Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-03-30
CHURCH MOTIFS.

Catholic Churches-Palm sunday.
At the Center church Rev. DIR. Smyth
spoke from the following text: Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing
that is exalted against the knowledge of God
and bringing every thought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ" iii, Cor. K, 5)
The substance of his remarks is as follows:
| The epistles of the New Testament catch
men at many points of life. They are not
| confined to any single line of thoughts or
of subjects. They even descend to the small
| affairs of every day life giving directions
| for the entertainment of strangers. There
i are rules for the relations of masters and
servants There are plain and pointed pre-
| cepts in regard to the relations of the rich
| and the poor. We turn to these epistles
| when the common affairs of life have been
| made uncommon by some remarkable event
| of happiness or sorrow. But yet in their va
/ riety they are the same scripture; in their
| diversity they have unity. They were not
| gathered by one man into a book, but they
came together because they belonged to-
gether. All this sacred literature
was written for specific occa-
| sions 1t is a popularity of modern
| socialism that it has acted only in negatives
| and without constructive elements. But the
writers of these epistles, without railroads or
| telegraph, went into all ports of the world to
do his work who sent them; and their writ
| ings, after many years, are found to belong
l together; and have them printed and
bound in the same volume. They could not
| have been taught to speak the same things,
but they were swayed by the same spirit.
| Their agreement was not of their own com
| toward the same object, and their unity
arises from their sight of the same truth. 1t
/ is not subjective but objective, and they
| looked upon some supreme reality which ap-
peared to them. Do you ask for the secret
| of these remarkable writingsa 1t is because
| they are reflection of the life of Christ.
| Never was there a man more truly a man
| among men. He lived with men, he knew
men, and he was called the ';son of man.
But he was peculiar TO himself, and, though
| he sympathized with men, he was the one
| solitary figure, who fulfilled the prophetic
| vision, 81 have trodden the wine press
| alone" He was servant of all, and yet
| master This union OF the human and
1
/ Those two characters which never before met
| in human form were never inconsistent with
each other. He never lost a knowledge of
what was right. Whatever questions were
asked hin. he always answered with authori-
| ty and knowledge. Could one deny his mir
| acles he would be confronted with his au-
| thority. And equally firm and positive was
| his righteousness He self-denying and
self-forgetful as woman's love. There is
no better name for mortal lips than Chris
tian. This does not mean that life should be
religious monotone, but that religion should
be in all we do. One of the greatest hin
ORANGES of Christian progress is looking upon
the church as an elect body by itself. The
only election in the Bible is the election of
usefulness. Christ for the whole world and
the whole world for Christ. There is moth
ing secular or profound to the true member
of thestrue Christian church. Who would
hesitate to be member of such church
REV. DR.. PATTIsoN AT CALVARY BAPTIST
CHURCH. |
The Rev. T. HARDWOOD Pattison, of Roches- |
ter, N. Y, preached in Calvary Baptist |
church yesterday morning from the text |
found in Ecclesiastes, XII, 1, "Cast thy bread |
upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after |
many days" We know very little in regard |
to the early years of Solomon, but may al |
most with certainty assume that his school |
ing was from the world of nature; that his |
wherein he read the mind and will of God. |
Therefore his writings are full of delicate and |
exquisite analyses between the world of ma
ture and the world of spirit. Solomon
was a philosopher not SO much filled /
with the beauty of nature as was David, as
with the mystery of nature; he went deep
down and plunged into the very heart of the
world. In this mood he wrote this chapter
which is suggestive of this mystery and the
enigma of nature. We can best get at its
truth by considering the laws of every day
experience which can be derived from it.
The first of these is the law of sowing and
reaping. These words have been the source
of much perplexity and have become dog |
matte. Some have read them in the light
that we must sow our seed on the
turn The seed will perish, but we
must SOW it. If one understands the irriga-
ton of the country at that time we can east
ly understand that the seed is not lost, but is
productive of harvest Solomon discusses the
mystery of chance, making it some high and
subtitle law, as is shown in the sixth verse of
that chapter. All sowing is productive of
benefit and nothing in this world perishes,
though often causes seem 10 fail in preduc-
ing their consequents. We shall see in the
revelation of all things that the world has
grown by it's failures welt by its sue
cesses
The second law is that of profit and
loss. Some corn is to be spent, some laid by
for seed. This is the bread corn
and the seed corn. Do not cast
but the bread corn. This must
use aid give to eternity. We are living on
the interest and eternity is the principal
We have launched out on a mighty ocean and
the land ahead is very far off in the golden
distance. Therefore must lay up trea +
ures in heaven, living for eternity and wa L.
ing to-day as though there were tomorrow
into which we are to go. Give Christ the
bread corn, which is yourself as living sac
rifice. The third law is that of the greater
and the less. We think that we must reap
now or never, but starting from life as CEN
ter each circle grows wider than the one be-
fore it and Is slower in its response. We
must study in childhood, think in youth
and act in manhood but there is yet another
circle lying beyond and outside of all. Life
is an island lying upon the bosom of eternity |
and we must be content sometime to wait. |
Christ cast the seed corn of redemption upon |
the waters when he suffered for us on Calva
ry. He found it after many days. What
will the eternity be but simply the bread
corn sowed in life? Man is immortal in his
works and for the Christian death has no ex-
istence, but is the reaping of what he has
sown. The last law and the one of browning
Importance is the law of progress through
change. We shall find the growth of the
corn and realize that the harvest is better
than the seed. DIR. Pattison closed the dis
COuTSc Will d touCA1uS W CAo Scpa |
ration of the pastor and people of the church,
saying that it would be blessed in the new
ties that would be formed on his return to
his charge; that the bread cast upon the
waters would be productive of rich harvest.
TRINITY M. E. CHURCH.
At Trinity NJ E. church yesterday there
was the usual large attendance at both the
morning and evening services. Communion
service and reception of new members was
held in the morning There were twenty
one members received into the church, ff-
teen of whom were received on probation and
six by letter. The rite of baptism was adj
ministered to seven of the number. This
makes the total number received into the
church since the beginning of Rev. DR.. Peck's
pastorate one year ago four hundred and
ten.
Last evening DR.. Peck preached an inter
esting discourse to large congregation, his
subject being ''Words that burn"
On Wednesday of this week there will be
given at this church an old-fashioned New
England dinner and old folks concert. The
dinner, under the direction of the ladies, will
L L J. n