Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 29, 1877, Page 2

v RELIGIOUS. Prof. Swing’s Address to " Young Men-=-" Life as a Unit.” General and Special Provi- dences---Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Ryder, The Rev. Galusha Anderson on the Differences fn Chris- tian Experience. Inaugural of the Rev, O, H. Everest, the Now Paator of Plymouth Church. Whittle and Stebbins at the Tabe ernacies==The Methodist ‘t ract Socisty. LIFE A UNIT. ADDRESS TO YOUNG MEN BT VIOF, SWING. “Prof, 8wing preached yesterday morning at the Centeul Church, takin as his tex So figt T not us ong that beateth the air.-T, Qor., ., 10, + As cach leaf 13 n sytabol of the whole trec, or of the whole forest, having Its own trunk, and Vranchies, an root, just as the tree ou which (t hanga posseescs its own root, and trunk, and. branch, 80 1n maiy hutman actlons there may ba seen the pleture of the whole life. In the ath- letic contest aliuded to by the Saint the strug- gleof Mfcis fmaged, Life is the hour of battle expanded into thirty-three years, It 15 the wrestliug-mateh or the fuot-race prolonzed, As Inaceingle crystal of snow one may sce the structurcof thie whole drift which checks a train or reavhes the eaves of the vottage, fo In the OQlymplaa contest of au hour 13 mirrored that cuntest of man with the unlverse which hesins at the cradle and ends at the grave. The little plece of sandalwood carries the frazrance of the whole tree. 80 aday of life carrles the svlrit sud the laws of the whole. .The Creator has made man alter this fashion that man mey know the mecthod of his own carecr from the outset, and need not conie ab Inst tu old age with the plea that he dld not kuow anything nbout life’s plan and obligation, and that all ke conld 2o was to wander to and fro till by chance he rhould (nd some wagon- road or fumnan hubitation. That man may have 110 excuso for a wasted exlatence God has muade each work orevent an cinblem of the whole seene. You remember that some years 7o a traveler, findlng that his traln_must de fn s certain place afow hours, strolled ol nto a dense woud ta ractice with gun or walking-stick. — In an hour he becatne utterly bewildeied, und Lo walked for days and nlithis away from the irom track, that emblem of man aud ewillzatlon, I ks alarm and alimost despair, ie began £a pin bits of papes to the trees, offering *5300 to uny one who will find mie and Jesdme out? Weo t not God has made each duy the mudel of ull the days of uwn's Jifc, we should all b all “the while o i the wilderness, und should be plnnimg up our anx- foty nnd despalr atunge the path ol our wander- inge, and offering rewmids to any one wio should flnd ue amd lead us out, But whether a Paul looks ut a cliarfot-race, ora font-race, ora boxing-mateh, or whetlier i or any one fooks at the coreer of erchant, or statesinan, or schelar, the preture ot the whole scene §s found In any one scene. Lfte a3 o unit may (herefore be made the aub- et 01 0 Eununy uecdatin, AR the race in aul’a figure was not divided un into parts - dependent atid Of Yaryisg imert, it was all oe vace .row the stavt to the gual, 8o the race of Hie reachies out betore us, nob n - suceession o disconne ted events, but a wingle 1in with only one stagclog polut wil one destiny, Staudinig 0 an era waes all Btevaiure ol ort was sl full of the worrderful grumes and of the phiysial beauty il power o the trecks, Panl drew from themn many of s poctle compar- fsuns, lie nuderstood them and oved then, und those to whom wrole amd spolie loved aml understood well the wine reek lbore and kpori In the raee or boxime contest the whule pawer of the budy must hut bo hurled out i tha first secomd. The heart soust be glven thae b which to donble s beat- lnfin to the minute, and the hues must grado 1y doerease thefr heavings. ‘The bluol fu the body must Larted g the rulivay train or the steamer b otarled, nob by o sudden whirl of the whicels, bt by a slow, poilerous motlon of the titanic forees. How slow Is tie flest motlon ofa great steaumer or trutn ! But by few moments the glant steam hae mastered the moviog pal- sces On lund or sen, atid the Bills fly past or the shiores of vevun - recede. Thae the contestants of Puul ret forth to run their long race or fiont, not madiy beatlng the air, but “niovi wlowly at” fist, walting fo Tl hear and great cheat furees to get Jull control of the atrauge meelanian and jnertia in man. Yeb fn these calim fnitiod maotions Hes apy the coniliet, "The stracate depends upon the first moments as well un upon the last. T first reachings out of the band or joot, these first elow revolutlons o the wheels, furm a part of the tinal victory, uml me covered of with tho laurel branch o the thnal glout of 1! umph. Thus life unites to-day und to-morrow, youth, middle life, and age, atd wakes of them wll o unit, It fs only oue chinriot race. ‘The coursers Which prance so galiy In the outset are the anes which shall cotne 1o the elose at last ambl the aliguts ol victory or the silence or hilss- 83 of defeat. . Ity alone does not sce the end ‘from the beginuing, and ILs permitted o beat the ar. It muy faueh, or cry, or do whit Jt pleases, But il its beautinl inaduess there {8 a meths od, for It s bullding np the powers of lite. It s moking the great wheels of future motlony it ds cluboratlie from the sun uud the air, from the waters und the dit, 10 e forees which areat lust to move tue articles of trade or assall the mhnds and hoarts of men. Further- more, while yeb mun §> un infunt there staiuds Beslde hun umother of k father who malie: even the early days Jiuk themsdves Into g far