The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-04
Will READ MANS SOUL
UESITE TO ETERNAL HAPPI-
NESS IN HEAVEN
SERMON BY THE ARCHBISHOP

! He Tells Large Congregation at
the Cathedral What True ReiiG-
ion Consists Of-WiII Not Open the
Gates ef Heaven to He Able to
Say 81 Was Child in Gods
Chureh.s 81
Archbishop Ireland delivered a sermon
at the Cathedral yesterday morning, his
theme being True Religion, Interior
Sanctification.% He said:
The night is, far spent and the day is
at hand: Let us therefore cast off the
W W. Tjai, or darkness and put on the armor
Christ Words of St Paul as read on
the first Sunday in Advent.
:, IN the laliguage of st. Paul the night
IS our life upon garth, amidst trials, van
ltles and X3lns pleasures; and the day is
eternity For the night is passing. Every
notlr shortens the time which is allotted
US prepare for it, casting off the works
! OF qarkhesS, putting on the armor of
H HgSnt: ;, And put We on the Lord Jesus
Now the words OF. St. Paul suggest the
queStlon: What is it for each one of US
70 pc Christian? What is Christian
tant a vital question, to which answer
| must be given. Brethren, to be Chris
E Ian Is to have put on the Lord Jesus
Christ, to have made our souls into the
| likeness Of Christ Jesus Christ came
from heaven bringing with Him the life
| OF heaven to be our model, so that in
copying in our own His life we live the
| ne OF heaven. The theory of Christianity
IS this, that we are destined for a God
IKE IKE HE through eternity. Children of
| 600, we find our destiny only in our
Fathers house. Sprung from the power
| or Gods omnipotent word we are to re-
Turn TO the source of our being there to
| enjoy, IN life becoming our origin, hap
p1ness for all eternity. Life upon earth
| IS preparation for the life in heaven.
| Inere Is no other meaning to this life.
| therefore, we should SO far as it is
| possible. live upon earth the life of heav-
! en-, transforming ourselves into the image
| of Christ, so that when the signal comes
70 leaVe earth we be not found unfit for
the life Of heaven. If we appear at the
| portals OF heaven unfit for life within,
! logically and necessarily, as we'll as by
| the command of Gods own Righteousness
| we are doomed to remain outside those
| portals
PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S COMING.
This is the purpose of Christ's coming
upon earth, to sanctify and purify our
sous, to transform them into beings fit
for heaven This is the aim of the whole
Christian religion, and to be sanctified
and SO transformed is for each of US
Christianity. If the Church OF Christ
relgned never SO much as queen and SOW
ere1gn of earth, if people and monarchs
bowed never so much before her, and she
! did not save souls her onward march is
all in vain. Whatever she is, whatever
she does, is but a means to an end; and
the end is cur SanctiGcation. For this
IS the viii of God; your sanctification."
In paGantsm of old religion, so called,
was separable from morals; the worship
OF the gods stood, so to speak, By itself.
Men conceived the idea that their deities
sought honQTs from men for the sake
Of those honOrs; and that if sacrifices
were duly offered their anger was ap-
peased, and their smiles were sent down
upon their WOrshipers Not so in the
religion of the true God; not 50 in the
religion of Christ. And right here we
perceive the God-like nature of that re-
4gionGM,7its sublime purity and elevation.
moral, It demands and leads to the
santihcation of men, and unless men APP
preach their God with pure souls, unless
in WOrshiping Him they seek to trans
form themselves even into the image of
him, their sacrifices offend instead of
pleasing Him. What cares the Omnipo-
tent for mere outward sacrifices, for
mere words Of the lips of men? Is not
the universe His? What are men if We
consider but their power to do favor to
the Ompipotent but as so many grains
deScendS to accept worship from us it is
through love for u.s. that we thereby be
elevated and sapcufied even into images
of His own eternal righteousness. That
the Christian religion means our sancti-
fcation is made most clear in the words
of Christ and His apostles. mot every
LORD
enter into the Kingdom of heaven; but
he who doth the Will of my Father who
is in heaven; he shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven ~
Master of life and death. And on the
last Judgment the verdict of guilty or
not guilty. will be passed upon the ac-
tions OF. the individual, upon the moral
life of the individual. st. Paul tells
what Christianity is for each of us.
For you are buried together with him
that as Christ is risen from the
dead by the glory of the Father so
We may also walk in neWness of life"
You are disciples of Christ AS He died
so you also dte-die to sin, die to moral
evil; and as Christ rose from the grave,
so you being baptized come forth from
the death of iniquity into new life, the
''And they that are Christ's have cruel
hed their flesh with the vices and the
concupiscences. Until vices and con-
cupiscences in us are dead the crucifixion
of Christ upon Calvary is of no avail
to US. Such is the very essence of the
Christian religion. 1t is for each one of
us to ask ourselves whether we are or
are not Christians; whether we have or
have not put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
ORDINANCES MEANS TO AN END.
I am not, understand me well, under
yaluing external forms, or external or
dinanceS. These have their supreme
value as leading to and aiding our sancti-
liCdIiOH, lHSy are commanded by al
mighty God; the forgetfulness of them
would indicate lack of obedience to
almighty God, and consequently a lack
of moral recttude in our souls. What [
am insisting upon is this, that external
ordinances, or external forms, are means
to an end, and that unless so used as to
be means they are not used as God
wills; and unless the end which they
are destined to .subserve is carried out in
each one of US they have been OF no
profit to us. The church of Christ was
a n l1klfl to
what we are to do, and to administer
to Us the sacraments of grace, and it is
Gods positive command that all knowing
of Christ's church be children of that
church, profess her faith and obey her
precepts, and to remain out of that
church when Gods grace working
through our minds shows us that she is
the church of Christ is absolute rebellion
against Him who said to the apostles:
60 ye, teach all nations"
Nevertheless to be satisfied with mere
membership in the chnrnh is q IA tai GnI11-