The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-02-19
SUNDAY SERVICES.


Bishop Foster preached at the Chestnut street
chucrh yesterday morning, and the Methodist
congregations of the city united in the service
with the Chestnut street church. The Bishop
read the 103d Psalm-'Bless the Lord o nv
SOUL" also the 18th chapter of LIST Corinthians
Though speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, etc. The text was in Timothy, /. Is
"This is faithful saying ard worthy of all &C.
cepta,ion, &C. There is power in sound---for
mere harmony can move the deepest feelings
of the SOUL but mere sound without an in
dwelling idea is powerless Pleasant words
alone can do nothing, save as they contain
truth; for truth is the agent throughSwhich
God designs to bless and save the world This
is faithful saying--that is, o true saying. If
it is truth, it is the most important truth that
can demand the attention OF men. Everything
else fades into complete insgniicance in COM
parison with it. But the truth that Jesus has
come into the world to save sinners is denied
by multitudes. Now if it is not truth that
He has come, then the world is utterly ignor.
ant of Gods will and word II God has not
spoken to men through His Son, then in all
these ages since the creation He has never ut
tered one word to His children on EARTH True.
the world is not wholly ignorant of the exls-
tence and character of God, independent of
Christ; but without Him men can know moth
log certain concerning immortality and the fu-
ture state. There may be, and are limitations
concerning these things in the nature and con-
stitution of things about us; but without the
word of Jesus all is dark and uucert ain. With
what power aud fearful force does uncertainty
press upon US in the hour of personal bereave-
ment. Where are our loved ones when they
leave us to go into the unseen world? Then
we put our hand into the hand of Jesus and
hear Him say-"Thy dead shall live again."
Since, then, SO much depends upon it, we may
well seek to understand and receive this truth
Two things are asserted-Jesus Christ came
into the world. Is this true? Some deny is.
They say the statement is myth. We need
TO know If our beliefs are real truths. First
we know what we see; we believe the evidence
of our senses. Again-we know what we
think, what we are conscious of, our own iden-
tty. Again we know certain intuitive
truths-mathematlcal axioms-for instance,
that whole is greater than its half Again
we know that certain arithmetical operations
are true. We admit that three time three are
nine, for instance We are certain of these
things Again we know some things by testi-
mony. The coming of Jesus rests upon testi-
uOuy sbu tcStlnUuy mdy w SO SJrOQg C1aG we
can be sure of it. What makes testimony con-
corning an event or fact sure? |, That it be a
fact that can can be known. I'd, That there be
competent and credible witness Sd, That
his testimony be supported by other witnesses
4th, That the testimony of all the witnesses
agree. 9th, and lastly, That these witnesses
have no personal interest to eubserve in their
testimony. Testimony may be oral or spoken.
and written, and the written is Just as strong
| as the spoken. Now as we examine the written
| testimony in theology we find an unbrokeu line
| OF proof that such being as Jesus Christ APP.
| peared at particular age of the world-that
| He came into the world Bence we know this
| But Jesus came into the world to save sinrers
| He came from an antecedent state of existence.
He did not then begin to be-to exist-but he
was previously eternally existent In the
| prayer of Jesus before His betrayal, how clear
| ly He makes this known. He came on mis-
| sion to save men. But how came we to know
that Jesus spoke the truth. Here we need the
supernatural part of the New Testament tt
convince US that Jesus came 20 save sinners.
All this array of proof-natural or supernatur-
al-tels us that he came for tkis purpose
Again-did he save sinners? Oh yes-multi
tudes from the days of Jesus to this age bear
witness to the glorious truth He is the Saviour
| OF the world. We know that He has saved III
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