off duys, and L the littte hands and fect frow bedting only the cugay afre When o uoble parent stunds Leside the ohuld {4 anzone sciously llves for a parpose and emerges from the lttle years with a taste alremly formed for the true, andt the beautital, and the zoad, This Is & wonderful outfitof life, better thuu any fubieritance of cold. When a perfeet cousvlotaness of self comry or should come Is unlinown, It {s to he feared shat to many L wever comes in any deep significance; Hut doubt oy the twelit or fiteenth year the heart <hould hecome sn denly fMlled “with that strange fecling v tenee—"* dleve T L pecsamidly to hve aud act and die! By some ause [ onin here tolive thirty and then 40 go aw boure, and wene onsciousners s of exieten g TOrty or seventy vears, 1 Conntig tovue i fnely afty in those Lours th: i it 1o come, this T ecpest Les she thenght that fu a few years you witl e no nore. E Bryunt was ouly 15 vears of o wien he composed the U it that early aze ulready b pth ol this seli-conseiousne s, 1o such on antrocpection could bave come the wurde, Yet o few dayy und thou The all-beholding eun vhal Ju 0l iy cungres w0t yet i the cold cronnd Where thy pale foru was [ 10 wany ture Nor 1 (e vinbrucc 0f ocean sbiall vafet “Tuy Image, with power and sulumnity, tions which lic at the originof man teume a measurciment wid & fnsphation which are 1o affect L dn all the days to come. It seems thut thd spirit of diguity and rellection which came to eavels the youth whu wrote thgt poem in Dl ruing” sinrounds the wnlle still now while the waite baie o1 Nears ure poluthig out the nearncss of that ecpulchire of s early dream. The Uity of Life makes it necessary that one should ussuwio that he s to live out” the ordi- nary period sllotred to mun. We must all as- sume Lhat we have a race to run, The tea that iuu need not begn u contest reachive Into the uture, for peruaps you Wil be cuiled off the field, {s an ides Qituly unworthy. It §s the skeleton fu thie closet ol u coward or a chiid. . Of ouree suy olic 61 us sy dle t3-day or - wurrow, hut we are childish or cowardly 1 we assume wuy such 1dea tu such deztee us to perialt it to afuct badly u uoble plan of the beart. Lilemust ke belore man not asa tomb " which we are about to fall luto. bub «s 8 race we are about to ran. Although hers and thers a singer (lies suddenly while ho is composing a new song, or here and there a bride dics fna falting hruil:cvrmlu the martdagebou yuet has not yet taded i her hands, get these sad events no more affect the lih daty of lite than the frost in some hittlevalley cheeks the coming of spring and palsics the ploswman of the temperate zoue and silences the songof 10,00 larks, Uvon these sore acchdents we can found no temple of deapair ur teat, hut onward we muat go, aying i"l’hg days of man are three-score years and en." ‘True success must Le the resuit of equate treatment of that subject called life, We all biame jainters, and pocts, and sovellsts, and orators, when, having had iy their bands a good subleet, ang one of these bas treated it boorly. 1t te now complained at fn George liot that her stories are not o large {ir the cnd as they are i the Leziuaing and middie. Thus, to handle weil the tuone ds wint we all de- wand ot eversbody from Angelo down to the young musi ko, Bul do we' remember that What we will not_tolerate In otliers we our- RO o in a most eerlous manner. The great subject of Jife having been placed in our hands, we do not treat it nean .\llm\ e manner, W fail to measureour theme, We throw ourseives futo the tivst few chaoters anel do ot fook well afier the middle atnd last chapters of the book, ~harrow money for three years or five years though, haps, by that tme the workl will some - come to an _end, or the philosopher’s clixic will have been discovered by which {ron, ean be resolvad into ol I8 a quality of the prevailtng luman ra whereas, when the three years are out, liere we are, debt and all, with the world not at an end and the ellzfr =t Bidden away among nature's secrets, Dustead of grasping e, wnd feeling ita Ttmense power and responsinility, we meastred ol a threy apace amk felt thit after tha the delnge, To be ready in vur morals for death, and tien fu our spirita and fabor and philosophy to he ready for a long life, 5 no doubt & law of livina wlch eantot be surpassed, One of the vlees prodn ly our dashing century Is fmpatience. Al the suceesses of the late v duals and States, the open- inz 07 zold wlnes, the redoubling of industries, the creation of richies by rulways amnd monufac- tories, have at Inst nudo the humuan heart raptd {n it wishes s 12 th avels or the lizhtnfie whici cavries {ts thoughs, hus the age has made for us & new vi The word wow has received an immense fmpulse. Yoane men want education, ond profession, and fame, uand bouses, awi uraiture nor, Bt for the most part nature will not listen to any euch impatient children, A viee will not become s virtue, Ilere are our 1ifty or sixty years, and all the laws of Gad de- clure that they must be hound up into one gooil alt. Of the millions who have aliempted to t once intonlenrned profession, or into or fame, or riches. & cept one 1o the Tundred are toley éating thealre The vast multitude flung themeelves [uto the first chap- ter, nud had wo calin plan for the whole bouk. ‘They ran too raphily in the first minute of the race. All our mortal business should no «oubt be done In the fuce of our average future, This seems a cold form of pntlosophy, but in the end it turns out to be s philosophy full of warmtl. But fte warmth fs not that ‘of a con- flagration, but of the spring