The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-03-25
BEFORE MANY old FRIENDS
Rev. u. n. Stearns Preached in the
Green Ridge Presbyterian Church.
TWO LARGE CONGREGATIONS
Made Perfect in Weakness Is Possible,
lie Said. if You Accept the Instru.
mentality OF God and Let Him
BE Manifest in the Flesh.

In the Green Ridge Presbyterian
! church yesterday Rev. II. NJ. Stearns,
| of Germantown, formerly rector of
Grace Reformed Episcopal church of
this city, preached morning and even
inS. His morning topic was The True
Nazarite, or Separation unto God"
| His evening topic was "Worn Jacob, or
Strength Made Perfect in Weakness"
Each service was largely attended,
| but the evening was especially featured
by large audience composed of parish
oners and old, central city friends of
| Mr.. Stearns, which taxed the seating
capacity of the big auditorium.
Mr.. Stearns yenng discourse was
an argument der than sermon, as
the latter is tally interpreted. That
| he had lost ,ne of his oldday, tcchni-
cal biblical knowledge was shown dur
ing the discourse by his ready and fire.
| quent references to The Book
Soon after his Introductory remarks
he did not hesitate to tell his hearers
that he regretted to observe that they
| made SO few notes of the quotations
| he made from the Scriptures. He re-
marked that pencil and paper bore an
| important part in digesting and getting
| the benefit of religious dissertation.
| lie said in substance:
We Must he in sympathy.
1T is not upon any earthly instru-
mentality that we can find salvation.
| Instrumcntality and salvation are
linked together and if we refuse the
| one we lose the other. We must be in
| sympathy with the Lord and his pur-
| pose and be able to say amen as David
did.
Many persons take too much respon-
! sibility upon themselves in working out
| the purposes of the Lord. with them
! It is our this and our that. Let us
remember that our has nothing To dc
with it. 1t is His work. and unless we
| remember this point and work HIS pur-
pose with that fact in our minds we
shall indeed have hard time OF H.
He said ye shall not fail nor be uis'
couraged' We've got to fall into line
and say, Lord, l believe Thou wilt i'll
the earth with Thy glory, and then the
wurl. will be easier.
| "Who is the Lord? He is God mani
fest in the flesh yet We hear many Il
| man say, Yes, Jesus was q SoOd h'''''
| but He is not God Well, If that is so
then Jesus is bad because he would
have proved himself a liar in repeated
| " saying He was God. Such talk Is
nonsense, for it follows that man can
not believe In Jesus as a man or any
thing else. unless he believes his utter
ances-that He is God. our salvation
is based upon 1t because God Is mani
fest in the flesh.
Not TOO Insignificant.
"We must not think we are too in
| significant for this instrumentality-tc
be used by Him. He used woman
| literally. in Jonah's time. Surely He
can use us. This use, however, is based
upon the condition that we give Hin
the glory and fear not. Fear not.
What comfort there is in the words, anC
how often they are repeated from
| Genesis to Revelations. Fear not
thou worm Of Jacob He said.
1T Is merely a question Of placing
your hand in His and going forward tc
do His work. Let God be manifest in the
flesh of you, and through this instru
mentality you may do His work ant
not be conscious Of insignificance."