The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-03-29
PULPIT AND PLATFORM.
roRpEAnANcE ANp roReIvENEss.

1.-THE Lord delivered thee into my manu-
today, but would not stretch forth my
hand against the Lords anointed." II Sam.
XVI. 90.
Until seventy times seven. Matt. xviii.
%.
Such was the text of President Hyde of
Bowdoin College at Williston church yester-
day. The speaker said; / have chosen a
double subject and double text /; an example
from the Old Testament, and principle
from the New: that we may trace in the Old
Testament the germs Of what is purest and
noblest in the New, and at the same time see
in the New Testament the consummation
and universally of all that was grandest and
most divine in the deeds and words Of the
individual heroes of ancient Israel.
In dreams and fictions only do we hear of
lives that like some deep unruffled stream
flow calmly and serenely down the even
course of time until their peaceful currents
are lost in the ocean of eternity. The real
life of actual men and women is rather
conflict and tumult. This close contact
| of actual life gives us many passing wrong
| to bear; brings in turn many an opportunity
| for retaliation. and constantly calls Tor some
higher principle than the chance passion OF
| the hour. Unless we acquire the power OF
! forbearance and the grace of forgiveness our
life will degenerate into an ignoble strife :;
cruelty and pain will work its course, and
| the survival of the most brutal will become
| its law
Urged on by hatred born of jealousy and
| morbid affection, Saul had pursued oyer hill
and valley the youthful David, whose only
| faults were his superior accomplishments III
music and bravery in war. David hnds nim-
| self at last standing over the helpless form
| of his sleeping enemy. One quick, sure blow
might destroy his oppressOr, end his exile,
| and restore him to home, honor and power
| Yet he forbears to lift his hand against the
| Lords anointed. He respects the sacred
ness of man whom God has chosen. In the
house, and at school; in society and ousl-
| ness, in local and national politics injuries
| and wrongs are many and manifold. Yet
sooner or later there comes to the
wronged person an opportunity for
retaliation. The household tyrant
| finds himself dependent on the child he has
abused. The manufacturer finds himself in
| the power of his employees. The aspirant for
political Office finds the balance of power in
the hands of men whom he has slighted and
| offended.
This practical question comes to all: Shall
lift my hand, or open my lips, or exert my
influence, or spend my money to injure ma
| liciously man who has done me wrong
The man who will rise to the moral level
| which this Hebrew youth even in those rude
warlike days attained, must in all such cases
| answer mo" For though no oil OF consecra-
! tion now makes one man more sacred thaIl
| another, yet there is in every human soul
created in Gods image saeredness wnich
marred and defaced by coarseness and cru.
elty, sensuality and seltishness, anger and
brutality, vet we may be sure that there Is
somewhere latent in him some good ana gen.
| erous impulses; some pure and noble loves
| which impart to his human soul G0d-glVen
| sanctity which we must respect. We may
| reprove his faults, condemn his wrong do
ing, protect ourselves against his injuries,
| oppose his policy, and counteract his lntil-
ence, but we must ever remember that the
| man himself-the God-like personalities sa.
cred and inviolable. For if man be not sacred
there is no sanctity discernible in life. He that
respects not humanity can have no true rev
erence for Divinity. From every word or
deed OF malicious injury toward those wno wo
wrong us the example of David bids us for
bear.
The superiority of the New Testament
over the Old consists largely in the fact that
where the Old Testament gives us .precept
and example, the New gives us principle and
power What in the Old Testament appears
as the exceptional virtue of its greatest indi
vidual characters in great crisis OF hi'
life, the New Testament sets forth as tht
principle on which every Christian shoult
That which David did once the Chris
tian should be ready to do until sevent,
times seven.
Jesus had said, '.if thy brother sin agains
to be ignored, or borne in silence: It mus
be rebuked. That relieves Christian forgive
ness of the charge of weakness and effemi
macy sometimes brought against it,. Chris
does not say, IF thy brother sin against the'
let him run over you" He says, 'rebuk,
him" And then, aif he repent forgive him.
We cannot forgive one who persists in wrong
DOING refusing to repent. We may an(
should be ready and willing to forgive him
But we cannot actually do 1t until he repents
The trouble with most of us lies right here
We are not willing and ready to forgive. w
do not eagerly accept the first signs of dawn
ing penitence. We wait to see the one whit
has wronged us humiliate himself. We stanC
off on our dignity, and Will only dole out ou
forgiveness on conditions satisfactory to our
selves. Jesus bids us have the spirit of for
| giveness. Peter did not understand him
True TO his Jewish craving for precise rule
Peter thought he meant seven times to b'
the literal limit. So, after trying to keel
this rule on some trying and vexatious day
he asks his Master whether he really mean
that forgiveness should be carried as far a
that. Jesus, instead of reducing the sever
to three Or ye as Peter Tsl had hoped simply pt
you, until seventy times seyen.' Here, a.
everywhere, we see the difference between
Judaism, the religion of the letter, an(
Christianity, the religion of the spirit. Th'
one is finite and relative; the other is infinlt'
and absolute. The one calls for conformit.
to an external rule or standard. The othel
insists ON that boundless "love that seeketl
not her own; is not easily provoked: bearetl
all things; believet1 all things; hopeth al
things; endureth all things"
How shall this all embracing charity; thi
forgiveness that knows no bounds be gained
We must gain it from Christ himself. be die(
forgiving those who in ignorance OF wha
they did, put him to death. lr life ant
death, in deed and word, he revealed the in
finite grace and forgiveness of the Father
We object that it is hard. Well, the suffer
ing and sacrifice of Christ are the measur,
of the cost of the Divine forgiveness whicl
we experience day by day It certainly caI
not be anything more severe than that which
He requires of the most deeply wronged ont
of us, when He bids us forgive.
Without this spirit of forgiveness the
Kingdom of Heaven can not come in 0ul
homes, our social circles, our business and
our politics. In every sphere of life the will
lngness to forgive and to forbear is essen
to the permanent peace and joy. May WE
have such reverence for the Divine sanctity
of human hearts about us; may we have
such sense of the Divine forgiveness of oul
unnumbered transgressions, that, refrainint
from every malicious word and deed. ever
toward our enemies, we may be filed witt
the living spirit of Christian love whicl
Shall make until seventy times seven In.
natural expression of what we are eager and
able to do through Christ who strengthened
us.
PINE STREET CHURCH.
The Sunday school temperance concert a
Pine Street NJ. E. church yesterday after
noon was largely attended and very interest
ing. The exercises, consisting of songs ant
recitations by the adult and juvenile mem
| harS of tho sohnol xyara variad and nf NOR,
than usual excellence. A similar concert il
to be given in this church every three months
hereafter. At the prayer meeting in tn,
evening much interest was manifested ant
four persons rose for prayers.
More About George Showers,
The Pennington journal says that mucl