The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-01-27
PULPIT AND PLATFORM.
President Andrews of Stown univer.
slty at Free Street church.
Rev. Sam Small Talks OF Prohibition
and the Law.

Inc pulpit of Free street Baptist church
was Yesterday occupied by President E
benjamin Andrews Of Brown University
VINO, at the morning service, preached q
powerful sermon, full of ennobling thoughts
upon the subject of 1.-THE Danger of an
Empty Heart" The text was Matthew xii
4345:
Wnen the chclean spirit is gone out If man
ne walketh through dry places. seeking rest and
nndng none Then, saith he. will return into
Is come he findeth Il empty. swept and garnished
lhen goein he, aud taketh with himself seven
o.ner spirits more evil than himself; and they en-.
that man Is worse than the first"
This utterance eff our blessed Lord had
primary reference to the Jewish people. Its
point was that the same old demon who had
ruled the Jews of earlier days in the form OF
idolatry, held sway among the Pharisees of
Chrisrs time. in the character of a self-com.
riacent, ceremonial righteousness; and that
his dominion over them had become so COM
plete as to render those proud men listening
to our Saviour, harder to awaken to a spirit
ual life than the worst of the idolatrous
Jews who Joined In the apostasy of ,Ahab
Yet the Jews. even the Pharisees, were but
men, and it is proof of Christ's deep wisdom
that hid puts his portrayal Of their vice in
the form of general truth. Nowise small
Is he number of people who have, to all ap-
pearance, and In an important sense really.
banished the demon from their souls. only
to come again under his power after little
time. We saw Them break off evil habits
and rise above the might of their old temp
tatiOns. Their Ives wholly changed aspect,
But because, alas, NJ almighty love. no posi-
tive, righteous purpose, came in to tenant
those hearts, the old evil occupant returned.
reinforced by legion of his kind, again to
hold, and rule, and own them. No force was
there powerful enough to hinder his coming.
he men became once more the servants Of
sin, giving up the moral strife, repudiating
perhaps, all belief in a spiritual world and a
living God, their last estate worse than the
first.
l. seems to be law. that the expulsion of
EVIL from the sonl of man, whether more
complete, or less, is certain to be only
temporary, unless the knowledge and love
of God are enthroned there. do not say
that reform without religion is good for
nothing. We ought to regard kindly every
motion of responsible being that invoives
or even resembles, moral effort. The better
ment OF conduct, albeit without moral mo-
tive, Is worth what it is worth it makes
lie smoother and safer, if not richer. But
let not even charity cheat us into taking
shadow for substance. Outwardly, at any
rate, man may reform under motives that
interest will often suffice TO cause this. Men
quit particular modes of SHINING, as a mer-
chant gives up Improbable line of trade,
simply because IL does not pay. Some ac-
cident may befall the person, and fright be
ADDED as a motive. The visible fashion of
the life will alter for the better, but God and
grace Will be just as remote from it as be-
lore. Or one may be drawn to reform
rather than driven. 1t Is possible that the
beauty and the worth of a well ordered life
should appear SO great to man, that low
considerations will lose all weight with him.
Virtue, according to that mans coarse view
OF virtue, he will make his very goddess. to
be served with absolute devotion, his life
comedy and perfect enough externally to
please the most scrupulous. Such man
man can do, that his conduct is up to the
divine standard, when in reality selfshuess
Is the ultimate sprins Of all he does
There are. then, betterments of conduct
that are not betterments of character; and
Dette rnents OF character, worth something
III their way, never to be scorned, which are
net thorough enough to answer Gods de-
mands, or even mans. We can patch up
our lives, so that casual observers may pro-
nounce our souls emptied of evil, when the
on that he may add force and deadliness to
MS next rush upon US. To be safe from de.
feat under the shock of his onset We must
put Almighty God in his place. II we neg
lect this, moral relapse will ensue. That
cases or moral relapse are sadly frequent. no
one can deny. So common are such cases.
