The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-01-19
SUNDAY SERVICES.
ST. STEPHENS,

Rev. A. Dalton rector of st. Stephens, delv-
erel sermon in the morning from Prov
XVIII-14, "The spirit of a man will sustain
bis infrmity, but wounded spirit who can
bear?"
In the band of the Lord, there is a cup mixed
with the elements of joy and sorrow for the
children of men, but the dregs thereof are re-
served for hardened transgressors who continue
in their wckeduess, To the young, the joys
and to the aged, the sorrows seem to preponder-
ate Not always indeed; for few are found
who give thanks to the Lord always, in youth
and age, for His mercies which en- dure forever.
Surely goodness and mercy, they say, shall fol-
low us all the days of our life. and we will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Again youth
inexperienced, attaches undue importance to
external circumstances to riches, honors,
and all outward shows and signs Of prosper
ity, as tokens, pledges, and seals of happiness,
And not the young only, but frivolous and su-
perficial persons do the same of whatever age,
or whatever may have been their opportunities
for observation and reflection. But the thought
full and experienced know better. Without de-
spisirg these things they are aware that our
happiness and usefulness are determined more
by inward and moral, than by outward and ma
terial causes. "The spirit of man will sustain
bis infrmity, or weakness, and it was given
him for that purpose. But when this animat-
ing sustaining spirit is itself weakened and
wounded, the outer man will soon droop, and
ere long waste away, unless sustained by the
Spirit of God which hovers about us, and is ever
ready to minister to our relief and to restore
us to the blisful seat>' which God hath pre-
pared for them that love him. ~.
Let us briefly scan several phases of human
life in which we behold some of the mos. af-
fecting examples of wounded spirit. And
surely if we are touched by the sight of main
ed or wounded body, how much more shoald
we feel for hearts that bleed and spirits that
groan, because of Affections that enter as an
iron into the soul.
Regard yonder aged man bowed, not SO
much by age, as by the poverty which his dress
discloses in spite of the care he has taken to
put the best side out Once he was a man of
prosperous fortunes, with troops of friends,
fawned on and battered. Now there are none
so poor as to do him reverence. Prematurely
old, destitute and deserted, his children dead,
his wife, witness and sharer of his poverty is
it strange that he is no longer sustained by the
fiery spirit which was formerly within him, but
or familiar spirit?
Still greater the hardships and lonely the lot
of the poor widow, bereft at once of her hus-
band and the support that be afforded her, Of
all our charities. those which minister to the re-
lief of those doubly afflicted, ara most COM
mendable and Christian.
But far beyond any outward loss or cause of
grief are the sJrrows of the soul. For ssthe
mind kingdom is!' in which the most power
full forces have free and full play and are the
SprpUs of tho biOhoSt inv nd ho
nant griefs. Ii we are touched by the sight of
faded gentility where the change has had no
penalty but loss of social rank, shall we not drop
tear at the spectacle of happi
Of fS' a sa wrecked cnes Of as erect e the foqm
piercing eye and noble mien BETRAYED
by his associates, or still more by the baseness
OF his own heart to the upbraidngs of con.
science ana the scorn of mankind; of the
woman who in the heyday of youth and beauty
Was decked as bride, the cynosure of ali
eyes, the idol of her family, now broken by
sickness, by harshness, possibly by desertion
more dreadful than death.
The lowest deep. however, is reached by the
wounds OF the soul self-inflicted. Who can
bear them? The young man who sets at
nanght the couUsels of pious parents men of
the world whose only. pursuit is pleasure with
out regard to the suffering inflicted on others;
men of business whose hearts are set on riches
even though they prove the wages of UPRIGHT
eousness, aspirants for Office and public
honors who purchase them at the ex-
pense of uprightness and honesty, is it
not true of them and many o hers, that they
willingly fall into many temptations and
plunge int, sea of sorrows. the precursors of
death itself. Our hearts must be hard indeed,
II We are not moved by the thought of what
great transgressors suffer in their downward
career. WHAT voices from home-a mothers
PRAYER, fathers counses. sisters entreaties
t the WARNINGS Of friends, the sneers of foes,
r 1ir p tH h haGs contumeIy, the good mans
,y,the upDradngs of conscience, seIf-respect,
all successfully disregarded and defied. till no
man mas aught to give them more aud it only
remains to consort with the deprayed and lost.
No doubt the actual moral deprayity of those
lost to their families aud society is mncb less
in comparison with many who retain a GOOD
name. than Is commonly Supposed. In the ewes
of the world, the difference is great enough to
separate them as a shepherd separatet6 his
sheep from the goats, but in the sight of Gnd
it may be fer less For He reads the hearts of
all add knows the extenuating circumstances
how pany and great the temptations, and how
far all this may qualify the moral responsible
ty, or mitigate the severity of the penalty at
tached to the sins of life. Above all, let us re-
member that before Him, there is "no man that
llveth and sinnetn not" ''All have need of re-