National Republican., 1876-12-18
Dr. RanAIn ut the congregational
Church.

ing DR.. Rankin preached from John x:Sl, 50,
e3. "Then the evs took up stones again to
stOne him. Jesus answered them: Many good
works have showed you from my father. For
which Of these works do you stone meH' The
Jews answered him: For good work, we stone
thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that
tho being man, maketh thyself God'
The speaker said the cotemporaries Of Christ,
the men who saw and heard him, the men who
dogged his footsteps to catch him in his talk who
attributed his miracles to BelZebub, had no doubt
about his humanity, Of his having true human
nature, than they had of their own. But true
humanity does not account for such being. 1t
makes him all the more explicable. He
mon Hebrew education he has, so far, outstripped
the wisdom of the wise men Of all ages, that the
ages themselves testify as his cotemporarries did.
s.Never man spoke like this man"
After giving i'll lustrations Of Chrst's wonderful
sneaEer smoke Of his miracles There Was some
thing about the SaviouE's miracles that proved
him TO be not merely from God, as Elijah and
Elisha were, as Peter and John were but God
himself How does this appearH A divine attri-
butte cannot be communicated. II belongs Of
necessity to God, to God alone Under the old
dispensation, and through the old time prophets,
there are instances where the dead|Were raised to
life; but none Of these holy men said, as Jesus
OF them took the dead by the hand, saying,
"Tallthacumi; I say unto thee, arise" None Of
unto thee, % come forthT' Jesus claimed to have
power to call the dead to life. He did have this
III.
any such powers, neither did Elisha. W hen these
holy men performed miracles they did not per-
form them In their own names; they did not issue
ommands; they were suppLants at the throne
Of God.
OVER AND ovKR AGAIN THEY PRAYED,
1ust as you and do. And their prevalence in
prayer, even when they wrought miracles; is pre-
wholly different sphere from what our Lord Jesus
did. And this is just what Jesus meant when ne
said: "If do not the works of the Father" ST
claim, i" he said, that and my Father are one;
that he is in me and in him." And as proof Of
this claim do these works. do them: Are
they the works of God or of man7 And If /, who
do the works OF God, claim to be God, though ye
believe me not because claim it, believe me for
miracles did the works Of the Father. There can
be no other miracles. But in the sense of employ
ing divine attributes, in his own right and by his
own authority, as his own legitimate prerogative,
Jesus alone ever did the works Of the Father;
that is, did what the Father might do.
After giving argument for Christs divinity,
the speaker said he did not claim that the doc
trIne of Christ's actual divinity is level to human
apprehension. Great is the mystery of godlness.
nature; when we succeed In eliminating all mys
tery from this walking mechanism, this moving
temple, which weinhsbit, and which is so won
derfully made; when We can explain how it is
proper for the same individual to say 81 think"
eve sees 81 live" meaning that life in body, soul
and spirit lfe how there is unity in trinity,
threefoldness Of being; how there is the earthly;
ashes, and yet the very image Of God; say when
YOU and have eliminated all mystery from our
own fearful and wonderful nj. .ure, it b. more
becoming in us to object TO the truth of Christ's
divinity on the score of mystery. TIL then let
us treat it as a fact attested by the words and
works of the Lord himself The sneaker CON
eluded as follows: Then, If It was necessary that
the Son Of God should become man in order to
make heaven possible to me, surely have some
thing to do in order to make heaven certain.
How shall escape if neglect so great saliva
ton?
Pfrst Independent Congregation.
raIIA IaI
ternoon by persons desirous Of hearing DR.. Tay
lor's discourse on "The Progress Of Religious
Ideas" He selected for his text Phil, iii:13:
Brethren, count not that 1 have apprehended;
but this do, forgetting the things that are be-
hind, press forward to that which is before"
Progress he said, was the great law Of the uni.
verse. Everywhere is found evidences of growth,
development; the higher ascending out Of the
lower by the law Of evolution; FIRST the germ,
then the "blade, then the stalk, then the ear,
then the full corn in the ear" The geological
facts connected with the plant were in, probably,
the following order: First gaseous, then liquid,
then solid, then soils, then vegetable growth,
then animal then moss, fern, sponge, trilabite,
m0lusks, Vertebrals, mammals, and man at last.
