The Portland daily press., 1874-09-28
SUNDAY SERVICES.
ST. LIKES.

81. LUKE S.
At the morning service Bishop Nicely preached
from GAL ii, part of the 10th verse; The life
that now live in the fesh live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave him
self for me-"
The most important aspect under which hui
man life can be viewed is that when it is con-
sidered with reference to its underlying princi-
pie, or the character which man himself i'm
presses upon it. We often speak of the life of
man, in general, as Short uncertain, transitory.
We speak of the life of particular individual
as prosperous and successful, or sorrowful and
unfortunate. But these, and like conceptions
Of it, make no such impression upon us as
when the life of an individual man is charac-
terized as aimless, OR selfish, Or base, Or on the
other hand, as consistent, generous, noble.
Now, while the life of most men everywhere
and in every generation is devoted to the pur-
suit of those objects which minister to sensual
qualification, or the thirst for praise or place,
and consequently is fashioned and governed by
those motives and conditions which point to
success in this drectiont, there have been men
in every land and age who lived higher life.
Patriotism and philanthropy have had their
shrines always and everywhere, upon which
some at least have gladly laid the best offerings
they could bring; and in nations unblessed by
distinct revelation of the attributes and will
OF God, there have been those, who, like Enoch,
and Noah, and Abraham, and Noses and
Samuel, walked by faith, and not by sight
whe heard and needed the voice of God speak
ing through conscience and the spiritual in
tentiOns or intuitions, and, in this faith, will
ingly sacrificed wealth, and earthly ambition,
and life, for the attainment OF the invisible but
enduring realities Of the upper and eternal
world. And there are men, though they NAV
have been denounced, and ridiculed, and perse-
cuted by their contemporaries, who have obtain
ed SO good report through their faith" in after
generations. These are the names we chiefly
honor, however earthly and grovelling our own
aspirations may be. According as we are like
them we feel ourselves humbled; as we are un-
like them we confess ourselves in our inmost
thoughts, however loftily we may bear ourselves
in the world, below the standard of true and
perfect manhood.
st. Paul in the words which have read for
our present consideration claims for himself
place among these men of faith, and his re-
cord compes us to acknowledge him the fore
most hero of them all. When he speaks of
himself and his brethren among
as ''cruclfed and dead with Christ" ''buried
with Him" and "risen with Him unto new
ness of life, we seem at first to lack the key
to these mystical expressions. But when we
to the gate of Damascus, and through the
scenes and labors of his subsequent history,
we cannot fail to find their meaning abund-
anty illustrated. And when he declares 81 no
longer live (as before) but Christ llveth in me-
and again, the life that l now live in the
flesh live by the faith of the.Son ofGod''-the
record of that life is a sufficient Interpreter.
Our teacher-Chrst: our Master and Lord,
Christi our exemplar, Christ; our Almighty
Saviour and soul refuge for time and eternity,
Christ. This was not only the teaching but the
life of st. Peul To win Christ and to be found
in Him, he counted all things else but loss; to
be conformed unto Him in sufferings, he re-
garded as the highest honor; to serve Him in
toll and tribulation, to walk in His bood-stan-
ed footsteps, to live unto Christ and die for
Christ, this was the joy and the glory of this
blessed Apostle.
/. Now we see in this life not only
life above and apart from that of
men In general-apd NOT only life of faith as