The Portland daily press., 1898-04-18
BISHOP EARL cRANsToN.
Draws Very Large Congregation to
Chestnut st. Church.


Bishop Earl Cranston of Portland, Ore.,
officiated yesterday at the Chestnut street
M. E. church, and his presence was the
occasion of a very large and interested
audience who listeEed to most Thought
full and carefully prepared sermon.
Bishop Cranston will preside over the
conferences of the Maine and East Maine
districts of the NJ. e. churches, which
are to be held respectively at Norway on
the 10th and at Bangor on the,27th inst.
Before announcing his text Bishop
Cranston expressed his surprise at find
ing himself in Maine, but was glad to
be here and look into the. faces of a peo-
pie who had stood SO nobly by an afflicted
pastor-one of the noblest of men.
He then proceeded to direct the atten-
ton of his listeners to the many failures
in Christian life, taking his text from
the 18th chapter of Luke, 9Oth verse:
"This man began to build and was not
able to finish. -
The speaker cited examples of failures
In Christian life and brought wildly
before the congregation the following
types:
First, one man fails because he rejects
Gods plan of redemption, particularly
| the ideas of atonement by blood. The
man was ltkened to a person who would
judge the plans andrrspecifcations of a
great building by the basement drawing
| alone. A second fails because he does not
grasp the breadth of the divine under
taking as expressed in 'Thy nsighbor as
| myself
A third fails when he ignores the law
of fitness and proportions and seeks to
build pig sty on the most costly foun-
dations ever laid for any superstructure
A fourth negleots the inspection of ma
terial and the speaker here aptly illus
trated the relation of faith and works by
brick and mortar necessary for solid
wall. every brick OF duty said
| Bishop Cranston, shall be laid in grace. -
Failure again comes from not procur-
ing the relations between beginnings
and endings, often times leading to dis
cou1agement. 1t is only through a con-
fession of weakness and ignorance at
the outset that man at last autains
mastery.
A sixth man fails by foolishly decid-
ing to modify the plans when he is we'll
along with his building, for by such a
process many noble structure has been
ruined.
The speaker here referred to the fact
that Constitutional law was unchange-
Table and that the taste of the builder
must be subject to the fixed principle
Of architecture and passed on to cite q
case of failure which came to man
because The became over confident, GEN.
serious and consequently fell from his
tower of vanity far below those whose
humber work he had despised.
Mistaking grace for Indulgence and get
ting ones self into focus in place of
Christ, were looked upon by the speaker
as fatal. He next dwelt upon the failure
which is sure to come through too much
introspection, resulting in spiritual
morbidness.
The last type illustrated was failure
through excessive individuality which
leads to breaking away from the ranks
and neglect of soldierly duty when the
church is in line for advance.
The speakers concluding thought was
directed to the discouraged who might
be tempted to say: 81 will never under.
take to buiId,' and in answer to such
Bishop Cranston showed the greater cost
Of not building, the sacrifice of mans su
!, preme opportunity, and exhorted all te
build like Christ as surety and to per
sistently work by the plans furnished, fol
the acceptance of every mans work al
n Judgment day inspection is certain.