Morning journal and courier., 1881-04-07
Local News.
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United Lenten Services.

The Concluding SermOn-Rev. Dr. Har-
 wood Speaks on seThe Permanent Char
 aeter Ofthe Kingdom of GOd''-TmpreS-
 sfve Discourse.
 Rev. Dr. Harwood delivered the conclud ing discourse in the series of united Lenten services Hast evening at Trinity church, the subject being, ''The Permanent Character of the Kingdom of God" The discourse was one of rare breadth and scope of thought, scholarly and eloquent, fitting conclusion to the very excellent series of Lenten dis courses. The thought permeating the dis course was that Christianity in the service changes. It is subject to all kinds of move ments just as societies in the State are. These movements are sometimes transient and sometimes they are permanent. They are affected by the state of art and music and other circumstances. But when 8 religious movement come which is transient, the people who are subject to the influences of that moVe- ment will show in their devotions the perma nent type of Christianity. Whatever else changes there is the holy spirit of worship, the yearning for the higher spiritual good, the trust, the Christian hope. After consid- ering the extravagances of some people who try to make new tests for Christianity, such as for instance-to Misunderstanding total abstinence requisite for joining the com munion, the thought was that we find every where, in all ages, that the permanent type of Christian piety centers under these three heads: First, personal allegiance to Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, which in- cludes belief in the divinity of Christ, the love of God, etc.; second, ship-prayer and praise; third, the recognition of the ten commandments as the great law of Christian life.
 s'Then again,'' said the speaker, ssI find the permanent type of Christian piety in the character and tone of Christian worship, not indeed in public worship so much as in pri- vate. Public worship is associated unfor- tunately in much, in the way of form and color, with the past divisions, errors cor ruptions, schisms, conflicts of the church. And this is especially true not of the con tents of prayer and hymn, indeed, but of the administration of the sacraments, and con spicuously of the holy communion. phil osopher may detect the unity of meaning the perpetuity of the idea and design in 8 particular church or denomination, but not so the casual observer. Consequently, and for the sake of brevity, prefer to empha- size the character and tone of private prayer and praise to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The ancient prayer and hymn are dear to not because they are ancient, but because the ancient saint drew near to God in the spirit in which the modern be- liever draws near. It is the voice of the same spirit, of the same man as it were. He ex- presses what we believe, what we feel, what we need.
 There is the same sense of dependence, the same trust, the same sense of sin, the same thanksgiving, the same blessed hope, the same ioy The Christian consciousness in it's un- changing oneness is revealed wonderfully in worship. The permanent type of Christian piety is sharply visible against the back ground Just as the outward world has in times past impressed the human senses and awakened feeling of it's beauty, as new, so the love of the divine Father and the grace of the divine Son and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost have awakened the same kind of feeling, the same emotion, from the time the apostles sang their hymns of praise down to the present day. We love to use the words which those who have gone before used. And apart from this, our own prayers and our own praises-the language coming fresh from our hearts-are in one and the same spirit The tone is the same. Prayers and hymns in their form have changed less than anything beside in the church of God. We and the believers of all past ages, much as we differ in many things, observe the same mode of access and draw near in the faith that God is the warder of them that diligently seek Him. There is something very impressive in this fact. The one spirit is deeper than the logi- cal understanding. We may not care for Augustine's theology, but our hearts are pro- foundly moved by his confessions Thomas a Kempis is read and has been read by gen. erations whom he might denounce as her cities. But he and others-yes, in this matter we may go back to the Hebrew Psaltsr-and that in fhav sneak a 1aDDnQOa for the believing souls of all time. So true it is that the permanent type of the religion of the kingdom is clearly conspicuous in wor- ship