Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-05-22
AT THE CHURCHES.
Return Of the Revlvalists-ssrmon BY
Dr.. Dwinell-Union Services.

services The same was the rule at
the Church of the United Brethren,
Mr.. Becker yielding at night to the
union service. At the Seventh-street NJ. L.
Church praise service was held at $50 P. NJ,
| o. Ii. P. Sheets conducting the singing. At
| the First Baptist Church DIR. Frost preached
in the morning, and gave way for the union
service at night. The Reorgsnized Church
| of Jesus Christ held services in the Masonic
Temple building at II A. N. yesterday. The
revivalists. Messrs Whittle and Mccoy,
aided by Mr.. McGranahan and wife, singing
evangelists, held services yesterday at $3.50 A.
NJ. at the Westminster Presbyterian Church
at $3.50 P. N. at the Congregational Church
at 1880 P. VI. at the Sixth.street Methodist
and the First Baptist Churches. These two
last were union services in aid of the Young
Mems Christian Association, and were very
largely attended. AT the Baptist Church
there was an especially large audience:
Major Whittle preached from the text,
| abide with US, for the evening is drawing
nigh, and the day is far spent"
It was fervent appeal to the young converts
Of the recent revival to stand stsadfast
| against the temptations of the world. he
warned Christians against falling into the
mere forms of religion and against the loss of
spirit in the work of the Lord. He believed
| that the devili being permitted to test every
man and woman in the church. just as
surely as time IS so surely will they be WIS.,
| tied by Gods judgments who disobey Him.
| The church is filed with people living for the
things of the world and those who have not
an abiding faith in God and his promises.
| Oh, what sweeping away OF the chatf shall
| there be when Christ comes He pointed
| out how short is life, how brief
time men have in which the Savior
may abide with them on earth, how fast the
| moments are fleeing, and how surely the
! time is coming when the personal account
must be given of the life in the body. We
| should be honestly able to call upon the
! Lord to abide with US. When we can do so,
! all uuwelcome guests of the heart, all things
/ displeasing to the Lord, will be expelled.
/ The very desire for Jesus TO abide with us
| will work the exclusion of all other things
antagonistic TO his presence. 1t is joy I'M
speakable to have Christ abide with Us it is
alsatisfying, ell peaceful, all restful. Let Him
| come in and take charge of the household OF
the heart, and rule there with all the
power OF Iowa and affection. At the
conclusion of the sermon Mr.. and Mrs. Nc
GrAnahan sang, % We Know that He Shall
Appear" MIR. Mccoy then took the pulpit
and made an appeal for the Y. NJ. G. A and
with marked success. His appeala half hour
before at the Sixth-street M. Z. Church re-
suited 10 collection of over 5000; about 5000
was secured at the First Baptist Church.
The city is to be canvassed to make the
amount 81 500. The meeting at the NJ. Z.
Church was much the same as thas already
described, and the church was quite as
crowded.
AT the Congregational Church yesterday
morning Rev. DR.. Dwinell preached
from the text, John xiv, 6: al am
the way, the truth, the life" A sum.
mary Of the discourse is thus presented:
To the question, which comes up all through
the ages, What is Christ ?" Christ Himself
answers in the text, net speculatively, but
practically-not by the terms of philosophi-
cal, but practical definition. Let us gee
what this answer is in its practical relations
and uses, and then infer from this what
Christ must be in His own nature and person.
l. 81 am the way" He is not the way to
wealth, learning, science, art, jurisprudence,
government, civilization or earthly glory.
All these are more or less involved and pro-
NOTED. But Christ has His mind on
something more fundamental and vital.
He is the way of salvation, the way out of
guilt to righteousness, out of condemnation
TO pardon, out of spiritual misery to peace.
