The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-12-01
SUNDAY SERVICES.


CONGRESS STREET NJ. E. CHURCH.
Rev. Mr.. Ladd of Biddeford, preached in the
afternoon from Luke 80, "He shall be great."
Great LIST. In His claims.
a. He claimed that all the sacrifices typl-
fed Him. that all the bards sung of him; that
all the prophets foretold Him; that all the pest
and grandest characters in the history OF the
church, but family typifed or represented
Him. (2) He claimed to be equal with the
Father 81 and my Father are one. He that
hath seen me has seen the Father" 81 am in
the Father and the Father in me' His enc
mics accused Him of making Himself equal
with God and He did not deny it. (3.) He
claimed the confidence and allegiance of men.
The Jewish worshlper must leave his ritual and
sacrifice and temple, and trust in Him. Kings
were to sit at His feet, law-givers were to sub
init to His law, teachers were to learn of Him.
All were to worship Him. He was the hope
the lignt, the life of the world
I'd I'm His Titles. The wonderful counselor,
the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the
Prince OF Peace" Emmanuel, God with us. +"
Jesus" "Redeemer'
Sd. In His Works. a. Natural or physical.
Walking on the water, shilling the waves, Great
ing bread, healing all manner of diseases, cast
ing out devils, raising the dead. e. Moral or
spiritual ..rhy sins which are many be for
Clean" How sudden! how easy! how natural!
how closely and vitality. He puts Himself in
connection with all the people. With what a
master-hand He tears away all hypocritical dis
guises! how He let's light into whited sepul-
cheers! Hew wildly He shows the folly and
wickedness of human PRIDE vain ambition and
all false distinctions And then when the final
hour comes, how sublimely He dies! And yet
He has still better gifts for His people. And
when the Holy Ghost was given on the day of
Peutecost, what fitting up His disciples re-
ceved for service and suffering.
4th. Great in His character, wisdom, hu-
mility, gentleness, love. Solid and heroic, and
yet gentle and sympathetic. What perfect
symmetry! Hating and loathing sin, yet loving
the sinner. Entering into all sorrows and tri-
ais, and yet infinitely removed from all these
littlenesses and selfishness 1.-The Lion of
Judah" the King of Kings, the Lord of Glory,
and yet the Meek. lamb-like Son of God
9th. Great in His Influence in the world. See
how Christian temples rise in all civilized
lands See the millions of His followers. To-
day great and strong men from all parts of the
Christian world are assembled IN our chief city
to honor Christ. See the amount of religious
literature. See the multiplied agencies for the
evaugelization CT the world. See the direct
and indirect influence of His teachings in the
world
9th. Great in His final Triumph. a. The
countless multitudes saved. (2. The complete
ness and eternity of this salvation. g. The
entire yiudication of the justice and mercy OF
Gods law TO the satisfaction of the universe.
HE shall be great.
PLYMOUTH CHURCH.
In the afternoon the Rev. c. ID. Barrows
preached from Matt vii. Z: ASK and it shall
be given you" The main subject of his dis
course was prayer. The necessity of prayer
nj .sol. 81.
many aud apt historical examples. This neces-
sity is shown in national history, in the consti-
tuition of the soul and in the common and un-
common events of life. The great idea was
that prayer guads us among life's great mys-
teries. From historical examples the presump-
ton must ever be that prayer is a necessity in a
nations history, and the neglect of ii Is certain
destruction. The second division of the subject
was ''the elements entering into true prayer. "
True prayer only rises from the soul which is in
a true relation TO its Creator, and TO be true the
prayer must be of such a nature that il shall
be answered. The elements ST prayer are, LIST,
true belief-a belief that does not look 10 Cal
vary and admire, but looks and lives, a belief
that enters the Temple and cries, ''What shall
do TO be saved?" a belief that presses Mount
of TRANSPORTATION and sees the glory of the
Eternal; ID satisfying peace, peace thatta
satisfaction in the thought that God will listen
10 supplications in spiritual as well as temporal
things; the Sd, and crowning element is that
Gods will be done" 1t is not for us TO dictate
Gods reply. Everything is hazarded if we are
not subservient to Gods will. The discourse
abounded in fine thoughts. illustrated by
wealth OF imaginary aud apt illusions.
STATE STREET,
The sermon was delivered by Prof Chapman
of Bowdoin College, from the text, Luke, xix,
10-"For the son of man is come to seek and
save that which was lost" These were the
words of Christ to Zaccheus the Publican. The
preacher remarked that this gem of Gods
truth would shine brightest in its own setting;
and so he proceeded to give the story of FAC
chus and his wonderful conversion. Zaccheus
was member of the hated class who were al
ways named with sinners. He had great
wealth, much of it ill gotten. His character and
his habits made him justly hated by the COM
munity. But see the change in the man from
the moment that Christ said, "This day has
salvation come to this house. He gave half his
goods to the poor. He restored four-fod
everything he had taken wrongfully. The text
and the whole story of Zaccheus show, first, the
attractive power of Christ's life; second, the
promptness by which repentance is followed by
works meet for repentance.
ST. LAWRENCE STREET CHURCH..
Prof H. Rich of Lewiston, preached Sun
day morning from the text Matt. xviii. 8.
"Verily, L say unto you, except ye be converted
and become as little children, We shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven"
The preacher began by saying that men often
change their minds and forsake their old courses.
Their lives are reformed. But reformation is
,ot no.
we must become like little children before we
can enter the kingdom of heaven. 1. One trait
of this essential child-lke character is humili-
ty. A little child's heart is not naughty. He
speaks diffidently and does not demand to have
his words heard. So we must not arrogate to
ourselves honor not our due; nor even be too
ready to assume our just rights. We are not
to set our minds on worldly grandeur, but to
condescend to men of low estate, and we shall
often find them our equals and superiors. So
shall we come to esteem Others better than
ourselves.
God has placed men on this earthly stage to
act different parts The rich man to devise and
execute liberal things: the poor man with I'M
envying patience to lift and mould poverty into
enduring success. 1t is not our honor that we
represent five talents; nor our disgrace that
our one talent places us in the background.
To play skilfully to sustain our character, to be
true men, these are of account.
We are not responsible for our parts. God
assigns them. All the parts are honorable.
Our acting He observes. Only those men are
mean who ignobly fill their places in this grand
drama. God alone is great; we are of yester
day, and know nothing. The truth of the case
demands that we humble ourselves and become
as little children.
q Another child-like trait is meekness An
equivalent for the word meekness is "Mansue-
tude," which signifies accustomed to the
hand" If men would bear the hand seeking
to turn them from their faults, how would they
rid themselves of many blemish If men
would allow the word of advice, how might
they beautify their lives, and win honorable re-
gard. If we are meek and wise we shall be
swift to hear the truth about ourselves, though
spoken by an enemy.
God seeks our perfection. He would COM
plete and round our character. Therefore He
does not leave us without wholesome reproof
and ehastisement. We do well to accustom
ourselves to Gods hand, lovingly put forth to
subdue our iniquities.
3. A third child-like trait is trnstfulness.
God requires of us implicit confidence in His
" ord. Where full credence is given to Gods
word there is a life full of all goodness. Living
faith aud faithful living are inseparable.
1t is surprising how the words faith and trust
and their synonyms abound in the Bible. The
fact declares how essential is this trait Wby