The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-02-16
THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE.
Rev. Mr.. Rayley at City HALL Last
Evening.
What the Attitude of the Christian
Should Be.
hundreds Turned Away for Lack Of
Room.

The announcement that Rev. Mr.. Baylel
would repeat the sermon preached at Stat
street church on "What the Attitude Of thl
Christian Should Be on the Enforcement o.
the Liquor Law" drew a tremendous au
dlence to City Hall last night. By 6.3(
o'clock people began to secure seats and al
730 hundreds were turned from the doors
unable to gain admission. The corridors up
stairs were packed with ladies as we'll as
men, all anxious to hear the speaker.
The exercises opened promptly at the ap-
pointed hour. The State street choir sang
Forever and Forever" after which Mr..
Bayley came forward and commenced his ad-
dress, which follows:
"And they began to pray Him to depart out of
their coasts" Marx 8; II.
We shall tarry In Gadara only long enough
to get our moral bearings. Our practical con-
Germ Is much nearer home. But we may find
certain moral lines that lead directly from
Gadara to Portland. Christ's visit to Gadara
Is recorded by three of the Evangelists. Up
on the panorama Of their combined narrative
three scenes stand out with stereoscopic
clearness. In the first, Jesus Is drawing
nigh the city after His voyage across the
lake. Suddenly there emerges from tomb
cut in the rocky hillside man possessed by
an evil spirit. Naked, haggard and wild, as
he draws near the disciples shrink behind
their Master. Let us look at him. His ap-
pearance ftly suggests his condition. He
has lost his place among men; his place in
the home, in society, In the church of God.
de Is an outcast; not by divine edict, but by
the fearful impulsiOns from within himself.
Within easy reach Of the busy city he dwells
alone among the dead
But he has lost more than his place In the
world; he has lost himself. He Is no longer
his own. He cannot command his own pow
ers. They break forth in wild riot at the
bidding of one stronger than he. He Is lit
orally possessed" BY the evil spirit that
dwells in him. He has kind Of double con-
sciousness. He remembers only too well his
former self; his soundness of body and
spirit, his comforts, hOnOrs, home and loved
ones. But all these are only the background
against which he sees the self he has come to
be.
And what has he come to be? He is un-
clean. offensive, loathsome, without and
within ; the corruptiOns Of the tomb fit en-
vironment. He Is terror to all about him,
exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass
that way" With the strength Of madness
he has cast OF the fetters with which men
had bound him. He is demon at large
he is utterly miserable. wretched. despair
Ing; "always, day and night, crying" hat
ing and loathing himself, yet unable to eS-
cape bis own c0mpanionship. He Is often
driven towards self destruction, "crying and
der. Wretched. hopeless, consciously
lost; compelled to serve, aye, to resemble
more and more, a master whom he lOathes
and bates; catching gllmpses from afar of
life OF purity, OF usefulness, OF peace; know
ing that life was meant to De blessing and
a joy, yet consciously separted from such
life by an abyss impassable-what wonder
that he smOte himself In understandable
rage? Dem0niacal possession Is an awful
mystery, indeed. But the moral meaning is
plain enough. This picture is photograph
ger OF becoming who gives place in his heart
to sin. This wretch. enslaved, unclean, out
cast, despairing, may well be warning to
every one of US.
We turn with eager gladness to a second
scene. He who had rebuked the winds and
stilled the sea. who healed the sick and
raised the dead, was master, also, of demons.
With brevity and simplicity characteristic
OF the gospels, Mark says Jesus
said unto him. come out OF the man, thou
unclean spirit" And Immediately the man
was saved from all his unutterable woe. He
who was naked is clothed. He who wan
dered In restlessDess sits at the feet of Jesus.
He who was amenable to no human power
Is In bis right mind. He who was driven of
the devil asks now. in free aud blessed
choice, to follow Jesus.
