The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-04
HAVE KEPT THE FAITH.
A New Preacher at the Christian
Church on Benton Ave-
nue..
Rev. Charles Young, Of Ann Ar
Dor, to Deliver a Series
Of Sermons.
b varve Audience Grests MIR. Young 1t
HIS First Appearance In
Helena Pulpit.

b xarge Audience Greats MIR. Young 1t
His First Appearance In .
Helena Pulpit.
The Christian church OF this city. corner
OF Benton avenue and Hsmlock street, was
we'll filed yesterday morning to listen to
the first sermon of q series which Rev.
Charles A. Young, of Ann Arbor. Mich,
will preach during the present week and
the week following. At the close of the
servtos MI. Young spoke some earnest
words of encouragement to the congreQa-
ton. expressing his qualification at having
such y large and attentive audience to listen
TO the claims Of Christ and the church. He
said he desired each individual to choose
for himself in the light of Gods word
whom he would serve. Mr.. Young speaks
without manuscript or notes. has 4 fair
pulpit presence and an unusually excellent
delivery. He is evidently = stndent. His
sermon yesterday were thoughtful and able
discussions of practical themes. The text
was il. Tim. iv. q. II have fought a good
fight; I have finished my course; l have
kept the faith" Longfellow. our beloved
poet, tells US:
Life is real, life is earnest"
Pau represents life as a battle and In his
brief autobiography uses his ~favorite figure
of a fighting soldier. II have fought a
good fight" The first citadel to storm in
Christian warfare Is seltishness. Paul
knew he was a sinner. His pride persecut-
ing spirit must be subdued. Selfhood must
be absorbed in Godhead. Beloved we may
never gain the victory over the world and
the devil until like the great apostle We
buffet our bodies into submission to the
perfect law OF love. HE that ruleth his
spirit is better than he that taketh a city,"
In the second place, Paul fought man.
fully both against liberalism and licentious-
ness. 1t is difficult to avoid extremes. We
are apt to give our prejudioes free rein.
Some tr%aditionalists would worship the
devil il he came to them in the old rags of
custom, while some s~ensationalists will not
worship God because he is the same 'yes-
terday, to-day and forever" The freedom
of Paul was opposed by his Jewish Christian
brethren. Poor humanity reveres forms
Redeemer commanded his disciples to go
into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature" a miracle
was required to teach Peter that GOD is no
respecter of PERSONS" Misunderstood and
malt "ented, Paul fought a good fight for
there are eternal principles in the relations
between God and man. every age must
praise God with its OWL song. The sublime
dogmas of MEGA and Chaloedon were de-
manded by the conditions of the church in
those early stages of her heroic history but
the place Of the divine creed of the Chris
tendon. Jesus is the Christ, the son of
God"
On the other hand Paul was compelled to
oppose the speculative philosophy and Ii.
centiousness of the Greek converts. At
Ephesus, where he had labored so long. the
seeds of gnosticism were sown and faith in
tho personal Christ whose dignity and
glory fills all the space between God and
man vas obscured. In Corinth liberty was
pei verted into the grossest license. HUI
mainly is subject to extremes. 1t IA a con-
dition of progress. The struggle of Christen-
dom has been to avoid Scylla of tyrannical
tr~aditionalism and the Charybdis of licen-
tiousness in thought and life. The Catholic
and yet loyal character Of Paul, "the in
comparable thinker of Christianity" was u
moral miracle. Nineteen centuries of his
soldiers Words II have fought a good
fight" While Plato, the philosopher, lost
sight of the individual under tho autonomy
Of the state. Paul, the philanthropist, and
Jesus, his master, made individual person.
atty the corner stone both of church and
state. Filled with the Holy Spirit this d.
vinely taught soldier bowed his knee to the
authority Of God while be proclaimed the
liberty there is in Christ Jesus.
II have finished my COURSE" His was an
e~ventful career. His carly life was spent in
Tarsus. one of the three great university Oh
ties of the age. A Hebrew of the Hebrews. he
was eduonted at the feet of Gamaliel. "the
glory of tho law" Yet he was q Roman citi-
zen free born. This mastery man thus re-
ceived the Impressions Of three civiliza-
tions: the Hebrew with its monotheistio
faith. the Greek with its literature. and the
Roman with its laws. Popular. prominent.
powerful, even while a young man. he was a
p~ersecuting zealot until. while on the high
way to Damascus. Jesus appeared to him.
Now the whole current of his life is changed.
He becomes the bond-ssrvant of the
conversion is inexplicable," said one
Of the greatest ~rationalistio critics of
Germany ''unless the resurrection ia an nm
dubitable fact" His conversion is both
evidence of the divinity of Christ and Of
the divine mission of the church under the
guidance Of the Holy Spirit. He renowned
wealth. authority and the traditions of his
religion that in the confidence of an en-
laroed faith he might preach Christ and
him cruoifed. When he finished his course
the Roman populace may have said: Happy
Nero, WFetCn0u IAui,' OUT heavenly nO8tS
shouted. GLORIOUS Paul. execrable Nero!'
How noble the words, Neither count / my
life dear unto myself, 80 that l might
finish my course with JOY" Finally, IL
have kept the faith" Paul was no agnos-
tic. His words are: II know whom l have
trusted" Yet he walked by faith and not
by sight. The faith which he had kept was
personal faith in a personal Savior. There
was but one article in his confession OF
faith. There was but ono article in the
confession Of Peter; of all the apostles in
spired by the Holy Spirit. namely: Jesus
is the Messiah, the son of God" Around
thisc central truth of the Christian system
he found and proclaimed the fatherhoo1 of
of the Holy Spirit and the resurrection OF
the dead.
Stripped of metaphysical formulas, this
is the heart Of the great credal systems of
Athanasius and Augustine, Leo md Luther,
Calvin and Chalmers. The browning glory
of the Christendom of to-day is loyal trust
in the Goldman. This beloved ia our dis
tinctive plea-Christian unity through per-
sonal loyalty to Jesus, Gods sou, and mans
savior. Let US toll on. trust on. Let us
bear the CROSS hero; we shall wear a crown
over yonder. "Henceforth there ia laid up
for INT a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord. the righteous judge, shall give me at
that day; and not to me only, but unto all
them also that love his appearing"
Butcher * Bradley havo the incest limo OF
infants wear at lower prices than my Other
house in town.