The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-05-19
REV. DIR. PEABODY AT FIRST PARISH.


At the First Parish yesterday, services
were conducted by Rev. DR.. Andrew P. Pea
body of Cambridge, Mass, in the absence Of
the pastor, DR.. Hill. At the morning SER
vice, DR.. Peabody preached an able sermon
from Psalm xix, H. 'Let the words of my
mouth and the meditations of my heart be
acceptable in thy sight, o Lord my strength
and my redeemer" This psalm was, the
speaker said, in many respects the most
wonderful poem ever written, although
much of its great beauty was lost to most of
us through imperfect translations.
After reading the psalm through and
pointing out how. in many cases. the origi
nal shade of meaning If not largely the
meaning itself, had been lost in transit from
Hebrew into Latin, and from Latin into
English, he said This psalm bears the name
of David as its author. but l doubt very
much if he wrote it. think 1t probable
that David wrote some of the psalms, the
51st perhaps, but 1t seems to me that the
10Th was written by man who was entirely
guiltless of what the world recognizes as
sins. OF secret faults, sins of which he was
not himself aware he may have been guilty
since he prays Cleanse Thou me from secret
faults.
What are these secert faults, these pre-
sumptuous sins from which he prays for de-
liverance? The text points out the two most
prominent, the words of my mouth and the
meditations of my heart. Words are capa-
BILE of doing much evil. They are indeed
more than life and worse than death, and 1t
then behooves us to keep double guard
over our lips lest we sin by the words Of our
mouths. There is nothing more liable to
lead us into this kind of sin than talk made
merely for the sake OF talking. Idle words
that have not the grain Of salt which Paul
recommends. There may be much Of this
sort of conversation that is not harmful.
People may be thoroughly grounded in mo-
rality and be, truly good. who have
not much depth of intellect or
the degree of practical intelligence that i'm.
parts the flavor of salt Then on the other
hand there may be conversation that is all
salt with no grace. This includes all varie-
ties of sarcasism, ridicule and innuendo, and
often is the greatest sin Of the words OF
ones mouth.
The second highroad into sin, the medita-
tations Of ones heart would be placed first by
many as being the cause that precedes the
the words, the effect. But the poet placed
them rightly. Words may provoke sin that
we know not of and may be more far-reach-
ing In their malgn influence. Thoughts, are
liable to work great harm to ourselves
There are two ways in which sin may come
through the medium Of the Thoughts,
| by the absence of good ones. Both Of these
are hurtful. 1t is our duty to repress evil
| thoughts, to drive them from our minds ana
| to keep them to ourselves when they come 70
us without being hidden. Evil grows with
what it feeds on and thieves on publicity. II
| held in check and repressed 1t soon dies
out of continual dhs SI'Ghs Thoughts f Of God
far coTnef Sc 6s1t 1dthaF That hhs S t@f ss0Ssss
perhaps are for the moment more import.
ant. The habit of REFRESHING thoughts Of
this kind should not be cultivated lest we
| fall into sin Through the meditations 0l
our hearts as well as by the words of oui
mouths.
TEMPERANCE IN PORTLAND
At the Second Parish church yesterday
morning Rev. DIR. j. G. Merrill preached {
sermon on Temperance in Portland" tax
ing for his text, Peter, ii, 10: "Submi
yourselves to every ordinance of man fo
the Lords sake" The preacher said he hat
been surprised and grieved at some thing
he had learned since he came here. but h
had desired not to speak unadvisedly and OF
some points was not yet fully decided, bu
there are some things that can and ought
be said. Coming from distant state 1t ha
given him great pleasure not to have tn
rum traffic Haunted in his face nor to b
greeted by the odor Of the damnable stuff o
every street corner. And it was delight
know that those who must and will have
are compelled TO get 1t In violation OF la
impeaching their own sense Of personal il
tegrity. DIR. Merrill said he had been tol
there are hundreds of places in the cit
where liquor is sold in violation OF Law
These are not all low groggeries kept by me
! from shores where lower civilization pre-
walls. but in many cases the traffic Is carrie
on by those whocount themselves among u
/ best icltizens, but who violate ~. "
5 law for the sake of gain or to heip lne
r business in other directions; u vloM
these things it was time for his hearers :,
have platform to stand on and some OIL th
: blanks for one he found in the bylaws
the church. .,. As tor b;msalf
a Tnsc 10 Ioohoi Ioc was poison. Others wei
Det OeleNea s0 taught This was not question to
SSs Settled IS by the pulpit but by science. AT an
j rate nearly all can agree that Is a duty
meat maketh brother TO oitend 10 eat I