And now comes our text The third scene
In the story shows the gathering Of the peo-
pie: and we hear them praying the great De
liverer that he would depart out of their
coasts. The intervening narrative explains
the strange request. 1t had been a costly de-
liverance, after all. IL had involved the de-
struction Of a herd of swine, and the people
could not endure method of saving men
that brought with 1t so great sacrifice of
property. Better that the demon should have
here and there a human victim than that
they should lose their wealth.
The history of that day In Gadara has been
often re-enacted. II Is being repeated today.
The whole world has been Gadara. Every
where men have been possessed by unclean
spirits. enslaved. imbruted, cursed by sin
and vice. And everywhere Christ has sought
to exercise the demon and s,ve the man.
Everywhere in this world Of sin the gospel
has brought firsta sword, and peace only
when righteous peace has been conquered.
The gospel has always been essentially revo-
lutionary; transforming force, turning and
verturning Its methods have been variOu.,
like the transforming methods by which the
same divine hand has wrought upon the
physical world. God has accomplished more
by sunshine than by whirlwind. He
often conquers evil as the sun the win
ter SHOWS; but he sometimes rends and over
whelms it as He tears the earth and topples
proud cities by the earthquake. Both meth
DDS are illustrated in the downfall of Ameri-
can slavery. He who made woman's pen
His instrument for moral suasiOn used fna "
the bloody sword Christ always begins
with the transformation of the individual
The gospel attacks evil In his heart, his bus
mess, his social Life; commanding him in all
things to be righteous. But Christ touches
society also. The gospel has to do with So
cial institutions, with vested rights, with
moneyed interests. IL attacks aud seeks to
in exercise individual eS every pyse1ce sacIa ase
customs. political institutions and nat
ional life And all Christians are bound to
hold the same attitude towards evil that
Christ holds; to hate 1t, to oppose 1t, to cast
it out so far as may be; first Of all in their
own hearts and lives then in the world OF
human affairs. Christ and his gospel have
many:an exorcism In this latter
age. Behold the casting out Of the demans
Of slavery, OF polygamy, Of many an oppres-
sion and monstrous cruelty. But many de-
mons yet remain. Christ Is still in the midst
OF us, to cast them out and to deliver men
from their cruel power. or some of these
modern demons propose 70 speak.
But hrst let Us notice that. as in. Gadara,
so today. Christ and His gospel are stoutly
opposed by many who love their swine too
pel pa' unchaSssd WIN wlt sTs its n1 loving
call to men and its challenge to de-
mons. And wheu this unchanged gospel
is set forth In the breadth of its saving pur-
pose, 1t Is sure to be opposed by men who
count its work too costly to their material
lutoIcobss luty may Do very uelortutidi W
Its forms OF worship: quite willing TO con-
tribute towards the erection Of its temples
and the support of an inoffensiye ministry
all this so long as 1t stands aiO0f from their
practical affairs; so long as 1t has nothing TO
say about business or politics and medd ,es
wish neither their pockets not their practlc-
es. But when Christ forblds traffic that
thrlves on human woe, or condemns the
so lIcas of wicked gain, or EDerates men from
a thralldom that filed their Golfers at once
they desire Him to depart out OF their coasts.
Nav. more than this; men abound who are
ready even TO import foreign demons and let
them loo Sc upon the people that they may
History abundantly jqstifies this terrible
affirmation. Let us look at few OF its il
imstrations. There Is the demon Of the OPT
nm habit 1t Is the curse OF China, where 1t
has its peculiar home. Millions of the peo-
nie IL holds in bondage worse than drunk
enness. have no time for detailed descrip-
tion of its woes. Hudson Taylor says: al
have labored inChina for than more 30 years.
i am profoundly convinced that the opium
than missions are doing good in year"
Another resident of 80 years writes: "It
has doomed to death, directly and indirect-
ly, as many men. women and children as
would re-people London, were all its fonr
millions TO vacate their homes. It's history
Is roll written within and without. a record
Of lameptation. mourning and woe." But how
came this monster in China? He was nor
native there. He was brought in under the
flag OIL Christian nation; forced upOn the
Chinese at the mouth of British cannon.
The brietest outline of this shameful his orv
must suffice. Opium Ia necnliarlu a niant -