sung In January the sun beeins to smite the snow-ticlds: fn February and March It daily increases the warmth of fts ghimeey and at’last, far away in June, it shows us a most magniticent world, Buthed {n warm air and warm colorings by duy and by night, Nature's 1ife philosophy is ol this gort. It does not cush ta the young aml s up alf Ite powers In a cingie peraod, but 1t reaches out aud takes in the outlook of yeurs and grows warmer and warmer to the end. This Is the phila-ophy in which man must sit down and map out his husiness, his food, his pleasure, his marriage, his home. The average of life must stand helore him not a spectre to trishten him, but th able angel of his destiny, Even marrlage, whichalmost all moralizers hand over to what Is called love and romance, or else let atone, as bewng an ewpire which youth should fully control witliont oeine annoyed by advice, eveir this Marriaze, could 3t have i tongue, would, afier azes of much mikure and some sue- cesyy Apeak out snd ask to be trunaicrred for a tiné from the Kingdom of Lomance to the Kineaom of Philoso;hy. Romance §s n pretty qiecn, but seldom a wize one, 1 ritlers are celdoti beautitul_Cleopatrass they vre for the moet part ruered and strone, Mhic Alfred o Frederleic, Marriage ought to st duwn and look at the thirty 8 uiter the oraugeblose soms, and note whether there fs a true compan- Tonship, suine oncness of mind which will find new oranie-hloszoms ail along in the far-oft daye. Iomance I3 flower that blossoms but oive and remning open but an hour, philosopby 13 an bumortelle. Hut, Jeaving this field, at Teast {¢ will be con- feased that property and hotme must be souzht i presence of a lung fulure, Not the beast fmpattence, not the least van RN of dishohor intst en! called property or noines For the Ideal honwe not come hastily, God las piven man vears for bhuildhnr np his home that he may tot steal I the dest vear of the home- flding urt. Nature's law s patience, the devil's law {a framl. The best procress is that which takes in all the Intervening places he- tweon the tittle and the great, aml thus marks all the reetiery of the advance, 1f one would see ncontinent he must not fly throuzh in a nleht tram, bt st pask over b und dale by borse or on foot. No doubt he studics most deeply the world of miud und roul who passea alonge by cabin oF cottage firsty vho tastes onee add pinehing vho tallis awhile In darkness, for merging fr last into fatrer times, he knows the fous paths of man, und s full of aecord with the sgreat, human r: ‘That man may know man, be st walk throws life's continent, But thire fs no end to thls brauch of reflees thon. Let us sum it up:v" saying that lfe s a unit and he ouly can live it well who shall link into one chuln the days of the sow and the days of the future. Youth with its fnsplrations, lddle life with [t powers, must combine in ome resnlt. Aoy three-vear plan will be a beat- fig the b, 11 nay be death will come to some of you I u year, or In five yeurs, but only a few of You youne persons will this ‘talle You may wefl allussume that there s intrusted to yoa quarter or s (Wrd of acentury to be fllled up by gowd or had actions, Weat will not indue- tey, and reasor, and lonor not do for young 0 L this pariod ! Bt the word s * rush™ umid srpellmed* ot be evased from their fu, ond i it stead the words *honor, ™+ and *Hlabor," jnuct be flung out to t Murk u Iife yer how heautliul it i} ner, Disenciit ity years were' thise t the bmilding! Dibot one of there »: i been thirty vears wiiting a specehd rt and bran il been busy almost Flifetime e tosetier the ma 8 for th pressive stterances. Look at ull the g what u it Is the e of eac ‘o them thera e o cowardiy Jorehodings that perhupsthey smkzht die to-night, but there Imm:nrmxm\ themn the blessed assimption that they would live to- morrow. No foucht they, tot ay one that beut- cth she wlr. Their early years helped thelr man- hood. andt then mantivod fung back Wessed megory toward vouth aad glory onwunl towenl old aze, Their Hie fs - as addsy who-o morninzg utd inldday il evenluz suns are the sawne orb pouring ot «plendor from different parts of the rhy—miost spivudor in the evening becanse of 0!!1«- lmz;;h- work it hus done ull day on sea and sl What Is true amoue the fllustrious is true alro among the humble, Al toiters ure the rame before God. But He exalts a tew to o e nence that the Jaws of suceess niay be visfhle 5 1to (hat creature taall. Great e do not monop Gods they are ORIV Lablets on which s Juws are written ta be reard by the people, Suecess is the coabination af youth and mid- e lle, and streanis ot the heart and wind work paticntly to ene end, Many notes com nusle, FPhe fuas e planned of God was not to be o med Jev but aperfect As thie roses should te from tne cheeis wisdom w: it with the comin v come Lo the 2 f wh te balr romanee was o fade futo philosophy, God ordamed eecond ehildhont, The race und work of lite were to contloue tu the torab, ang, Moscs- o hundred years were to find’ e eve umtimmed and “the powers of mund une abate ) The great muoney men who ied T ‘-unf Knew 1o second dilldiood, becatuse they Jdid not pause in the pace. but ran ftivthe end, Thus the asstmption of u life ark a tush dies belore you as an mnense duty. Frar not an untimely death, do not expeet it, rea oot uid gyasp the allotted yeurs and b then intou e and ded ate them to fu- St ¢! vy utid reasot nnd Goul, y preciigs cotne Lo soon and sp ki the plan, b death comes In - besuty when it lxm‘h childbood or munhood Lusy i its allotted tu=k. Perhaps the clerevmen do rlzht when they teach the vz dadv that. ey