The Portland daily press., 1890-01-20
PULPIT ANo PLATFORM
REVIVAL Ar CHESTNUT STREET.


Evangelist George w. Willis will every
evening during the week hold revival services
at the vestry of Chestnut street church, and
in preparation therefor Rev N. +. Whitaker
yesterday afternoon, preached upon the top
ic of "ReviVals." The text was Habakkuk,
3:2: 30, Lord, have heard Thy speech
and was afraid; o, Lord, revive Thy work
In the midst of the years, in the midst of the
years make known; In wrath remember
h.ercy." The Israelitish nation was born In
revival. A brief summary of her history
from the exode to the coming of Christ
would be series of religious revivals, sue
ceeded by long periods Of spiritual back
sliding. In the midst of one of these peri
DDS, the prophet OF old poured ont his soul
in the sincere prayer or the text.
We, as Christians, today, deploring the
steady increase Of the tides of evil in our
city, the numbers of youth OF both sexes
that are being ruined annually by intoxica-
tion in the use of liquor and morphine, the
great drain opon the earnings of our salaTied
ana wage workers for lotte,y schemes, the
rapid increase of Sabbath descration and
the great lack of Christian faith, zeal and
efficiency among the members of our church.
es In the city. cry out with full hearts in the
words of the ancient prophet.
What is meant By genuine revival of re-
ligion? Some men say we desire-and they
speak correctly--a steady growth in the
church without any periodical excitements.
They would have every man and woman
connected with each Christian church do
dilippntlv WhatSoavar hic hnnd finds 70 Az ~,
the service OF Christ, and do it constantly.
When that time comes, no boy or girl will
grow to man or w0manh0od without the en-
couragement and instruction of a faithful
will live without weekly invitations to the
church OF God; no stranger will ever enter
the gates Of the sanctuary without being
cordially welcomed and made to feel at home;
while the victims of alcoholic and morphine
habits Will be rescued, and their tempters
ished. We expect, some time before the
millennium, this will be the result, but you
will agree 1t is not the average experience of
the Christian church today.
wILLIsToN CHURCH
Rev. DR.. w. j. Tucker preached an able
and interesting discourse to large and ap-
preciatiye congregation yesterday morning,
announcing as his text the second verse of
the sixth chapter of Matthew. The preach
er remarked that the principle of all moral
action Of the Pharisee was personal reward.
that it entered into his alms-giving, his fast
ing and his prayers; and Jesus, who saw the
motive to be, the appreciation of men laid
bare to the eyes of the world, the real char
acter of the Pharisee, and pronounced this
Judgment "they have received their re-
ward" DR.. Tucker then spoke at length on
"the motive of action the principle of judy
ment here and hereafter" and in this con-
nection the real significance of conscience
and how to estimate, the true value of the
Spirit of Con. The solo. 20, Rest in the
Lord" by Catherine. Kicker, was a fitting
prelude to the sermon.
FIRST PARISH CHURCH,
At the First Parish church. last night,
Rev. Charles F. Dole of West Roxbury,
Mass, delivered lecture before the w. c.
7. U. Of this city, on the New Standard +"
He first related a parable Of certain poison
ivy that in times long ago had wrought hav-
oc in certain village, killing the great, the
good, the brave, and the fair Unfortunately
the citizens occasionally got together and
passed resolutions calling upon the head
men of the village to extirpate the danger
Gus weed that spread and sapped out the life
of the soil and the life of the people at the
same time. But so long as thectizens. some
of whom were not harmed by the ivy, al
lowed 1t to grow In their front yards. the
spasm0dic raids of the head men did no
good, for the weed spread over the fences
and grew up again In the streets as fast as It
was dug up. Finally learned stranger
came to the town, and upon being told Of the
ivy and its ravages, at once began to terate
the people for the little that they did toward
Graduating it. Instead of leaving it to the
head men he would have all take hold, first
of all roofing up the ivy in their own yards,
and then taking that which was in the roads.
The speaker then applied the story to the
temperance question, finding the solution to
all of the vexed problems in the new stand
ard of morals, which he claimed was gradu-
ally taking the place Of the old. Polygamy,
slavery, duelling, gambling, had each fallen
under the ban of morality as soon as the
world found out that they hurt In the long
run, and. said he, / have no doubt that ir
time, not Immediately, perhaps, but yet in
time we shall see the drift of public opinion
changed and the rum traffic opposed on
moral grounds by respectable majority of
the people.