The Portland daily press., 1895-08-12
ST. LUKE's CATHEDRAL.
A Plea For the Fresh Air Fund by Rev.
Dwight Galloupe.


At st. .Lukes' Cathedral yesterday Rev.
Mr.. Galloupe preached deeply interest
ing sermon from Mark vi, 31.-"Com-
ye yourselves apart into a desert place a
and rest awhile" The word desert
suggests some wide Sahara mostly filled
with drifting sands and moaning winds
and strewn with the whitening bones OF
the dead. The Greek word, however,
which in the text is translated "desert"
does not involve this popular conception.
1t means a deserted place. Christ did
not invite His disciples into wilderness
of rock and sand and dead mems bones,
but rather into one of those quiet wales
for which Palestine was famous, wherein
flower lit fieGs, under shady trees, beside
shining ssteams. they might "re st
awhile -
The disciples had just returned from
missionary journey and they told their
enthusiastic story the watchful eye of Je-
sus noted their weariness He realized
how entirely they had been devoting thier
energies to the welfare of others and that
now the time had come for them to think
of their own welfare, SO He invited them
to take vacation and it is evident from
the text that His idea of holiday was
not to get into crowd, but to get out of
| it.
| am thankful that we are coming to
learn that Jesus cared for mems bodies
as we'll as their souls His mission was
NOT only to tell men about the nature, but
to make present life full of joy and peace.
If He saw multitude of hungry men he
fed them even though it took miracle.
Did the wine give out at the wedding
He made water into wine rather
than have his host suffer embarrassment.
His miracles stretch like a golden chain
from Cana to Calyery, ever lifting sub
merged humanity into a higher life, into
deeper conception of 1.-THE life that now
is.
Christ performed His miracles not
simply to draw men together that He
might preach to them. They were not
like the bells we ring to attract hearers to
the sermon. A deeper meaning underlay
them. He would have men realize the
worth of present existance. / am glad
that the old Puritanical conception of
this world, as vale of tears, a wilder
ness of woe, prison house of Satan, is
passing away. and that we are coming to
realize that. Christ purpose was to glor-
ify the here as well as the hereafter. He
declared that mans duty is summed up
in two commandments, a. love to God
and (2) love to our neighbor, and He
spent good part of His time elnphasiz-
ing the second.
If we don't love our neighbors now we
need not dream of doing it a million of
years from now. If we don't strive to
make our present life happy we need not
hope for anything better in the world to
come.
A happy today is the surest sign of a
happy tomorrow. A helpful. joyous,
earthly life is tho surest prophecy of a
happy heavenly life. o, when will men
come to see how inseparably the Christ is
bound up with our present existence ssas
well as with our destiny in some far-off
Paradise.
Jesus Christ is not vague chimera,
a theological proposition, mere tempor-
ary, heavenly guest, whose aim was to
make men discontented with mundane
! life and to incite in them a desire to die
and go to heaven as soon as possible.
All, no! He was the Christ of humanity,
} the Redeemer of all life, the voice of
God telling man not only the splendor OF
the past and the glory of the future, but
[as.weu the majority and possibility Of
, today.
Jesus Christ is an eternal fact in hu
manities progress. His relation with us
did not begin at Bethlehem nor Eend Oh
Calvary. He has always been in the
, world, all history is His autobiography.
All literature His effort to utter Himself,
/ all art the expression of His beauty, all
religion the breathing of His soul, all the
i ages His successive footprints He is botl
visible and invisible. Visible in all that
, is divine in antiquity, visible in the sol
of man, visible in the organic life of the
church, invisible as the God power which
is forever .1naking for righteousness il
man and the world.
Lou only WOuuer WndG all Un1S mas UC
do with the text, g" Come ye and res
, awhile. There is a closer connec tio1
} than mayrat first appear. I have bee1
emphasizing the vital relation between
Christ and our present world and life.
The text 1 have taken as striking illus
tration of his interest in the welfare o
men while yet on earth. We would no
have the desoiples = SO taken up will
things of the next world that they ne
elected the comforts of this world. H
taught them the holiness of holidays
the sacredness of recreation. There is
practical application suggested by this
text This is the season when a grea
t many people are in one respect if in n,
other initiating the Apostles of God
Q They are leaving the towns and going ou
into the country to ''rest awhile.
| This is we'll Christs blessing rest
upon we'll earned vacation today as ev
or hrt il ic a sad potoriouS factEtbat of