The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-08

| Duncan and Mckinley. two of his neces
attended divine worship yesterday at the
Metropolitan NJ E Church. They were
| among the early worshipers to enter the
| church and sat in the Presidents pew in
| the centre aisle of the edifice.
| Service began with the singing of the
hymn, Holy. Holy. Holy" after which an
| Frank NJ Bristol, d. d. In the invocation
prayer was recited for the President OF
| the United States. for his Cabinet advisers
and for the members of both houses Of
| Congress- The Scripture lesson was the
fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of st
John. after the reading of which hymn 1872
of the Methodist Hymnal was sung. -Four
persons were then admitted to the church
on probation and nine by letter.
The pastor preached an eloquent sermon
appropriate TO the New Year. choosing as
his text the words And he said: My
presence shall go with thee" Exodus
xxxiv:14 In introducing the subject, Or.
Bristol said that there were voices which
have ruled abe world-voices that had given
course to human thought and had deter
| mined the characteristics of the age il
which they were uttered. John the Bap-
fist was the voice of one crying in the
Wilderness" David was voice, and Moses
was the human Interpreter of the voice of
God, who had said at peculiar crisis in
history Surely, my presence shall go with
thee. Wesley was voice and Cromwell
voice and Bunyan and others were voices
in the night calling the men of their age
to new hope higher aspirations. and better
deeds
Wherever there was needed in the worlds
advancement reafirmation of divine truth
God had raised up voice to declare his
will, and to arouse men to noble endea~or.
After 400 Years of Egyptian slavery. the
Hebrew people had been saved from their
oppressors and had been brought out from
! the land OF bondage under divine leader
ship. Their history had been miracle,
If. indeed. all history is not miraculous.
There had been Abraham. Isaac. Jacob
and Joseph as their lenders. God had
passed by the older civilization. the Egyp-
tians. the Chaldeans. and the Babyloniaus.
and had chosen a rude shepherd the
leader Of his chosen people. He had been
selected because OF his obedient and rev.
erent character, and the principle of that
selection had made great and free people.
but not an established and organized ma
ton. They had reached a point in their
history where their forces we're turned
toward Canaan and liberty. neither OF
which. in their fGllness. had been ATTAINED
As a people. they enjoyed at this time the
heritage of institutionless freedom
Weary of Egyptian idolatry and just out
of thraldom the Hebrews were in the
formative stage of national development
They were in the wilderness amid great
perils. For guidance they had the cloudy
pillar by day and the flaming sign OF
Gods presence by night, at the Tabernacle
door, to assure them Of divine help. But
under those circumstances the chosen peo-
pie forgot God and returned to their
idols. The divine anger was kindled
against them. and Jehovah said he would,
indeed send an angel before them into
the promised land but he would hence
forth withdraw his presence. Then Moses.
serene and godlilSe entered into the divine
presence and talked with God face to face.
He implored forgiveness for the people,
and in answer to his prayer Of faith God
had said: My presence shall go with
thee" So they vent forth TO meet the
new pcrils of NATIONAL existence. and to
establish themselves finally in the land OF
their fathers.
So IL has been in all ages Roman lib
erty had its Brutus. Puritan liberty Its
Cromwell. and American liberty its Wash
ington- We can conceive OF American.
Puritan. Roman. ara Hebrew liberty with
out Washington, Cromwell. Brutus and
Moses. but we cannot conceive OF il with
out God. 1t sounded like the announce
ment Of national calamity for God to say
he would withdraw his presence, for a
withdrawal of the Irvine influence vas TO
them the knell Of national doom. They
were the custodians of the true religion
and of moral law, the precepts OF which
were written in their hearts and they
could 20 forward TO the immense tasks OF
national life only in the presence of the |
living God.
Thus it must ever be when men set |
their faces Godward, determined to be-
come of some use In the world they can !
go forth TO great deeds and great success
If God go with them
There is helptulness in the old promise |
as We enter upon the untrodden paths OF |
this new year. Are We forsaking. like the |
Hebrews, oar unbelief. shortcomings. and |
sin, and preparing to use the promise |
right? Entering upon the struggle with |
new resolutions hopes and aspirations, |
1t III 10 us like the dawning of new era |
in history. The day We turned over a new !
lea temptation sharp and terrible barred /
our way, and some OF us have found the 4
struggle harder than We thought. But |
the fresh resolutions. ambitions. hopes,
and purposes of the new scar we're good.
They are the hope OF the individual as
the great crisis of history are the hope OF
the race.
The new year will be full OF surprises.
some glad and some sorroHful- 1t may be
ha linO hat
itself, is what we make IT, but We should /
be loath TO believe that tie hand of provi-
dence Is not an active factor in our lives |
Man may be the architect OF his own
future, in a sense. but he is not entirely |
so. We should be sorry 10 believe that We
must walk forever with the increasing |
weight of our sins and shortcomings weigh
ing us down. THE evil that men do lives
after them, and the good is eft inferred
with their bones" said Shakespeare. But
was the poet right? As we read history
at the end of the nineteenth century and
see how the good hat men have done has
follow ed them We are inclined TO reverse |
the st. tement Of the dramatist
What we reap We shall SOW. The worst
disasters of those old days were what the
people brought upon themselves. II we
SOW the whirlwind We cannot reap pure
zephyrs. We cannot add two and two 10
make three or five. We must be true TO
the multiplication table and to law.
We must trust in God, trust in Proyi-
dence. and in our own consciences. With
eyes open 10 what history teaches We
should expect to reap the harvest of what
we SOW. The laborer is as truly the son OF
the highest as any minister OF the gospel.
Let him go 10 his desk, 10 his anvil, 10
the school room, 10 she most braln-con-
cunning and heart-breaking tasks with this
promise in his heart.