The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-04-11
Sunday Services.

The text for the morning Matt. iv II;
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to
say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand"
IL want to speak to you this morning of the be-
ginning of Christianity. Whatever else we may
say of Christianity, we must never forget its
naturalness. Yet this is just what are likely
to do, and what has been done by both the friends
and enemies of Christianity.
Friends of Christianity agree that it came from
God; enemies say it could not have come from
God.
"Seciety's every reform has been religious =
form. If you could trace all reforms you would
find their beginning in religion. We find in the
history of the world, times when the intellectual
life loses its grasp: morals relax; religion loses
its hold upon men. 1t goes down to certain
point. when some one comes from God. and says
Repent for the kingdom Of heaven is at hand
Moses comes, and makes new beginning in
human history. Centuries roll on and Moses is
followed by Samuel. Elijah and Isaiah; and then
comes Christ, who the new beg inning.
THE world was never so corrupt as in the days
of Christ. Home partly brothel. partly a
fit to be called government. Vice and iniquity
bed, Alas for me, going to be god now.
Then Christ came, and said, Repent: for the king
dom of heaven is at hand
Now. the suggestion would make, is that men
accepted of Christ in those days because He
brought something they needed. If you do not
find anything in Christ you need you will not
take him. We look up to Jesus Christ and feel
that he give what we want.
ab INF ha otur of
religion; there is also en- unnatural side to it.
Moody a reformer; he preached to those who
came to see him.; climbed rckety stairway
in house and found an old, drunken couple and
preached to them. His work spread further and
further. He was a reformer. but the doctrines he
preached were not his own; there always
somebody behind Moody.
Moses did not preach the way your God speaks
to you. Jesus Christ preached Himself. He says,
Il am the Way, the Truth. and the Life There is
one behind Him; His doctrine is not separate,
but a part of Himself; take Him out of it and you
have nothing left. At one time Christ says, The
Father hath sent Me- afterwards He says. The
Father and are one. There time when
the Church forgot this doctrine in its and
hymns; but If you take up the Monday morning
newspapers and look at the heads of the sermons
preached ana hymns sung on tnlS Qay throughout
the world, you will find that they all relate to
that same Jesus. Christ has been drawing the
world up to wards Him. and at the same time has
been drawing nearer to the world He is the Son
of man and the Son of God Also"
The whole range of American literature,
says the Elmira Summary, contains few
passages that equal in rhetorical beauty the
following extract from Col. Ingersolps
euIogy of Mary Fiske, the authoress of
"Philip Herne:"
She went across the fields through the woods, by
winding streams and down wales and over crags.
wherever fancy led. She wrote lines that leaped
with laughter, and words wet with tears. She
gave as quaint thoughts and sayings filed with
"pert and nimble-spirited mirth." Her pages are
hecked with sunshine and shadow. and In every
word we're the pulse and breath Of life.
Theory without practice is like cloud
without rain