The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-06-16


Address by Dr. Carpenter-The Right
Hand of Fellowship Extended by DR..
Merrill. 0 s.-'k
The council of Congregational churches
called for that purpose having met yes
terday afternoon, and after the usual
formalities, declared the fitness of the
Rev. DR.. j. L. jenkins, he was last even
ing formally installed pastor of State
Street church. A large audience was
gathered to witness the installation and
listen to the addresses. Upon the plat
form stood pots of lilies and ferns and
daisies of the field. After the organ vol
uHtary and the anthem, II VIII Extol
Thee" the council reported through it's
moderator and clerk the Rev. Edwin P.
Wilson and the Rev. Dwight M. Pratt,
its official action of the afternoon, Mr..
Wilson opening the services and Mr..
Pratt reading the records ofthe council,
convened pursuant to letters missive.
The service of responsive reading was
led by Rev. Matt S. Hughes Of the Chest
nut Street Methodist church, Psalm
cxlv being selected. The Rev. A. III.
Wright of st. Lawrence Street church,
offered 4tbe invocation, whiclI was fol
lowed BY hymn 81 ssa ss u
The installation sermon was preached
By Rev. DR.. Franklin Carter of Williams
town, Mass, from John x-4: "He calleth
his sheep by name and leadeth them
out" In the recognition of it's peculiar
life and needs by a higher power there is,
said the speaker, comfort for every
soul. Coming into the world
not by its own choice, not de-
termining for years, except in a
very small degree, its own environment,
even in manhood subject to strange hap
penings, and never fully escaping the
pressure of limitations and evil tenden-
cies to which it is heir, how constant the
longing, how passionate at times, how
pathetic always, the desire for help, es-
pecially in the struggle for moral excel
lence! Nv
Modern society does not answer this.
desire; does not tenderly call the strug-
Cling, the timorous. the degraded by
name, but by many of its. influences tends
to obliterate conscience which is tie SUI
preme personal element, ITO form mere
wheels of the great social machine in
stead of perfect individuals. ~ assg & 4
The answers givenby modern science
to the questions whence and whittier
tend to the erasure of personality. No
problem has been studied with more en-
ergy during the last four decades than
that relating to the origin of man. The
subtle relations existing between various
classes of organisms have had a new and,
science claims, a final Interpretation. By
vast movement beginning in remote
ages, it is asserted, germs of potency
have issued i'll higher and higher organ
izations, until, as the highest outcome
thus far in the series, man stands forth
in the present perfection of modern civil
ization. i9Ff 17hSs7A II
Nor can there be any doubt that not
merely the partial identification of man
with lower organisms, but also the va
rious steps in the process of develop
ment, especially the operation of the law
it is claimed the elimination has been
reached and which give significance to
the whole movement have tended to
awaken in man a feeling of helplessness
and impotence, and thus to eliminate
manhood.
Far different is the way inMhich
Christ deals with the race which He
came to help to, Improvement, and the
first striking faet3is that He deals in His
efforts to assist with individuals, not
with masseS He educes, does not de-
press individual loyalty. He calleth His
own sheep by Nance s6 ~ = &,
And the issue. of the influence of
Christ's doctrine and .of that Of evolu-
ton are very different. Christ calls by
name to the, breaking away from enyi-
ronment, to an escape from hereditary
evil, to the uplifting of the moral powers
to God, to the saving of the soul, assert
ing that TT will not profit a man if he
gain the whole world, /" and have no pur-
ity, or love, or faith. Evolution keeps
man embedded in nature, makes gains
for the physical powers adaptation to
the environment, and pleasure, and eff
cheney for the social organism, it's goal.
BUTT insist on the. transcendent gran
deur of moral life, to awaken persons to
an appreciation of that grandeur, to give
them perfect ideal, to help them to re-
alize that ideal, to remove, not to solidi-
fly, the effects of the actions of previous
evil generations, in word redemption
and regeneration is the end for which
Christ calls by name.
1t was not the survival of the fittest,
but that of the most unfit that he pro-
claimed. Pnblicans and harlots, Martha
and Mary, rather than fasting, tithegiv-
ing but proud Pharisees. He called by
name.s Fishermen and blind men, rather
than emperors and kings-Jehn and
Bartimeus, rather than Nero and 4Herod.
Nothing can be in director opposition
than the Two elements, the honor paid to
the strong by the evolutionary conception
and the pity of the Christ. se-6 II
It's grinding memorable force on the
one hand; limiting, atomizing. man. On
the other it is tender pity, invisible love,
charging his nature, and opening chan
neis for new activities, exalting his per-
sonality. Love is not less force that it
is the force for the education and en-