The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-11-17

OLD FOLKS SERVICE.

Dr. Clymer preached on "The Bright Side Of
Growing Older" And thine age shall be
clearer than the MONDAY, thou shalt shine
forth, thou shalt be as the morning."
These are the words of ZDphar to Job.
They are words of cheer given in the hour of
his great Affections. They contain pre-
historic gospel, or the gospel before its time
Paul uttered the same thought about 1000
years later, when he wrote to the Corinthi-
ans. saying. "all things are yours, even life
and death, and We are Chrst's, and Christ is
Gods, and with God thousand years is as
one day and one day is as thousand years"
That is what Zophar said to the ancient
saint, Job, and Paul says to the modern
saint practically: There are no years in Je-
sus Christ as men count years." That is,
manhood and womanhood in Jesus Christ
never ages, never grows old. Though the
outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day. This Is the thought
of my text.
In life lived without Jesus Christ there
IL. great. dread Of growing old. Every one
desire to be old. Wnyp Because we attach
to old age natures entailments of fear, fee
bleness and failure, and not the .endOwments
of immortal life in Jesus Christ
Why is old age so dreaded by most peoples
Because we think of old age as the period of
lifelessness and fruitlessness. Alb, the fear
of fruitlessness makes many of us fear old
age, as Emerson says: "Ne count our years
when we have nothing else to count"
My text teaches us that life lived in Jesus
crease of years. Thine age shall be clearer
than the MONDAY. That is, the light of
thine age shall be above the light of the
natural MONDAY. The light that comes to
the heart and life from Jesus Christ shall
be an ascending light, with no decline In it,
The day that Jesus Christ ushers in upon
the soul has no afternoon or evening. That
Is, the sun of righteousness never sets.
The light Of the natural MONDAY has its
declension, its afternoon, its evening. But
with the light OF life in Jesus Christ, the
aged Christian can say with holy triumph:
"At evening time it is light"
The years of life In Christ are only years
of development in the infinite life and light
and love of God. Years of growth in Christ
is ripeness in Righteousness. He who in
creases in fretfulness and fault-fnding as he
increases In years knows nothing of this
life with Jesus Christ, for light of old age in
Jesus Christ is clearer than the MONDAY.
Life lived in Jesus Christ increases in
crease of years. My text says, i" Thou shalt
shine forth" A life lived in Jesus Christ
sends forth its light for others. An aged
Christian will be light-giving will. That Is
the true Christian as he grows older will not
grow crotchety and crooked In spirit, but
days go by.
and will give crown of life. We must not
confound faithfulness with religious activity.
Many saint, unable by reason of in6rmi-
| ties to do anything in the form of religious
activities, is full of the fruits of the SPIRIT
love, joy, peace. long suffering, gentleness,
meekness, patience, temperance, faith.
- ~. .4zd
Lord shall still bring forth fruit in their old
age"
Life lived in Jesus Christ is perpetual
resurrection. My text says, THE aging
Christian. shall be as the morning" The
morning is the sign and symbol of the resur
rection. That is, the life of The Christian
shall be all morning, all resurrection, a per-
petual ascension of being. a continual rising
nto"newness of life, "for Christ says she that
liveth 10 Him, and beleveth in Him, shall
never die"
At the close of the sermon DIR. Clymer in
vited all persons in the house over 70 years
of age to come forward to the front seats. He
addressed a few words to the cid people and
then directed his remarks mora especially to
Mr.. Benjamin F. Eastman. He said:
"Father Eastman was 80 years of age yes
terday and with this thought in mind was
inspired to preach the sermon. In Father
Eastman we have an example OF saint who
exemplifies beautifully how sweetly the
Christian may grow old. and this church
wishes to make your Goth anniversary memo
rable. All the members of this church both
young and old symbolic the beauty and
sweetness of their love and respect 10 tt Is
beautiful basket of 80 roses which I hand
you"
THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH.
The Rev. j. G. Merrill, D. D., is preaching
series of sermons ON the Apostles Creed.
The sermons are greatly interesting to his
people of the Second Parish, who give very
emphatic expression to their appreciation of
them. We give below an abstract of yester-
day mornings sermon, which treated of the
article in the creed. ST believe in the Holy
Catholic Church" DIR. Merrill took as his
text Eph. 5: 1921. These words OF Paul de-
scribed the Holy Catholic Church in which we
believe, and yet so great is our prejudice that
many find it hard to the day of their death
to utter this expression of the old creed. But
the Romish church has no royalty upon the
word catholic, as in the same way have the
Campellites none upon the term Christian I;
the Unitarians, liberal; the Episcopalians,
the American church. All true Christians
belong to the Holy Catholic Church. Two
points which make 1t catholic were developed
by the preacher.
First: 1t Is universal. Be careful not to
run upon the reefs of etymology. and con-
found universal and universalist, and be
broad enough to part company with Romish
| adhereDt who declares none Christians save
| as they are RomaDists, and part company
| none the less with Professionals who declare
all Romanists destitute of true religion.
1t does, indeed. make great difference to
| what church catholic Christian belongs
| so great that Christian in one may be so
because of his creed, and the other In spite
| of his creed, but we have warrant from the
scriptures in holding that God sis no re-
| specterlof persons, but in every nation he that
feareth him and worketh righteousness is
acceptable to him."
The Holy Cotholic Church, then, includes
the servant girl who before day went to mass,
in her trust on Jesus; the philosopher who
can only express his loyal faith by the use of
terms which it would be inidel for us to en-
ply; the orthodox" man who never had a
doubt and the hereto whose mistaken views
are of the head, not the heart, the consum-
mate flower of Christian civilization, and
the heather who has the faith-character,
which would have led him to the Saviour,
could he have seen him; In word, all men.
women, and children who through Jesus
Christ have so lived as to be accepted by our
Father in Heaven.
But is not this a dangerously broad church !?
Will 1t not lead men to think lightly Of
churches and creeds2 Not at all! For we
are catholic only as we believe in the ideal
church which we all know could never have
been real without fundamental creed and
visible organization, and this will
appear as we consider the sacred point or
factor in the Holy Catholic Church.
viz: 1t opposes hereSy and schism. 1t
| pays no premium to ignorance or doubt. 1t
exalts intelligent belief Built is just here
that Christianity has made Its greatest mis-
take-a mistake in method. 1t has used ex-
communication, exclusion, debate when in
opposing heresy and schism, 1t should have
relied upon the inerant power of the truth
which has been the outcome Of a true life
as the Master says: 'He that dOeth My
will, shall know of the doctrine" The sur
est curative for atheism is to undertake phil
anthropic work without God for disbelief
in the Bible, to try and comfort the dying
with Shakespeare or Browning rather than
the Psalms or Johns gospel. Chistian work
dispels doubts concerning Christianity. Men
are learning the worth of positive, simple
truths; that God Is, rather than proofs OF
His existence; that the Bible is our guide.
rather than theories of inspiration; that
Jesus died to save us, In place OF doctrines
of the atonemelt; and as a result the
churches are catholic in opposing heresy and
schsm by catholic lives which exalt the
truth.
Listen The great bells of the universe
are ringing call to the worship of this
church, this Holy Catholic Church. All
tribes and nations are entering in; all class
es and conditions throng it doors; its ser
vice has begun, the songs of worship. are
sung, the prayers of every tongue and form
reach the ear of the All-Father; the sermon