Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-02
The Churches.

The Hot Weather Services-Sermon by Rev. MT. Countrymnn.
 At Center church yesterday Rev. MT. Idef of Lawrence, Mass, who oficiated on the previous Sabbath, preached again very ac- ceptably.
 The orphans at the New Haven Orphan Asylum were led in worship yesterday by Mr. Willis, of the Y M c. A. The little folks appeared to enjoy the exercises espe- cially the service of song.
 Yesterday afternoon, at the Howard avenue church, Rev. Frank Countryman preached an interesting sermon from the text:
 All things lawful for but all things not expedient all things lawful unto me, but all things edify not.-1st Corinthians, 1928. He began by saying that the limit and e1- tent of Christian liberty was a theme of
 much importance to the members of the Co., rinthian church. Paul in his letters to this church lays stress upon this part of their Christian living. How were all to live con- scientiously toward each other? How were all to preserve their own characters unsullied from the faintest trace of evil doing or what seemed to be evil to them, and yet injure no one else? The question immediately arose, What shall be the rule of action? Where
 plain and practical requirements were to be followed there was no difficulty, but when it came to nice points of Christian casuistry there was trouble. The words of the text
 might have been written by Paul as a rebuke
 to Christians who were attracted by abstract
 questions and to whom realization of ab-
 stract truth was foreign. Observe also, he said, how the rebuke of Paul is directed against those who despised the scruples of their weaker brethren. There must be the fullest toleration possible. Each must have regard to his fellow. Christianity requires the exhibition of an unselfsh spirit which looks beyond the individual good to those outside. True Christian liberty will protect the rightss of all. We stop with the phrase
 ''all things are lawful ;" we do not reach the further statement, ''all things are not ex- pedient."
 Several thoughts were deduced from the text. We are reminded first that religion is an intelligent service. Blind devotion may
 be a very good thing when religion serves ends of state, or when designing ones wish to
 use it's adherents for purposes of their own
 but when it comes to the exemplifcation of truth, the clearing away of the mists of darkness and sin we want intelligence and reasoning faith. We are brought now to a second thought. We should con form to the spirit of our religion as well as to it's open command. We come thirdly to the thought, there is rule of Christian expediency. The word has an evil sound in our ears. We associate 1t with a time-serving policy. The term used by St. Paul means advantageous, profitable helpful. * The thought underlies all that has already been said, but we bring it forcibly as a fourth and last point. Love is the basis of all our actions toward our neighbors. So feeling the intelligent character of our reli- zion, we shall look earnestly at and view with toleration all differing opinions and views with regard to truth so, filled with the spirit of our Christianity, our service shall not be one of Journalism; so, asking the question, What is profitable and advantageous ?" we shall look out for the interests of our broth CT so, filled with the spirit of love and ten der compassion, we shall be pervaded by spirit of Christian earnestness that shall make it's influence felt on men.
 At the Church of the Sacred Heart yester- day morning, Father Shefrey, who has re- covered from his recent illness, oficiated and made few cursory remarks, in which he made reference to the necessity of complying with the disciplinary obligations surrounding the ordinance of matrimony, particularly that which enjoins the public announcement He also casually announced the date and des- tination of the annual excursion of the par ish, which will be on Wednesday, August Il, the excursionists going to Coney Island by steamer Elm City.