The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-10-01
DIR. STEBBINS' SERMON.
Former Portland Pastor
in His Old Pulpit.
One Of The Most Remarkable Preach
erS Portland Ever Had.
His Great Influence on
Pacific Coast.
An Elevated and at Times
Thrilling Discourse.

dOrdblO OO0DDluS3 u W. Was bHo uuOso
remarkable preacher Portland has ever
had. His passionate covered a period OF
nine years, from 1866 to 1864 Now as an
old man in his eightieth year, yet still
with great vigor, physically and mental
ly, he preached yesterday to his old
friends and young friends IN the parish
which was once the field of his labor.
DR.. Stebbins was born in 1921 in Will IL
ham, now Hampton. Massachusetts. lie
was educated at Cambridge and ordained
at Fitchburg in 1867, where he remained
four years He then came to Portland.
His passionate covered the years that
eliminated in and saw the beginning
of the war against slavery. He was an
ardent abolitionist and his sermons were
delivered unhinchingIy to meet the needs
OF the time. After the battle OF Bull
Run, 1t is said that he draped the pulpit
with the American flag. His unusual
power as an orator, his life OF spOtless
honor and integrity, his unique personal
ity to which was united a spirit Of great
sympathy and kindness, created for him a
large place In the hearts and admiration
not only Il his parishioners, but of all
who knew him in the city.
In 1864 he was called to the pulpit made
vacant in San Francisco by the death Of
Rev. Thomas Starr King. While 1t is said
that Starr King saved California for the
Union, it has been reco gn1zed that. DR..
Stebbins, as a minister, leader of pub
lie opinion and an educator, has done
more than almost any other man to make
California what she is today. Bowdoin
college conferred the title OF Doctor OF
Divinity upon him in 1869. After thirty
six years of service IN San Francisco, DR..
Stebbins has given up active parish work
and viii spend the winter in Cambridge.
A very large congregation gathered in
the church and listened to an elevated
and at times thrilling discourse upon the
possibilities OF manhood.
DR.. Stebbins took as his text, l John
80: beloved, now are we sons of God,
and 1t doth not yet appear what we shall
be; but we know that, when He shall
appear, we shall be Ike Him; for we
shall sea Him as He isl He then said
in part: The thought IN these words
brings 1t into the love of God. By it
men are made and framed and fitted to
life and being, brought into good stand
ing and the hope of future greater than
the present. We are now sons of God,
more than we know or understand or
comprehend. The reason why it does not
appear what we shall be, is because 1t
Il
not now begin to know about ourselves.
If we did know about ourselves now, we
should know all things. But there is a
sublime surprise, that S it, N ore than we
know, an Infinite unsat1sfied desire and
feeling, that rolls like the ocean from
shore to shore; the morning star of hope,
the eyening star of faith, the dawn and
phetic. We have powers that transcend
the present finding no use here. We have
1maginings that we cannot apply in the
present circumstances. Professor Pe1rce
in company Of scientists, once rose with
manuscript in his hand and said, ST
have a problem here with a solution far
in advance OF the present day. Only three
two of them are absent, beg leave to
file it away in the archives of this So
Ciety, without reading 1t, in the hope that
In some future time someone VIII arise
to interpret it to an understanding
world" Only a great consciousness
could say that, but 1t was truth that
Outstripped vision. Such Is the prophecy
r. o.
Insight of Jesus life. He was man
born in mountain pass or southeast
Asia, but how wonderful his work. Let
rs not say that his tsaching was all,
upon which the subsequent history of
the world has been based, Many things
have conspifed to make the world what
1t now is. But the truth of Jesus Is
thousands of years In advance of the
world today. We know not where the
great life is to be found. Washington and
Lincoln are types of greatness. The one
on his rich fathers estate followed the
hounds. The other in his poverty worked
on fat boat. We take a great soul
where we lind it.
We talk Of the practical and the ideal.
What do ws mean by ideal9 The ideal is
a vision of the good, the beautiful and
true, higher than now attained. But it
ought to be attained, If, have you ever
thought OF that word, 1fS There Is no
word but ought that means Sd much as
1t. Ii is the dead wall against which we
dash. That little word Is the bound of
our possibility here. II Is the mountain /
range about my earthly lot. But there
flashes in upon the it, the thought of
what may be accomplished. There Is
divine discomfort, patient dissatisfac.
ton; it is no querulcus temper, but an
aspiring heart longing for it's native air.
Think Of the inventor and the vistas his