may periags not Eive umil the next morntig; vut it waald seent more in barmony with the law of work wik Jabor ehondd they constantly ussure all wie youny that they have at tifelr dioposal llxh’t{ or forty ur ity vears, sud that they should base upon thiv ssswmption a grand campaigi. The only reatly good Hfe must re- €nlt from the assumption that bere o Lig bat- tle §3 to be fouybit, or u racs §s to be run, befe the grave chall be’ peached. the theatusians so botittled Jite wud 5o dilic cently awaited deatl. that alf the best fntellects Fepail tu eomne rolitwde that Lhey wibzut pre- pare tor death. bnstead of Hvlnyg “well, to die wetl was the cardinal ides of theolugy, sndmeu fled tu caves, teus, and couvents, that, earth beine a deluslon, they uizbt uiake ready for the wriw monster, aud the pussible sceucs beyoud, Doubtlese, the only philosophy worthy of man {stobe found in the nssumption that hero lio has o fong roll of years to live through, one by one, nnd that these must be bhouna together as one nct or result, Unless the heart nssumen this flow of years {t will carry along with it no wnrth{ rnllcy or no worthy profession. A suc- ceastul hume, 2 successtul fndustes, & suc.es: ful profession, a uniform happiness, must 1 based upon a herole taclng ot all theae coming years of time. The motto of old theology, W Prepare for death) should ba mntrse«lcvfl\y the motto** I'rr’nre Jorlife) for this pirdiniz up for this life, is tho best preparation for whatever may lle beyond the tomb, To die while attempting to make goodlaws for a zood state; to die while at the plow in the open fields, to die over onc’s stud'es whila young, lo die while vlanthyer trees in the ap'ing, even though their fruit will not ¢ yen for the planter, {s to die In full harmony with the plan of God, and His angels are as near such a death-bed as to the cell of the reeluse who has made death o perpetuol stady snd gorrow, Death {s fnaced un_Important,” an jnexpressible form of event, hut it ts equally wonder(ul that m ress gome thirty or forty or reventy ¥ life in sueh o world as (his. Here to live, where strects of trade send forth their confused noise, where mind produves thouzht, st strangest frult of a strange tree, to live where infghity na- tiona are passing along, great rivers of humanity | Nowing forever, to live where beawinul nris decorate the pathway of man, to Hyve waere a group of sentinents—lore, fricndsbip,ambition, patrlotizmy, religlon—stand with han I3 foined the motchless” Graces of the Clulstan era, to live where eeasons roll by alternating between willl Bnow-storms and summer zephyrs amld green leaves, here o live, where pocts sing, and stateimen epeak, and the mechanie toiley, and chiliren Jauwh, ls an allotment which deman:ds of study and preparation as deep hy the awhil myatery of death. The tation of death 14 not half o grand or plous thnld ex- I\ a3 4 bouyant expectation of life. 1t was n great errer of the pastors of the last generatfon that they kept the young under the palsyine appre- henslon of death, We lald no plaia. We did not expect to live more than nore fuinmer time. Whean Religlonsays ¢ as though this day were to be thy Jast,™ It speaks only to our sinfulness, and tells ws not to sin touday with the hope that the future will atone for the sin or wilt foret it Hence relicion spcaks wisely, Tt there 18 a fense which the young pastienlarly shoull live as though they were golng to have thue for a noble work, Live as thouzh you hui thirty years, ‘There are no doubt men hiere tos day, who now froin thelr fifticth or sixticth vear Took back and wish that when young they had assumed suck a long sojonrn upon this clobe, and i the light of such an expeetation had written down thele plan of e, In busitess they would have been more patient and calm, tronble less aunoyed; in hari timey ] em- harrassed, for not atteinvting to crowd existenee ftoa year, they woulil have been freed from the extravagunce and ubhapjuness of Im- patience. In that interestiuz book [n which a man of minutes an 1 scconds of Intlnite unrest attempts to go arouna the world In cizhty davs there is o moral a8 well as an amuzement, Ta Keep his word with the almanac and the clock he ud to epend $10,000 or $20,00) upun a link of fifty wiive, There was 1o rallway, aul to bear lif over fifty miles of Juncle Iy Indla, he had to hasten and buy & costly clephant, und indecd to pave the litle’ journey with gold. Picture thls of buman life in our age, for uil our young men and men iy the prime of life have, it seems, made u solenn vow within their leart. that they will o around this world in cizhty days, Wit a plece of fullv, nuless earth I8 a ganbling #aloon, * Oh, how the youncdo need to bulld up the feeling that there will be other years for them after this year, other springs and summers far away ! Many peraons in this audience will be moving toand fro o these streel the New-Year moraing of 100, aml will bo It prime! Nuture has mads a vou y of hier children, and faithfully will she catry most of the young people here to-day over lnto the next centurv, Aml henee, w3 the dramatle weriters, the Shakspeares or the Raclnes, connect the tirst act with the lust, and connect Lo hoth all the middle acts and scenes, and make of the whole one linpressive pluy, 80 man must watlier up his years, childuood, middle Ufe, and okl age, und weave them into aunit, o cannot aiford * ta beat the air’! He nust run a race. He must flzhit o rood fxht. He must assume that he 13 to piss onward over the thyeo score and ten years of mortality, PROVIDENC GENEDAL AND SPECIAL—HERMON DY THE REV. W. I, RTDER, D. D, The Rev, W. 1. Ryder, pastor of 8t. Paul's Universalist Church, on Michigan avenue, near Slxteenth street, yesteniny morning preached the followluz Interesting sermon on * General and 8pectal Providences,” taking as his text: For whether we live, wo live unto the Lori; and whether wa die, we dle auto the Lord; whetler we live, {herefore, or die, we are tho Lord's.