The Newtown bee., 1890-07-25

Her first mission was in a world full of
iniquity and c~ime. She gained her con-
quest over evil by doing good. So her
mission to-day is not only to inaugurate
a crusade against error, but rather to es-
tablish the needed truth. The true way
to correct any error is to put the truth in
place of it. The insufficient Unitarian
view Of the nature of Christ, as merely q
good man, is not only to be refuted, but
the right teaching put forth concerning
His Divine nature and the reality of His
incarnation.
The errors that cluster around the I'M
due exaltation of the Virgin Mary, her
Immaculate conception, her sinlessness,
her work of intercession in Heaven are
not only to be denied and disproved by
Holy Writ, but in place of them we must
set the true teaching about Christ. We
must preach boldly the incarnation of the
Son of God. We must show how Jesus
Christ combines not only all manly vir-
tues, but also all truly womanly virtues
in ii is one perfect humanity. We must
show how Jesus Christ now sitteth at the
|
High Priest, our intercessor and advo-
cate. We, the Church of God, as a whole
must not only fight against unbelief or
misbelief, but we must also seek firmly
to establish truth instead. In so doing,
we take away something, but we furnish
a better thing in turn. On this principle
must all federal action of the Church be
based. II error is simply removed, there
is left a vacancy which must be filled in
some way; there is void in which, I'M
less truth is inserted in it, worse error
will creep of itself.
| lN-Let US turn aside one moment to
every day matters.
What kind of reading are you engaged
in, this Summer season? You may say it
is not bad. But say, is it good? You
may say it does no harm; but l want to
know does it do you any good? Is it ben
eficial? You may say that it is not low
or degrading; but can you say that it is
high and enrolling? And how is it on
any question of public interest or any
matter for the general welfare? Do you
stand up against the wrong and for the
right?
We need to be very careful as citizens
of this country and as residents of this
town to take a positive position on the
side of truth and honor and for the great
est good to the greatest number. You
doubtless see, dear brethren, how we
come down gradually from our consider
alton of this principle which underles
the teaching of Christ and that of the
apostles themselves and the history of
the church to the every day life of each
one of us. "Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good"
N-Men need to be taught nowadays,
not only not to do wrong, but to do right.
They will never get any better simply
by brooding over the past. They need al
so an amendment of life for the future.
They need to cast out Satan, but only to
let God into their hearts. In the teach
ing of our Lord, we are told that after
the unclean spirit had been cast out of
the man, he returned and found the
chamber of the heart empty and swept
and garnished and then he goeth and TAX
eth to himself seven spirits more wicked
than himself "and they enter in and
dwell there and the last state of that man
is worse than the first" The bad must be
cleaned out, but the good must be put in
in order to keep preserved from further
evil.
You can frequently meet persons who
justify their lack of faithfulness in Christ
ian living by saying that they never did
any harm. But they need to be asked
right here if they ever did any good.
viii any one here justify his incomplete
Christian life by saying that he never did
any harm? How many possibilities there
are here of things omitted! How many
opportunities not seized How many
times when good might have been done,
but it has been left undone! Instead of
this not reaching the standard of Christ
ian conduct, it is even unmanly and cow
ardly. At the court of law, the witness is
not only required to tell nothing but the
truth, but he is under oath to tell the
truth and the whole truth. And the
physician can do very little to help you,
unless you answer his questions truthful
ly and make no concealments of symp-
toms which may affect the case or change
the remedy. 1t will not do to leave the
false key in the musical instrument mere
| ly unused, it must be replaced by good
one. So in many ways we see the work
ing Of this principle, destruction and con-
struction go together. IL you refute err
ror, be careful also to establish truth. IL
you cast out sin, be careful to substitute
righteousness. If you have been doing
wrong, now begin to do right. If you
have been boasting that you have done
some goodl Was Christ content to have
done no harm? No, did he not rather
spend His whole life in going about do
ing good. Was st. Paul satisfied to have
done no harm? No, he labored on land
and sea, among friends and foe, in order
to do good to jew and Gentle, Greek and
Roman. We may well seek to make this
conception of the Christian principle a
little more clear. Bear in mind what /
have already said.
The mission of the Israelites in the
promised land of Canaan was to drive out
the idolaters and then establish their own
true religion. The mission of Jesus
Christ was to set aside the Pharisaical
teachings about Gods law by establish.
ing the true meaning of it as He came te
trying to reform the morals OF a licen