Morning journal and courier., 1882-02-14
Berkeley Association

Discourse by Noted English Divine.
Notwithstanding the unfavorable weather
there was quite large congregation at Trim
ity church last evening to listen to the Rev.
John Knox Little, canon of Worcester cathe-
dral, England. The members of the Berke-
ley association occupied pews on either side
of the center aisle of the church. The SER
mon was a most earnest and eloquent plea for
Christianity and fully sustained the high
reputation of the speaker. Rapid in his de-
livery and original in his lines of thought he
held the attention of his hearers from first to
last. The music of the service, furnished by
the first quartette of the choir, was very fine
indeed. The speaker took for his text Rev.
Citations ii, 10: 'Be thou faithful unto death
and I will give thee crown of life.'' 81
seek, ," said he, ''to give few words of con-
ISOLATION and encouragement that you may
continue your course to the end. There is
something very touching in the early history
of the Church of Smyrna and yet that perse-
cution was doing its perfect work. To en-
able them to go in the course marked out for
them was needed plain promise based on
lives in their hands. AS it was then SO it is
now, for it is true that the teaching of the
Master answers for all ages. The Master
promised the crown of life to Lis people
everywhere as well as at Smyrna. Faithful
ness is the hearts core of human love.
Friendship is the moral tie that binds heart
to heart and mind to mind and it is faith
~ ,o4,, frso CHI Ono or how he
religion of indifference, of mere mental Gull
ture, if one has the religion of faith. 1t is
the religion of faith which our Saviour de-
mands of u.s. Let us treat the word as COM
mon sense let us remember that God is the
creator and we his creatures and that we
owe Him duty, love and faithfulness
eff Jesus Christ has sanctioned a definite
revelation it is not for US to pick at it, but
to be entirely submissive to it, be it what it
may. Such religion is most questionable,
but it is the true one It is not in the inter-
est of freedom, but folly, to refute the truth
as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The lines
of revelation do not cramp the freedom of
the mind 3; it simply directs its path. And
this thought leads US to think how earnestly
we should seek the truth and follow it as far
as found For there Is not only the depart
ment of thought, but the depart
ment of conduct. In conduct we
can show what we believe and whom we
love. This is often difficult in the nineteenth
century, but by divine grace, by watching
and believing, it may be accomplished. The
life of Jesus was that of one living under o
constant sense of the beauty aud sublimity of
God. He is the model, and such should be
the life of every follower of his.
There is not only a department of
thought and of conduct but there is de-
partment of the affections of the human
heart. Here we may find the highest faith
in God. Christ is not merely a wonderful
example of inestimable qualities in man, not
simply character in history, but he Is the
living loving Lord. 1t is because he makes
himself an inner gift to the soul that we can
learn to love him more than we can express.
The realization that in each one of US there is
sacred divine presence makes us men and
women indeed. unto DEATH measures the in
tensity Of our faithfulness and love and not
it's time. Such faithfulness Is not easy-it
could scarcely be so if it were worth the do
ing. If we strive thus to be faithful to our
Master we realize more and more the dignity
of our lives. Our gifts of brain, of mind
and heart are gifts of God which are to be
used for his glory. We are his trustees and
we must use our powers for Him. We must
not forget that one day we must render our
account and answer the question, "Hast
thou been faithful?" To live in view of that
day is to make life not only dignified but SOL
when the dark hour is coming and the clouds
are dense and, having that, the power to per-
severe in faithfulness Then, indeed, may
we come to receive the crown of life,