— Lomans, zir., 8. 1 am to speak to you this morning of general and sprclal providences, But what do 1 mean by these terms, genoral und speelal provi- dences? What Is o providence t—uand when wo y & providence s special, what does our lan- it ply ¢ The providence of God may be de- Oned to be the care and superintendence which Ile exerclses over His creatures. 11 we lmly this superintendence 10 4 genersl overslehit, we have the doctrine of a gencral providence; {f wo eon- cede that this supermtendence enters into the ars of 1, and In one forns and another hes oure dally experlences, then we aceept the theory of 8 1 provideaces, Betore, however, we can intelligently answer the queStion 8y to whether there are spedal rovidences I Dhumun lile, we must have 2 clearly defined oplnfon us to the fact o1 geaeral providences, T other words, wo st decude whether there b3 properly avy such relae tion of God to 1is creatures as gustlfies the use of the wonl Urovidence atull, Tor, it we ne Aume that tle has no active, personal control over His ereatures,there Is really no room n our thought fur speclal prosidences, sinze we thus shut out all « llcr{muluul providence of all kindg, sl reduce all questions of superin euce to the Ve ‘ of Inexornblo law What we call “unatural law! fs not providentinl care. Providence luplles over- #lebt, active and direct ' supervision, The law at the Lourehuld fs not the providential enre of the houseliold, but consists in that patient watehfulness and personal Interest that works hoth throuzh the law, and independent of it. i ie any such patient Interest in s manifold wavs, caring for eat family (—anil is He, (n the , both through the [aws of mature und [ndependent ol them, worklng toward the one Invarlable reault whicih wis present with 1im e the Lesiingt It we answer these questfons (n the aflirmative, we aceept the doctrite of a general providence, and, If of a peneral providence, probably of 4 partictilar provideuce, becatise the geveral con- wists of particulars, 1t onthe uther hand, we deny this conception of the fmmunence of God fu hainanity, and con- shierour pwe utterly saparated Irom aiy presonal relations with I, then we substantially deny that there s any Provideuce oyer us at all any more than there 18 over Inanimate matter, ‘There was a thne when the theury of special providences was upplied to slmost tvery event of 1fie; to nearly all the phenumend of natury, und eapeciully to all thuse eveats which the reasou could not readdy explaln, in every comnunity In this country, particelarly amonj; the volored peuple amd the lower Trish, the came feeling Ja extant now, We cail them su- perstitions. liut among the educdted there hus been, within the lfonuts of a single generation, a remarkable change In belle and fecting Authunity has given way to {nquiry, sud ¢ dutity to fuveativation. ~The word “uf the re Ingz classes to-day {8, Svience. But is not this preseat view as much an treweas the otherd” o it not a yebound fr blind falth o an assumption of knowledize which the fa ts do not usufy? We know more of nature than our fathers; “this generution las a mere acerrate voheeption of natural phenume ena that oltaimed beture the indus tive philos- ophy of Uacon, but what thent [fave we so lhurumiluy mostered the subject that we are Justited i setthug aside tue teacllvg of our usoral and religious instincts and the verdict of human expericuce ! ‘Il declsion of the reason acems to le on the side 01 Inexorable law. Logzle, by itsel, seems 10 forse s to the vonclusion that nothiny (b b vun do or xay can wake uuy bmpre whatey upun the mind ol God. Prayer has no office. Miracles wie fmpossible, We come und we po without auy azeucy of ours. Al fs law; ull bs fute. Gud's plan s perfect; there {3, thereds re, no roum for varlation. But this concepton of God sud of Ilis govervment,—~4l governnmient can be cated on such u stute of thinse,—~rigidly ad- hered to, transforms mun frow a 17, FEapOlle o bel futo a mere machine, and 'ends all ion s to bs frecdom. And if he has no frecaom, i his will 13 also guverned vy the supremo will of (God so that lie docs ot think and st for hiwsclf snd of s own cboice, then, ol vourse, there 1 bo responsibility. But wou bs responsible. No watter what the reasou muy sa3v about it The reason s fulse i ft sssert the contrary. Tumau vature uttests the fact what we are respousiule both 10 Gud and to v ans other fur our conduct. We kuow that there toa distinction betwoen pizbt sud wrong,—that cer- tafu uctions have i ticw woral qualities, und if Wit we call reason dokd Bot recogulze Ahls Jaw FHE CHICAGO 'TRIBUNE: MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 1877, or Intuition of the conscicnce, then the reason is at fault In ftedecision. Unless, then, we are prepared to accept the extreme doctring of Fatalist, and deny all free- dom and rerponsivility In human acticns, we reem compelleld to reengnize the personality of God, and His eaperintending providence. Assuming, then, that there Ls an oversight of huma uty by tic rlity, we ailvance to this Inquiry:™ 13 the overslght of vl of snch ani ture that ang agency of ours can alter or change s planat Dovs {his oversicht of 1iis atlinst {tsell ta our needsand conditfons? In other words, is