The morning call., 1890-12-29
INAUGURAL SERMON.

Rev. w. s. Williams Commences His Pas
torate.
Ply mouth Congregational Church was
tastefully decorated yesterday morning for
he Christmas festival services, when the
new pastor delivered his first sermon. At
the conclusion of an elaborate musical
service DIR. Williams took for his text
the words, For unto us child is born;
unto US son is given" The text is
prophetic. The popular theory is that
prophecy is simply prediction. 1t is pre-
diction, but 1t is aspiration also. Prophecies,
in part, inspired poetry :; inspired poetry Is
frequently far-reaching prophecy. If you
would learn the divinest heart of nation
reWd its poetry; If you would know the
l0ftlest aspirations of a people, read its
poetical literature; if you would ascertain
In The greatest expectations Of any age.
ancient Israel. When the glory Of
that CO. fearing people centered in Jacob
they resolved, aided by God, that the Mes
siah would come as the star" out Of ia
cob. And hen their pride and their cour-
looked for oDe no should rule the nations
in splendor, and when the wisdom and
beauty OF Solomon prevailed they sang and
prophesied of the Lily of the Valley and
the " Rose of Sharon" In times OF suffer-
ing they felt and proclaimed that he would
but when tried by the Elomite and defeated
by the alien they saw In him "COnQueror
from Edom with dyed garments from Boz
rah." Prophecy was not bare, cold, all
an emotion, thought, an inspiration, and
inseparably connected with the present lie
OF the people. 1t was inspiration from God
and an aspiration from man.
The world expected Messiah. Jews
and Gentiles expected one that should come
The far East looked tn the Mast
distant West looked to The far East. If
no wise men came from the West it may
not have been because there were none to
come. Wise men have always Travelled
westward. This expectancy was so great
that when John the Baptist appeared all
Jerusalem and Judea went out to meet him,
believing that he was the Messiah, but he
disclaimed the honor. No one equalled the
honor but Jesus. Others claimed it, but no
one fulfilled the claim but himself. Saul
clad David with his armor and placed
brass helmet upon his head. But David
could lot fill the armor. He had the mOdesty
and honesty to lay it aside. John The Bap-
tist told The multitude that he was not the
Christ, but that Christ was i'll their midst.
We judge TO whom the armOr belongs by
seeing whom the armOr fits. Jesus alone
fills the Messiahship.
Tie expectancy was East and West In
modest prophets chamber in Vermont
there is a single sun-bathed window. The
al tiotlC tttstC VA tuc uOStcSS KEEPS
alive a variety of flowers before and upon
either side of that window. All the flow
ers bend toward that solitary window.
Those upon either side bend most. and
those fa1thest away are most striking in.
striving to be embraced by the sun. God
shone, by the light of truth and prophecy,
into human society chiefly, almost solely,
through the OLD Testament dispensatiun.
Israel was privileged with standing in the
1ulness OF the light. The gentiles upon
either side of Israel leaned forward toward
the true light, and in the birth period of the
Messiah they came, by their representa-
tlves, the wise men. inquiring: Where is
have seen his star in the east and have come
to worship hm?" They could only lean
forward and ask. But the chief priests and
scribes, flooded with the light of Gods ora
cles. could reply: ''ln Bethlehem Of Ju-
dea,"