The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-08-02
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS.
Bishop Hendrix Delivers an Able Dis
course In Butte.
BY the Standards Special Wire.

ss
Bv the Standards Special Wire.
BUTTE, Aug. bishop Hendrix,
preached at the Methodist Church South
this evening TO a large audience. Taking
at his text: 81 am the vine and ye are
the husbandmen. He hat abideth in n
and I in him bring forth much fruit"
John 4 As. The bishop spoke substan-
TALLY as follows:
There is a natural as well as n revealed
religion. Christ in his ministry quoted
from the book of nature as frequently as
from the book Of God. He called our
attention to the divine lessons contained in
a mustard seed, in the ~leaven, hid within
the meal, i'm the sower sowing his seed,
All things were made by him.and for him.
He who painted the lily painted IL that
from il he might with his own divine life
teach us lessons of life. Nature, no less
than revelation, Is the voice Of God. Both
are but lenses through which We see the
glory of God. These lenses We shall not
always need, but shall one day see God
face to face.
Some scholars have questioned why
Christ chose this analogy OF the vine and
branches. Some have supposed that
valley OF Jehosaphat with its luxuriant
vintage. Others that he was thinking of
the golden vine i'm Solomon temple.
What really suggested this to Thirst seems
To have been the wine on the table, the
product OF the crushed cluster. Why
should he call himself the vine? Be-
cause h was at the head of all things?
No. for the tree stand at the head of the
vegetable kingdom. But the vine is de-
pendent, clinging, and Christ compared
himself TO a vine because he was n man
and did not stand with the independence
of n god. He was the second Adam, the
perfect man, the first man realizing the
purpose and thoughts of God. He was
the true vine, rich in sympathy, tender in
love, his life bright with glory until men
seeing. him had conceptions that they
never had before.
Men never forgave Christ because of
his perfect humanity; they never forgave
him for coming as Mary's son, sharing
human woe and human sorrow. They
dredgcd the prisons and dragged forth
the vIlest wretches as fit companions of
his death. God reached forth and yelled
the face of the sun, that darkness might
be upon the earth until the hour of her
shame was gone. He stood as one above
men and yet of men.
What is meant when he says AYE are
the branches" This is meant: That
the perfection of man ear he
only in Christ. Otherwise he
is n branch cut Off from
the vine. Miserable and discontented,
man is a creature of wants and that de-
termincs his position in nature. The
stotiS WattS ottti ,pht tht W Wbbho
air and light n water. II is higher than
the stone. The insect has more wants
than the flower and is so much the
higher. By virtue of his multitude nous
want we see that man is a higher being,
while every other being finds on this
earth its perfection and that perfection
in just the proportion That il follows its
instincts. Mar fails utterly by the same
course and curses himself for following
out his instincts. Man desires places
of power and of influence only
TO be unhappy aud unsatisfied after he
weeps for a world.
"When in Missouri, a lady once came
to me and asked me il / would consent To
talk with her husband. He was very UNI
happy, she said, and would be glad to talk
with me. l went, and meeting me at the
door, he grasped both my hands and
showed me into his luxuriously furnished
house. Before we had been fairly seated
he said: Il am one of the most miserable
men on the face of the earth. When
young, set out to make a fortune;
l am now worth several hundre
thousand dollars and RAJ crafty any
wish, and yet | am miserable. / told him
that God never intended man To be salts
fled with these things, that he could not
find here what should be his supremest
happiness. Shortly afterwards l met him
and he told me he had found Christ and
tLan he was he said he wouId Ike To 500
him.
Let us next note the special functions of
vine has its Growth and not Nv root,
Cbris,'s was life that couId
hn ,,a.a Tho vino has ,ro,ru
A. ,hn hra nchas have .r,u,, III h.
,hronob his J;sc;nies that chris, has
nroyan h;s case Another func,ion 81
onohos - 60 h.,r ar,,i, Wien chr;s,
sa;d On he cross ait Ia G,;shnd' ), ,hnse