Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-09-22
n|f1e HStnnttatot~
FRIDAY MORNING. SEPT. 20, 1916.
Local .
TIE CHURCHES.

| SERMON BY REV. DIR. JOHN HALL, OF NEW
YoRK-coURTEsIEs OF TIE OTHER
MINIsTERs-CHURcH ITEMS,
&C, &C, SC.
The event in church circles, Sunday, as
well as with the public at large, was the
appearance in the pulpit of the First Pres
byterian church of Rev. John Hall, the IA
nous pastor Of the Fifth Avenue Presby-
terrain church, of New York city. Dr..
Hall had been to the White Sulphur
Springs, and returning home stopped in
| Staunton, with his wife and son, on a
visit to Sen. Echols, at whose marriage in
New York, he otliciated, lie having been
Mrs. Echols' former pastor. He is /. native
OF county Armagh, Ireland, and while pas
tor Of the First Presbyterian Church, Of
Dublin, was sent as commissioner to the
Presbyterian council in this country. His
preaching here made such @ powerful i'm
preston that he was called to the pastoral
care of the Fifth Avenue church, a build
ing that cost 81 100000 at an annual sal
any Of $4,000 in gold
THE PREACHER
age; over six feet high, and weighing two
hundred and fifty pounds. His face bears
d striking similarity to that Of Judge Nc
Laughlin, and the late Chief Justice
Chase, and is lighted by "A pair Of deep,
earnest grey eyes. His manner in the pull
pit is quiet, earnest, and almost without
gesture, with q voice hardly ever raised
Lab,
over the pulpit desk, after tile manner of
an earnest teacher, the great preacher sets
forth the truths of religion in the simplest
language, without even an approAch TO Or
hamental rhetoric; so plain, indeed, that
in the whole Of his two sermons, Sunday
We doubt if there were q dozen words moi
III the daily, ordinary use Of business men
4 aEPING CHRISTIANS FROM TUE EVIL /:
THE WORLD.
DE-. Halls serluon in the morning WAS
, delivered 10 d tain congregation he having
uily arrived here saturday, and it not be-
ilg generally known that he would preach,
aud q very heavy rain falling at the time.
Tue text was the prayer Of Christ, made
just after the Last Supper, and just before
his Cruciiixion: L pray not that thou
shouldst take them out OF the world; but
that thou shouldst keep them from the
evil.'. The minister commented in OPEN
ing on the nature and effect OF prayer, and
J the circumstances that attended the Of
' faring of the solemn petition of the text in
behalf Of His disciples. 1t has been OBJ
jected to prayer that it can only be telling
} God what he already knows; but this is no
} objection, as it is none III the case of the
child, who cannot too oftel tell it's parent
Of its love. It is the same fact oft re-
peated in the same words, but each time
pleasant to the ear Of the parent, its repe-
tition, instead of worrying, only convincing
, him Of the sincerity OF that love. There
, are three ways Of taking Christians out Of
the world. First, by q life OF seclusion, by
; which the temptations Of the world are
supposed to be avoided. It was adopted
IN olden times in sincerity, hut soon grew
into vast organizations Of recluses, which
became vast power for oppression and
persecution Of others. Second, by transla-
tion Of which there We're the exceptional
cases Of Enoch and Elijah. This was de-
manded in their day by the occasion and
circumstances. It was an age Of skepti-
cism, Of growing infdelity, and something
miraculous was necessary to make men
believe in another world. These two were
men .well-known among their fellows from
their lives, and when they were taken away
it drew attention to their departure, and
enforced conviction as to their destination.
Il they had been taken out Of this world in
life, there could be no escape from the con-
cluGlon that they had been taken into
another. It was best for them and their
compeers that they should be thus taken
out Of the world. And there WAS o third
way-a way with which we are all familiar
with. lis entrance was through the sick
room, where disease has attacked those
we cherish, and though baftied by human
skill, perhaps returns again and again
until at last the final enemy conquers. 1t
is called fever or cons umption or pneu-
monla-tliat is what we call it, looking at
it from our side; but it is Gods way-it is
His way Of taking his own out of the
world when he has done with them.
But it was best for Gods people to be
left on the earth for g time, for it was
| through much tribulation that they are
| fitted for Heaven. 1t is best, too, for the
world itself that they should be left in it,
for however unequal the lives of some Of
| His people are to their professions, how
ever low the standard Of their SER
vice to Him; whom they claim to be their
example is, yet to-day the world would be
worse off without even the lowest standard
| Of Christianity. AL that is dear to us, our
| liberties and our religious institutions are
all due to Christianity. There is one les
| son that has come down to us through
| the ages for three thousand years, in q
| story that will be read for yet thousands of
years to come, of the Hebrew children in
| the fiery furnace; and it is as applicable |
| to-day as it was three thousand years ago. |
| The Christian who will reject all the offers |
of the world to fall down and worship its
| idols, will find on entering the fiery furnace
| One walking there in white with him. 1t
| is this strength to resist temptation that
Christ prayed should be given those who
should follow Him. Ignorant teachers say
that sin has no charms for the Christian.
Not so; its fascinating influence is ire
sistible when resisted by our own strength.
Wealth, though i'll gotten, has its charms;
and high position, though meanly obtain
ed, has its destinations
The evil of which our Saviour spoke is
the moral, not the physical, which
taken Alright is for the Christians
good 1t is an agent for refining
and strengthening his faith. The Ills
If l;fo s{o.ob l,;r, ,,atinnna and sul