The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-04

still in your hearts divine love which
shall be stronger than any habit of
sin
Many Of you doubtless owe much to
gOdly ancestry. The best inheritance
God can give any man to start life with
is a clean parentage and a good home.
But the purest ancestry. the COOLEST
home. the cleanest blood will not keen
you from temptation. You need di-
vine strength TO help YOU keep Your
inheritance pure. Seek that strength.
Beware of the idle thought. the impure
jest. the book which calls itself realis-
tic. but whose realism is that Of the
sewer. To see God is better than to
see life. Covet not the bad mans
knowledge; it is poison working an
guish and desOlation in the life. l
would remind You Of the last words Of
John B. Cough, uttered when death
had already laid its fingers on his lips,
in which the whole teaching OF that
eloquent tongue seems compressed:
Young men, keep your record clean ;"
| remind you also of older words than
his in which the wisdom of many bur-
led ages is expressed: Therefore keep
purity, and do the thing which is right:
so shalt thou be brought at the last to
thine end in peace.
AT ST. ANDREWS CATHEDRAL.
The text OF Rev. A Mackintosh's
discourse to the Second COngregatiO
at st. Andrews Cathedral yesterday
morning was taken from Revelations
iii:20: Behold, I stand at the door
and knock; if any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to
him, and Will sup with him, and he
with me-"
Today is the door Of the Christian
year-the year marked with the foot
steps of the Savior of mankind. the
Lord of heaven and earth. The Say
Tor stands at the door Of this year, as
He stood at the door Of past years, and
He is knocking at the hearts of all
whom He came to redeem and save He
knocks, as i were, at closed door, to
which none answer, for He lifts up His
voice in salutatiOn and with a promise
The season OF Advent brings 10 the
earnest Christian lovely and serious
thoughts. The mind will fiuctuate
from the gentle knocking Of Jesus. the
Son of Man, when He came down from
His high estate, emptied Himself of
His glory and clothed Himself III great
the greatest. humility to the loud
knocking, when with power and great
glory the Son Of God shall come with
the sound CT the trump, with all His
holy angels. The blessings and warn
ings which we have all received during
the past are the lznockings Of the Saw
ior at the door OF our being for us TO
H.
there, He in us and we in Him. The
voice which we have heard when we
have not fOrsaken the assembling of
ourselves together to call upon His
holy name, and more especially when
we have Obeyed His great command
ment in cOmmemOrating His awful
sacrifice for us by eating His body and
drinking His precious blood, is that
closer app5al 10 our spiritual life which
rings in our ears and echoes in our
hearts, raising us from the deepest
sleep or from the busiest employment,
to hasten to meet our Lord, and to let
Him in, welcome and dearly beloved
guest. IF He has come to take up His
abode with US, we know what store Of
peace and JOY He has brought TO us;
how His spirit has Influenced our spirit,
inspiring every thought, framing every
word, and moulding every deed. But
if we have been deaf to His knocks,
whether they have been thunder or
showers of sold, JOY or sorrow, sick
ness or health. deprivation or bounty,
then we have laid up for ourselves I'M
told misery, which, mayhap, will not
end with our earthly life.
So the church again calls Us to
awake, now. Consider the deep import
of our life, that we must not forever
be buried in the sleep Of pleasure, how
ever innocent it may be in our eyes, or
of gain, or labor for the things which
perish. There is a limit to these
things which perish. There is a limit
to these things as there is a limit 10
our earthly life; therefore we must
cast away the works OF darkness, and |
put upon us the armor Of light. We
must pray that God will give us that
grace which will open our eyes and |
make us see the light of truth and |
love- 1t is the false glare of the world |
that blinds our eyes and makes us will |
ful and obstinate, SO that we really do |
not see, or perceive, what are our own
Individual works of darkness; for the |
works of darkness vary In nature and |
degree In some unhappy creatures |
hey are deliberate and heinous crime |
such as the apostle mentions in the
epistle for today, and which are amen
able to the law of men. In others they |
ire of more subtle nature, sometimes
intangible, but yet very dark, because
hey destroy SO much light. The va
ious forms of selfshness which dark
N and destroy all affection; the pride
which feeds itself at the expense of
others; the indifference which will
asst the burden upon others, and never
lift a finger itself; the neglect which
will see a good thing wither and die
ather than lift hand to sustain it.
These are the works CT darkness
Which we Christians, who are prepar-
ng to meet our Lord, our Exemplar,
must cast away ere we can meet Him
When He comes in great humility; and
hey must be utterly eradicated before
We dare to meet Him at His second
oming, when we must appear before
linn to give an account OF what we
AVE done, whether it be good or
whether it be bad. If we believe in this