The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-05
4. BEAUTIFUL SERMON.
PREACHED SUNDA NIGHT BY REV.
 GEORGE H. FERRIS.
His Subject was "Nhat Is Tyuth''-Dis- course Greatly Enjoyed by the Large Congregation Present-The Power of Faith-What Il Can Do For Man.

Faith-What ft Can Do For Man.
 Rev. George H. Ferris of the Calvary Baptist church preached a splendid sermon Sunday night before a very large congregation. The subject of his sermon was What is Truth?" and the text was from John xvii, 3S: Pilate saith unto Him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find in Him no fault at all
 Rev ADr. Ferris spoke in part as fol- lows:
 They were representative men, who faced each other that day. To under stand the full import of the question of Pilate we must understand the age in which it was asked. The Roman le- gions had subdued the civilized world, and out of the petty provinces, and remains of shipwrecked civiliza- ~tions.s scattered about the shores of the Mediterranean had built up one strange, incoherent, heterogeneous em- pire, whose sole bond of unity was a marvellous system of Jurisprudence. To hold together this incongruous mass it became necessary for the Roman
 
 versal toleration in religion, allowing lords many and gods many to find shelter under her broad-spirited benefi- cence; bu. it was the toleration of in- difference, and not of sympathy. The old religions were dying and men were growing sceptical. In Rome religion had always been subject to the state; worship was decreed aby law: belief was an indication of responsibility, and piety was a mere act of good citizen ship. Grandually the whole affair be- came heartless-a mere matter of util- ity. And now, in the days of the Ma zarene Seneca, representative of the best thought of Rome. was writing such words as these: "And this rabble of dieties is but superstition, and they who worship them are mad. The wise men will go through the forms of religion, more for the laws sake than for the gods" In Greece, the center of culture, Euhemerus had come, as- tserting that the gods were only men, around whom tradition had gathered its mountain of impossible deeds, The Homeric Bible had been subjected to the severest criticism, and from being an object of worship was becoming an object of ridicule. The disciples of Pyrrno had proudly asserted their scepticism and had distinguished themselves from the Middle academy, another school of sceptics, by saying, "The Middle academy declares that only one thing is knowable namely, that we can know nothing: but we Pyrrhonists do not believe that we can even know that" And now, in these days of the Nazarene, the proudest souls of Greece were going through the mock ceremonies of religion, and de- parting to laugh because the oracle spake such bad grammar.
 Such was the religious atmosphere Roman governor breathed. A new re- ligion was no uncommon thing to him. We read in the Book of the Acts how the brother of the same Seneca wit ness ,d the mad riot of the fanatical mob of bigots, and the record adds, "But Gallo cared for none of these things" Pilate. was representative man. There stands another Brought up in a carpenter-shop reared amid inconspicuous surroundings; despised even by the despicable Jews; dreaming of kingdom to be established in the hearts of men, of which he should be the monarch. ITO this end was l born, and for this cause came l into the world, to bear witness unto the truth. Do you wonder that Pilate smiled ilt- tie. and said, What is truth?' Poor impractical, visionary; standing all alone in the hall of judgment; for saken by His handful of artisan folloW- CTS: with a mad mob without demand ing the sacrifice of His life; talking of a rule of love, in a land which the Ro- man can scarcely hold in subjectlon with garrisons of trained soldiers. and dreaming the old old dream of truth, in a world which is full of the ruined castles of philosophy and the exploded dreams of faith. They were represen- tatiye men who faced each other that day. One believed in force, and the iron grip of law; the other believed in love, and the magic power of influence One stood for the past, with all its