Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-29
THE CHURCHES.
FEATURES OF THE SERVICES
CELEBRATED YESTERDAY.
DR.. Crawford of Pasadena at the First
Presbyterian Church-Dr. Chichester's
Discourse-News Notes.

A most excellent sermon was listened
to by the worshipers in the First Pres
byterian church yesterday morning.
Rev. l.. p. Crawford of Pasadena
preached from the text, John IL :25 and
26, go. righteous Father, the world hath
not known Thee, but have known
Thee and t., ne have known that Thou
hast sent me. That the love wherewith
Thou hast loved me may be in them
and in them" He said The human
mind is incapable OF experimenting re-
ligious truth in its completeness. Only
the bare facts of such great spiritual
mysteries, such as the Trinity, can be
known by us. In me there is no greater
mystery than my own being, a mixture
OF spirit and matter. The text does not
assert atheistic but unbelieving ignor-
ance of God. The world does not know
God, not because it is impossible
but because it does not choose to. The
way to perfect if not complete knowl-
edge of God and Christian truth is
through Jesus Christ, who asserts in the
text his intimate knowledge of Him and
the power of imparting 1t. Christ was
accredited to men by His deeds OF mercy
and love seen in numerous miracles.
Thus certain of His authority to teach
men, l do not ask to put my fingers into
His side, since may drink in streams OF
love and eat of the mama from His
hand, Christ brought the infinite into
the sphere of the finite. God as it were
was thereby made sensible to the touch
of humanity. Could l give my only
child for the dearest friend on earth :?
Yet God did it. This love thus revealed
may bring God not only near us but into
our souls. We want heart contact with
Him, not intellectual. AS well tell
me a father may be known by his houses
and crops, as that God may be known
through nature. am concerned with
His heart. To that heart the text tells
man may enter through the open door,
Jesus Christ"
In the evening vigorous sermon was
delivered extempole, by DIR. Crawford,
from the words of Job: "How shall a
man be just before God?" His theme
was "Humanity's Plea Before the Judg-
ment Bar"
x*x
Yesterday morning the communion
was celebrated in the Emmanuel Presby-
terian church and Rev. DIR. Chichester
welcomed thirty-eight new members
into church fellowship. The sermon
was suggested by Christ's dying words
upon the cross: "It is finished" The
doctor spoke of the fragmentary charac-
ter of the average human life. He told
of Raphael's great picture of the trans
figuration-how the artist was still at
work upon it, when he died at the early
age of 81. And this is an illustration OF
human life at its best. 1t is always un-
finished, incomplete, die when we may.
But Christ could say of his life at its
close: 81 have finished the work that
Thou gavest Me to do )" and what life
it was-full of wonders, freighted with
responsibilities and involving the we'll
being of the race. And yet though
there was SO much thus crowded into its
brief thirty-three years, it faithfully ran
its course, achieved it's end and had a
full, rounded consummation.
But not only was Christ's earthly hte
thus finished the prophecies concerning
him were fulfilled. There is hardly a
chapter in the old testament that does
not speak of Christ. Poets, patriarchs,
prophets, all wrote of him, there being
more predictions concerning the last
twenty-four hours of Christ's life than
of any other equal period in the worlds
history, and every one of them was full
filled with exact and amazing precision.
1t was then shown how the words ut
is finished" applied to the old cere-
monial law and also how the Savior had
then filled up the full measure OF his
personal sufferings. The doctor stated
that he had once heard lecture by a