The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-12-18
SUNDAY SERVICES.
Sermon to Young Men.

The fourth address to young men was
delivered yesterday afternoon by Rev. A. FL.
Wright at the st. Lawrence street church, the
speaker. taking for his texts "What good thing
shall do to have eternal life'' Matt. xix:16;
and "What must do to be saved; Acts, xvi
30.
These questions express both personal obli-
cation, and the idea of necessty-that each and
every one have specific duty or work to per
form which is absolutely necessary to salvation
whatever the salvation of the soul requires on
the divine side, on the human side it is accom-
plished by doing, by working. This conception
is intensely scrptural What must be done
depends upon the present moral attitude of the
individual. The young ruler must sell his pos
sessions. The jailer must believe on Christ.
The answer given was suited to their moral
state All men are not in readiness to submit
and believe as was the jailer. Many ask what
shall do? without conviction, or anxiety.
Most of our young men we believe are in the
moral attitude of the young ruler rather than
that of the jaler.
l, The first thing to be done in the work of
saving the soul is to give earnest and serious
thought to the great question. This is every
mans first practical duty To most men it is
likely to be a hard duty. To give this subject
the attention it demands requires effort of mind
and will. 1t u.s. however, most practicable
duty, no inability can be pleaded at this point.
The will has power over the mind, eau deter
mine what shall he the themes and materials
of its thought. Thoughtfulness is itself sir.
2, Thought on this subject must be scrptual.
There is much free-thinking and hard thinking
on moral subjects, which never leads to pen
teuce and faith, because it refuses the light of
divine truth. Thought must be true, and to be
true it must be scriptual. The Bible is the
scriptures that you may be able to determine
what is right and what is wrong in your charac
tiers, opinions, experiences and practices
Thought must be anxious and prayerful
3, Thought must lead to action, all the DOW
ers of the soul must be active, the soul must be
true to its convictions. Salvation not condi-
ton upon any degree Of light or measure of
knowledge but upon fidelity to truth as it is, or
may be known.
Obedience is a principle and duty of mighty
Significance in the SOULS salvation. 1t is init
mately connected with and blended with faith;
cannot be severed from it; it is the ineligible
part of faith it is the first evidence of the faith
that saves. We need to preach less about faith
and more about obedience. 1t is heartless to
say that we have faith in the son of God and
live in the spirit Of selfshness and disobe-
dience
4. We say with Paul ''Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" Faith
is passive as we'll active it is trust as well as
obedience. and this trust is not faith in princi-
pie, or in duty, or in scripture, but in person,
in the divine person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
By the way of thought and obdience we come
to trust, for so Christ is revealed and the sinner
saved.
Notes.
The annual sermon in aid of the Portland
Benevolent Society was delivered at the First
Parish church last evening by Prof. Barbour of
Bangor. The discourse was an excellent one,
the preacher taking his text from Proverbs
q 10 Chime own friends and thine fathers
friends forsake not" The discourse was plea
for the maintenance of old friendship even if
misfortune or eccentricty has overtaken our
former friends. The preacher closed with an
appropriate allusion to the work done by the
Portland Benevolent Society the past seventy
| three years of its existence. A contribution
was taken up.
Rev. James FL. Ecob of Augusta preached al
| Plymouth church both afternoon and evening.