The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-03-11
UNITED LENTEN SERVICE
SECOND SERMON OF THE SERIES AT
81. PAUL'S CAURCH.


speaker-Praetical Application of the
Parable of the Strong Man and His Pal
aee-Great Difference Between Christi
anity and Paganism.
The second of the united Lenten SER
vices was held last evening at st, Pauls
church and was largely attended, the
church being we'll filled. Rev. DR.. Nc
Connell OF Brooklyn delivered the ser
mon, speaking from the words, When
a strong man armed keepeth his palace,
etc"
DR.. Mcconnell is we'll known in this
state, having been rector of Christ
church in Watertown and Holy Trinity
in Middletown. He said last evening
that it was not difficult to see wherein
the Lord drew the parable concerning
the strong man and his palace. He
said:
THE Lord took the parable from
what He saw going on about Him,
peculiar social condition of things.
There were large number of beautiful
palaces, owned and occupied by Roman
citizens, retired army officers, gentle
men of civil service and of wealth.
Wherever the Roman was, he was a
conqueror and was compelled to hold
his property by the right of force, and
for this reason the palaces were forti-
fed Sometimes they contained hun
dreds or thousands of men, consisting
of body guard, defendants, husband
men and servants, all living within the
wall.
Life there was attractive All alike
had one fault. They rested on force,
on wrong. The Lord says human life
is like these fortified villages. This is
taken as parable of human life, which
contains within it a potent force which
intrinsically is neither right nor evil,
except in the ends to which it is dt-
rected.
I'm reform movements, whether po-
litical, social or municipal, the first
thing discovered when evils are attack
ed is that the evil is entangled with
half dozen other evils, and that these
come quickly to the rescue of the one
attacked.
THE evil forces of life are well or
ganized, and spring to the aid of one
another. The same thing is discovered
when one attempts to correct faults of
his own disposition. This is practically
the situation of human life, both as re-
CARDS the individual and organized So
ciety.
The net result of the forces are liza
bic to be evil, because directed to wrong
ends. Relief is to come from some more
potent power. Christ offers Himself as
the stronger one who proposes to at
tack the hereditary evils of the human
heart and either to drive them out or
use them for good.
Much is said of the natural deprav-
ity of humanity, but this is a mistaken
view of the matter. Jesus Christ offers
| Himself as a conqueror to humanity
and asks you to join in a great reform
which He says is to result in a victory
for good against evil. The thing that
more than all else deters men from
vowing allegiance to Christ is a feeling
of antecedent despair Men hesitate to
connect themselves with what they be-
lieve to be an impracticable project, so
bad is the world, so many it's evils
| when man takes a sober view of his
own nature and then looks at the fair
! ideal which Christ sets before him,
| he says it is beautiful ideal, but says
| it is impracticable. 1t can't be done,
says the practical man. 1t does seem,
sometimes, as if this was the mildest
| and vaguest proposition. The world
| has been fighting the battle of
| Christ for nineteen centuries, but the
! Christian nations even now show so lit
! tie the power of the dominion of the
| Prince of Peace that they are waiting
| like hounds to fly at one another S
throats. Christian people are not liv-
ing according to the principles of the
Sermon on the Mount. Our politics are
far from being the politics of the king
| dom of heaven We deplore the fact
while we confess that we have fallen
from the standard of excellence held
out by Jesus Christ. This is emphasiz-
ed when we look at our own individual
/ lives and see that awful lack of cor
respondence to the ideal The result of
this is to keep our souls in an eternal
sort of distress.
"How, then. are we to justify that
seeming too favorable view of Christ ?
| What cause have we to hope for His
triumph? The answer to this is to be
found in the subjugation of our own
| hearts. There first comes the thought
that our champion is stronger than all
/ the forces CT This world; the most potent
force is on the side of right We be-
| lieve that good will win and that the
! bad will go to the wall. This is one of
those convictions for which we can no
more give a reason than we can to ac-
| count for the fact that bitter is dis
| tasteful and sweet is pleasant We be-
; lieve it because we believe it, What
confusion and despair there would be
were we to give up this belief that bet
| ter things are possible. This is the
characteristic distinction between
Christianity and Paganism. The latter
| believes that the bad is the stronger.
The eternal calm of the Oriental world
| is an eternal hopelessness.
1.-THE Orientals are without hope, and
have abandoned the struggle and fall
en- into the belief that life is evil. Eter-
nal upspringing of hopefulness is the
/ eternal spirit of Christianity. We be-
lieve in good. that is we have come to
believe in God.
| Christ has to a great extent fulfilled
! his promise to be the conqueror of the
world. We overlook what He has done.