The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-09-03

church has been repaired and improved
 The church looks very handsome in its
 new dress. Mr. Mutch's sermon in brief
 is given below:
 "Ye search the scriptures because ye
 think that in them ye have eternal life;
 and these are they which bear witness
 of Me; and ye will not come to Me that
 ye may have life''-John ", 39, 40. The person to whom testimony Is
 borne is more important than the doc-
 ument which bears the testimony; but
 Jesus charges His hearers with forget
 ting the great consideration and losing l themselves in the document.
 I A bank note or a bond is a very good thing to have, but not from any value
 of it's own; it is only an evidence of the existence and possession of certain val ue or property. The property might
 exist and be of equal value without the document of evidence, but the docu- ment with no value to which it can tes-
 tify would be q meaningless counter felt. Yet it is no uncommon thing for people to forget the distinction and be elpSJl DtN III lIS iONS pl lliC iipiC dilN eAfS bond without regard to the value for which it has ben received as token of testimony
 The same distinction exists between
 the book of the testimony and the value
 to which it bears witness. And that
 distinction is likewise often forgotten
 The book of the testimony is a great
 work, but 1t is only a witness Those
 to whom Jesus was speaking were in
 clined to make a fetish of the book, as
 if they expected to find eternal life in
 an old book, without any regard to the
 things which are dealt with in the
 book
 Was there eternal life In the perfume
 tory regularity with which they heard
 the scribe read from that book? Was
 there life in the marvellous dexterity with which he could read into its phrases the vain imaginings of his own fertile mind? We smile at the shallow phariseeism which saw the book, but could not see through it to the divine life to which 1t bore witness; and we do not realize how exactly we ourselves fall into the same folly,
 It Is not that we would take away In the least from the honor in which the scriptures are held among us, as is shown by the fact that we have set the open book of the testimony in the most conspicuous place in the new decora- tion of our church. May the time nev- CT come when the scripture shall cease to be the most conspicuous and impor tant visible object in our worship But V -ln will not come to Him that they might have life, but rather search for It in the scriptures. For these scriptures-what are they? These are they which bear witness of me"
 Therefore we have not left the open book of the scriptures alone, that peo- pie might stop with that and be con- tent with the mere letter, the husk, the document; but we have laid upon 1t the key by which alone all scripture can be opened and interpreted, representation of Christ to whom the scriptures bear witness and without whom they are 
 Various emblems might have been chosen to represent Christ It Is not so important which one is chosen, but there seems to be in the democratic of a Congregational church some incidental objection to others; there is to this, although none has yet appeared It is doubtless the oldest monogram ever used to repre- sent the name of Christ. It was exhi- bited In the year 323, as We are told, by the historian Eusebius, upon the laba- rum or sacred standard of the first | Christian emperor Constantine, and so 1t had probably already become a rec oenizad emblem for Christ. We are glad that it does not come from the Lat n or from any other language than the | original Greek in which the word Christ | appears in the New Testament. These etters which resemble the Roman x, l P, are not, however, that, but rather he Greek letters Chi, Rho, or Oh, R, he first two letters in the Greek word 1 -hristos, or Christ. The figure Is call l ad the Charismon, and Is everywhere | recognized as the monogram for Christ.
 Let this combined emblem stand, | therefore, as a perpetual object lesson | Or us, teaching us the right relation between the book of the testimony and | he Christ, the ever living Saviour of | he world, as set forth in His own words, These are they which bear wit less of Me- It is He that shows us he true aim of life. He furnishes us he clew to the puzzle. Without him ve cannot solve the riddle of life; neith- r can we find eternal life in the sacred scriptures. But 1t Is not enough for q nan to have learned the art and knowl- dge of his trade or profession. He must llso have a business energy to push hat trade or profession to q success. 50 Christ not only becomes to us the .ey to open the knowledge of eternal fife to us, but He also becomes in us he motive of a divine life bearing us onward to the achievement of eternal fife
 Keeping in view this relation, we shall lot so often find ourselves reading the 1 criptures in a merely routine fashion, $ if we were reading 1t by a rosary with no other desire. than to count off o many chapters in so many days. We hall rathel be studying 1t for the sake f knowing Christ, of whom it is the hief witness bearer Then 1t will have
 new interest and meaning and value } us. Then it's parts will fall into the ight relations with each other ant ome parts will be immeasurab bly, rich r than others. But it will stand out efore US in living characters, when it interpreted in the light of the divine 1 fe given from God through Christ to