At first with low, STOPPING gait, long, dangling
arms, sineWy limbs, low, retreating forehead, and
IN nature brutal and beasial But through the
positior-a god-Hke mien-and talks every whit
philosopher.
Thought, too, like matter more gross through
proportions and glance at the history of Thought
would show wonderful @ progress , lS was fact
stone coal WAS arrested. tried, convicted and
executed as criminal in league with the devil;
and the
FIRST MAN THAT CARRIED AN UMBRELLA
over him was set on by mob in the streets Of
London. And in the Book Of Numbers
recorded a marvellous case of narrow -mindedness
similar character. An er post fdcto law was
made and poor snless man was stoned to death
Moses M @ that he must must be stoned to death HOW
could thinking men and women longer hold to the
Divine inspiration Of such diabolical proceedings.
But the law Of progress, the growth Of ideas, the
expansion of the human intellect and the enlarge
ment of the soul had carried US beyond such des-
perate conduct as that which It was claimed was
Sanctioned by the God of the universe. The man
Of to-day was better than the God Of three thou
sand years ago.
The Presbyterlans don't burn Unitar1ans now
as in the days of Calvin; the Church of England
doesn't persecute the Methodists and other dis
senters as in the days Of the Wesleys; witches
Moses and Cotton Mather and for all this we had
to thank the progress OF religious ideas.
This one thing was noteworthy: All this growth
and progress had been made through pressure
from without, and in spite OF ecclesasticism.
This was n necessity, because q creed presup-
posed that an thinking was completed, and all
become heretics, but
THE PROGRESS OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS
was fast carrying us away from old constitutions,
bylaws, confessions of faith, books Of disci-
pllne, &c.
The Doctor made a sharp criticism upon the
ana showed that Paine's Age Of Reason" was a
very religious book as compared with the authors
named, and proPhesied that before fifty years
Paine's age of Reason" would be gladly quoted
by the clergy in their pulpits authority upon
the existence of GOD and the Immortality Of the
soul
Atthe close the Doctor read an allegorical poem
representing 4 soul ascending from the valley of
superstition TO the mountain peaks Of free thought
and speech.
The morning hours are devoted to conference
and experience, and the evening hours to lee
tures, readings and music.
Metropolitan Presbyterian Church.
A large congregation assembled at this church
yesterday morning, to hear Rev. DR.. Sheldon
Jackson missionary Of the Presbyterian Board of
Domestic Missions, recount his experience as such
in the far West. OF medium stature, slight,
though eompactly built frame, finely shaped head
and determined look, Mr.. Jackson seems to be
the fearless and energetic missionary he is repre-
sented, and a world Of meaning is expressed In
the title given him, THE Apostle Of the Rocky
Mountains"
In his Introductory remarks, the pastor of the
church, Rev. DR.. Chester, stated that since JAN
uary last the missionary had Travelled 81 900 miles
menced by saying that the text in Joshua I:Is,
1.-THE Lord hath given you this land, !" would ap-
ply to the American church. The area Of land in
this country which God has given His church to
christianiLe is very great.
Our territorial area would make four hundred
States like Massachusetts. Yet what is this to
do with missionary work? Much The States of
New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and
New Jersey contribute no more to foreign mis-
sions than they did twenty years ago; but Ohio,
Illinois and others Of the Western States assist
and increase the amounts contributed. the re-
eeipts being greater than ever before, and all
Christians among us feel that If this country
must be evangelical, it must be by ourselves, and
not by the people Of any other Government.
The speaker said that we were to-day molding
theelemepts that would control the population
of our Western Territories in their religious prin-
ciples which would perhaps ever remain SO. He
alluded in this connection to the Indians of Sit
ting Bulls tribe who had become Christians, and
the successful efforts still being made in that d.
rection. The heathenish rites in Mexico taught
them by the Spaniards during the invasion Of
Cortsz, were graphically dwelIed upon, as aIso
some interesting facts relative to New Mexico,
which, would be would be well for some OF our
politicians to know, at least those who trying
10 have thSt Territory admitted into the Union as
a State. The Christians of whole country,
the speaker said, Eere responsible for these ac-
tons and this conduct for these people were with
ont the Gospel.
The speaker finished HIS interesting remarks
by briefly allud-ng TO the work Of Christian
womer, and where II could be made effective, es-
pecially In Utah, which certainly demanded their
attention.