Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-24
The Uhurch Expectant.
The Sermon Preached By pr. Newman
 smyth After Returning From His Va-

The Sermon Preached By pr. Newman
 smyth After ReturnIng From His Va-
 cation -~-----7
 Yesterday morning at Center church Dr. 1 Newman Smyth preached his first sermon af- | ter his summer vacation, taking for his text the following passage from Hebrews: But this man, after he offered one sacrifice for ains, forever sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his en- emies bs made his footstool. j" Christianity is the expectant religion. The expectancy of the Lord is the heritage of the church.. One of the distinguishing peCuliarities of the Old Testament is the tone of hope and ox- pectancy running through : it. ,Ths poet of the Old Testament was prophet The hope of Israel was kept undimmed through all their wanderings and their prophets always kept it in view. And the discipIssof Christ, although they. were practical men who lived in an age which was wholly given up to the pursuit of present gain, were finally, after Ghrist's death, inspired with the hope which he taught. When they had once become pos
 ssssed of that hope and belief they were zealous and earnest But it took wonderful I events to bring about state of expectancy. Even Christ, the wonderful child ofhope, did ' not teach his disciples to expect the final
 triumph of his kingdom. They thought it impossible for 8 God who had been so utter ly conquered, so cruelty subdued, who was unable to help himself in the midst of his death-agony, to ever come of triumphant But the events that followed Christ's death made the disciples sharers in his hope, and the church has ever since been not only
 the church militant, but the church expec,
 tant.
 The attitude of the church at the present day is perhaps not so hopeful as it might be.
 The expectancy of average Christian piety
 may not be: accused of extravagance. The average Christian does not believe that the
 sum total of goodness Uill ever be present in
 the world. This expectancy is too low. A just hope does not ignore the evils of the time nor seek to diminish the necessity of
 work to be done against those evils. The
 fact is, all evils are one evil, all are inter- woven together, and no reform can succeed permanently by simply pulling one dark thread. The whole mass needs to be bleach
 ed. and whitened. But one ought to hope that some gain should be made against the
 sum total of evil. No one can tell when this ' world age shall end. The one thing sure is
 that any moment may be the last for any one fus
 \ There are some signs of the times that are
 hopeful. Men are deeply interested in any
 honest and helpful theme, although they do
 not care for the discussion of abstract theo- \ logical questions. We have reason to expect changes in our methods and habits, but with them more Christianity. It is also cheering \ sign that many people all over the world
 have tone of expectancy, tone that per | vades much of the literature of the day.
 This year is to be observed as the fourth kcentury of Luther's work and already Protes- tants begin to look forward to better things
 than Luther ever thought of. Professionalism
 points to better age. This age may be too far from our petty ecclesiasticisms and unpurged
 faiths for us to see it. but there is one on high who knows when it is to come. There is
 no reason why we should not hasten on the
 coming of better age. Let us not fail of our precious possibilities " s