OF people who reject Christianity and vet
live beautiful and unselfish lives, that il has
come to be the fashion among the thought
iess, 70 deny the necessity of religious belief.
Ct... s.lx "A AZ
rectly to make people good, temperate,
thrifty, kind hearted, honest, contented.
reverent, Instead of urging upon them this
Of o., that -saas'"'eel tenet ., estskpow
sdaI W,iat , "a VA .noli is true, based, as IL
Is, on long chains of doubtful reasoning, but,
even II 1t is true. 1t is not what mankind
most needs to know. Your appeal ST ould be
to the sense of conduct or duty in
men, not to metaphysics. In these speciOus
suggestions turks the most terrible of all the
brazen challenges which our age filings to the
faith we love. They raise absolutely the
most moment0us question at this moment
under debate In the world. Is It false, then,
that religious belief Is essential to the stead.
fastness and perfection of mans higher life?
Is 1t true, then. that faith has no worth for
conduct and character? If 1t is, God grant
we may know 1t Defines, that we may turn
our churches into art galleries, and sell our
Bibles for old paper! But we cannot shirk
the problem If We would, for it is trust in
our very faces day and Gay.
am far enough, hope, from the notion
that mere intellectual belief, however cor
rect, however exalted and enObling its OBJ
lects, can take place of solid godliness in
life The state Of the will is more import
ant than the state of tine mind. The practi-
cal Is the main thing. Many man has de-
serted Christianity. but has not yet been de-
serted by Christianity. Christian principles
which he imbio.d In childhood, abide with
him and give strength and beauty to his
life, which ought to be ascribed to the for
ner presence of faith, not to the absence of
1t now No spleDdor Of character developed
amid the influences of Chri stan society,
even II the subject of it has always been an
unbeliever, can ever be justly adduced as
proof that the like character could be grown
and preserved were Christianity clean gone.
The Bible never tells us simple to rid our
selves full OF moral goodness. pronounce
Its wisdom in this consummate. Are you or
dered to leave yonr inQuitiesp Yes, but you
must do 1t by turning to the Lord" Does
the word Of God say REPENT" 1t does,
but not that alone. Repent and believe" is
the prudent divine Injunction. Mere reform,
without new life, is In worth so far beneath
what God seeks for us, that His messengers,
speaking In His word, hardly think it de-
serving OF mention. Is Lot this method of
reforming men by holding God before them,
and seeking to fill their hearts with faith in
enceP Take 1t in cases of attempts at reform
without faith, after known and admitted
sin. The heart pines and complains, or
storms and raves, because cut off from its old
delight. Bye and bye,if the will proves stout,
the tumultuousness dies away: some degree
OF Inward peace eDsues. You fancy you will
be no more beSet with that old unrest and
agitating bias toward the wrong. 1t is de-
fusion; happy II it is not atal one. So the
merchant, crossing Sahara, goes singing
peacefully. hopefully along, with no thought
but OF prosperous journey and of royal
wealth to crown 1t. But see! What means
that redness In the air? All /! it Is the simeon
so deadly! All the sands of the desert are
upon him, and quicker than flash the hope
less wretch Is buried under mountains of
sand, whence no power on earth can draG
him. Look not for safety because your heart
Is calm, unless that calmness be the peace of
God. Ii the spirit is not the free Servant of
God, It VIII become the vassal nf some meaner
lord Men will make religion of something.
VoltaiEe said IL there were no God, 1t would
would be necessary to invent one. Robes
pierre, his pupil. did invent, if not God, a
religion, at-aey rate. Compile, almost in our
own tipc, constructed another, and Mr. Fred
erierharris0n, the famous English writer. is
lis ayOwed convert No full account of hu-
man nature can be given without having a
good deal to say about religion. The ten
dency OF the heart to serve, TO fix its ardent
regard upon some special object, is seen in n
hundred ways. People who decline a Chris
tian life as intolerably burdensome. not
seldom make themselves veritabe drudpes
In the service of some club or
lodge: Others plunge with all their might