Connecticut western news., 1882-04-05
dr. mackey,s Farevve,r sermen,

rtr. mackey's Farewe,l sermen.
 Rev. Mir. Nackey preached his farewell sermon in the Methodist church last Sunday to an unusuallys large congregation, from Paurs 2d epistle te the Corinthians, 18th chapter llth verse:
 Finally brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be Of good comfort, he qfons mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. i The speaker 'Nisoassed the text under its three headings--l, the Farewell Salutation 2, the Farewell Elaboration; B. the Farewell Consolation. Christian farewells, he said, amountAo bnt little, for, although we may. be paftSd, Nc are'still united in the Christian union. and our separation is only for little while. Scarcely will the last tones ,eE our last farewell have died away, before we shall hear the glad 'all hail in eternity.
 The Corinthian church was exhorted, 1st toSpstfection:. .No-rAe is laid down without the possibility of compliance. Every life and character is perfect, that conforms to these rules, to the best of it's ability. Our obliga. tion is bounded only by our privilege. Per lection of accomplishment determines perfec. tion of character. The beam should be cast from our own eye before we attempt to re. move the mote from our hrother's. eye. 2d, to comfort or courage. Every community abounds In certain forces that affect the. cour. age of the church Apowerfhl drawback, is the lack of vital interest ih the church on the, e,,pastofsums Hiembsss. Thsrs are al. ways willing workers in the church, who have no organic or professional connection with 1t. In this church, for instance, the seating capacity Is seldom more than one. third occupied, and even today, the cougre' gation being exceptionally large, the church is not half full. In every church, the work and burden fall upon certain few, who afte, while become discouraged with the indifer. ence of the majority. Another discouragine induehce is the so:oalled ''llberal' attitude as. suiaed by some memhers Nothing can be more a liberal than this so.called Liberalism which claims for every man the right to think and worship as he pleases, and yet demands of the church to ihrow.away it's cresds. \. ''1 claim,' sad the speaker, .'that certain bible teachings were inspired by God, and for this these 'liheralists' call me Q bigot." Be it i1 pulpit or in print, this is illiberalism hecloud ing and delnding the minds of our :youth, Ant cultivating@ a spirit of irreverencS for al things spiritual This spirit of irreverence i, found everywhere-in conversation, in tn. newspapers and among church members There is pivot point in ';evsry life where . person begins to think for himself. At thi, point the liberal,st tells the youth to lay aside your creed. and be man. This reacts up on the church, who becomes discouraged or seeing her main strength led away, and oftel gets gloomy, and wonders why it is so dark and why noresults come of her labors. Tak' coura6e. Although your seed be sown il darkness it will spring up and. bear fruit i, the broad light of'day. It is our dxsy to b, comforted, first by our. personal experiences by. the aid of which we may look through th' clouds, ride the storms and stand firm in tn, presence of earthquakes. We should talk courage from our work itself, of winping soul to Christ. We have to battle against tn complicated enginery of the Devil, the drink ing habit, socials vices, political corruption that lays it's withsrlng. blight upon our bes public men, Mormonism, etc. We are com missioned by Christ to counteract and :destrc these agencies. We should not only rescu souls from the traps, but should destroy tn traps thomselves. The Church of Christ responsible for all the moral scourges of tn earth. She has the power to stop the liquo trsfGss s9a, political bribery. She has tn power toierush Mormonism ini an instant. an .will never stand with hands and garment. cieani i while thsse vices exist. An the mor. reforms that have been and are being accom- plished are traceabae to the church of Christ The proclamations; of. Emancipation va
 worked out bysthe Christian church, who's dicipline made slaveryea crimsc The presen Congressionsl'eo nstnyestigatioR ns int
 the liquot, question. !was Aheresult of persister and united demand on the part of the Chris
 ian church, and the credit belongs. not t
 Congress, but td.Goa. The church is to ii Eshs world up out the mire, onto the soli
 fouhdation of peace It is to spread out tn
 boundaries of Gods kingdom, in the winniD of souls 7snd'in this direction there is wor
 enough "at your own church doors"
 Be of one mind." The church that is ( T6ns mind is strong they are unit. It!
 not s6 difficult as some suppose, to be Of on ! mind. Let this mind be in you which wa
 also in Christ "@ If we can't agree, let m
 look in my heart and see if I have Christ
 mind. The speaker said that in all the year
 of his ministry he never had more unite
 church than the one he was about to leave
 and never felt more reluctance on withdraw
 irg from people =,
 Live in peace" Ifyou cannot be of on
 mind, it is never impossible to live in peace
 If we must differ, let us differ as Christian. 'The God of peace shall be with you.
 This means everything of success to tn
 Christian Church. You may have. eloquenc in the pulpit, wealth in the pews, position i the world, but this is not success Our worl
 is to save sinners and build up believers, an
 the church is failure as we fail in this work We must have God there. Let it be the am
 bitten of:all, to keep God there through th years of the future, aud when our work 1
 done we can cross the river and say, Here
 Lord, are the souls which Thou hast give1 me.
 The pastor alluded with feeling, to tn
 pleasant relations about to be severed, an, commended his people to God. He had mark ed with satisfaction, some increase in tn,
 membership of the church, and other matters and gave few figures showing an increase o 24 in membership an average of eight eacl