The conception back OF the fguratiye word
"way" is, that naturally salvation is over
wonder, and sinful man is on this side, and
there is an impossible interval of marsh or
Jungle, or mountain, between the two, with
no natural means of passing over, and Christ
comes and puts himself in this impossible
interval as q real practicable way. Observe
that lie himself is the way. 1t is not what
he has done it is not his coming into the
world, taking to himself a human nature; not
his teachings. life, sutferings, death, resurrec-
ton, gloriGcation, ascension or reign above;
it is not any one or all of these that is the
way, but the living Christ. These were
necessary in removing the obstacles and
getting things in readiness but having done
all this, He puts himself down in His living
personality as the way over which sinners
are to travel to God and into the kingdom of
God. Observe, also, He is the way of saliva
tion-the most difficult and improbable thing
we know of that has ever been done, whether
we consider the tenacity of the grip of sin
on the soul and the souls natural disrelish of
the things of God, or the difficulty of salts
flying the demands of justice and the govern
ment of God in pardoning the sinner. And
this is the way of salvation for all classes
the infant, the child, the adult, the aged, the
strong, the infirm, the ignorant, the learned,
the wise and the unwise for the degraded
aud the cultivated, the savage and the civil
izsd for those in first, second, tenth,
twentieth, or fiftieth century. 1t is the way
of salvation for the whole unbroken process
sion of mankind to travel over, from the time
| it was laid down to the end Of the world.
9. 81 am the truth" He does not say He
is truth. e., universal truth, or truth in the
abstract, or as a generalization, but The truth,
a specific kind of truth He is the truth in
relation to salvation. The idea is not that
He teaches this most important and precious
truth, though BE does that, but that he
personally is that truth I; He embodies It;
| He centers it in himself and expresses it.
The truth necessary to salvation involves
three particulars. First, it must represent
| the facts on Gods side of the question. 1t
must show how God feels toward the sinner
must show his love towards him, and the con-
1it;ons on which He will forgive. Christ EN-.
bodies this truth. He reflects the feelings
| and disposition Of God. God was in Christ
reconciiing the world unto himself" And
every soul that came in trust or submission
TO Christ he forgave and saved. That shows
| Gods nature, the truth on Gods side, in re-
| lation to saving men. Second, it must repre-
sent the moral elements of salvation. The
right ethical principles involved in good
/ life between man and man, the ideal moral
code which those in the way Of salvation
1 must practice towards one another, are all
embodied in Christ and were seen in Him
when on earth. There is no higher ethical
! truth possible to the thought of man
than that which radiates from the living
| Christ, and was illustrated by Him on
| earth. And, third, it must represent also
the spiritual or religious elements OF saliva
ton. We must know what the religious life
| il how IL bears itself in its purest forms
| towards God. We have all this truth also
| 10 the living Christ, and He showed it while
/ among men. Thus the ideal truth necessary
| for ms to knog-the truth in its principles
and radical ideas in relation TO God, morals
| and piety, is all csntered in Christ and radi-
| ates from him. He is the sun of saving
| truth and what other expressions of it We
| have in the Bible or other books, are only
extensions and applications OF it as it Is in
! Him, and as it was gerniGally revealed By
| Him while on earth.
8. 81 am the lfe." He refers to moral
! and spiritual or religious life. be Is this
! Himself. he embodiss it; and more, He
| imparts it. He is the source of it, and of all
| of it there is in the world. It is not neces
sary that we should know how he is the
source of it, or see the channels through
| which He gives il. He has His Spirit and
| His own drawing influences where we do rot
see them. 1t is enough for US to know that
He is the spring of spiritual life, where there
| il shy such life among men and that the
| kindling of the spark OF LIE anywhere i'm
plies the presence of the Divine
Originator. But there are some things
| which we can see. First, wherever an
individual comes into conscious rela-
tioa to Christ trusts him, and gives
| himself to Him, there is at once the begin
ming of spiritual lifs. He feels differently
towards his sins, he separates himself from
them and puts them behind him. He feels
the presenca ef new motives, sympathies,
purposes. He is a new creature" This is
fact. Second, wherever community con-
sciously welcomes Christ and follows Him,
there begins and spreads new kind Of com.
munity life. Vices, crimes, ignorance and
degradation disappear, and the virtues, phi
lanthropies and huIaanities spring up. This
is fact. And third, it is 30 with people or
nation. II a people consciously puts itself