Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-22


 to resist sin. For this reason some men | become hermits. These are the men who ] hide their lights under a bushel. Put | your light in a candle stick that men may | see 1t and be inspired to work for the | glory of God. Go into the market and
 show the world you buy and sell without | being dishonest; show them you can | practice law without being dishonest | Wherever you go let your light shine for | God Shining for God means more than
 personal inconvenience, it means labor, earnest and faithful
 | If the questions of labor, suffrage or l race are ever settled it will not be by the politicians, but by the churches of God. 1 Reconciliation will come about not by l influences of politicians, but by the in- 1 fiuences that go out from the pulpits of | God and through the newspapers and 1 good books. By some method We must I reach the oppressed and the oppresSor, | the disturbed and disturber We must
 not only look through the conditions; we l must see the causes that underlie and
 secure remedy for the same. Classes 1 to be reached with thSe influences are not
 to be found in the Sunday schools or in l the church on Sunday mornings. How to l reach them is the great question. Man will read what he will not sit down to
 hear. The remedy, then, is to have good 1 books and papers and good tracts 1 printed and sent among them..
 1 Dr. Hawthorne preached at the same 1 church again last night at 7:45 o'clock. St. Pauls Catholic Church. l The epistle and the gospel appropriate 1 to the day were first read, and then Fath- l CT Murray, after brief introduction on 1 the solemnities of the past week, eX- 1 plained the name which is given in the | ritual of the church to the day, Low Sun l day. The name reminded us of the fact l that although we would from time to | ta1 E1saff fffaf1 l from the Almighty, the chief portion of our life would be passed amid the hustle | of the world, fighting against vice and l temptation. We all know that we are | free in this conflict; that we have been | gifted with will free to choose sin or | virtue, but it is equally certain that sin l will be committed. Man is weak, worse | than weak, for he is also presumptuous | and relying too much upon himself he | will sometimes resign the strength | which lies in the right arm of the All | mighty and will find too late that he has 1 been leaning upon a reed
 1 Sin, unfortunate though it is, is noth- ing new in the history of the world. It | began with the first man. It lasted until l the coming of our Lord. It has lasted | ever since. It exists today, was yester- | day and will be tomorrow as today. Even | in the twelve apostles. Where, then, can | we hope to avoid it's sight? Judas be- | trayed his Master, Peter denied Him and l Thomas lost faith in Him.
 | { But woe to the scandal-giver; woe to | the sinner unless that same offended God l forgiveS him and receives him back into | the spirit of adopted sonship.
 l It is the consoling thought of the possi- l blity of this forgiveness that the church | puts before us today in the gospel and | epistle just read. Officially and solemnly | it announces to her children that Christ l gave power to His ministers to forgive | sin when He breathed upon them and said: Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose | sins ye shall forgive they are forgiven l them, and whose sins ye shall retain, 1 they are retained" xx 23. Thereby | promising to ratify in heaven the for | giveness bestowed by Him through men l on earth.
 Sin comes home to us as reality, and so must the forgiveness. It is too mo- | mentous question to be left to an ex- I cited imagination. What then can we | imagine more consoling to the sinner-to | the soul wishing to make it's peace with l God-than to hear from the lips of a | brother those sweet words: T forgive | thee," and to remember that that same | brother was commissioned by heaven to | go forth into the world and pursue l Christ's quests for the lost sheep, with this great promise, Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them"
 | Of course this doctrine has been denied I by many. What doctrine of Christ has
 
 l prophets, murdered their God incarnate, | slew His apostles and disciples, and think you that it will accept His teachings. l It is denied even by Christians, by | many good Christians who are unwit- | tingly led astray in the matter, but only | by a minority. Not one-third of the | Christians in the world deny this doc | Urine. But after all human authority | counts for little in this matter. Man can | not institute a sacrament. Pope, b1sh- ops. priests and faithful altogether could l not of themselves grant pardon for one I sin committed by man. God alone can do so, and it is on His word that we be- | leve Many no doubt will consider the | doctrine too good to be true. but 1t Is for these souls thirsting for grace that the church gives us as a preface the words | of St. Johns epistle: eff we receive the testimony of man the testimony of God is greater.'
 Everything that comes to us as the l word of God must be believed. and be- leved firmly; there must be no picking or choosing; we are not to believe to suit ourselves or because we understand, but because God, who is truth itself, who can | neither deceive or be deceived. has spoken. Here then is this divine com mission to chosen mem Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven" | What are those who deny this gift but men, mere men, millions or hundreds they still remain men; their authority | is human and against them must be l weighed the very words of God himSelf
 Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them.'
 First Presbyterian Church.
 The usually large audience was pres | ent at the First PreSbyterian church and