The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-03-02
WORDS FROM PULP|Ts.
The Paroehial Mission at st. Peters
Episcopal Church Closed
Last Night.
Joptha's Daughter tho Theme for
tho Morning Discourse at
st. Paul's.
euCcessful Week Of MisstOn Work by the
Missioner Of the ParocIIai Mis-
si0ns society.
During the past week a mission has been

During the past week a mission has been
held At st. Petor's Episcopal church
by the Rev. q. A.. Christensen,
general missioner Of tho Parochial
Missions society Of the United
States. The society is about avo years old.
1hs object il the promoting of parochial
missions in the Protestant Episcopal church
in the United States; to establish a bureau
of information and q depot Of literature on
the subject Of parochial missions; to assist
rectors OF parishes in obtaining fit men to
conduct missions and to give counsel and
aid in the work Of preparation, also to
form q staff OF mission preachers. During
1859 twsnty-one missions were held in ten
different dioceses. In 1890 twsnty-one
missions were also held scattered over thir-
teen dioceses. The work has extended
from Massachusetts to Chicago, and from
Albany to Virginia, and to Kentucky and
Montana.
The mission closed Yesterday with SER
vices IN the morning, u talk to men at 4 p.
m. and an evening service at 1880. Mr..
C~arstensen's visit was much enjoyed by
the parish. He is a bright talker, a man Of
about 10 years of age, with n pleasant al
dress. At the evening services he took his
text from Luke viii-45: "Who touched
me!' The words of the text are from 1t,
Luks's account Of the healing Of a woman
With an issue OF blood. The miracle was
wronRht ut CapernauW. while our Lord WAS
on his way TO the house Of Jairus, where the
daughter of the ruler Of the synagogue Law
dead. Ihe woman mad seen how others
had been healed Ly his touch. aud she con-
cluded that the same efficacy would be i'm
parted to her If she would touch Him. Her
faith was imperfect, and yet in its essence
most true. 1t was illogical, and yet, in it's
nature, strong. There Was nothing magical
in our Lords garments that they should
impart healing to any who might touch
them; nor yet was there anything in His
mere bodily person which would cure any
or all who came into physical contact with
Him. Turning about, he inquired, who
touched me?" As ons of the old fathers
said, 1.-THE multitudes thronged Him, but
the woman touched" Surely it was not
strange that the disciples, noting the undue
Jostl1ng OF the people, should say. Thou
seest the multitude throneing Thee and
sayest Thou Who touched me?'" But
there was that in the touch of the thin.
wasted hand of a woman weakened by years
of illness which WAS different from the con-
:act Of all the rest. Immediately He felt it
and then went out from Him. in response.
that virtue which made the longtime suf-
ferer feel in her body that she
was healed of that plague. It might
be interesting to follow out the
whole mystical Interpretation of this
woman's complaint represents the ever flow
ing fountain of sin. how the physicians
who could do her no good represent the
wise ones Of the world, with all their man
made p~hilosephies; how touching Christ's
garment represents the belief in his iucar-
nation nv which He first fnurho1 III. n,3 r..
enabled also to touch Him: but it il this
last point. Last Sunday we saw how God
stopped and touched man: let us see how
man rises and touched God.
1t is q merciful thing for US whose spiritual
eves are so blind, and whose spiritual ears
are SO deaf. that the bodily senses are made
II means Of carrying the knowledge of the
eternal realities to our souls. Il say this
with a full appreciation Of the danger and
abuses OF a reliance upon mere e~xternals as
q means and channel of grace, and with
full consciousness Of the vanity and empti-
ness of all systems in which the
hem of the garment and the touch of the
finger. are apt to take the place which the
heart OF the wearer and the grasp of faith
should hold" Still these things. while sec
ondary in themselves, are means and chan
nels by which things of primary importance
are conveyed to us.
The Incarnation did not cease with the
Ascension, and Christ is no less really pres |
emit on earth now than He was before the
cloud received Him out of the sight of the
apostles on Olivet: nor is II less possible
for us to touch Him than for the woman
who bathed His feet with her tears: or the
traitor who gave Him a betrayer's kiss: or
the apostle whose head was pillowed on His
breast. There is such a complete inter-de-
pendencs between our bodies and our spirits, !!
such a constant interplay of the emotions OF
one with those of the Other, that there must
DO approached BY the bodily t senses rnas
or He will not be reached by the
spiritual faculties. An excess of
ceremonial produces Journalism; but the
function Of faith. This truth is asserted in
the t~ranscendent importance attached to
the sacrament of Christ's body and blood.
1t Is equally true. as in baptism, that in the
holy communion we touch Him.
There is something deeply pathetic in
Christ's condescension. as we'll as some
thing profoundly mysterious in the insti-
tuition OF thia sacrament. 1t was near this
end of His earthly career. He was going
away and they could not follow Him vet.
For three blessed years His disciples had en-
joyed His sacred presence. and felt the in
spring power of His words. They needed
no memorial of Him as long as He was
with them and they could touch Him. And
SO he not only promised them the Holy
Ghost to dwell in their hearts. but left
tueIn y FisiDio pledRe OF HIS own presence
also in the holy communion. And now
when we think they we're such common Gle
ments RS bread and wine which Christ thus
consecrated to be the means by
which We might draw near unto
Him and become partakers OF His
life, is there not in this fact the strongest
evidence that other material things are
made avenues of access to Him also? 1t is
a very deep and universal instinct of hu-
mainly which seeks to embody abstract
qualities III truths in some tangible symbol.
Thus an anchor is made to represent hope:
the cross is the visible emblem Of Christi
anity: 8 pillow has but ono meaning, rest.
Tho greatest creations of genius are those
which represent in marble, or on canvass.
or in music, some quality, or fact. or senti-
ment, in a manner which impresses 1t upon
the bodily senses. and through them upon
the mind and heart.
Jesus Christ touches us, and in n certain
sense we touch Him also. But tine manner
Of the touch varies. The woman with tho
issue Of blood touched Him that she might
be healed. Her object WAS a selfish one.
when de sat in the house of
simon. the Pharisee, He suffered
the poor. outcast Magdalene to
Hnnoint Him with ointment very precious
and to battle His feet with her tears. simon
thought 1t was the touch of pollution, but
Jesus saw in it the touch of pe~nitence and
love. Judas kissed Him in G~ethsemane:
that was the touch of hypocrisy. The sol
disrs scourgsd and smote Him: that was the