The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-07-17
" WHAT IS THE TRUTH ?"
An Eloquent Sermon by Rev. A. C.
Bane Yesterday
Before His Old Practitioners at the
Seventh-Street South Metho-
dist Church.

dist Church.
Rev. A. c. Bane of San Francisco oc-
cupied his former pulpit yesterday at the
| Methodist Church South, and preached
to crowded congregation from John
| viii, y: And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make We free.'
This, said the reverend speaker, was
Christ's great emancipation proclama-
ton to an enslaved world. If it had been
minded, if proper attention and thought
had been given to it, the whole world
would to-day have been free.
He would never forget the sensation
produced on him when this message OF
God first met his eye at the top of the
peristyle on the occasion of his visit
to the white City"
1t stood out from among the other
quotations, distinct and alone, the most
prominent of them all.
We shall find its fulfillment if we wish
to do so and seek it. AS the thought came
to him on seeing it-"What is the truth?'
SO came the immediate response to the
unspoken question of his mind, God is
| truth"
Looking about him he beheld the
manifestations of truth = of God = for
truth cannot be hidden; it can not be shut
| up; 1t will manifest ITSELF You cannot
walk over the grounds at the fair and not
| see continually around you God and tile
manifestation of his works. 1t is written
all about you and meets you whichever
way you turn.
Man was made free, but by his own
work he became the servant OF Satan
his bondsman for all time. But God gave
His own Son, who undertook that by the
acceptance OF His sacrifice man should be
set free from bondage.
Strange to say. however, men have de-
MED Him and His mission. Learned
men have written and argued against,
one class OF philosophers teaching that
truth is the ultimate tact and others
teaching other doctrines.
Inc great pow er that sets men free said
the speaker, is the truth Of God-the
truth OF Jesus Christ.
The freedom Of mems bodies from the
control of their masters is great thing,
We shall hail the day when all men shall
be tree-free in soul. The power that sets
men free to-day is the same power that
broke the shack els OF Peter in the prison
and set him free, while the church was
praying tor his deliverauce-the power Of
God and OF Jesus Christ. That is the
power that sets the mind free If man
thinks of higher things, he owes it to the
ing, all that there is worth admiriug, all
that there is worth initiating at the
great lair, is the work of free people
made free by the truth of Christ Some
one has borne the truth to those natious
and to-day they stand free and elevated
The nations who are not free. not elevated
by the truth of God, have not one product
there worthy of admiration
We boast of our freedom of body, of
mind, and we do right and we glorify
God by it.
But the grander freedom-the freedom
of soul, OF spirit-the greater part of the
American people know nothing of; they
are not Tree in soul, and to-day they think
more of freedom of body and mind than
they do OF freedom of soul.
We feel to-day the weight of the chains
forged by hard master. 1t goes with us
through the day, and we go to bed at
night with the consciousness over us that
we are the victims OF the evil one.
What God wants and the world
wants to-day is a people free in soul
free from the bondage Of Satan. The only
free men in the universe are Gods sery-
ants.
You ask: How may know the truth
and be set free?'
We learn the truth by sacrifice 1t is
the only way. Christ was made perfect
by suffering. Ii we would be free. we
must share his lot, we must do as he did.
Suffering makes perfect those who are
tried in its crucible.
The nations of the world that are great
have become SO through suffering and
through trial.
We must sacrifice sin, however pleas
ant to US, II we wish to be free. We must
deny ourselves and give up all to God.
Inns IL f-o.
sacrifices seem little to us. You can be
sure that the man who talks about the
great sacrifices he has made for God has
made very little of real sacrifice. The
man who has made great sacrifices al
ways feels that he has made none that are
commensurate with the great gift that he
has received from God, and feels that ne
has done nothing to deserve the blessings
he has received. We must love God. we
must trust hlm-aS well in little things as
Ill great. When we are free we will obey
God and not question his ways, but do
his Will and work for him. We will want
to live for God, and not tor ourselves.
1t only required the signing OF the De-
clarati"n OF Independence to make the
colonies free, and the world reoiced for
them and with them. 1t only required
President Llncoln's pen and signature to
set free 100000 slaves held in bondage.
and to make this nation where no man
can De nencefOrtn DOndSman.
But how much greater is the liberty Of
the soul; and how much more cause for
rejoicing is there for those who have it.
To-day the prison doors are opened tor
you to walk out if you will. They are
opened by the hand through which the
nail was driven and that was pierced bv
its cruel wound. VIII you embrace the
opportunity to become free?
The intellect of the man made free and
whose shackles are thrown OFF, knows no
bounds, has no limit. The knowledge we
boast OF to-day is as nothing to be com
pared with what we shall have when ali
are set free and God shall open the
knowledge of the universe to those whose
eyes ana ears and hearts he has opened
by his sacrifice.
The speaker made a most impressive
appeal to those who felt that they wanted
to receive the freedom of the soul to come
forward. He wanted to take each Of them
by the hand and have them unite with
him III prayer.
A large number won't forward and
Joined with him in a most eloquent
prayer, which was preceded by singing.
in which the congregation Joined.
In the evening, MIR. Bane preached on
the subject of "A Comparative View Of
the Nations as Seen from a Worlds Fair
Standpoint"
BRADY AND RAND