The Newtown bee., 1894-04-20
AT TRINITY CHURCH.
AN EXCELLENT SERMON BY REV MIR LINS-
 LEY.

The congregation at Trinity church en- joyed sermon of rare excellence on Sun- day, from Rector Linsley. He chose for his text, Gal. 6 @, And let us not be weary in we'll doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.'' Among oth- CT points the speaker brought out were the following: "Men nowadays are inn patient for results. They embark in new enterprises and a. c eager for immediate success. They put forth renewed efforts in various directions and expect them to prove instantaneously effective. There is great complexity in our modern life. There is an intricacy in manifold rela- tions between men of different occupa- tions and between those occupations and the men engaged in them. Our highly civilized life is of high tension. There is a rapidity of movement nowadays and hereabouts that would surprise our fore fathers of century or even a generation back. It is inevitable that these forces and these influences should creep into the church. The tendency to demand im- mediate manifestation of results affects the organized work of the church. Her members are prone to measure her suc- cess in any doubtful field of activity by the cost per annum for every convert to her fold.
 The day is also one of organi- zation. The tendency is to over-organ- ize. As one hand moves the engines valve and sets in motion and controls the movement of the train in which are many lives entirely in the hands of one man who guides them all to their destinat- ion; or as the pilot standing faithfully at the helm controls by his own judgement the movement of the ship and commands the assistance of officers and mates and shipmen, so in all organized charitable work. so also in organized Christian work the tendency is to set in motion a variety of charitable and Christian forces to ac- complish through individuals organized into societies the results wisely sought by one moving mind. But we are in dan ger of losing our individuality and so our individual responsibility in our highly developed corporate life. Science has never solved the problem of perpetual motion. There must be repeated appli- cation of power. There is resistance to be overcome. There must be force to surmount it. It must be applied at the right time and in the right place. So in the organized work of the church of Christ. There is friction to be counter acted or removed. There are adverse forces which no organization can ever reach. Here is where the individual has a place in our modern life and especially in the Christian church. It is only in the we'll doing of the individual that many influences can be counteracted among us. It is further true that in many cases it is only the persistence of the individual in well-doing that can ac- eomplish any result. Perseverance in we'll doing is positively our duty. Well doing is the real business of our life. But it is not always easy. Well doing re- quires effort. It is easier to do wrong than to do right. It is less difficult to be evil than to be good. The tendency to degradation can only be overcome by energy exerted toward improvement and advancement. We are all naturally more liable to yield to temptation than to resist them. Resistance requires watchfulness and care. There are in our nature mani fold sensibilities to pleasures of divers kinds, there are multitude of sensa- tions that are agreeable when gratified, there are various emotions easily arous- ed, but most often it is not the highest kind of pleasures, nor the holiest sensa- | tions, nor the purest emotions that we allow ourselves to experience. A little self denial is necessary to do right, and sometimes very much self denial is re. | quired. ssIt is so hard to do right,m we often hear it said; stso hard to be good. | Of course it is hard to do right always. | It is not easy to be good. It demand; effort. For where would be the virtue in goodness if it were an easy thing and came to our possession without effort It would not be worth the having. From the very nature of the case it is far easiel to be selfish than to be thoughtful oi others. It sets you on the basis of tru manhood or true womanhood to pu Il al i,,o oth m aral hx, fr,r 1x sympathetic But who has not felt tn
 better afte, performing some act of un
 selfishness? Does not self denial brin,
 with it real satisfaction? We are no
 made holy by the undue excitement of revival season, which is so often follow ed by consequent lethargy and inaction
 Those who have been confirmed by tn
 Bishop know too we'll that the enthusiasm
 they experienced during the confirms tion hour did not make them perfee
 saints. It was never intended to do SC
 The meaning of that rite was this: Ina
 the recipient was expected to be acknow
 edging before God and men his or her IT sponsibility to live life of holiness unt
 God by renewing the vows of baptism to renounce the devil and all his works
 the pomps and vanity of this wicke
 world and all the sinful lusts of th flesh. That was the requirement mad
 of the recipients of confirmation. An
 Gods part was to give the strengthenin
 power of His Holy Spirit to help the cal
 didate to accomplish that result. Yo
 know whether that result has bee
 reached partially CT completely.
 there is failure it is not Gods fault, it
 your own fault. Or, as the workma
 stands at his post day after day, or th
 clerk at his desk, and each does his al
 pointed task hour by hour and week
 week, 80 there must be continued al
 plication to we'll doing on the part of u
 Christian disciple. "Let us not be wear in we'll doing. '
 This admonition implies the need n,