this oversight simply law, or is it that, and a great deal more? The subject thus is of (ranscendent opencd: to our view importance. Tha fasue is wot a new one. In one form and another 1t is ay old as the race.” Tt lies by the alde of the perplexing prublem of the relation of Divine Saverclguly and Human Freedos. (od I8 sovereign, and yet man s free; God {8 over all and in a; Jet man s a responsible moral acent, and Tlabt use of his puwers ean obtain frotn God In nature life that we assume to know, Ou the: struct a theor, But these facts that we are but a few of the many to be known, For the reason sccurately to outline the gov- erament — of God, It wust have witlil its grasp nll the facta {n reference to the nature of God, His purposes toward Ilis crens tures, anl the wmettods He employs to make those purposes operative. But sluce no one Knows tiat much, anit never can kuow that nauch, who is competent to dozmatize upon the subject, aml to say, on the basts of the little we know, that reason las ecttled the question? One migit just aswatlonally attempt to explaln all the phenomena of the Unlverse by examin. fng a grain of saud, as fully “to cow- prehiend the mind and ways of God uln the bagts of what we vall scientltle Investiga- thon. In all questions relating to the Being of God, the mora fgnorant one §s the more ready he is todogmatize. Looking straizht at a few rods of earth Just about lnm, one may feel Tmo satlsfied with hls knowledee, But 1l he 1t bis eyes from the ground umiler his feet he will soon discover that while within a limited dis- tance ublects are clearly defined, outside tliat 1imit all” I3 shapeless. And {f, to extend his vision, hie ascends n nelghbormg W, he witl digcover that, while his stehit reaches farther than before, not lesa real and seeminzly more extensive s the snyrounding darkness and mystery, Themore we study the less wo feem to knaw: the more we kaow, the more clearly we reallze the much there ia to bo known. What we call sclence, hovever valuable ¢ may be, is tut the orderly arrancement of certaln facts which observation shows to be true. these facts go. and so far ns they are fauts, they are authoritative, and, like alf other fucts, are truths; they areuscful, But the one fatal Jdiffi- culty With many Is this; they selze upun these fucts of nature, and upon the con ]n;lcnll?' drawy from them, as if they were all the evidenco that cnters into the case. Thus with our flnite and ever varving knowledee we are seckine to solve the mysteries of ctermty, The task is hopeless, And It s Lopeless nat stiply beeause the mformation fs mnderpttate, hut because the reason [s Incompetent. Dienify thie reason as much as wewlll, it is not the hizh- est test of truth, The highest etement” fn na- ture, and the regnant and regulative princples of man's nature, are his moral and religious facultics. The reason f3 continuaily altering its verdlet. The judgment it renders dependa wholly upon the evidence brought beforelt, ‘The vasaries of even an hundred yenrs azo were rerarded as truth, because they scemed the legitinate con- clusions from st facts as then testified before the reason. An hundred years from to-day and some of our theories, which seem warranted by facte, will, I doubt not, be reeanded ns equally groundless, anl as ul I{ sct nside. We do pot aflirm that the instlocts of man are lafaliivle Nothinz fn buman lfe is3 but while they are not infallible, they are afnly Jess va bleoin thelr judgments than the “decislons of the reason. ” At any rate, any theory of man, and bis relatfon to God thatdoes not fnclde them, {8 incomplete, and very Ikely unirue, Man Is not a tree—not g mere anlmal.” o fs a Htving, responstble, moral ngent. No relizions doctrine enn e true, and should not be held to be true by auy seet or 1y that contradicts a well-establisticd truth of selunce; hut 1t s just as evident that mno scfentlile praposition can Le true that contrmdicts a well- catabllshed moral or rellgions teuth, or the ings of our moral unl rellzious nature, he moral and religlous nature, their {ntui- tions and Iaw, are, 88 we have sald, the highest gifts of man. They kuow instinctively,~ The reason knows nothiue of Itself, It renders iu-l‘.:nwnl avcording tothe facta put fneviden, o, 3y what ritht, then, does any one who sceka tu kiow the truth shut out from his Investieatlon the intuitions of our nioral and religious - turey and that class of facts which come the nearest to the throne it seelis to reach Nature Is not the lmit of God’s ability, What ae dues not fence Him away Is not a treadmill out of reator of it cannot move, Nature 13 pllant to Gud. Burely the lmwcr that creates tho machine s superior” to the machine itself, ‘The wisdom peediul to control the minutest de- talls of the unlyerse fa certalnly less than that ihred to ervite it as it ds Go's law lg slin- pl{ the thought of God expressed, "ALI' these sl for many other reasons, T do not ve In the fmmutable rigidity of law. ad of saylne, “that the under T which phenanena appent In the universe 18 roverued by the rizor of ndumantine law, and that there 13, therefore, 10 place beft for the freo Interposi- tion of a divine wiil,” I {:rufer to sy that fu the vernmient of God, as {t tonckes human 1ife, T find Infimte plasticity and not Lomutable rig- Wiy, The adwmaniine reign of law fs easily stated as n theory, but the principle winlh L agserts I8 In no intelllzlbly sense tree, ‘Iliere I3 no such fron rule. 10 thers s to your resson, there 18 fone Lo your consclonsness, It I 0 [w?t Lant nan's azeticy. modities the operts tlon of the laws of Nature In a thousand wayi, w0 