Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-07
DIR. ARTHUR'S SERMON
The Discourse Which Opened the
Ecumenical Conference Today.
THE CHURCH'S MISSION
The Divine Presence and Its All Illuminating
Power--Begeneration and Not Reconstruc-
tion-The Permanent Strength and Creden-
tials Of the Church.

Rev. William Arthur, NJ. A, and when it was
planned that he should attend the Methodist
ecumenical conference, no one but he sug-
gested as the proper person to deliver the
opening sermon. Unfortunately the great
preacher has lost that vocal power which
once was his, but that lamentable fact
was not permitted to interfere with the
program. for an arrangement was made with
the Rev. Thomas Bowman Stephenson, D. D.,
LID, by which that divine-president OF the
Wesleyan Methodist conference and a pulpit
orator Of the highest grade-shoud read the
sermon. The discourse. which was based upon
the appended text, was as follows:
Behold. and the children whom the Lord
hath given me are for signs and for wonders in
Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth
III Zion.-lsaiah viii: lS.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews these words
are directly applied to our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. and to that family of the sons of
God Of which he is the everlasting father,
while at the same time he is not ashamed to
call them brethren. As read in our text the
himself and his two sons. The name of one Of
these signifed the haste of the spoiler
descending upon the prey, and the name of
| the other the return Of q remnant from cap
tiyity.
The name of the father signi6ed the salvation
stood as the symbol of history in which ruin
| should indeed be incurred. but restoration
| should be brought in by Savior-God.
IL was in the evil time of King Ahaz. Fall
| had led to fall. sin had followed sin, and now
woe was treading upon the heels of woe. Judah
had been sorely smitten by the kindred nation
OF Israel, which had taken Syria into alliance,
and these two powers, united and victorious,
were about to lay siege to Jerusalem. openly
boasting that they would pull down the house
~ hsxr, a
Of Taheof. Having lost his faith Ahaz
could not smile at this threatening of the idola-
trous as vain breath because directed against
the promise to Judah of the scepter and law
given till Shiloah should come, and against The
promise to Daniel of line that should merge
IN the Kingdom that cannot be moved. The
backsliding king and his backsliding people
quailed and moaned before the peril, ana were
moved las the trees of the wood are moved
with the wind"
OUTSIDE THE GATES OF JAFFA.
Ahaz had gone outside of the Jaffa gate and
stood by the upper pool. Doubtless he had
with him his best engineers and chief captains.
contriving how to secure for the city during
the approaching siege its supply of water. In
sight rose the green peak Of Behi-Samuel the
monument mountain, evermore repeating to
Jerusalem the name of him who poured on the
son OF Jesse the amounting oil. On the other
side rose the tower Of David, the pinnacle point
OF Zion, that holy hill, which even then had
been made by David's harp forever memorable
Between these two objects, under the city WALL
stood the faithless son Of believing fathers; he
who publicly preferred to the God of Jacob the
god OF the Syrians, seeing that in fight that
people had prevailed; he who passed his chill
dren through the tire, who demolished the
affairs of God, who shut up the temple and cut
III pieces Its vessels and who set up idolators in
every corner of Jerusalem.
Leading his son, whose name said ''The
remnant shall return came the man whose
own name said salvation is of the Lord" Not
as a war captain did he come, nor as digni-
tary Of the court That man was he whose lips
had been touched with the coal from off the
altar; whose soul had resounded with the voice
OF the seraphim. crying, Holy, holy, holy"
To-Day, however, being dark day he came
to bring CLEANS Of hope. BE not faint
and shield. Syria and Israel might together
cry that they would set up king on Judah,
but as to this Saunting. thus saith the Lord,
| II shall not stand a sentence this which is
| eyermore repeated, and will be repeated ever
more, as to all counsel taken, and all purpose
| formed to cut of the line Of the Messiah of
God or that Of his seed or his seed 8 seed for
| ever.
The prophet then directly challenges the
king to ask for sign, to ask it "either on the
depth or on the height above" for he was not
there as the messenger of a God Of the noun
| talns nor of a God OF the waters. bat of one
whose word bore sway higher up than the
stars and deeper down than the .roots of the
| hills. Ahaz, nike typical politician, wells his
thought under a fair pretense. He indeed
would not tempt God by asking for a sign.
Thus shrinking back the king is no longer
addressed as an individual, but as representing
| the line Of the promised. seed. House of
David. cries the voice fired by the altar coal.
House OF David-the Lord himself shall give
you sign; behold virgin shall conceive and
| shall bear a son. and call his name Emmanuel"
So, then. the seed OF the woman il to arise and
| not as a merely human prophet, priest or king
| but AS God with us, who shall Join together In
one the nature of man and that of God.
TIE NAME OF EMANUEL
The all significant name of Emmanuel once
uttered is soon repeated. Ahaz indeed hoped
| to defeat the alliance of Damascus and Sama-
ria by himself joining in alliance with the
/ mightier Sinevah. But this resort would be
vain and would only bring on heavier calamity
The prophet, us If pointing to the hidden
| waters gliding noiselessly In the aqueduct, and
| with them contrasting the rage of swollen
| rivers, told that they who refused the waters
| of Shilooh should see a headlong flood. From
| the Iigris, across the Euphrates, would sweep
| the power of Assyria: it would swallow up
Syria and leland, passing onward, would 'fill
| the breadth Of thy land, y Immanuelr' The
/ church. having once caught that name. takes it
/ up and makes it the keynote of defiance which
Il
is formed against her. Let the kings set them
| selves; let the rulers take counsel; when di-
rected against her perpetuity and increase their
| rage shall be as passing storms against mount
, ain. Associate yourselves. o We people, and We
shall be broken In pieces; grid yourselves, and
We shall be broken In pieces; take counsel to-
| gether, and II shall come to naught; speak the
word, and il shall not stand; for God is with
Us" Mark! this fortitude is not OF calculation,
but OF faith. The confidence that solid hosts
snail be put TO rout, that deep plans shall be
frustrated, that proud words shall fall to the
ground 10 felt not because the men OF Judah
are many, or brave, or resolute: not because q
| hero leads them, q prophet teaches them or a
Psalnlst makes music for their march-but be-
| cause of one short reason, God is with us. On
the lips Of a belieTing church the name of her
soul is both melody and thunder. IL is soon
after the words last mentioned that come
those of our text, in the course OF
| an earnest eNhortation against seeking other
deliyerer than the Lord alone or other oracle
than His holy word and testimony. Aud as the
ever-recucring expectation OF the coming I'm
manuel sws.is higher. outbreaks the strain
! which is so familiar to our faith and JOY:
| Unto us child Is born unto US u Son is given.
and the government shall be upon His shoulder
and Ills name shall be called Wonderful Coun-
seller, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father
the Prince of Peace" The light shed upon
these prophetic expressions by the Epistle to
| the Hebrews enables Us 10 see our Lord, and
with him the men whom the Father has given
10 him out OF the world. standing as the sign
that there Is among men q cd and Saviour