Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-16
THE CHURCHES.

thou hast sent me john xvii, Il. This,
said the speaker, is Christ's prayer for His
church in all ages. 1t was offered the
enemy before His cTucifxion. His eye ran
+" Neither pray ] for these only, but for them
also which shall believe on me through
their word" The doctrine of the text
is the essential unity OF Christ's church
and our duty to manifest it.
The prayer contemplated unity in divers
ity. The speaker illustrated this from nature,
which is Gods elder revelation. Here all
unity is unity in diversity. The day that
uttereth speech, and the night that showeth
knowledge" declare unity but not uniform
ify. He illustrated UNCONVENTIONAL unity by
the rainbow. with its sevenfold beauty, blend
ing yet distinct. What was this unity? It
was not intended to be a unity of church
polity. Christ could easily have answered
His own prayer by giving a government
about which there could have been no con-
troversy. But He gave none He complied
with the forms of the Jewish church, to
which He belonged, yet declared these old
forms as unfit for the elastic spirit of His
spiritual kingdom, as dried and shriveled
sheep-skin bottles were unfit for new wine
that had not yet fermented he ever pro-
claimed the spirituality Of His kingdom, and
then assembled into heaven without leaving
dogma, not an ecclesiasticism. It is the life
of divine love in the soul "Christ in you,
the hope of glory" ''No. meat or drink,
that is outward observance, "but righteous
ness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" and
this life was left to take on form suited to
the age and circumstances. Gods people
have been sne in all ages; yet how about the
church of Abel and of Enoch, who walked
with God and was translated? How different
the forms Of Jewish worship to ours, yet
Moses, Isaiah and Daniel were members of
Christ's church.
The speaker declared it was not unity of
dogmatic theology, and that saved sinner
and q theologian differed as much as a conva-
lescing patient and physician. Christianity
was fact. not theory. Scientists are con-
stantly differing on theory, but this does not
unsettIe the great facts of Nature. The
wave theory of sound has stood for 2,500
years, since the days of Phytagaros, and, be-
hold now it has been hopelessly shattered,
and in three years viii net, probably, be
taught in college of the land; yet men
hear just as well as ever. A theory
of the atonement has nothing to do
with the fact that Jesus is a
Savior. Men are saved first and study
theology after. Men differ in their idiosyn-
crasies and cannot possibly see truth exactly
alike. Men differ about the most familiar
objects of nature. the man of 80 does not
see things as when lad. The boast of Ro-
nnanism is a philosophical absurdity and
historical fallacy. Rome has had her sects.
The Jesuits were continually at variance
with the Dominicans Benedectines and other
orders, and almost ruined them, es-
pecialiy the Benedectines. What is
this union? The vine with its
different branches answers that question.
Each branch receives the same life. Christ's
people are in all the churches. Thousands in
the Papal Church have this life, and others
who are connected with no visible church
seeds that have fallen over the wall. 1t is not
a safe place to be, and we would have them
come in the inclosure. The speaker dwelt
upon the words, that the world may be-
lieve that Thou hast sent me, )" and the duty
of the churches to manifest their unity to the
world as they had during the union meetings,
declaring that the hearts of true Christians
were better than their heads, and expressing
his supreme contempt for that spirit of
bigotry which sought to magnify rather than
minify denominational differences fer the sole
purpose of proselyting. He affirmed that
some of the distinctive features of denomina-
tionalism had their origin in q past much
darker Intellectually and spiritually than the
present, and were now like barnacles on the
ship Of Zion, tending to impede her progress.
Sectarian bigotry had been for centuries the
bane of the church, and would continue to
be. until men learned more and more that
with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness, and with the mouth con-
fession is made unto salvation" and not
as with some, that with the head men swear
fidelity to intellectual propositions that they
do not understand, and with the mouth fight
It out on that polemical line if it takes all the
summer of life. The sermon was before the
communion, and he said Jesus instituted the
supper by first washing the disciples feet and
then they all reclined while they partook !;
but now the ceremony of feet-washing was
dispensed with, and some partook of the ele
ments kneeiing and others sitting. This was
right. We are to follow Christ in the spirit
and not in the letter of outward Observance,
for then we must necessarily all be Jews.
Following in this spirit, the speaker said
that the union meetings just closed should
have been concluded by ali the churches COM
| ing together to the Lords table.
RAISING OF JA1RUs' DAUGHTER.
DR.. Anderson, at the Seventh street M. E.
| Church. preached in the morning upon the
raising of Jairus' daughter. Two evangelists,
| Mark and Luke, said the speaker, give the
name of the man whose daughter was raised
from the dead Matthew says ga certain
ruler" He had charge of the synagogue ;
arranged its service, and was, no doubt, held
in high repute. He bore sad message to
Jesus: "My daughter is even now dead. or
| is diving. He believed Jesus could heal her.
| His fame as miracle-worker had spread
everywhere. Perhaps Jairus had seen per-
sons whom He had healed. In physical death
| there is the absence of the spirit. Death, as
seen by us, is only the shadow of deeper
| and more terrible reality-spiritual death,
which consists in total deprivation Of the
presence OF God, dead IN sins and in tres
passes" What Jairus said of his daughter is
| true Of all-dead to God, holiness and purity.
| That our daughters-that all-msy be raised
| to spiritual life, We must go to Jesus. Jairqs'
| opportunities were successful. Two things
| in his PRAYER strike us: l. His humility. He
worshiped Jesus 2. His faith. Tue healing
Of his daughter was conditioned upon faith
"Only believe" The salvation of the world
depends largely upon the faith OF
! Gods people. We muk take sinners
mon our hearts and carry them
| into tie presence of our High Priest.
| When Jesus went into the house to raise the
| daughter, he expelled the mourners, hired
minstrels, and allowed only the parents and
Peter, James and John, the flower and crown
of the apostolic band, to remain. "It is not
meet TO take the childreu's bread and give it
| to dogs Those hired mourners were toe
sensual to appreciate the great miracle. The
anostolic triumvirate could; the parents
could. Their eyes had been opened. They
were in sympathy with Jesus. To raise the
| dead required omnipotence in Him who did
BIZ. Jesus was almighty had life in himself
and could quicken whom he would. None
INIT ,Jesus can save poor, fallen men and
women. We have proof of that in the scores
of conversions in this city. Jesus touched
the dead body and then life entered into 1t
So with individuals, communities and States
He touched our world, and ever since the
pulse of immortality has been beating quick
er. Life has entered everywhere; and no"
it is a sweet, blessed thing to live. We now
call death " "sleep," and dreams are paradisai
cal. We have now faith, hope, love, as splr
itual forces lifting the world up into light
The TRANSPORTATION day il coming. We have
an earnest Of it in Jesus. who is the resurrec
tion and the life.
DIVINE ECONOMY.
At the Congregational Church DR.. Dwi
nell preached from John vi, II. : Gather NJ
the fragments that remain, that nothing b'
lost" His subject was the divine economy
He said God economies his forces. 1t II
ore of the discoveries of science that a few
natural forces effect great variety. OF results
This is true also in the spiritual world. GoC
economies miracle, inspiration and grace
giving only enough OF esch to meet the neces
stiles of the race. and giving that only a
points where the racs could not get nion!
without it. So in feeding the muititud'