, 1877-12-15
THE CHURCHES SUNDAY.
METHODIST rRorEsrANr CHURCH.

|
| D. Bagey, PASTOR Morning subject: "The
prayer of faith shall save the Sick the Lord shall
raise him up, and II be have committed sins they
f, shall be forgiven him." All healing power was
from the Divine healer; physical and mental all
| me1tS required the use OF means. as necessary
and proper, but moral inf tirm ty wa. reached and
| cured by Divine power. Gods movements in the
| forgiveness of sin were regarded as prompt aud
| positive TIE promised blessings we're cousid-
| ers d as conditioned upon all absorbing desire
and earnest he 'leving 2rayer-
Evening subj ct: Il am not 3shamed of tho
Gospei OF Cnrist." Rom. l., 16 1t was observed
| that human beings in RELIGIOUS maj ters were slow
learners; that his' orc facts of experience were
impressive and part of Gods method of ippart-
ing instruction; that Paul was a representative
MAN. that as man Of thought, ability, expe-
rieDce, strong prejudices and thorough culture
and scholarship. be was not ashamed to Believe
the Gospcl in its essential dOctrna trutbs-which
are depraviry and hence salvation through Jesus
Christ. Also to receive it as a Christian-the
highest form of manhood.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
Rev. J. F. Ellis preached a sermon in the morn
ing on private Devotion-the Fleece wet with
Dew of which the following is an extract:
With Prof Tyndall's school physical science is
the center ard sum of immensities and the eter-
mites. But Christianity holds to the Copernican
system of The universe. A great Suu is in the
heavens. We have not measured Him, do not
know His periods and His distances His propor-
ticDs and gravitations are beyond our estimate.
Ba he warns u.s. gives US light and touches our
souls with certain subtle activic power such as
ncanlatiops and self-wfought spiritual ecstacy
cannot even simulate, much less originate. Did
ever man searching for the North Pole and freez-
ing, warm himself by glzing imaginatively at the
feeble twilight shifting along the southern hori-
zon? Is there any kind Of physical ecstacy by
which a man at the North Pole can get warm from
a sun that is traversing the Tropic Of Capricorn?
Go, ask of the icebergs or the noun aims of snow
under which lies Sir John franklin in nameles5
grave! But Gown here in lower latisudes there is
sun and we do not freeze. So We Christians
have struggled out from the eternal frost5 of the
north into temperate zones. That is ecstacy, is
it? Ask DR.. Kane who came back from an Arctic
winter. Was it ecstacv when his vessel no longer
grated against the hungry icebergs that sought to
crush it ? Were open seas and south winds and
g eeunesS on island and mainland and singing
birds and lowing herds and thronging cities bu.
so much magic lantern Incarnation of Or. Kane
Horrible nonsense! But the children of men
who piay ard travel southward experience like
chanses of temperature and scenery. We know
il; f + we are warmed and lighted and the hidden
springs of our being vitazed. There is the many
voiced bird, the nany-bued flower, the many
'raited tree And over all Sun of unmeasured
magntu"e, swinging to and fro between the inf
ute Cancer and Capricorn, does shine!
Tbose who ''shut the door, and kneel down with
the 30 X open, read ard Look upward. see it; and
there is no need that TO them any proof be made.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
In the morning at the Methodist Episcopal
Church, the pastor preached sermon on the great
advantage Of being governed in religious expe.
rience by principle rather than mere emotional
excitement This is naturally the darkest season
OF the year. Providentially our community has
heen Ii gloom and sorrow. These eX ernal cir
Gums ances will necessarily affect our religious
JOYS. II thea on religious experience rests on
emotional excitement rather than principle, it
rlust go il! with US. Religious principle demands
that We do right under all circumstances; do right
as I'll ugdt IN Co.'s word; DO right trusting in the
God md Father Of our Lord ,I,sls Christ. Then
will al things work together for good 10 those
who love God"
In the evening the pastor preached from Pro-
verbs xvi, 30: 'Bet;er is he that ruleth his spr
i thac be that taketh q city," The difficulties
OF couquering and then ruling the spirit were
| shown by ilustra ions drawn from he comparison
in the text, aud the glorious results Of success
shown with the L OF failure. Great crimes are
of slow growth Men think suicide, murder and
robbery, before resolving on these crimes. Not
one of these late giant crimes would have occur
red in our community, if the perpetrators had
con rolled their thoughts. Iudulging these, and
their brains fred up with inloxicants, the results
were natural. The grace of God sought through
faith in Christ Jesus will enable any person TO
conq1er and rule his spirit
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
At the Presbyterian Church the pastor took fol
his text the last Of the Bsattudes: s'Blessed are
ye wner men shall revi'e you," &C., anf cons;d-
cred in what consisted the blessedness of those
who are prosecuted for righteous ness sake Suf-
ferng of and in itself is never to be desired It is
grievoCs. 1t is burden under which even the
most patient almost sink-but gives salutary dis
cipline, strengthens the noble, patient endurance
and enables the Christian amid all disturbances
around TO lift high the banner Of fidelity to prin-
c'ple. We can compass the pains Of the body
but cannot tiat Of the soul, which last is living
yet ever dying. Trials may mortify the BODY.
yet sanctied OF GOD they purify the soul. And
those who suffer with Christ are blessed 10 tine
Inheritance prepared for them. For after the
weeping night comes the bright morning-after
the eros ine crown-and they are to JON that
innumerable throDg who have ''washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. 'Fear not little flock, it is your Fathers
ocd pleasure to give you tao king tom''