Evening journal., 1889-03-04
CHURCH CIRCLES.


Sermons at Central Presbyterian Church
Ysster day-Infornation and Notes Re
gardsng ali Denominations.
Rev. Marcus A. Brownson preached in
Central Presbyterian Church yesterday
morning. Mr.. Brownson was formerly
assistant pastor Of the church. Later he
has been pastor Of a large and Aourishing
church in Camden, NJ j.. and has lust
accepted q call to a church in Detroit
Mich. Mr.. Brownson's stext was Philip
ians iv, %: "The Grace of Our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen
In opening Mr.. Brownson spoke of the
beauties of nature which person would
see in landscape painting. yet some
blindness prevented them seeing the same
in the natural state Nothing in the
natural world is common or unclean He
compared the Inventions Of man with
nature and found a. parallel between
them. Do we, said he, not often regard
the apostolic benediction Of the
text a proper close Of service Tor q
blessing on leaving the house of God, q
mere form or formula In the silence Of
the tropical forest, If our ears could be
rushing through the cells of every tree
and shrub, that would deafen us, so our
ears must be opened TO receive the bless
ing of the benediction.
1t was the thought of the early Chris
tians that he who had the grace of the
divine human Saviour had all. What
then is graceY In the Greek it is that
which gives JOY aud pleasure. First
it meant physical beauty, later kindness
and good will. still later the expression
of the same. The New Testament took
up and beautified the word. In the
church the use Of the word means beauty
OF God, the satisfaction, pleasure. Joy
and freeness Of His gift. The speaker
then spoke Of the numerous times
the word was used in the writings
of Paul and Luke Grace is the giving
of the choicest favor, the importation OF
gracious and unprecedented favors upon
the unworthy The speaker dwelt upon
whose grace Ii was, that Of the second
person in the Godhead the Son Of God.
He dwelt on the ties Of love between
Christ and ourselves Christ is not only
the flower Of humanity, but elimination
of humanity in perfect character He
is essentially a Saviour from sin II his
whole life has been fully written Of as
its last two days the gospels would be 800
times as large as they are now, but He
came into the world to die He has
absolute control over us; through Him
we live and die, are saved or lost.
The grace of our Saviour is not confined
to any point on earth. No place in the
Holy Land can be certainly identified as
belonging TO the life Of Jesus The Lord
Jesus Christ stood by the side Of the
Apostle Paul as he wrote this letter and
bade him write my Grace be with you
all not with mature Christians, not
with those who are active in the church.
but with all.
Rev. William p. Swartz, pastor of Cen
trail Church, preached at the church in
the evening from Mark vi, @: "And He
maryeled at their unbelief. His sub
ject was THE Unreasonableness Of
Unbelief Mr. Swartz said in
part Infdelity claims only one
reason for it's existence that
of reasonableness. They bow to
what they claim is an age of reason.
They say faith is blind, and will not ac-
cept the scriptures because their Judge
ment says they are not true. Christians
know one reason for their trust in the
scriptures. The forty writer's who wrote
the sixty six books of the Bible, are one
as to the Creator, the duty Of man to
God and Christ and his mission The be.
liefs and writings Of unbelievers are
conflicting and contradictory Some say
that matter and force are uncreated and
are themselves the origin. In answer TO
the question what is the nature of TIA e
author Of all things as
judged from his worlSsg' Mill saws
1t is impossible to believe that a God,
good in his attributes and qualities
could create a world as full OF badness
and wrong. Another says, whatever is
is best and Huxley gives another an.
swer. In answer to the question, "What
is the origin Of life2' the answers are
the creator at first breathed it into few
forms. 1t reached the world in a gleam
of life, or moss grown fragment from
another world. Spencer says the origin
of life is unknown. Does this refute
that God said, let there be light2
Darwin said that men and the higher
animals sprung from the lower. An.
other says this theory fails for want Of
proof, and another, there is no indica
ton Of any form Of animal life having
sprung from a lower. The things that
science has asserted have failed. Those
who believed in the nebular hypothesis.
said that the origin Of matter was in
this The nebnlae was diffusive, va
pory mass, which as it cooled and con
tracted took spherical shape and
threw off the sun, m6on and
plants, and Of itself life sprung into ex-
istence. One day men discovered through
better telescope that one Of the moons
Of Mars revolved in the wrong direction.
This stamped the whole nebular hypothe-
sis as false II was God period Of show
ing the wrong. Tindal says that evolu-
ton is too mOnstrous for any but an
insane mind to believe. The disbelief in
Christ and the Bible is unreasonable
Those who reject them do so over an
overwhelming proof Of their reality
The historical correctness Of the life Of
Christ is not denied. Secular history
proves that in the time Of Herod such a
man died. How do infdels account for
the life and prosperity Of the church
through persecution. What reason is
there for modern missions except the
divinity Of the church. What Of the
millions who claim personal knowledge
of Christ.