8 10 producochange and varkety thig woild not otherwise be, “The most teillng clreum- stanee In one's e, and that periups projected Into it out of the lifo of another, may modity his whole existence. . We know,—we do not be- lieve, but we know,—because we hiave the proot of it nour organism, that fn the exercse ot svlritual power by the Wil we ure _constantly produdng physfeal results, and makinie use of und varying the forces of nature through the uctlon of the will. God's one great, stupendons plan, beentse it {3 God's plan and 1ot wan's, by uble to take in all that Is, and 13 ta hey amd to provide Tor every eergen- <y from the foundatiun of the world. ‘Tv say there ore no speciul providences fs more thisn any human being hus the right to alirin, Nomandscompetent todeddarolt, Seienes tukes but u few steps' toward the realin of the unknown befure It meets with the eeurs rinz, and yet ever-undiscovered, Why ! Above sl it must not be asserted that there ure no spevial brovidences upon the assumption that such phenomenn are fmpossible fu a uglverse goverved by Jaw. The presiaptlon of ruch n stutement s nhout oqual to the doclara- tlon of a pesson in md-ocean,wha should stout- 1y declare tiat there 1s no sy (hine us land, Lircuuse to his eyes there Is nothing visible but water. 18ut mantfestly {t1s diflenlt, if not hinpossihle, to azy wheve the line s to be drawn between wencral und wpevial providences, Tho Jdifllu) I> of the sume nature us that which Inh in the yuestion, Where does Divine so eleaty end, und human freedom beging Woen flute man attempts to explaln the why, unil how, of the fntnite Creator, s it any wonder that he tids biinselC moving azatnst an hapenetrable wallt Our texe teiches us that we Jive and have our very being in God; hut this unfon with God does” not destroy wur hientat All the whils 21 “we who thuy slives” nor are we consclous of auy lindrance by Hitn to the treedom of our wills, In huuan life, whatever may be our th we du, and | hesitate not Lo say we must, sceept w thewt trath thu doctrine of specta n Man instinetively recognizes his unee to oad, e i3 not ut rest it he secks torehel ugainst 1is clearly expressed will. ‘The sorrow that scatters our bopes and cefeats our plans we bow to ju uncomplalning submtsslon. But for sintulness there bs no such shicld, Wo confess the fuult aund ackuowledge the blame, ‘Ihe rule s unvarying~submission to the ex- pressed will of tiod and ebligation to the morul aw, But while, as we have sull, no one is com- rmcuv. to assert that special providences are mpodsible, and while it i3 manlicst] dulicult to determine what are speckal prof deaces, it Ante Us to treat she whole subject with grest cautlon, und not hustlly say of uny particular eveut, it s & speclal providence, Such #ad facts 04 the Ashtabula horror, and the tragedy iy Brookiyn, ure doubtless expliva- ble by nataral causes alone. To seek any other explivation of them & uncalled for, sud to-atirbuce then to the direct act of God s lujurious te the cause of religion and harmful to public morals, so fur a3 the rtatement s held to be true. lut the Ashtabula norror did uwot termiuate with the day on waich It owcurred. It 45 trus we were not there to be directly injured Ly the catastroplic, but has that cyent made no linpres- sion upun you sud met By no carclessness of ours uid {t oveurs we werg hundreds of jufles away from the scene; but that did not prevent us yom recelviug o var inds certaln fru- pressions, waich bive become a part ot our per- sonal chsracters, and wiich we shall carry with us certaloly 1o the end of our wortal doys. Aud docs ‘any ouc Ay thoughtfully reganiing such plicnomeus a8 these, that fl‘x;{ come and ga withont the cog- nizance of (od! 1le does mot oceasion thems o is not in any way responsible for them: but because, fa” making us finite, troublo In varfous formne is Y‘uulhlc to us, ls It nnreason- ablo to suppose that God takes np the thrends of conttol where wo drop them down; snd that even our mistakes, our follies, and our sfns, through the tufinite mechanisi derived by His almighty will, may be mado to serre some pirpose of Fooli \Whether the Ashtabula dfsaster {s in any mrcr sense of the wonl aspecial providence nthe mind of God, wo may well hesitate to say; but that It s to you andine, and to thou- satuls of others, a_special providence, scems to me almost sclt-cvlident. The death of Mr, Bllss 1o lllustrate, has Lifted ls work, his hymns, and tunes, luto peculiar prominence; we vead the one and o uln;iv tho other with a tendermess of feellng which, but for his death, we should ot liave lind. And theough the influenco of the tewderness thus excited many hearts have been Inclined to a hetter life, and not o few won Lo the Savior whom he loved. n eruvrlhlnu Is determined by unbending faw, then Low could human wisdom bave made the Iatal bridgoe other than as it was? And why hope through stinly of what we call the cause of the disaster ever to do the work any betterd Really, when wo lift the question of thi0 in- dependent actlon of the human will out of ils metaphysieal refations, nnd out of the doz- matisin ol so-called selence, and look at it from the shle of our experience, nothing 1s noro evi- deut than that ene person’s life changes the quallty of another person's life; and that we are continuaily altering our plass and elanging our purposes as wo meet with new expericuces and new ltacts. uaded that thie many conceive what f supernatural fs implies, The crand revelation of God 18 fu N c. Dr, Bush- nell nobly suys, * Nature 13 the realm of things the supernatural Is the realim of powers, There, the