The herald., 1896-06-22
Some of the Sermons That Were
Delivered
THE hUSKS OF Journalism
A Return to the Simplicity Of Path Ad.
vocated by Rev. Howard
Plan Of Character DulldlnE BY Rev. Thsmssn.
Statistical Qusdrennlal Address at the
Tabernacle -Thsosophical Talks

and evening yesterday, the pastor. the
Rev. Burt Estes Howard. officiating.
The morning service was opened with
the anthem The King of Love My Shep-
herd, beautifully sung with much
power and pathos by the quartet choir.
During the offertory Thy Way Not Mine,
o, Lord, was sung.
Rev. Mr.. Howard preached from the
text John vii, 50, delivering a mastery
discourse. which, in part, was as follows:
1t was the last, the great day Of the
feast, The priests and Levites had
borne the golden vessels to the brook
6iloah and the excited multitudes had
pressed after them that they might stoop
down and drink from its waters. AS the
stream of shouting devotees rolled past
him. the heart Of Jesus burned in Him.
He saw the moral decay into which the
religion of His own people had fallen
He saw the withered stalk Of Journalism
and ceremony offer its dry and sapless
fruit for the nourishment Of the race.
The brown and sun baked fields that lay
ehriveling under tho fierce October sun,
waiting with feverish expectancy for
the early rains. were fitting symbol
Of the souls of men. The world painted
and gasped for the cup Of life and no man
gave unto 1t. It was q world Of political,
social. philosophical and religious wreck
in the midst Of which this obscure CAL
ilean peasant stood up and offered his
antidote for all its Ills. Everything was
worn out to which man could look to
bear him up in his struggle against evil,
and the most worn out thing of all, was
religion. And yet the soul OF the race
thireted for God. They stopped down
at broken cisterns. They ate the mis-
erable husks of Journalism. Jew and
GENTLE alike moved restlessly through
their multiplying rites in a hopeless
search for the spring of life. The people,
rushing madly after the priests, crowd
ing and shouting up the temple steps,
with the old chant whose meaning had
all faded out, leaving only q dusty de-
posit of words, "Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come We to the waters" were
to Jesus with His mighty view Of God
and life and human brotherhood, a
parable Of profound Significance. The
need Of the world took shape before his
eyes. and the cry Of the multitude was
the voice Of the race. uttering in articu-
late word the deep yearning whose OBJ
ject It could not define. And what does
this Man of the People, this Galilean
workman, offer for the vitalizing and
the redemption of the world and hu-
manity? He has no political scheme
to bring to the notice Of kings and courts.
He presents no new philosophy to the
schools of his day. He furnishes not
even religion with its formularies and
Its system for the credence of the multi
tude. What could he do with the pow
ers that be. this man without a home
and without citizenship? What would
the world care for the philosophy of one
OF whom 1t sneeringly asked, whence
hath this man letters, having never
learned" And would the people credit
religion set forth by an outcast hereto.
the byword and kissing Of his own faith?
Jesus offered none of these things. With
a marvellous presumption he rose above
all systems and schools and religions
and offered Himself. Was there ever
IN the history OF men such a strange
method OF saving the world and the
race? He stood up in the midst of lifes
decay and disease and called upon men
TO come afte2tHim. A peasant, who got
his training in carpenters cottage and
wrought with his hands at daily toll;
q worktngman who had never gone to
school; Jew, dlsowned by his own re-
hgion and mathematical by the most
orthodox of his own church-to lift him
self up in the face of the world and dare
10 claim that he was the key to larger
and diviner life! On the last, the great
day OF the feast, Jesus stood and cried
"lf any man thirst, let him come to me
and drink. Whosoever will put his faith
in me shall become living power and
out or the midst of his life shall go forth
the forces that will redeem the world"
what seemed a presumption has been
proved by history to be a mighty fact.
when Jesus founded his religion on
personal attachment 1t seemed a fond
imagination; the perennial vitality of
Christianity has been his vindication /"
If you would have power put faith in
me said Jesus. and wherever men have
believed in Him enough to assume His
views Of God and of humanity; wher-
ever men have believed in his kind Of
righteousness enough to live his kind
of life, there has been a new vivifying
purifying force released into the world
making for its redemption. Every
mighty movement lifting the race up
ward toward the perfect has had upon
1t the cross-mark Of Christ. Every fresh
impulse that has swept into the heart
of the world washing away the sins of
society and quickening the stalks of
truth, honesty. purity, righteousness,
liberty and charity. has poured through
the souls of great spirits that have
caught clearer vision of the Christ and
Of his ideals Of life. Men, in every age
since the Master stood there and called
the people unto himself, have found q
new ana deeper conservation to Jesus
and out Of that fresh touch upon His
life they have gone forth to battle
against wrong and misery triumph
antly. The mighty names that glow on
the page OF history as the great reform
ers OF their day are men to whom all the
world pays this one tribute: 1--WE took
knowledge Of them that they had been
with Jesus" 1T is not" says one, "the
doctrines nor the ethics of Christianity
that are its irresistible attraction. It's
doctrines have often been a stumbling
block and its ethics have excelled only
IN degree. The life-blood Of Christian
ity Is Christ. AS Louis said: L'etat
cest MOL so may Jesus say, I am my
religion What Napoleon was to his
soldiers on the field Of battle Jesus has
neen to millions separated from him by
human experience has been so MASTER
ful, none SO fruitful. as the passion for
Jesus. It has inspired the church. II
mas half saved the world" Whatever
Ire the race has developed in these last
elghteen centuries, whatever of right
eousness the nations we call civilized
nave acquired and embodied in their
laws ana IN their practices, have grown
out OF a faith in the obscure Man Of the
peopie: or, as he loved to call himself
with the same idea, the Son of Man.
we are now passing through q period
OF mighty moment in the life of all hu-
manity. 1t needs little discernment to
note the signs marking these present
Gays as time Of transition. Men are
everywnere searching for some power