Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-10-25
AN ELOQUENT SERMON.
Rev. DIR. Aubrey, Of London, in the
Congregational Pulpit.
His Subject, "The Reward of a Good
IntentiOn," Beautifully Handled.
"A Merciful Savior Takes Into Ac-
count the Motive and Aim"

Yesterday, the pulpit of the Rev. J
Brainerd Thrall's church was occupied
by the Rev. DIR. Aubrey, of London, Eng
land, whose brief visit to this city wa:
announced in our issue Of Saturday. The
auditorium was filled by an intelligent
and influential audience, who listened
with close interest while the Doctor dis
couTsed for thirty-five minutes on
THE REWARD OF GOOD INTENTION,
AS suggested by the incident recorded OF
David in / Kings, vi, 17-19. The Doctor
showed how the principle therein en-
bodied runs throughout the Old and New
Testaments. God judges, not by visible
or tangible results, which can be weighed
in scales or ascertained by measure, but
by the impelling motive. If this be right
and noble, then the attempt to render
! service is recognized, even though it NAV
lall to accomplish all that was intended.
The Divine relationship to men is of the
same kind as that of parents to their
children, though infinitely higher in de-
gree, as the Savior has clearly taught in
the analogy laid down in the gospel by
st. Matthew. Just as a father would
not tantalize hungry child by offering
him stone for bread, so God does not
withhold any good and needful things
from his children. In like manner, Just
as a parent accepts some little loving gift
from child on birthday, without ap-
pralslng 1t by commercial value, so God
accepts human service according to the
motive that inspired it, even accepting
the will for the deed where actual per-
Torrance is impossible. The principle
was amplified and illustrated in variety
Of practical and touching ways by the
doctor, who drew some beautiful pictures
that helped to exhibit the subject in a
vivid light. He graphically described for
example the widows two mites, as
furnishing striking instance of the prin-
ciple enshrined in the text, and as he de-
lineated the incident, the hearers could
almost listen to the
CHINK OF THE MONEY IN THE BOX,
So intense and realistic was the word
painting. He also showed how the |
Savior's teachings all tended to develop |
and apply the same great rule, of how a |
good intention is divinely rewarded, as
in the promise attaching to the gift of a
cup of cold water to disciple, and in the
parable of the judgment day, when
acts and words of kindness done
and said in Christ's name shall
meet with their full recognition and
reward. 1t was pointed out that even
Christian people are sometimes inclined
to despond when looking back upon their
lives, because they have not succeeded
in realizing the lofty ideals with which
they set out, or in carrying into effect the
grand plans laid down in the glow and
hopefulness of youth. They may even
be prompted to inscribe against their
ife-story
THE BITTER WORD, FAILURE,
And yet the Savior does not so Judge
hem, because He takes into account the
motive and the aim. They are, perhaps.
lmid and hesitating about the presenta-
ION OF their hfe-service to the Savior, be-
cause it appears so small and insignif-
ant as to be quite unworthy of His
notice. But He takes it, and looks If
through and through, carefully scruti-
lizing it to discern the intention, Ifthis
'e good and pure, the service becomes
'reat and luminous, far beyond its in
rnslc value, and it will be received and
ewarded, not according to its
worth among men, but {
because OF the motive that actuated t
t. The discourse, while thoroughly q
evangelical, was intensely practical. and t
vas calulated to be of great service, as c
Encouraging and stimulating those who c
ry to be and to do the right under adj /
erse and difficult circumstances. 1t also /
bounded in exquisite touches of feeling '
nj of pathos. 1t was delivered wholly {
lthout notes, and was the earnest utter I
nee OF man who evidently felt and Il
leant what he said. At the close of the Il
'ryice, many of the hearers were intro c.
uced to DIR. Aubrey, and expressed the ii
Ugh qualification with which they had
stoned to him; although the unim-
llred attention and the unbroken silence
the audience during the sermon were >.
e best proof of interest and the highest IL
lbute to the preacher pl