The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-01-18
elements of W Inch are to be found in joy
and peace and righteousness in the Holy

elements of W Inch are to be found in joy
! and peace and righteousness in the Holy
| Ghost.
| am glad that we are no longer expect
f, ed to dogmatize upon the awful subject
of future punishment, and | am glad that
the vital element in religious experience
is not made to lie in personal trust in
vicarious atonement tho again blessed
be God that we may trust in His love as
manifested in His Divine Sony, but that it
is made to lie rather in personal conse-
Grafton to Christ as Lord and Master, and
example in all righteous ana beneficent
living. am glad, in word, for the re-
turn to the simple Christianity of the
early ages, for the increased emphasis
given to those simple, grand truths which
our Saviour taught, which are SO potent
upon our life and character, and tor the
dropping out from the pulpit enforcement
and from popular religious thought of
truths and speculations which are indffer-
ent in their influence upon character and
| life.
| The change of the central point of our
theology from the DEGREES of the sover-
eign ruler to the love of the infinite Fa-
Their manifested in the person of Christ
/ exalting in our preaching of character
above either formal works or a formal
| faith; the substituting in the place of
excessive and INV holesome appeal to
| fear as motive-the more scriptural APP
/ peal to conscience, to love, to all the
higher and nobler impulses of our nature,
| the larger hope for the future life, the
assurance that if any are finally lost it is
| because the infinite resources of infinite
love are baffled in the attempt to save
them-these are some of the changes
which have come over the faith of the
church and the preaching of the pulpit in
the fifty years since this church was
organized. For that VIC bless God and are
thanktui-by just so much is The Chris
tiqnity Of the church urer and more pow
erful, and the outlook for the future more
! hopeful.
| And yet not only has there been this
change in the things believed, but even
more in the way and spirit in which they
are believed. Fifty years ago good reo-
| pie We're so positive. They not only be-
lieved so much, but they believed it so
! dogmaticaiy. Every minister, every
| church member, almost, was expected to
have detinite, positive unMavering con-
| viction upon every theological subject,
past to the doom of the wicked in the
eternities to come. We occasionally meet
with such persons now in all the churches
sure that they hold the truth, the whole
, truth and nothing but the truth. and when
we hear them we feel as DR.. Taylor did
when he said to DIR. Cook: 81 wish l
could be as sure of anything as you are
sure of everythingH, or as we are remind
ed of what Cromwell said: 81 beseech
| you, my brethren, by the meTcies of God,
remember it is possible you may be mis-
| taken"'
| 1t is a blessed thing to live in an age of
| the world when one has the privilege of
holding his judgment in suspense and may
safely say in regard to great many things,
81 do not knowe' l heard a man some
what eminent in both scientific and theo-
logical circles, in answer to a question as
| to what be thought was the greatest dis
covely that had been made in the last
| fifty years, say: "The possibility of
suspended Judgment"
Yes, the present generation has made
the grand discovery that man may be a
very good man and have very intense
moral convictions without having very
positive intellectual convictions on all
possible subjects.
| The fear is that we may go too far in
this direction, according to the principle
that one extreme follows another. There
are some things about which it is worth
while to have very positive convictions,
and be able to use the words which Paul
SO often used: 81 know, know in whom
have believed
trust the time will never come when
anything is needful to give signiti-
canoe to the words: ''God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son
to die, that whosoever believeth in Him
shall not perish but have everlasting
life''-when anything is needful to give
richest and tenderest significance to these
words Shall fall into the class of things
doubtful. The tendency does not seem in
| that direction. Never before has the heart
of the race been so drawn to Christ, the
| Divine Master, as to- day-never before |
think, so many who call Him Lord and
! Master, never so many who give him their
| life service and would gladly give their
life blood if it were needful.
In conclusion, l think there are many
reasons why on this 5Oth anniversary we
should look back to the past with pro-
found gratitude to God, and look forward
to the future with cheerful hope and con-
! fidence. We have reason to be grateful
for the founders of this church, the men,
DRY of whose sanity character and whose
mighty words are priceless legacy. We
can be grateful that we have not altogeth-
er been unfaithful to the ideals of the
fathers, and that we can review the his
tory of the so years that are gone with
some measure of satisfaction. We have
reason to be grateful that we enter upon
our second semi centennial career without
the least incumbrance of debt-grateful
for the vitality and vigor of the church
and the society which has enabled it un-
der all depressing circumstances of the
year to raise perhaps greater sum for re-
ligious and benevolent purposes than in
any previous year Of its history.
We should be grateful that we have a
pastor who holds the heartiest love of his