The daily gazette., 1877-10-31
The Pulpit.
teperted for the GAzErrE,

Rev. Vim. p. Davis pastor of st. Paups
Nj. Il. Church delivered powerful ser.
mon on Sunday morning, from Romans
VII, 81 'ff God be for us, who can be-
against u.s."
God Is for us If we are for him. How
shall we know whether or not we are for
him? There are at least three rules by
which we may determine this point. First
Dy our doctrine, or, our views of chris
tianlty, and the obligations which it i'm
poses. A stream never rises above its
source neither does mans life rise
above his own conception of duty. Hence
the necessity of christian people having
| a proper understanding of the exalted
character "of the doctrine of Christ" that
they may be the better qualified to adorn
the doctrine of God our Saviour in all
! things"
Second we may determine this ques-
ton by our lives. He was here to bring
no charges against any one, but to ues-
tlon. Do we live as God would have us
live? do we talk~a as God would have us
talk? are we found on the side of God and
humanity and truth at all times? Each
must answer these questions for them
selves. Third, by our experience. The
early fathers of the church placed great
deal of Importance upon experience, but
we are losing sight to some extent of its
Importance. The cry of young America
is for something newl Away with the
old land marks, give us new things, and
they do not stop to consider whether or
not these new things are any better or as
good as the old! They would do away
with experience, and yet this is the most
lnanswerable argument, ,againsts keptis-
cism that can he produced.
1t is experience by which we may
measure the sincerity of our obedience to
the will of God. The outward life may
conform to certain rules, while it is possi-
BILE that conformity to these rules may be
the result of Iear as to the consequence
uf an opposite course. Some men keep
the laws of the land because they know
that disobedience will result in punish
ment. This is not the kind of obedience
that God requires. We must serve Him
because we love Him. Love must be the
basis. The cause of our service for love
is the fulfilling of the law, and experience
alone IL the means by which we may
know the basis of our service. What the
world calls church membership is one
thing, and what we call church fellow
ship is another, and each one must draw
the distinction for himself by his own in
dividual experience.
But some established standard is neces-
sary by which we may weigh our doc
trines, square our lines and compare our
experience, and thus determine our re-
lations to the kingdom of Christ. That
standard is Gods word, but If we are un.
aquainted with the standard how shall
we apply the test ? we are out on the
sea of life without compass or rudder'
We must Hsearch the Scriptures" if we
would base our views of christianity and
the obligations of the christian life upon
the word of truth, and if we do this our
doctrine will be in accord with the same,
we must know the Scriptures, If we
would apply them as test to our lives
Then. If our doctrine be based upon the
teaching of the word of God, and we live
| in accordance with this teaching, and
our experience bears us witness that we
are on the side of "the truth as IL Is IN
Jesus" it is not too much TO say thaf
we are on Gods side, and II we are on
His side He is on our sid {, anu II 'Gou
be for us. who can be against us" He
was not here to make an open attack ON
the devil, although he knew that he was
the "the father of liars" the subverUer OF
our liberties, the destroyer OF everything
that was good. That he is "evil and only
evil, and that continually" but there are
at least three things that essay to be
against us, the world, the flesh and the
devil, But this had been SAID SO often
and had became SO trite that 1t had lost
its force. He did not believe i'll glittt +
ing geueralities that hit every thing In
general and nothing in particular.
Isl. st.Druukenuess, ,bhe great ctrse OF ne
world Was against us, 1T is doug more
to retard the progress OF the ,dtemer
Kingdom than anything else Efforts had
been made to check its powtr; heaven
and earth have been moved by the pray
L. l., acaan6ad han ilf nf thB
temperance cause in the last few
months; rum shops have been closed
but in spite of these efforts the rum
traffic is stronger to-day than ov9r. Ii
relninded him of the hydro>headed
monster of ancient Mythology when one
head was taken off Two sprang up IN It's
place. SO it appear ed to H.. Nifh the
rum power, when one man formed two
became drLnkards, when one ruln shop
was closed two opened in its 81 'ct. -,
2nd.T1e Press. A consecrated 'res5 Is the
most potent influence for good-s ave the
puIpiI-in the world, and d lierntious
press is The most potent for evil. The
man who wields the pen has d weight OF
res possibility resting upon III ne Is
moulding the. minds OF thus IA is and
nothing but desire for Their good can
discharge that weight; and 'arn are
using the press as means ~ + @ltylng
morbid desirefor licentiou, il ~ iture
that is poisoning the minds "t .he peo>
,le. and all for the sake OF I toid that
drives them. The speak'r mere d.
ministered, inferentially, Inning re
bnkt, to the Fl thy iufidelity ppears
dav by day in one OF our j nawspa>
pers. - -.
mode of attack. There has 10 n u time
when infdelity appeared up face
of infidel literature, whenl 80 gard-
I'd with adherence by all d. o sly
nothing of religious peopl' . u mn
dals have become like Paul the
men of Athens, TOO super 80 or
AZ some Commentators sly 'iigi-
ous," They wrap up the' '}5hi IN
such delicate morsels that Very
,ka il all in not knowing Il y are
taking poison. He would - dare-
fuI how he tasi ed of the C ii
drugvi rs bottles, but II "rn gist
invi ed him 10 dine with hii' = hisne
cohea 4 som- OF his poison Il 'oi' ~
the food, and he mighG pa * Il IT.
never tnluktng II NJ WIS In-
an. So with inf ieiity, Il H., 81 10
th. choicest langutgr, pres l. the
most d.lic Lte form; cl4oe = :" Us
sumed g,rb of hypocrith IN VI;
- .ho,.s .nds Arr. xulplng Sho
would shun 1t il Thy kus" Vs.
Rut there have been crl IA he his~
tory Of the world. ana 'ru III .rroI