The Portland daily press., 1874-01-05
SUNDAY SERVICES.
CHESTNUT STREET CHURCH.

WOfk to DO III lI6 WOIius Leu HOW llJUle QOeS
this knowledge impress us. How feebly and
:mperfectly does it mould and shape the aggre-
gate thought and impulse of mankind. Some
indeed are sceptical on this point Life is SO
short and uncertain, man is so frail and erring
that it seems to some as though these few years
could not have any great influence on our oesti
MES or the destnes of our race or could not be of
any great account either to God or man. From
this feeling sprang the idea of ancient heather
philosophy that God does not concern Himself
with human affairs, that His greatness cannot
so condescend to our littleness Both reason
and revelation forbid us to reconcile the infinite
wisdom OF GOD with the thought of aimless-
ness or uselessness in any being He has made.
If God was not above creating, He cannot be
above controlling any creature. If the Infinite
hand made man, the Infinite eye beholds him,
the Infinite intelligence overlooks him, super
intends ais life and directs it to an end. This
Judgment of reason revelation confirms One
great purpose Of revelation is to bring man to
the recognition of his God as standing in direct
and personal relations to him. making him the
object of distinct and special thought, and his
life part of the Creators plan.
There is wide field of choice open to us, but
not to have a mission from heaven, not to have
work to do upon the earth, not to have as
:ignedto us special vocation, this is impossi-
BILE. God confronts it with all His plans in Gre
alton, and all His purposes which stretch
through eternity. This truth, like many others
we can appreciate fully only when we place it
side by side with Gods infinity. Does it seem
to you saddening and depressing that your life
is thus covered from the cradle to the grave,
fha 1lnf two
not right views either of your life or of the God
who is over your life. God judges us intel-
gently, righteously and mercifully. His knowl
edge is as minute as it is vast, as clear and dis
tinct of every condition and circumstance per-
tanning to the humblest life as it is Comprehen-
sive Of the whole. His compassion equals His
power. His love fills the whole volume of His
intinity and in His judgments He always re-
members mercy. Then again We should know
that His service, the performance of the work
He has assigned us. here, is the highest salts
faction, the highest plane of development to
which our earthly life can rise.
Reason as we may, and fancy as we will. af
ter all there is nothing pleasant in life which
has linked with it no thought of responsibility.
Divorce all thought of responsibility from any
aim or pursuit of life, and that moment it be-
comes dull, stale, insipid, it yields you neither
Joy nor inspiration. When you tell me that
my life is a part of the Almighty's plan, that 1
am called to be a co-laborer with God in the
tuluiuiCu1 VI LIS piduo, yOu tClI NC tudt Which,
indeed stirs up the great deep of my soul and
makes my conscience thrill with awe, but which,
at the same time, takes all the meanness and
bitterness out of my life and crowns it with
glory and honor. This is what religion is. Not
simply comfort for our sorrows strength for
our temptations, and refuge when the world
fails us. Religion is the business of our life
The task for which we were born and the work
for which alone life is heightened out from day
to day and from year to year.
But we are taught in this text that we not
only have an appointed work to do, but also
that we have an allotted time in which to do it.
All men acknowledge that religion of some
sort is thing to be attended to in the world,
but the question is, when? That question should
never be asked. Religion is for the whole of
iuan's life, and the whole of his life should be
religious. If the text teaches us anything it
teaches this that all of mans life that is not
religious is spent in idleness. The text contains
both a reproach and an invitation, Let us be
exhorted to give heed to both.
ST. PAUL's.
Rev. DR.. Pise preached from the text, "And
thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall
save His people from their slns-Matt. ii:21."
The name Jesus is the same as Joshua, which
was frequent name among the Jews. 1t
simply means Deliverer, Savior. 1t was Civ
en- to the successor of Moses upon his appoint
ment to conduct Israel into the promised in
heritance, and indicates his final and complete
triumph over the difficulties He should encoun-
ter.
If Moses successor was worthy to be called
Jesus "a Savior" because he subdued the en-
emies of Gods ancient people and established
them in the quiet possession of Palestine, how
much more is He worthy that title who deliv-
ers us from the hardest of all tyrannies and the
most formidable of all enemies? He who saves
His people from their sins.
twill be only when we consider the mogni-
tude of the undertaking, and the qualifications
necessary to secure success, together with the
consequences to US, had He failed, that we can
feel the force of the prophetic description of
our Jesus, as one mighty to save" 1t will be
that the heart of man can embrace Him as a
Savior, only when we realize the mystery of
His double nature as the God-man-the Eman-
uel-a paradox valued only by the doctrine of
Incarnation. Snch is the import of the name
Jesus as applied to Christine Savior-the De
liver. 1t was given Him as descriptive of the
character He should bear, and the office He
should perform. To save His people from their
sins is presented to view as the purpose of His
great undertaking. 1t was not merely to effect
deiverance from the fatal consequences of
sin. 1t must do more even than wash from
the soul the deep stain of sin. The tyrant pow
er of sin over mans spirit must be bloken.-
The captive fast bound and in misery" must
be set free. Jesus had never filled the import
ance of His name, had never but half saved u.s.
had He not delivered us from the controlling
power of sin-its power t. defle, and corrupt
and debase our nature. Is Jesus such Savior
to you? Has tt power Of SIN over your will
hln nyon Hhn nnoc 10 do
without committing sin? 1t were basphem-
Gus to assertsuch possibility in the face of
the positive declarations of Holy scripture to
the contrary 1t is an insult to the experience
Of every truthful man to assert it But though
that evil bias of our nature still remain in the
faithful christian, rendering his life warfare.
yet he is not under the power of sin as he once
was. He is not Indifferent as to what is sin;
but is watchful against it. He does not-as
once-readily yield to it, but resolutely strng-
giles against it. He does not indulge it, but
mortifes it. He does not love it and cherish
it, but loathes and abhors it. He fears the
pollution of its tot CHI, and shuns it. His aspir-
ations are after holiness, and more complete
renewal of the divine image IN his soul. In
word, ''Sin has no more dominion over him.
TEMPERANCE LECTURE.
The fifth of the series of temperance lectures
was delivered by Rev. DR.. Hill, in the First
Parish church last evening. Taking for his
+ text one of the lessons OF the evening-1st Cor
inthians 10; 23-30-he argued for Temperance
in all things as the command of the apostle.
In modern days temperance means total alb
stinence; in the days of the Apostle it did not.
The law which requires us to be temperate in
all things requires total abstinence from some
thing Of this latter class the Doctor mention
ed tobacco in every form save smoke, and dis
titled liquors. He would prohibit the use of
those entirely. He thought the use of light
wines and light fermented malt beverages, such
as beer and ale, together with cider, might be
necessary for large class of persons. He OBJ
jected to administering pledge to abstain dur
ing life from the use of stimulants and thought
it better to specify, especially in the Case of
young men, term of three or five years, and at
the end of that period invite them to renew