The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-09-13
THE SECRET OF POWER ,
SERMON IN THE FIRST 0T. E. CHI URCH
 BY REV. DR. CHAPMAN.

The Influence of Faith, in Self, in Man, In God-Rev. Dr. Melville Chapman Speaks Eloquently on This Power in Civilization -The Prime Impulse in Life.
 The above was the subject of an in spring address delivered yesterday morning by Rev. Dr. Chapman in the First M. P. church. His text was from Heb. ii, 39:34, "Who through faith sub dued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, quenched the Vlo- lence of fire, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the army of the aliens" The doctor spoke as follows
 The 11th chapter of Hebrews is the Westminster Abbey of the Bible, and as the apostle walks down these his- toric aisles of the heroic dead and re- calls the great deeds of great men he says it was faith which made men so brave, so strong, so heroic, and empoW- cred them to become the defenders of truth, the regenerators of the world.
 Faith is not an abstract idea--a sen- timent. Faith is force. power, the spur to endeavor, the victory that overcomes the world. Great deeds are born out of a great faith--faith in one of it's lowest forms-a mans faith in himself. Self distrust paralyzes the Will but the man who has faith in himself forces his way to the summit of his hope. Faith makes him equal to the demands of his work
 Faith in other men. Every day we are compelled to trust ourselves abso- lutely to men we never saw-a pilot. engineer, telegraph operator. You must trust them or stand alone. If you have no confidence In the fidelity of men you rob yourself of that associated strength called civilization Faith in men couples their strength with yours -multiplies your power a thousand fold
 Rising higher. faith in principle, cause, is one of the great revolution ary forces that have blessed or blighted the world. What but faith in a false principle carried the south into the great crime of the century? What but
  cuted heretics and left trail of blood over the fairest countries in Christen- dom? But faith that surrenders itself 10 a great truth is the power that has lifted the race into civilization. There is not civil right, or social privilege, that is not ours, because men of ear Her times believed in their possibility. But, above all, faith in men and in principles is that faith in God which in all ages has lifted men above them selves and made them stronger than their enemies.
 Church history is the long record of small men made great by a great faith in God. Your own experience abounds in illustrations of human weakness em- powered by a divine faith--not in dic- trines about Christ, but in Christ Him. self-a faith that makes Him real ever at hand, his best counsellor, his most sympathetic friend, his big brother able to defend and save him to the utter most. And we need such help"
 Dr. Chapman then spoke of the prob Iems and temptations, the difficulties of the battle of life with yet so many bearing bravely and patiently the mis- fortunes and the trials Continuing. the speaker said:
 Now 1t is time to ask the secret of this strong life. Why is a man made strong to do, to bear, to suffer, to over come, according to his faith? Well, is not this the secret of it-faith in anoth- CT. stronger obedience and self-surren- der make us partakers in whatever an- other has to give?
 Do I make this clear to you? A man believes in his friend. trusts him, leans upon him and all that Is strongest and best in his friend, reinforces and en- powers him. Before he was ofe-he could chase a thousand now he is two and ten thousand are in headlong flight.
 "A man is solitary and defenceless. Let him trust his person and property to the state. Let him become citizen. and the state covers him with it's feath- CTS, And let any foreign power threat en a hair of his head, and all the arma- ments of a continent come thundering to his rescue. The overflow of faith is the inflow of power. Giving ourselves away to another in faith makes others strength our own.
 ''So when man is sure of Jesus Christ, lives in companionship with an unseen but living Saviour, trusts His word and does His will, the magnetism of the magnet clothes and charges and empowers the Christian until he is per suaded that neither depth nor height nor any other creature, shall be able to separate him.
 He can say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea- He can say to the sorcerer and slayer of souls, as his master did before him, Get thee behind me- You may rob hi:n, but you cannot beggar him; you may weary him, but you can- not dishearten him; you may persecute him, but you cannot destroy him; you may take his life, but he only lives the more. By faith he subdues kingdoms obtains promises; out of weakness is made strong waxes valiant in fight turns to flight the armies of the aliens