The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-06-04

ment Of the service the hymn.
"Arglwyddgwna fl yn Fwy Awyddus,"
was sung to the tune, "Gwaed y Groes,"
which is known all over the world and
will make the author, William Owen,
PrysgoD celebrated as long as tho
language endures.
The other hymn, mi Thro' by Wy
neb Etc n OF is we'll known too, and
can be recited by almost every church
going child in Wales. The singing
WAS characterized by the hearty IN IN.
ner essential to the sons and daughters
of Waits.
The venerable divine in taking his
text selected the first and second verses
in the second chapter of the first epis-
tie Of st. Peter: Wherefore laying
aside all malice and all guile and by
pocriciea and onvies and all evil speak
ihgs, as new born babes desire the sin
cere milk Of the word that We may
grow thereby" In %discoursing upon
the text in Welsh he commanded the
absorbing interest of his large audience
with his sermon, of which we give q
synopsis
LlKENED TO A BABE
He explained that In entering q
house where we saw q group of chill
dren playing on the hearth we would
ere long observe that tho youngest and
weakest Of the group would be the cen.
trail figure, Every action Of his would
be noticed, every move watched, and
every care shown. His emile would
cause pleasure ali around, and soon we
would say, Here is the King of the
HEARTH"
The little one, therefore, was a most
important factor In the family, and
connected with him was the important
question of the development of his
strength. his physical bulk, his intelli-
genc4. Surprising the little babes did
not grow, what would become % the
world! And this. said the preacher, is
The burden of my text, "The growth of
the babe;' but this is n spiritual baba,
y babe in Christ, in whom the new life
has just begun. Every mar knows that
there are three things absolutely essen.
tial to the growth of the baba-1, food ;
2, appatite; 8. health.
There are things which the text tells
US are necessary to the growth OF the
spiritual babe and here is the food.
The sincere milk of the word and the
appetite" as new born babes desire"
and the health" which is the basis of
appetite "being a spiritual life laying
aside all malice, guile and hypocrisy
md clearing the constitution Of MI
these moral diseases there will be found
a condition of health and the spiritual
appetite.
THE THREE ELEMENTS.
The food the preacher remarked was
the sincere milk of the word and there
were three matters connected with it.
Take WORD. 1.-THE word is described as
milk'and the milk is said to be ''sin-
cere. the food is ''the word" then the
question comes whose word" consti-
tutes the spiritual food.
We need not go far to find the source
of this word. In the last verse of the
preceding chapter we have the express
sion. THE word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the word which BY
the Gospel is preached unto you," and
as new born babes, therefore, desire
this word,' the word which by the
Gospel has been preached unto you, is
none other than the word of the Lord
which endureth forever. If we look a
little further back in the same chapter
this word is represented by another ex-
preston, being born again not cor
ruptible seed but i~ncorruptible by the
Word Of God"
Here then we have this word Of
Christ declared to be q divine word, and
IA fact to be noted here is that this
word in this verse is declared to be q
seed" THE seed Of the new life."
Hence the same word which gave tho
life becomes the means OF its nourish-
ment, and If We went back another
verse we find the same verse described
by another term. seeing We have
purified your souls in obeying the
truth" This same word then is the
word of the gospel, which gospel is the
word of God, "the TRUTH" then the
spiritual life must be fed with the
Truth. Then again we are told that
the word is milk" that is, there are
truths in the gospel suited to babes and
we are also to notice that this milk is
emphatically declared to be sincere"
l. e., the genuine article.
SINCERE BECAUSE IT IS TRUTH.
1t is sincere because it is truth. The
reverend preacher then proceeded to
deal with the term in the following
manner: that this was the food within
the spiritual sphere and not maternal.
but which suited the mind or the in
tellect or. said he. lit is one OF the
eternal realities" and everything else
Is but n mere shadow. Hence we
note that it is declared Of it that as
the word of the Lord endureth for
ever" 1t is food which never deterlor-
ates.
Leaving then the first part we come
to the appetite. We have observed
What is suggested as spiritual appetite.
There must be craving for this
In the new born life. We must
emphasize the words of Christ,
AS new born babes desire" Hunger
In the new born babe is an in
stinct OF its young life, so therefore the
desire for spiritual things must be an
instinct in spiritual life. This instinct
or this natural craving depends upon
the health or the ~soundness or tho avs.
tenn, and II the babe turns away from
its milk 1t is n sure indication that
there is something wrong with its little
system. II men lack this instructive
craving for divine things it proves the
existence in their spiritual elements
Of something morally wrong. There
must be no malice or guile or hypoc.
risy or envy or evil speaking" which
ma RS the spiritual palate.
REMNANTS OF THE OLD MAN.
These elements OF moral disease are
the remnants of the old man; then WIN
should they appear in tbs young babe
How inconsistent it would b. for n
child Of Of u few months old to display
the habits aud amer OF an old man
OF sixty, ~ondeavoring to prattle an ole
mans vulgarisms or worse expressions.