The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-17
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Ogden Jan IL
Ogden. Jan Il.
NEW METHODIST MINISTER.
Rev. John T. Pierce Preached His
First Sermon Yesterday.


Rev. John T. Pierce preached his mi
tial sermon in the First Methodist
church yesterday morning. His dis
scourse was listened to by large audi
ence.
Mr.. Pierce arrived Friday from
Kirksville, Mo. His family viii arrive
in a few days. He is q man not yet IN
middle life; an earnest, logical and
convincing speaker, who MADE many
friends by his sermon yesterday.
The text was the words of the Apos-
tie John:
And if any man sin we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous; and ne is the propitla-
ton Tor our sins, and for ours only,
but also for the sins of the world.
The speaker first explained the
bearing of the words with especial
reference to the context The object
of the apostle in writing a portion of
this epistle was, as elsewhere expressed,
that your joy may be fulf' and that
We sin not" 1t was an expression of
st. Johns confidence, and a message
for the Christmastide. Mr.. Pierce said
in substance:
The work of Christ on earth was the
Precipitation of our sins. There is no
need to lie down in, sin because we
have once transgressed and grieved
him; no need to walk in darkness be-
cause shadows have fitted before our
eyes. For if we walk in the light,
we still have fellowship one, with an
other, and the blood of Jesus Christ
! "cleanseth us from all SIM" and if we
say that we have no SIN, we deceive
ourselves. and the truth is, not in. US.
But if we confess our sins, live a life
of confession, of Christ, of righteous
ness, he is faithful and just to forgive
our sins, and to, cleanse US from all
unrighteousness.
You know when you do a man a
wrong, you want to get away from
him. He becomes in a sense an enemy,
an avenger You are armed within
your feelings against him. You want
to get farther away from him. The
day when he and you meet seems an
evil day to you, for it brings up that
old wrong. We are just that way with
God. But the Bible does not want US
to feel that way, and it says: He is
the Precipitation of our sins" Suppose
that man. when you wronged him, and
he saw how dark and self-condemned
and bitter you felt, had run after you
and had said, I'm sorry you did that;
but our friendship is too valuable to
allow that thing to come between us
for life. Let it go; pay no attention
TO II. well, now, InaU IS just what
God has done in sending his Son to die
in our behalf; but that is only a small
part of what he has done. He has
made his death to be a complete sub
stitute for all moral penalty, of sin.
o g .
Christ is Gods substitute for our
penalty. Christ shows that God does
not overlook or ignore sin, but hates it.
But there is no harbored enmity in the
heart of God; that is in effect what
the gospel says to us. That is why
Christ came to the wOrld-that we
Should make no mistake as to what
sin is; but we should not be discon-
ISOLATE over its presence in this world.
Do right, and you are pleasing to God
through faith in his Son.
The fatherhood of -od was brought
out by the speaker in several apt al
lusions and strong word-pictures of his
sacrifice and pity
The speaker quoted, with much effect,
a poem by Eugene Field, the first verse
of which contains the ruling thought:
Last night, my darling. as you slept.
l thought I heard you sigh,
And to your little crib 1 crept
And watched a space thereby;
And then L stopped and kissed your
brow,
For Oh. love you so;
You are too young to know it now,
But sometime you shall know"