National Republican., 1883-08-06

'On tnlS TOCK L Will Dullu uy
church" Every one shaving this divinely
impaired knowledge of Jesus is spiritual
stone In thetemple of our Lord. Therefore,
with all tGIfth Jesus says: This is eternal
life, to kItle God and Jesus Christ whom He
hath sent" This spiritual perception of
gospel truth is the gift of God through faith
in Jesus Christ, and the preaching of the
truth is the appointed means whereby man is
to be brought up to this life.
Jesus, in the personal consciousness of be-
levers, Is o present and faithful friend and
his experience is a real experience. If the
soul hungers to know more of Christ by
spiritual perception the one infallible law is
obey Christ, for if any man will obey His will
he shall know of the doctrine whether it be
of God.
We do not submit an oratorio to one with
no musical tastes as critic; nor would we trust
blind man to select and combine beautiful
colors; nor should we submit the truth of
Christianity to those who have no spiritual
faculties, but rather let us take the testimony
of the thousands of them who have found in
Jesus a faithful savior. They are the best
and only judges of the worth of Gods grace
in the gospel.
The sermon was illustrated by numerous
incidents, and proved both interesting and
profitable to the large congregation, many OF
whom were old friends and playmates of tho
preacher
Iltb SUN Ot MAN'S COhlNUs
ABLE AND ELOQUENT SERMON by REV. DIR.
HICKS AT THE TABERNACLE.
At the tabernacle yesterday the congrega-
tion was unusually large and the sermon of
Rev. DIR. Hicks was listened to with marked
attention. The preacher took his text from
Matthew xiv, "A: In an hour that ye think
not the Son of Man cometh ?" He said l find
no fault with those who interpret this word of
tlo ,rtu frp lu In IA md
article of death. Those who look upon that
event as the finality, as the unameuable end
of human effort toward salvation, as the utter
close of the probationary period, find in this
work the foundation of most searching ex-
hortation to vigor and zeal. The coming of
the Son of Man to them is the advent of q
personality to close up accounts and inilict
Judgment and award punishment and re-
ward.
With Maurice, / can heartily say; eve
may admit that when our Lord says in such
| an hour as ye think not tho Son of Man
cometh,' He gives us all and more than all
| the warning respecting the hour of death
| which preachers have ever drawn out of his
| words'
| The significance Of the Christ's words are in
the spiritual and not in the letter. Else
where he says: Hereafter shall the son Of
man sit on the right hand of the power of
God. Does this mean that the personal
|
the government of the universe? lfso, what
becomes of the good old erroneous doctrine
that from all eternity he has in his divine
personality occupied the throne itself. The
| true Interpretation lies not here. Humanity
must be forever unconcerned in events which
by no remote circumstance can enter into its
| life and shape its destiny. But let us view
the Christ as one with humanity and the son
of Cod let us grasp the truth in
| his own words when he said 81 am in the
Father and tho Father in me; j and the
Father are one" and then came into full
possession of his meaning as we hear him
| pray, "As thou Father art in me and in
thee. That they may be one in u.s." / say
let us lift ourselves into this region of light
and truth, and it dawns upon us that into
humanity has come u revelation of relation
ship to God, which is the foundation and
realization of all perfection of life and be-
ing. What revelation is in Christ? He
is the realization of personality in relation
with the Father, not for himself alone
but for you and for me. In this relation He
stands and cries to all human consciousness
throughout all the ages, past and to come
81 am the light Of the world. am the way,
the truth, and the life. |, if bo lifted, will
draw all men unto Me-" The doctrine, then,
is not that death signals the coming of the
Son of Man, or that it is the coming of the
Son of Man, but that life is its signal and its
substance. Life, founded on justice, humanity,
God; life, spiritual life, whose principles are the
reflections of the all-wise and the all
mighty, and whose adornments and transpar-
ent but permanent characteristics are all the
beauties that love creates This is the coming
of the Son of Man, whose signs are even here
to-day, and whose glorious eras hang all about
| the rim of a horizon. Ne
The coming of the Son 81 Man is not an
event of extinction, but q lease of power Not
the blotting out of being, but its sure estdb-
| I..,l,, Nj .nf tha ht.t
making time eternity.
The coming of the Son of Man is the tri-
umph of righteousness over hate and bigotry
| in the manifestation Of truth and freedom
The coming of the Son of Man is thus always
at hand; it is a constant motive to duty. 1t
diverts the thoughts of men from apathy and
| dread of fatalism in which the world fore
saw, and from following here and there after
the signs and signals of the crises that may be.
| The world may be concerned with that
| which is invisible, and systems which divide
men may prevail, and the force of fashion or
| of money, the idols of the avenue and the mar
ket may be tine object of worship in the
streets of the city, SO that men seek to win
their prizes and to be counted in their COM
pany. and tyrannies may chain down the
spirits of men and sects ride over
them, and parties may count them
as their own to buy and sell, and
darkness may cover them so as to lead
many OI Inc very eleCJ 10 lull away, anu nOl
vainly may the word be spoken, when the
Son of Man cometh shall He find faith on the
Garth p And yet that darkness is not to
quench hope nor shut the thonghts of men
within the clouds that sweep the closing hori-
zon of earth, in such an hour as ye think not
the Son Of Man cometh.
The lesson of our duty is the measure Of
our privilege. 1t is to ascend to our watch
towers to watch for the breaking or descend
into the villages to toll for the right. In a
word it is to do as the Master exhortoth.
The music at this church was exceptionally
good. The quartette choir consists of Miss
Katie Scott, soprano; Mrs j. w. Powell, con-
tralto; Mr.. j. NJ. Buchanan, tenor, and Mr..
w. Il, Riley, bass. Mr.. s. II. JeclSo, the new
organist is a thorough musician, and has the
happy faculty of playing accompaniments
which support and sustain the singer at the
same time allowing sufficient freedom for
proper Interpretation of the music. Under
his direction both the choir and congrega-
tional singing at this church will greatly inn
prove, and the former soon compare favorably
with any quartette in the district