The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-07
REV, DR, GEORGE B, HORR
EDITOR OF "THE WATCHMAN.,
 AT CALVARY CHURCH.

The Evening Sermon on "rhe Word
 aud the Life"
 Calvary Baptist pulpit was supplied yesterday by Rev. George E. Horr, D. D., of Boston. He is well known to many as editor of the Watchman, the New England Baptist paper. His re- cent acceptance of a professorship of church history in Newton Theological seminary will remove from the paper one who has raised the standard of re- ligious journalism and been a power in the religious life of New England.
 At the morning service, in connection with the communion, Dr. Horr preach ed from John 3:2; subject, "The Gre dentials of Jesus" In the evening the topic of Professor Horr's sermon was tThe Word and Life," from the text, Thy word have hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee e''-Psalms 119:1l pr. Horr said:
 There is a great difference between having the word of God in books and having it hidden in the heart. If you want to speak or read French or Ger man with readiness and precision you cannot keep the language on your shelves in dictionaries and grammars. You must get the words and their in- factions and constructions into your mind. You must become so familiar with them that you can use them spon- taneously as instruments of expression. You have to hide the language in your heart.
 Any one can buy a copy of Shelley's poems and put it in his bookcase or on his parlor table,, He may be perfectly well aware that he can turn to the "Skylark" any time he wishes, but the fact that he owns the book and can turn to it at short notice does not refine his taste or fill his mind with beautiful imagry. In order to gain the benefit the lyric may be to him he must trans fer it to his memory; he must seek to appreciate it; he must mediate on it. and suffer it to. recur to his mind in many moods. He must hide it in his heart" and then it's almost supernal perfection of image and phrase and mu- sic will appeal to him and he will find his own spirit sympathizing with the joy and light and song of the bird.
 And the writer of this psalm meant things like these when he spoke of hid ing Gods word in the heart. He saw that Gods word brought it's full bless ing to men only as it was lodged in memory, found sympathetic apprecia- tion in the heart and became identified with the activities of the soul-only as if vvo oc fnd fyov,, ,,yf,,+ad y,a srac tf, the flashy tables of the heart.
 The speaker then dwelt upon the methods by which this may be done, emphasizing the importance of memor- izing in childhood the great facts and truths of revelation; the value of med itating upon the word and the tendency of every act of obedience to the truth to lodge the truth in the inner life.
 The writer of this psalm wrote the text immediately after a prayer. He pours out his desire that he may not wander from Gods commandments, and then, by swift insight, he sees that his prayer is one of the kind that men answer largely for themselves, and so he adds: Thy word have I hid in my heart that might not sin against Thee" He sees that if he has this in- terior knowledge of Gods word and sympathy with it and appreciation of it he will be protected against the so- licitations of sin.
 A friend, who is a famous musician, has two little girls, under ten, who have inherited their fathers genius. One morning the younger climbed to her fathers knee and whispered: Susie doesn't play that nocturne right" How do you know" my dear?" said her father. T know papa the child answered, because have it in my heart" That was the thought of the psalmist exactly. The child could de- tect the least variation from what Cho- pin wrote because of the chiming har- monies in her own heart. The stand ard was in herself because of her musi- cal genius and sympathy. And that is one of the ways man who has the word of God in his heart and sympa- thizes with the thoughts and feelings of God is protected against sin. He in- tuitively perceives it's dissonance with the law of righteousness, and he spon- taneously revolts from whatever is at variance with it.
 But when the writer said that I might not sin against Thee his thought doubtless went step further, and he thought of the word hidden In the heart as irnparting into the life an aggressive force against evil Our Lord, in ex- blaming one of His parables said "He that received the seed into good ground is he that hearth the word. and under standeth it, and bringeth forth fruit" The word translated understand" is peculiar one. It only acquires that meaning through a roundabout process. Its significance here is well expressed by the phrase ''manifests affinities with it." Just as the soil manifests it's af- finities with the seed, and the seed with the soil, and ger1nination begins, so the word and the soul must respond to each other, and the fruit of character is the joint product of the word hidden in the heart
 Thus lodged in the life the word be- comes the inspiration and incentive to just as my little friends fine musical sense is not simply a guard against mistakes but it will be an in ward impulsion to make her faithful in her lessons, to lead her to improve her opportunities until by and by, as she