The herald., 1896-08-31
LESSONS FROM TIE PULPIT
Morning Services at the
Cathedral
SERMON BY REV. FATHER N ROLIFFE
Eloquent Discourse by the Rev
erend Speaker
THE EAST SIDE BAPTISTS
Rev. Mr.. Dye on the "curse and Cure
Of Selfishness
The Teachings Of Christ the Highest Posi-
bic Standard
Rev. J. A. Wilson at the First Methodist
Church Occupies His Pulpit After
Long Absence - Other Church
Rev. Mr.. Dye on the "Curse and Cure
Of Selfishness
The Teachings Of Christ the Highest Posi-
bic Standard
Rev. J. A. Wilson at the First Methodist
Church Occupies His Pulpit After
Long Absence - Other Church
Services in This City

Father McAuliffe preached at the Ca
thedral yesterday morning, taking his
sermon, which was an eloquent effort,
from the following text:
"Be not solicitous. saying: What shall
we eat or what shall we drink, or where
with shall we be hed?-Matthew vi,
81.
If God preserves that order of things
by which the birds of the air receive
their food, and the flowers of the field
their beautiful vestures, surely. said the
speaker, He will not forget men, his
more excellent creatures. The heather,
and those who know not God, and who
think this world is governed by chance,
can easily be pardoned for being So
licitous about earthly things. But such
solicitude is unworthy of a Christian
who believes that he is under the divine
protection, and who knows that even
sparrows do not fall to the ground
without the knowledge of God. We
should in all the vicissitudes of life place
our trust in God, because he cares for
us in the best possible manner, and
directs all things to our advantage.
Some assert that though God has
created the universe, still he no longer
interests himself in the works of his
hands, not even in man. This is con-
trary to reason, for preservation, like
creation, is work of Almighty power,
Hence the same power that created
those numberless worlds which We see
stud the heavens in starlight night,
is necessary to keep them in their re-
spective orbits. If God withdrew His
helping hand from us, He should not
have created us. If He would not help,
we must confess that He either can not
or will not do so. If He can not He IS
not omnipotent, ard if He will not He
is not good, therefore is not God, for
omnipotence and goodness are wanting
to Him. Men and even irrational ami
mails care for their young and provide
for them. Can we have the hardhood
to say that the God who created us
stands below men and beasts, and re-
fuses to grant us all things necessary
for our subsistence? No, he who made us
out of nothing will not refuse us what
we need, if have recourse to Him with
childlilie confidence.
The sacred Scriptures, in several
parts of both the Old and New Testa-
ments, teach US this truth. Christ Him
self, addressing his disciples, said to
them: when I sent you without purse,
scrip and shoes, did you want any
thing?" and they said nothing-Luke
xxii 35. And again He says, that If
We seek the kingdom of God in the first
place, that we shall neither want food
nor raiment. But this promise does not
dispense us from using those faculties
with which God has endowed US for
he tells that Eve must earn our bread
by the sweat of our brow" but we must
invoke his blessings in all our under
takngs. God having created us. re-
deemed US and sanctified us, who will
dare then to say that he does not care
for US? The sacred Scriptures afford us
numberless examples of the care of
God over his creatures Ager, Susanna,
Daniel the Hebrew people during their
wanderings of forty years in the desert.
God directs everything to our adVan-
tage. He has given US free will, that is
the power of selection. Nevertheless
He interferes in our actions and di-
rectS them, so that what he intends must
result from them. This is true, not
only of Indifferent actions and of good
actions, but even of sinful acts. Our
most Indifferent acts, such as walking
eating, etc. are under His directing
influence. That the Samaritan woman
should go to draw water at the sixth
hour seems a very insignificant act, but
yet 1t was the means of bringing the
Samaritans to the knowledge of Jesus
Christ. If she had gone at any other
time or not gone at all, probably both
she and her countrymen would have
been deprived of all those blessings
Thus, it sometimes happens that the
= most trivial act forms a link in the
chain of the government of the world
Our good actions, also. are sometimes
directed by God to the obtaining of His
own wise ends ST. stephen in pray
ing for his nun derers, rendered his own
crown all the more glorious. If he had
not prayed thus. perhaps the church
would not have had q st Paul Cod
causes good to come evan from bad ac-
:, 'tions. He turns the sin of Judas into
,, blessings for humanity, because the
death of Jesus which was caused by
the sin of Judas brought the grace Of
salvation to men
MOI only are our actions under God
directing influence, but even our suf-
ferngs the suffering Of the sinner as
well as the sunerngs of the just. SUI
ferings Getach the mind OF the SINNER
from earthly things and bring him to
the knowledge " his sin, a in the case
of the brothers of Joseph and the prod
igal SON. Even the just mans virtue is
perfected by trials and sufferlngs, and
his love of God Is more clearly mani
+aI lax- In. ] q
trials and tribulations for the sake of
Christ. Hence Christ says: blessed are
you when men shall reVile you =
~ rlS for S1Ti YOUR reward V2Jir5
is very great in heaven" Let Us pray
'hen that Cod may be giorided and that
He may grant US The necessary means
to gain heaven. When. therefore, the
k.ngdom of God is your only object
and you are faithful in his service,
you might be certain that Providence
will provide you with Ill thinSs neces-