Year: 1866

Sermon Delivered at the Church OF


the Advent, York Avenue, above But


tOnwOod street, by the Rev. Phillips


Brooks.


The announcement that the pulpit OF the
Church of the Advent would be filed on yester-
day morning by the Rev. Phillips Brooks OF the
Church of the Holy Trinity, caused the former
place of worship to be filed to over flo wing.
The Rev. Mr.. Brooks selected as his text the
sixth verse of the s4th Psalm, reading as
follows:-


"who passing through the Valley. Of Baca make
it awell; the rain also l!leth the pools"


The beauty OF this and of many other passages OF
Scripture said the munster springs from the beauty
of the land whose history 1t illustrates. In the
of pllRrlmage the names of the particular spots in
Palestine have become so intimately associated
with certain ideas OF our religion that they would
still be representative of them even If these places
should be blotted from the map. THIS Psalm is the
yearning towards God of an earnest and devoted
heart, and probably written at time when
David was not able to go up to Jerusalem with the
dampen his JOY, as in the 10Th verse be could ex.
clam, "a daY in tiny courts is better than q thou
sand. had rather be ooor-keeper in the house of
ny God, than to dwell in the tents of wckedness -
This valley of Baca is evidently Synonymous with


the valley of misery or suffering, and the lesson that
1t Is intended TO teach is that of turning sorrow into
Two great theories of life have been orososed-the
theory of compensation and the theory of transfor
nation. The first is based on the idea that this
world is full OF evil and discomfort, which must be
It is favorio doctrine OF the present day, and has
been forciby de'.neated by Emerson in his essay
on Compensation An endless up and down Is the
law which this phi osophy adopts. The present
woIla is rs the great down :, the N next world the
according to this theroy, the deeper the present
misery the more complete will be the future joy.


Although tn re are lew passages In Scripture
which would seem to warrant such o theory, tho
general tone of the BILE and the general verdict of
our experience alike condemn it. Itwoud render
no fFlgn n In n fnrn-
taste OF, heaven Souls OF faith less intense than
tina, Of othels cannot carry the doctrine of COM
with the assurance that their present misery wlIl
not last forever. they have nothing to do on
quietly await the sunshine, that their garments may
be dred But patience and resignation do not aud
cannot spring from such q theory. Tho man who
accepts the oomfortess comfort OF compensation can
only pod along his dusty way hoping bY-and-by to
come upon green oasis where he can quench his


The theory of transformation is directly the
reverse of this. When David athirsE IN the will
derness he aid not look forward into the future but
deeper INTO The present for relief And this Is
sent e present consolation tbpSs pre- %
reality, Just what they are used for. their natures
depending on the genius and desires of him who
would transform th' m. A sculptor sees q b ock of
marble. and it becom to HIM statue; q mason
encounters it, and it is only door s!en. In the
same way men themselves are material tor each
other Each one makes OF his neighbor that for
which he uses him, the Iesu OF this mutual in
huence of men on each other depending in all
cases on their characters and motives. So men
likewise use God, making OF Him such different and
OPT ose things that some raise themselves up to
heaven, while others sink down INTO perdition The
sublimest picture in the history OF the world Is
presented by this faculty OF the soul by which IL is
enabled TO rise to the supremacy OF all things and
decide their natures 0y the uses to winch it would
put them. is but repetition of the scene where
God brought to Adam the beasts OF the field, 10
| what he would make OF them, and " whatsoeyer
! Adam called every living creatnre that was the
| Now let man, armed with this power and having
the dis oson to exercise It go down into the yale
of Eaca or mi cry and he shall come out, not half
dead nom thnst, but echoing the words of Davld:-
"Lift your heads, oh! ye gates; and be ye lifted
up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory sha
/ come i'm" Our human instinct Graves something
/ like this. We long for present existence for
only by drinking OF the merciiul waters Of
Baca Suffering contains the elements of true hap
pbess because it produces sense OF our weakness,
helplessness, dependence and, righ ly used,
/ it PAGES the soul in its happest and trUest life
ANYTHING in the body, brain, or heart that brings
our sefsufciency out OF us, sets us free from our
abnormal state, and gives us the power to see the
great light OF O present God.


While this doctrine OF transformation holds true
with respect to involuntary suferinPy 1t is even
more applicable In the case OF that responsible
fering which springs from YO untary and sensible
sin When q man realizes for ihe first time his
quilt that he is without hope, that he stands naked
/ OF misery, and all around Is dark. But evon this
valley can break forth like the vale Of Baca into
wells of Ticl est joy. here sin aboundeth, grace
doth much more abound, We have but to heed the
inyi alton ITO every one that thirsteth come We 10
the waters" Through suffering Iman IS BROUGHT o


fuller realization the character and love Of God.
In bodily or mental pain, he is enabled to i've de-
ill., htiul days in the Joy afforded by studying the
ways of God IL Is not a heaven to come that we
so much need, as a heaven on earth, transformed
from the difficulties doubts and toiis OF this present
waters; and whosoever drinketh OF them shall not


ilIIst any more