The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-04
IN THE CHURCHES
Abstract of Sermons Of
Yesterday.
Rev. kInCaid on Purity-The Chri st
Holiness. by Rev. Pearson


large audience on Purity" taking for
his text, Keep Thyself Pure" l Tim.
500. The reverend gentleman. among
other things, said:
Character is the grandest force that
the world possesses. 1t is the force
which determines the use and direc-
ton of all other fOrces-the secret
force working behind and through all
human life. 1t is character that shapes
the centuries and leaves it's indelible
mark on the records of the world.
Character is the one possession that
neither time nor death can DESTROY.
which survives Vicissitudes and sOr-
rows, and rises triumphant over the
infamy of SANDER. Character is that
which shapes life and determines ,des-
tiny.
What is the greatest force in deter
mining character? Neither purpose.
nor strength, nor courage. These are
the results rather than the causes of
character. There is a diviner quality
a diyiner force, and that is purity. Pur-
ity is life; it is the vital element which
supplies energy and courage to char
clothe the man whose heart i pure.
But the impure heart yitiates every
thing. 1t was purity that ROBBED Christ
as with a garment of power. 1t was
the secret OF that majesty which men
couId not comprehend. 1t fell like
great searching light upon them.
Ihere are two great inheritances tlat
every man starts life With-innocnnce
and purity. Christ took that for grant
ed when he said, blessed are the pure
IN heart for they shall see God" IN
nocence perishes as we go on in life
but purity may survive Have not men
fled from the world to escape the evil
OF The world ard has not the result oft
en- been that the pollutions of the mon
astery have outweighed it's Dioties9
we do not want that sort of holiness
hlch ear omy thrive by isolatine
itself; we want that virile, manly pur-
1ty which keeps itself unspotted from
the world even amid its worst debase-
ments. You can make your bed in
hell. and yet be clothed with the raj
ment OF. heaven; you may know the Sc
crets OF impurity, and yet keep the I'M
tainted thought and the uncorrupted
life. ask you. then, to notice that
purity IS possible; that it is a posses
sion that may be kept.
Men pray often, Lead me not into
temptation" and then hang around
drlnklng-bar; they say, Deliver me
from evil, and then sit down and read
a vile, scrOfulOuS French novel: thew
ask God TO keep them, and then open
their ears to the foul story, or the in
decent jest. How can God keep a man
pure who has eyes full of adultery and
who lets his imagination feed upon the
secret suggestions of unchaste pas
sion? You cannot take fire into your
bosom and not be burned; you cannot
listen to impure conversation and re-
main unpOlluted. If thou wouldst be
pure, Keep thyself pure" Purity is
not outward, but inward. Men perpet-
laily blame circumstances instead of
themselves.
The first effect that city life has upon
)ne coming to it from the far-off home
S to lessen the sense of responsibility |
At home everyone knew him and that
acted as restraint. In the city to
which he has come no one knows MIN. |
and he is in the perilous position of |
one who can do wrong without the loss
If reputation. And then, too, the city |
gives publicity TO things which are
only limited at in the country. The |
moral cracks, scarcely discernible on |
he smaller canvass of the village |
lawn wide and plain on the vaster |
'anvass of the city. And yet morally |
he city is only the village written in |
arger characters. If you are not pure |
n thought here, neither would you be |
here. A man blames the situation.
tut the man makes the situation, not |
he situation the man.
| have no faith in dollhouse virtue
which can thrive only in certain soils
nd at given temperature; true virtue
S virtue anywhere, just as light is
light everywhere; for true virtue is
inward, not outward; because it is in
ependent of circumstances, and tri-
mphs over them. [ put purity before
on tonight as the badge of the noblest
manhood. y man is never so contemp-
ible as when he imagines that there
5 something clever in wickedness; yet
len do imagine it, and say it, too. In
ocence is ridiculed and vice is secret
Y, if not openly, admired.
To be a man of the world, to see life,
D know it's shameful by-paths, this is
ften the ambition of boys and young
len. l grant there are those who must
now these things. The magistrate,
he physician and often the minister
lust know many things that are .ragi-
ally sad and bad. But for the great
Majority the veil which covers these
arker secrets of life need not be lifted
nd let them thank God for it. To be (:
ure in heart is to be strong for the /
arvice of man, and the purer the heart
ne more pitiful, self-sacrif1cing and eff
.ctive the service. {
We want men today unstained by t
npurity, to whom no depth is 100 low, |
o heart too vile for the healing touch /
their tender and Christly sympathy. s
is because the battle of any given I
&c is with the young men of that age,
lat the words of the text gather such G
,lemn emphasis and force, Keep thy t
If pure"
| may be addressing some who have 6
st not only innocence but purity. 3
here is nothing which so sears he '
nscience as impurity, nothing so fatal