The herald., 1895-05-06
PREACHERS AND THEIR TEXTS
Sermon at St. Johns Episcopal
REVERSIONS IN RELIGION
To Study and Live Christ Is Very
Hard
6ible Reading Concerning the Vine and
Its Branches at the
Y. M. c. A. Hall
REVERSIONS IN RELIGION

Rev. B. W. r. Tayler, rector of st.
Johns Episcopal church, took his ser
mon yesterday morning from st. John
Is. 5, l am the Vine; ye are the
branches.
Our blessed Savior, in speaking of him
self to his disciples. employs variety
of tigurative expressions to describe the
relationship between himself and his
church, or between him self and each one
of his faithful followers. such as the good
shepherd, the living water, the bread OF
life, and the vine, the latter being prob
ABLY the most expressive and forcful OF
all the types The significance of the
vine to the Jews was sacred in its mean
ing, The oneness OF the vine and the
branches is true and perfect illustration
of the oneness existing between Christ
and the individual Christian soul.
There are many points, however, in
connection with this discourse of our
kord which convey warnings as we'll as
blessings. Every branch in me that
beareth not fruit lie taketh away"
Every branch that beareth fruit He
purgeth that it may bring forth more
fruit" The fruit of the vine is the grape,
the product of the grape is wine, and it
was after our Lord had instituted the
holy eucharist, using bread and wine as
the material elements, that He told His
them as His body and His blood. There
is meaning in this which makes us
know that the holy eucharist is His own
appointed means of feeding us with that
spiritual life which comes from Him. 1t
is to Him. and to Him only, that we
should look for our salvation.
Unity Church
At the Church of the Unity the pastor,
J. S. Thomson, preached a sermon upon
Conversions and Reversions in Morals
and Religion, from the text: ''If any man
be in Christ he is new creation. -
Second Corinthians, 5:17.
Occasionally in the vegetable and AMI
nal Kingdoms we see reversions to ances-
tra peculiarilies. Sometimes a child is
very different from his brothers and
cousins; but these peculiaritles belonged
to some distant ancestors.
Mormonism is reversion to the polyg-
amy of ancient paganism, as seen in the
lives of Jacob, David and Solomon. Free
love is revereion to the sensual condi-
tions of criminals. kleptomania is the
expression of an Inheritance from some
stealing ancestor. The tramp is tran
sient phase of ancient organized
highwaymen. Some morbid people in
our day initiate Abraham, Jeph-
the, Ahaz and Manasseh, and
and offer up their children after murder
ing tnenl. Inc strongest pea LOT FlVl'
section is that valuable information may
be obtained for the medical profession.
The god of science will confer favor
upon us if we torture and kill a living
creature. Theosophy is a reversion to an
ancient Hindoo doctrine that every soul
has to live several earthly lives, doc
trine that progress left behind it thou
sands OF years ago.
There are cases OF converted pagans re-
vertng from Catholic influences to pagan
ism, of Protestants reverting to Rome, of
Puritans reverting to Episcopacy. of LIB
erals reverting to conservatism.
Christ is the highest type of man. The
conversion of the world to this type is
slow and painful. The backslider is the
rule, the people who are faithful to death
are exceptions Chrlst's religion is very
hard. 1t demands unselfishness. self
sacrifice, life of conservation to the
highest ideals. 1t is easy enough to be-
lieve Christ to make NOISY profession;
but to live Christ, to study and live his
doctrines, is very hard.
1t is easy enough to consent to the
statement that Christs merits pay off
Adam s sins, that Christ can be made to
suffer for any cruel towards crimes, that
hell is eternal and for the many. but we
can escape it that the devil is very wise,
but we can cheat HIM out of his just
means Of the theological bank
ruptcy act. According to this
plan. God is smarter cheat than the
devil; and that is about all the difference
there is between them. He'll is reality,
both here and hereafter. and no one can
escape the due rewards of his SIM and
Gods forgiveness and mercy are mani
tested in the blessed fact that suffering
teaches sinners and purfies their lives.
The powerlessness of the orthodox hell
consists in the fact that any cowardly sin.
ner can escape it by protesting that
it is right for God to deceive
and cheat the devil. The world
has. after toiling thousands of years, won
three great prizes-the home. the church
and the state. They have enemies. The
morbid and mannish woman and the cruel
and sensual man seek to destroy the
home. The boodler is fast destroying the
state. The atheist, agnostic and hypo-
critic are striving to destroy the church.
Only by training children to become the
Christ type of humanity can the gains Of
civilization be preserved as means to
higher gains. The sectarian Christ can
not save himself. The Christ of the New
Testament can save the world.
Y. w. G. A. Meeting
The oOSnnl M eetin O. wac hold ot Q .1S Of