The New York herald., 1876-10-02
INSTITUTED AND IDEAL RELIGION.
Mr.. Beecher on Christ as the
Comforter of Sinners.
THE PLAN OF SALVATION
The Greatest and First Commandment
Of the Saviour
CHURCH OF THE DISCIPLES.


THR PROMISES OF GoD-SERMoN by REV.
GEORGE HEPwoETH.
The Church OF the Disciples had a very largo attend
anco yesterday morning Mr. Hepworth preached
very earnest sermon, taking for his text Hebrews xl,
l3-"Thesc all died in faith, not having received tho
promise, but having them aar or and were per-
suadcd of them and embraced them and confessed
that they strangers and pilgrims the earth"
Yvu remember. Paul IS writing to those who were
.aInar with the history and traditions; he is writing
those who born bred In tho Hebrew faith.
He is telling his congregation that all those whom God
ralsed up instructors TO the reope lived by faith
and died by IT. that, although they did realize Tho
promises OF God in their lives, yet they tho
Messiah in the Ear din distance and lived and died
though instead OF being aiar OIL He nign. The
promises OF God, brethren how manifold they and
now reliable they tool Can you say that IN your
lier Has iha, been tho honest Of your expert
encey
These promises OF God reach way back into ones
past when takes hold OF them. and the frs, magical
is the erasuro of everything unworthy and dark
and in your life. The very minute you lay
claim to aud lay hold OF the promises of God that
minute you are forgiven OF your SINS. You need not
thereafter say you nope 10 be iorgven you have al
ready the forgiveness OF God your heart and your
sins ana that have soied your soul
all forgotten on high, ana the page oi Gods remem-
brance which 1t was written is torn out OF the book
0t lie and thrown away aud account with your
begun. and. ike he rs born again and who
sees life Tor the first tme you out OF yesterday
hnd stand amid the flowers OF to-day The promises
Of Gou TOO, have 10 do with The present He who lays
hold OF Gods promises has always his heart
which IS not easy 10 describe On, the JOY OF feeling
you not alone, but that you have one wuh you
wherever you 90 ready to help you II you
fall ready BRING you back 10 Lie should tcmpta
iions you with the pail oil death You read
Jacob hestated about going down into Egypt TO see
his Joseph the Lord said Jacob lear not;
1 will 90 with lhcen Ii Is a sorry Journey which
we take without God, but joyful
"a al w llEE hv
TO be happy must not
be alone; solitude IS misery, aud yet don't stand
need OF human compinionshp The higher compan-
ionshlp oi the invisible satisfies every want
,ure. No man can be a stranger 10 this tact. Tnerc
nro men IN the world who take a sort OF intellectual
pride asserting that they DO believe present
God that they believe in law and nothing else. But
OIL what cold belief IL must be. How freeze
the heart with It's
CHILLING LOGIC,
and how II must CONCEAL every warm impulse! No
Sod except Law. Then there is no more mercy IN the
spiritual tnan IN the phvslcal world break arm;
Nature does not sympa,hze with me; new set OF
laws have taken possession OF my broken limb;
may get well and l may not. Nature
not care. Nature moves along in her law,
and digs and cuts her way all uumindful
tnat my heart is breaking | hate Nature ana
bates me. We can get along well together SO long
nriit with the current but the minute she geis her
iron grasp me then woe bcude There is let
up 10 her; there IS not an atom OF warmth in her
whole system; sue is made OF ice and iron. God save
IRON falling into that hopper oi the laws oil
with nothing TO prevent the turning of the whee tnat
erinds met, 10 pieces think would be an atheist
The doclrinc of the Biblo is different blesscdy
dineren, from that Hero have a revelation OF
PRESENT COR.
~ will go with you, and will remain with you y A
says Jehovah; "and ye shall be my children and |
VIII be your father" And before Jesus wen; up
his reward He said TO tho discples:-"Lo, /
with you alway, The end or
thc world God present wiIh Us, dc not know how
- Is or why, and yet II Is curious fact that compan
tonshp helps to bear the Its OF life wonderfully.
Did yen ever tank OF tiff you were to have danger
BUS operation performed you would scarcely 10 alone
10 the surgeong Why9 Therc be particular
reason IN H. and Yet II your mother were sitting there
,here makes the pain seem lesS
We'll, think 1t IS wih sod We cannot see Him,
he Is not in front of us, but e just behind, and He
Whispers, "icar not, am nere.n Aad Whatever we
ask He gives us, aud whenever we in any danger
He bears us ui know not how II with you, but
idea OF thai Kind OF comnanonship In my life is nearly
all have. 1t is the fountain from which eushes up all
The JOY that feeds the meadows OF my years, anu |
would not give up that thought that the Invisible
keeping His promises anu tnat In the present time
He is not far on but, with sweet paternai socitudc
hero IN my l'le and yours, governing and controlling
according to His will
Havc you the face OF the fact that
you must dieg Do you know where you are eoingy l
shall leave my body behind with tears. in no
hurry Tor the tine TO como when | shall
say TO the body, "Goodby.' And then the
pain and trouble OF dying. All, mo- is an
enigma Well, want to look beyond IL and ieel that
Gods promise says, although you 90 down into the
valley you need lear evh: my rod and my stan
shall be comfort TO you Ana when | have This
snith seem TO myself like who has been lifted up
,n mountain top and who sees half wav between
himself aud hcaven--this narrow guich, this ragged
rack in nature this dark and thorny crevicc on the
surface OF the world which We call death, and there
way 10 bridge It, IL Is necessary that every
ecr shall down the narrow steps into the darkness
oil the denlc But he aot only tho passage Gown,
but the passage up the other side, and then,
far beyond, the eternal world stretches IN
Its glory ana beauty. Those who down iron the
mountain OF faith bring this vision with them
Gods promises grasp the past and bury 1t and take
hold OF the present and point to tho everlasting future
We told In this that they not only
these promises OF God, but persuaded All yes;
then ought TO be persuaded that he is past his
evil Then here great realm for intellectual
activity; here he dominion of logic and reason. A
man Is persuaded partly by appealing 10 HIS reason,
partly by appealing TO hrs experience We but
feel that there IS governing force in lives, and
that there rs a right and wrong
The old prophets not only the promises and were
persuaded, but they emUraccd them. A great many
have good theory OF religion and a very bad prac-
iicc OF Il. What we want is "A OF the will
10 God. Let us not delay any longer Religion is not
Of the hcadlt OF the will Last OF all, having seen
these things aiar OIL, then having reasoned about IL
and said 70 our hearts, 1T safe. aud having
embraced H. then comes the last great scene in tho
tragedy-thc scene OF death. and then faith up
triumphant Oh It is thing TO live ana another
die. May you so live that when you come die you
may go forth with the consciousness that harm can
como you, but that through the darkness los the
devious pathway that leads all Fathers house
high.
INDEPENDENT Liberal, CHURCH