The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-18
AT The CHURCHES
Continued from Page 81

The pharisees falsely believed they
believed Moses, but the Moses they be-
lieved. like the Messiah they believed.
was a false one. False religions. NOR
ais and PHILOSOPHERS are engendered
by corrupt desires and dispositions
The honest, sincere soul desiring the
truth shall surely find and believe God
Religious faith is the exercise of the
whole spiritual nature-a moving of
the whole soul towards the invisible
God. 1t is thus more than intellectual
assent TO truth.
The object of religious faith is the
Divine One-the personal God. 1t is
not to trust mere attribute of God as
His goodness, as some attempt TO do,
nor TO trust an intellectual conception
of Him. Some have quite correct ideas
of God, yet live as though there was
no God.
The result of faith in God has a va
riety of expressions. We stand before
Him and consider our relation as chill
dren and heirs, having been pardoned
and adopted. We enjoy the delights OF
spiritual fellowship and have a sense
of security which only the assurance of
Gods care can give. We have firm
foundation and an inspiration for ac-
tivity. By the power of faith we over
come. We experience an earnest Of
our inheritance and are animated with
the hope of final salvation.
AT ST. ANDREWS.
The subject of Rev Alex Mackin-
tosh's discourse to the Second Congre-
CATION at st. Andrews Cathedral yes
terday morning was taken from st.
Matthew 25:40, And the King shall
answer and say unto them, Verify |
say unto you, Inasmuch as We have
done it unto one of the least of these,
my brethren, We have done it unto me-"
We are drawn today by the loving
and tender care of the church to the
contemplation of the second coming of
the Son of Man. when He shall come
with power and great glory to Judge
the quick and the dead. Though the
devout soul is filled with awe at the
thought that all nations, yea, every in
dividual, shall stand before the judg-
ment seat TO render an account of
things done in the body, yet is there
an overwhelming sweetness in the
knowledge that the Judge is our friend
and our brother; One who will deal
with us in strict justice, yet so tenn
pered with mercy that we need not
fear
But although it is by acts of person
al service that we earn the everlasting
reward, yet we must remember that
these acts must spring from the right
impulse: they must be done in the
name of disciple for the love of
Christ and from the alteration of Him.
Every work undertaken for His sake
prospers: the heart never fails and the
hand never grows weary. Every viz
tue we possess is strengthened. and
our lives are moulded to that beauty
which is necessary to enable us to
stand On the right hand OF our Judge,
when the graves are opened and the
soul and body meet again.
The season of Advent should make
us all awake to the real state of our
souls. We can SO readily fall asleep
Or get into groove of self-satisfaction
with what we are doing. This season
IS far more important to our Christian
lives than the season of rejoicing, when
we have abandoned every serious
thought and perhaps have forgotten
the very reason of our joy. The thought
that some will stand on His left hand,
and that they will be told to depart
'Inasmuch as they did it not to one of
the least of these my brethren, they did
il not to me-" should arouse the most
Indifferent to a sense Of their danger.
This is the time for every one of us,
who is bound with the sacred tie to
serve Christ and His church, to ask
if we cannot do more in the
name of Christ than we have hitherto
lone. Every member of this church
las a golden opportunity to show his |
owe for Christ's little ones by the ma
erial support he gives to the continu- |
ltion and extension of the privileges of |
he church in these Islands. We are |
o begin today what we should have |
Begun many years agO-the work of |
We have no right and |
10 excuse to lean upon the Church for |
hat support which we are able to give |
ourselves. That the church here has |
,een too long dependent upon the |
mother church is not from any fault, |
nut from the fact that no properly or
5anized effort or plan has ever been
laced before the members for their
and all have been con-
ent TO go on as they began.
Now the help in the form of grants
Il SuOSlulCo IdS DSeI anu
he church in Hawaii is thrown upon
er own resources. There is little !
oubt but that the many members of
he church who dwell within reach of
er ministrations will readily respond
0 the appeal of the newly elected
'oard of Missions, and by strenuous
nd systematic efforts realize sufficient /
leans to carry on the work of saving |
odies and souls. There are also very
lany church members scattered about
ne Islands, remote from church priv
eges, but who will contribute to that
Ociety to which they once pledged |
themselves, and from which they have
erived both spiritual and material
enef1t, and which may soon be again
Tithin their reach. Let every man
o according as he is disposed in his
cart; not grudgingly, or of necessity,
Dr. God loveth a cheerful giver.'
Give" not pay should be our mot
}. Our belief in the church as being
lie best and surest means of bringing