The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-23
Rev. R. H. Shaeffer, the New Pastor
Of tbs Grand Street Metho-
dist Church.
Greeted Very Warmly by q Large
Audience IN His First APP
poaranoe.
An Able and Instructive Discourse on tho
Kevolution OF thu world by Christian-
ity-Ias Aksnts.

Nev. IL, II. Shaou0f, tue now pastor O.
the Grand street Methodist Episcops
church, preached his first sermon in Hslen
yesterday morAing. MIR. Schasfer came t
Helena from the Kansas City conference
succeeding the Rev. MIR. Price. Tho rscel
tion rendered Mr.. Schasffer Sunday was
most lattsring one. He took for his text
Matt. %: 1919. And Jesus came and spsk
unto them. saying: "All power is given unto m
in Heaven and earth. so W. therefore. and teao
all nations"
The peculiar feature Of the divine plal
for the upbuilding Of his kingdom and tn
advancement OF his cause on the earth wa
the selection OF n large majority OF tn,
apostles, and an equally large per cent Of
his disciples. from the humber walks Of
life. In human plans and improvements
the opposite course is pursued, and the
great and learned and socially influential
are irst sought and a following expected
from the prestige and power that human
greatness gives. The reason given by the
apostle Paul for this peculiar plan is that
God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world to confound tire wise, and the weak
things to confound the things that are
mighty" and that this treasure the
commitment of the Rosrel-"is to earthen
vesseis'-that 10. to m~en. "that the excel
lency of the power may be of God. and not
of men,"
The progress of Christianity has ever
been q wonder to thoughtful. men. The
fact that twelve men, taken from the low
est walks OF human life. and from the
most ignoble c~allines. notwithstanding the
world. and moving With giant strides in the
face of armed mulitudea. whose ~prejudices
~ 49, r~l v.~Ao s~
grained in moral constitutions, can only be
accounted for npon the ground of the su-
pernatuFal. Napoleon Bonapare was tho
wonder Of the eighteenth century. Rising
from comparative obscurity to the com
mand of an almost invincible army, he be-
came master of almost the whole OF Europs.
But. we are to consider two things in this
case. First, he was a genius of rare abil-
1ty. intense activity, and unbounded am
bition. From his early youth. even IN boy
hood, the bent OF his mind was toward en-
cheering and military tactics. Second.
the conditions OF European countries were
peculiarly oppressive. Misrule, with pow
erty and wretchedness among the masses,
had prepared the popular heart toward re-
volt, and consequently they were prepared
to follow a gifted leader anywhere to what
they believed was liberty.
In my Judgment. Oliver Cromwell, in his
life and accomplishments, presents greater
phenomenon than Napoleon. ForsakinR
his pillow and oxen. coming from the most
dsspised class in all the realm of England,
with an Indifferent education. he rises to a
throne. and becomes in less b Il decade
the most potent and feared monarch in all
Europe. But his problem may be solved
when we consider his invincible courage,
his religious fanaticism, and the conditions
hat existed in the commencement Of his
career. England had been ,uled by kings
who had usurped authority. e1torted IN
just taxes, and laughed at the protests Of
their subjects. The people had seen their
noblest fellow citizens imprisoned. robbed
and murdered before their eyes, the magma
charta of their rights absolutely ignored
and scorned. and the i~nalienable rights of
the Trainers disregarded, until in utter
despair they were ready to follow their
brave leader to death or victory.
But when We come to consider these
Gallilean fishermen, who were to overtntn
the world aud revolutionize governments,
We find the conditions all reversed. The
Roman government, strong In the affection
of the people, priding themselves on their
superior lea ming; the Jewish nation con-
que,ed ~civiiiy:, bat with deeply rooted
prejudices in their ancient faith, and with
men to lead in this moral revolution that
were ignorant and poor and without even
the necessary requirement of courage. and
yet in a brief period of time the world had
become their followers. and were as they
in nhme.
The economics of God in the salvation of
the world, by the redem ption Of Christ and
the proclamation of the gospel, has been a
stumbling block and offense to many in all
ages. II Christ ia omnipotent as he claims,
shy did he not, in creating man, make him
impeccable? Why create n being who could
fail, and who, in falling. would entail such
sorrows. involve such cost in his recovery? |
reply briefly, that be created a mos al being,
a free agent. He could not Lave created
him otherwise without involving TN ab-
surdlty. The great bard, in his wonderful
poem on the creation. makes God to say:
/ made him just and right.
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall,
Thus l have created all etrheiai powers:
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
We are met with another objection. "If
Christ is omnipotent, why did he not
make his gospel iuvincible and independ-
emit of mans agency? Why, when llnger-
ing on Olivet waiting for the bright cloud
and the heavenly chariot did he not say to
the winds:
Watt. watt ye my story.
And you ye waters roll,
iii like a sea OF glory,
ltsDread from pole to pole.
Why make the momentous issue depend-
emit upon tie fesble agenoy of man? 1 do
not know. | only know that just before
his ascension he committed this great
work of spreading the gospel to his dis
clples and their successors. and we NAV not
question the authority, nor refuse obedi- |
ence to our captain. The truths of the
gospel are to be preached md taught.
First. because they standardized to human
Needs as no other system stands. A very
superficial study OF human plans and re-
ligions will reveal the fact that they do not
meet human wants. After centuries of de-
votion to the Koran and the teachings of
Confuclus, the heather il heather still.
bowling to idols and cropping in darkness of
superstition; woman i'll a bondage more
G uel than African slavery, degraded below
the line OF brutes, her birth n misfo, tune
and her life u horror. Controlled.by SUPER
stItlous fears she sacrifices. with a breaking
heart and teal-diD,med eye, her own Off
spring. hears its last scream of agony. and
returns to her deso!ate home. only to sink
deeper IN crime, and drink more deeply
from the clp of woe. The gospel reveals
God as the father of his creatures,
1t enliRhtens the mind and satisfies the
cravings OF the heart. and reveals the i'm
mortal home TO the homeless, and eternal
life after death. 1t lifts woman from the
depths of slavery to the most exalted dig
NIFTY and crowns her queen of homo and
mistress of hearts.
Ihe demand of the modern "voman's
rights woman" is fatieuing in tho ex-
treme, as it is also an insult TO God. Ne
hear her upon the platform, with abort hair
and We pity the blind folly of her seeking |
to dathrone what God through his pospei
has enthr This power is the ciyiiizinp
agency of the world. We look upon our
own country and then Upon others, and
uotinu our auparinr aluoptanao S,l ST..