The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-26
UNIQUE PLACE OF CHRIST
REP. HR. PRATT PREAoHEs IN THE
 DAVENPORT CHURCH.

Christ Permanent Among Men-Salvation,
 Immortality and Spiritual Life His
 Gifts to the World--Dr. Meserve in Port
 land, Me,
 Rev. MT. Meserve of the Davenport Congregational church exchanged pull pits yesterday with Rev. Dwight M. Pratt of the Lewiston church, Portland, Me.
 Beginning with next Sunday, and continuing throughout August, the | Davenport church and the First Bap- tist will hold united service in the latter church.
 Rev. MT. Pratt took his text from the words "Anointed with the oil of glad ness above his fellows" He said in part:
 Without prayer soul-uplifting pray CT we could not know the divine. Among men Jesus Christ towers above all like Mt. Everest above other noun | tains. Our theme to-day is Christs unique place among the sons of men. Oh, that we might discover the cause of His superiority! Christ is unique in His origin. No one like Him could claim pre-existence. He was unique In His work. He brought salvation to all men. Miracles were the symbols of His power. To doubt His miracles would be to doubt the greater miracle of His | life. He is to man to-day what the | Holy of Holy was in the temple, the place where God and man came to- gether
 | Underneath Christ's exaltation lies the mystery of the worlds salvation. Christ was unique in being a saviour a truth that fully grasped in its hlstor ical significance staggers thought. Does
 the thought overwhelm you? We'll 1t may. It is the linking of race, it's nature and destiny with one man. And yet it was foretold of Him by John the
 Baptist, who announced Him as the Son of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. Great as is this claim, Christianity with faith, yes, with un- bounded enthusiasm, receives it. It has defed the learning of the world. It has proved itself to be true. | Point to any other man of our race as the savior of the world, and the heart of mankind would recoil, but not 8 with Jesus Christ. In Him salvation i becomes visible and men know It. The soul is made alive into Christ by it. Such stupendous claims come from the soul that has found in Christ Saviour.
 Again, Christ is unique in that He proved the truth of immortality. The risen Christ is the creator of the joy of the world. Paul boldly affirmed that | if Christ be not risen then is our faith in immortality vain. All our hopes of | future life are at best torture if this be not true and the sun is plotted out of humanity's sky.
 | 'One clear glance at this truth iso- lates Christ from all mankind. He stand solitary and supreme Every thinking man must decide between the faith of Christ and the dread alterna- tive of unbelief.
 Again, Christ stands for the super | natural. It Is the attribute of the di- vine. It is the belief of Christianity that spiritual life has it's origin and growth in Jesus Christ.
 "It is unique feature of Christian 1 ity Christ is the source of life. Om- impotence only can be the same as life. | When He looked out upon the throb- ping, pulsatlng pulse of the world he | looked out upon the work of His own hand. Christianity means a life in closest touch with the life of Jesus Christ. When humanity learns its de- pendence upon Christ for spiritual life, | believes it lives, then the redeeming love of God will be visible in this sinful world. Jesus is the saviour of the world. To doubt 1t is to doubt one of the great truths of Christianity