The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-07-27
REV. MIR. M0RGAN'S SERMON
PREACHED AT CHRIST CHURCH
 YEsTERDAT MORNING.

GoA LAsASFAA 4HOi-'tNus
 The New Church Building Now Perma-
 nently Opened-A stone Altar and Rcre-
 dos to be Built-Chairs to be Free-Some-
 what Different From the System in the
 Old Church.
 Yesterday for the first time since the structure was completed the full Sun day services were held in the new Christ church building on upper Broad way In the morning an unusually large congregation for this time of year was present, and on all sides were heard expressions of admiration of the new building. The chairs which take the place of the pews in the old church are much more comfortable than were the pews, and give to the interior of the building a modern appearance These chairs are all free, this differing some what from the custom followed in the old church. Formerly while the pews Were not exactly rented the members of the church selected pews in which they |NNN eNsS>AA sum as great or small as they desired to the church. In this way sort of sense of proprietorship in the pews arose. No one is allowed first choice in the chairs. but they are allotted each Sunday to persons in the order of their arrival, and hence no idea of pro- prietorship arises. The church is in every sense free church, and is sup rOrtG6 hu the new organ, the altar and reredos are new, but are only temporaryas it is expected that later they will be re- placed with permanent ones of stone.
 Rev. c. Brinley Morgan, the rector, preached yesterday morning from the text. Gen. xxxviij, 16, IT: And Jacob awaked out ot his sleep, etc.. Mr. Morgan spoke as follows:
 And yet that place seemed only a stony hillside. Near it, indeed, was city called Luz, to which the name of Bethel was afterwards given because it was nigh unto the sanctuary. But the sanctuary itself was probably on that very spot where Abraham built an altar for worship and sacrifice many years before. And there all was lovely and still and no habitation was to be seen where the traveller might rest He had to tarry there all night his first night away from his fathers home and his mothers kiss. He could go no farther then for the sun was set; so he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillow, and lay down in that place and slept. Then God granted him that wonderful vision of the ladder, and the angels ascending and descending upon it, which showed him first that way was already open from God to man and an access from man to God. And these comforted his troubled solitary heart, and these pointed out to him as in picture prophecy, and Christ which was to be- the one by whom. being God and man, touching both heaven and earth, the Father would reveal Himself to men and enable men to come to Him in pen itence and prayer. And then over and above the type God gave His servant that glorious promise of the Christ and Saviour of the world and for himself the assurance of divine protection which should never fail him. And he awoke, and behold, it was dream. Over him was the starry sky, under him the stony ground, around him the silence and the darkness, within him the memory of parents whom he had left, and oe the brother whom he had angered, and the uncertainty of his journey, a dim and doubtful future. But these were not the great realities to him, except so far as they were con- nected with the pardon and grace and guidance of the Lord who had been speaking to him. That which had be- come eminently and entirely real to Jacob was the presence of his God, making that hitherto dull spot none other than the house of God and gate of heaven.
 Dear people, is not the revelation of that sacred presence also very neces- sary for us? Happy are they who are taught from their early childhood to remember that God is about their path and about their bed and acquainted with all their ways, who have learned through their whole life ever to find Him in His word, in His sanctuary, and who know He is going with them all their days to give them rest But most of us need a great awakening to these solemn and blessed truths; most of us are apt to slumber on amid the vain things of the world, alive only to the stones and sand of the desert, and dead to the sound of the Great Voice and the satisfying visions of faith. And so, in various ways, God stirs our sleeping conscience, and. gives us that which is often and the first symptom of bet ter life, a sense of fear and awe. He shows us His power in the wind and the earthquake or the fire, or he startles us by the sudden fall of some one by our side; and he speaks to us in the si- lent watches of the night, when we are quite alone, or he reveals to us the ter rible nature of some besetting sin of ours, and it's approaching punishment, or He lifts up before us that which is aften the most alarming and convinc- ing sign of all, that which can be truly called the ladder of heaven, the cross of His dear Son, crucified for us, so that we must mourn for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first born, and tremble lest we should have crucified the Son Of God afresh. Then it is borne in upon us that everything apart from Christ is vanity indeed, that our souls are absolutely in His hand, that to know Him, His gracious, loving pres ence, the fellowship of His sufferings, the glory of His resurrection is eternal life, and thus everything else must go so that we do but win Him, and be