. Sound precepts, maxims of pure NOR
| atty are not enough to beget piety or holmes
| of life. The utterances of men, however truth
| full, have DO binding force and no renewing
| power Other nations beside the JewsAkneW
| the moralities of the Decalogue. Socrates,
| Plato, Gotama, Confucius, Zoroaster, have ut
| tered lust sayings and taught lessons of pure
morality very much like those of the Gospel.
| Confucius gave the Golden Rule, Buddha gave
taught similarly good precepts; but they could
| not regenerate those populations; the mos
they have done is to retard their decline int
evil and corruption.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to save mankind
from sin. He taught all these truths with new
and sanctifying power; recommending them will
their Divine source, accompanying them will
the influence of His Holy spirit, pouring through
them the vitalizing current of His own blood
Coming from our Heavenly Father, these pre-
cepts can now win the obedience OF His children
and purify their lives.
The Lords Prayer, as to mnch of its litera
structure may be traced back to the old Jewsl
liturgies. If merely copied by us from them
it would not possess its present vitality ant
force for us. But revised, spoken anew, ant
so inspired by Jesus, it has new life, new quail
ty, new force. The regenerating power of Hi
words, proves Him to be Divine.
The acknowledgment of Truth as Divine
auickens the effort to obey, until the mind be
flows ''the river of the water of lfe,'' ant
wherein the ''Tree of Life" produces its lively,
manner of fruits, bringing them forth ever!
month.
STATE STREET CoNGREGATINAL1sT.
Mr.. Hincks, the PASTOR preached the sermon
from the text: For wickedness burneth as
fire." Isaiah, tx, Is. We are confronted every
minute in this life with a principle of evi
which some call moral deformty, and some
human imperfectiou, and others sin; but what
ever it is called it is the great bane of our race
The preacher discussed sin in its direct effect.
upon our race without considering its appear
ance in the eyes of God, and showed that it i,
the source of all the evil in the world he point
ed out its secret, subtle workings in degrading
men to the lowest estate of brutes. While il
never annihlates the soul it does completely
change and degrade it. If this is the effect O
sin in this world what will be the result of un
repented sin in the eternal ages to come?
CONGRESS STREET METHODIST
At Congress Street NJ. e. Church at the af
ternoon service Rev. Mr.. Ptblado took for hi
text Matt X: A. A cup of cold water is lit
tie thing so it would seem. Little cuts on
tree, and the great art Of printing was the Re
suit. A little water on the fire and steam il
discovered. The text teaches the Importance o
little gifts. The rain drop is small, but wha
would the flower and grain do without it
Some people are SO constituted that they be
long to the generous side of nature. The re
ward of giving is according to the motive
A man in a congregation once by mistake
mt a crown into the contribution box. IN
Immediately discovered his mistake and said I,
tbe collector 'let me exchange it for smalle
niece" The collector said ''no, once in al
ways in" Well said the giver shall not be
rewarded for the CROWN "No-only 70
what you intended to contribute will you be re
warded for God has use for all little things
He has in nature filed the world full OF littl
beauties He cares for the stars and Tor tn
tiny birds. A cup of cold water has grea
meaning in the economy of God. God has US
for all little things Not dropo OF water Is sal
to be lost in the material world We shout
remember that little kindnesses are better tina
whole year of sermons. Some give, but tn
money comes like pulling teeth A man wa
trying to drive horse, but the more he whip
ped the poor horse and cursed him, the more b
backed. A little boy came along with som
water, gave him some, patted him on. the mech