The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-10-09

not been taken down and built up again on
modern brick work since the creation.
These doctrines are old but full of
motion, full of energy as the river is full of
movements,-ful of life giving power, as the
sunlight and the vital air. They are the doc
trines out of which the missionary work
sprang,- doctrines to which this Board, as l
it, is perpetually pledged and in
which is all its life and the spring of its pow
er. They are the doctrines of Paul, that first
great missionary of whom we heard in the
sermon the ether evening. He had strong
convictions. He did not doubt. He knew
whom he had believed, and was persuaded
that He was able to keep him and to save the
world And who is the successor of Pauls Who
holds the same faith with him and teaches it
with the same earnest fdelitys l do not
care to know especially what he believed un-
less believe it myself. do not want any
uncertain or broken ice-bridge of outward or
dina ions between me and the Apostle; | want
to hav9 his faith in my heart and to preach it
with the emphasis with which he preached it,
and then l feel myself successor of the
great missionary to the Roman Empire. ZAP
plause.
Our fathers had these convictions and be-
cause ofthem they gave of their wealth;
they prayed, they sacrificed, they gave them
selves to the work. | remember as a lad in
d'ssalt school seeing that msn to whom our
President refers-Champion, who went out
from great fortune to lay his bones in West
ern Africa in the service of his MASTER and
though l was careless boy, unmindful Of
these things, remembec that his face shone
almost as the face of Stephen when he looked
up and saw the Lord on high, and the vision
of it has never failed to come back to me
whene 5er | bave heard his name. They gave
themselves. The motive of their missionary
wo k was found in this gospel of Christ.
This was the instrument by which they ac-
complished their work in other lands. Tbs
was the instrument by which Paul wrought
his mighty work in his day, and those who
followed him in the Empire and in barbarous
tribes, wherever they could get access to
men. 1t is this gospel which, has built New
England. tits this gospel which, under the
power of the Spirit of God, is to change the
earth-this gospel and nothing else.
Do not let us mask its doctrines in any
mystery of words. Do not lei us evaporate
its doctrines into any thin nit of speculation.
Do not let us emasculate it of its energy by
taking away any of its vital forces. 1t seems
to me that to state this gospel in novel forms
and doubtful forms in order to conciliase
unbelief, is very much like the woman's wis
dom who kept the burglars out of the house
by leaving all the valuables on the doorstep
Laughter. 1t seems to ne that we shall have
no inspirs ion in us, no great powerful impulse
to the work, and no instrument to work with
in that work, except as the old gospel of man,
not cultivated monkey but fallen prince,
Of Gods law binding on him, of the light Of
the near eternity flashing on his spirit, of the
cross of Christ and its redemptive efficacy, of
tie spirit of God with his renewing power
except as this old gospel is not merely in
our hands o. on our lips, but is in our brains
ana in our hearts; and then we shall con-
qler. Applause.l
Men may object to it, of course,-men object
to everything. l remember a gentlemen on
the Hudson who took querulous Englishman
not Canadian, laughter + who had been
finding fault with everything from the consti-
tuition of our government down to the shape of
of the toes of our shoes, out to see from his
place the magnificent autumnal forests on the
other side of the river,-and the forests on the
Hudson at this season OF the year are as ii
thousands of rainbows had fallen to the earth
and lodged. Said he, "Isn't that magnificent
"Well, yes that is-yes, that is very fine; but
don't you think now that it is Just little
tawdry, perhaps?" Laughter. There is
nothing men may not object to in the works or
in the word OF God, if their hearts set them in
that direction No matter for the obiectionl
Inc gOSpel OIL CnrlSb, lnSJlucJ WIN power,
coming rom the heart, coming on the earnest
word Of him who believes it, goes through OBJ
iections as the cannon ball goes through msts.
Do not let us doubt or fear concerning its sue
cess, il we hold il as the fathers held it. Men
object to the atonement; why, it has been the
life of so many millions of human hearts that
the multitudes on high are now uncounted and
incompatible. They object to the doctrine of
regeneration; that is the doctrine which more
than any ether exalts mans nature, showing
the royalty of it, the greatness of 1T, its possi-
bilitiss aud the glory of its future.
OF course men may object. Do not let us be
disturbed; but always remember that, with
the word of God within us and the power and
providence of God behind us and the spirit OF
God going before us to open ways for our pro-
gress, victory is sure Christ seemed insane in
his aim at the beginning. Speaking a few
words orally to his Disciples; writing no line
unless he wrote one on the sand; only uttering
his thought in syllablfs that seemed dissipated
in the air. and aiming by that to conquer the
world TO his TRUTH it seemed like expecting
the whistle OF a boy in these mountain valleys
to go reverberating as thunder over all the
earth in all the centuries. But he did it, 1t
seemed insane to undertake to build kingdom
by gathering few scattered followers here
and there, and especially small nucleus OF
obscure and uneducated men bound together
by nothing but the simple sacrament OF eating
bread and drinking wine in memory OF
treasure or navy or counsellors or forum,-it
seemed like building another Lebanon with
shogelfuls of sand or building another Jerusa-
lem with charred sticks and straws. Bat he
did it, His kingdom already is in all the earth
The proudest empire which sets itself against
it shiyers in the contract. Napoleon saw that
on the Island of st Helena. Comparing
himself as a man ruling in the world with
Christ as Godlike person, said he, "He is
God and not man." He has done the work
Il - go.
L adhere to the gospel, If from all our pulpits
reverberate the echoes of this great meeting, If
the force which is here assembled goes forth
to testify of that system of religion of which
God is the centre aud head, which has is
grandest trophy and symbol in the cross of
Christ. and which opens the vast and near
eternity 20 the apprehension of every soul
conscious of unconfessed sins aud to the desir-
ingsaDd exulting hope of every soul that has
found rest in Christ the gospel that is to fill
the world at last
1 remember when lad, forty years ago last
spring coming for the first time INTO this beau
tiful Portland harbor from Boston by the boat
The night was windy and rough. The eabin
was confined, the boat was small; and very
early in the morning / went up on deck. There
was nothing but the blue waste around, dark
and threatening, and the cloLded heavens
above, At last suddenly on the horizon
flashed light, and then after little while
another, and then little later another still,
from the lighthouses along the coast and at
last the light at the entrance to this harbor be-
came visible Just as ''the fingers of the dawn
were rushing up into tho sky. As we swept
around into the barbor the sunrise gun was
fired from the cutter or corvette lying in the
harbor, the band struck up martial and in
spring air, the great splendor of the rising sun
flooded the whole view, and every window-pane
on these hills as seen from the boat seemed TO
be plate of FURNISHED gold let down from the
celestial realms.
Ahl my friends, we are drawing nearer to the
glory of the latter day. | have thought of hat
vision often. thought of it then in my early
carelessness, as representing what might be con-
ceived Of the entrance in heaven. l have
thought of it as 1 have stood by the bed of the
dying and seen their faces flush and flash in a
radiance that could not apprehend. l have
thought of it this week as l have been in these
meetings. The lights are Frightening along the
coast; the darkness is disappearing; the harboI
is not far off; the Sun of righteousness is to
arise in all the EARTH and the golden glory Of
the new Jerusalum is to be established here.
Let it be ours in that great day to remember
thai we held the faith, we triumphed by the
cross, we stood with Paul and with the Son of
God, taking Gods revelation for olr inspra-
ton and doing our work under that mighty i'm
pulse.
Aud unto God be all the praise. [Great
applause.
Dedication of a Catholic Church.
tI,o NatboIioa nurchagad thA