apinning worlils return [nto thelr cireles and keep returnlug, Here the grand life-cupire of mind, aociety, truth, lberty, and loly govérne ment spreads dtself o the view, unfolding al- woys in changes vast, various, aud divinely Leneficent.” ‘These arc Godd's two realms. **In the ong the order is superficial and palpables [ the other {t [a decp as eternity, mysterfous and vast.' Christlan friends, 1 pray you accept human life as you Hud It, and 'do not waste your strenztli in the vain’ attempt to explain thie In- explieable. Thore are times in the lives of all when things seem to zo wrong, and_ when evil and wo_seem to prevail, In these honrs a he- liel in the superintending _agency of n wise avd benetivent Giod Is alone adequate to sustaln us, Faith in the providence of (ol is thegood man's dalily trust and unfafling support. The strencth of & man's heart toward God, other things belng cqual, is exactly tho neasurc of his force for | mood in the worll. When our Jord In Iis Sermou on the Mount tells Hls disciples to take mno anxious thouglt for the morraw, but to he Ltenatful and belleving, He states the great doctrine of hu- matn dependence and of divine care, 80 that the exsential trath which He teaches is comprelien- alble by us. In sume way the Divine Providen- tal enre I8 over the workl; In somne way His ear s open to these pleadings of the souly in some way our lile touches 11is aud 1is lile Includes ours. When the sun is over our heads and the skvis fAilled with hia glory, no_other heavenly body is visitle. But when the King of Day retires in the west, and parttal darknesa s apread over earth and sky, then the stars apnear—stars that bad been ididen fu the light of the sun, — Smne of you who hear e speak know what this fact in hature Nlusteates in Wnan e, “The pron- ises of God nre hidden in the light of earthly comfort and success; and it §s only when the sun of our hope gocs down,—only when sonio shadowcomesover the home and theeart,—thut weare able tohehold the City of God; to seo the light that shines in the window of our heaventy hebitation, and to look into the fuco of the bleased Christ as Iie sitteth ab the right hand of God. Borruw lhns Its misson, and God, e Al- mighty, {s overall. The darkneas and the light are bath alike to Him, TPutlently working as strength ls given us, hopetully relying us tho light falls along our pathway, may wo cahi of us, whatever our eastlily” lot, enjoy the consclousness of God's dalily care, and_feel that He 13 nut slmply o God tobe worshiped, but a Father to be loved. CURISTIAN EXPERIENCE. HERMON DY THE LRV, OALUSICA ANDERSON, The Rev. Galusha Anderson, ipastor of the Sccond Bapt'st Church, preachied the followlng sermon on ¥ Christlan Experlence ” to a large congregation last cveniug: +vAnd the two dieciples heard Him speak, and they fullowed fesus, '—JoAn, |, 1 +* And Saul arose from Lhe , and when his eyen were upened, hosaw no mam, but they led h y the Land, and broncht lum Lo Damuscus, And lie wan threo daya without mght, and nelther did eat nor drink,"=Acfe, t2., 8-, I wish to talk to you to-nieht about Chrlstinn experienee. Theto are two mollves which lead e to do this, Firat, a Baptlst, porbups, above wll other juen, shonld be nequainted with the varlanus phoses of Christhan experience, Hetakes the New Teatument us lls ounly guide inthe work ot planting aud training Carlstian chureh- es, He finds that sy apostolie chureh was a company of bapticed helievers, He models his church after this primitive pattern, Il is called upon therefore to sit In judgment on the geus ulneness of th perlence of every person that presents hlmself to tls ehurel for baptlsim and chureiememberanip, o ought never to Hit up his hand to recelve any pevsun asa candidate for haptis who does not give credible evideace of saving Inith in the Lord Jesus Christ, und he certulnly should do nothiug to preveut any one who has truly bellevel from being bap. tized into Christ. In this one uet demanded of nim by his church there rests on him the wreatest responsibilly ; and it becomes lilinso to understand Christian expericnce that e will Le sble toact Justly. ! Iu the sceond plae, 1desire to help a elass of persons found In_ every Christian congregation whose beerts Uold has touched, and who wonld make au open prolesslon of thelr faith in Chirist L they not formed certaln erroncous ideas of Chriatian expenonce, They have guthered th nutions froun the experlenves of othel sy, Our experience does not agree with thoee whleh we have ofton heard refuted, por does it accord witih tho standard whicl we hiave sel up for our- selves.” And 8o they hesltate to make o publis profession of their falth, 1 would this evening benelly Jusy such persons eud Jead thewm, ), 1n- Qecd, God has renowed their hearts, to tell the wtor¥ of thelr experieuce, and to muke an open coufession of therr Inith I Corist. Aud lirat, 1call_your attention to this fact these are manifohd diversities in Chirlstian exp rience. We should be led to expeet thiy fr analogy. We find @ vast varlety fn all of God's works,” Thoro arc notwo trees of the smng species widch sropreelsely allke; and thore are nu two leaves of the forest “betwoenu which evenan unpracticed eye connot discern dliferences, ‘There are no two blades of grass that ever grew fu the Btate of Illinofs that were exactly alike. No one ever picked up Lwo stoucs upon the ahore of_the veeau which were exactly counter- purte. No two clouds over flonted uloug the sky thiat presented the sume appearance 10 the be- Lolder. Notwo sunsets ever glowed in the wuet that were just uhke. No two stars ever vame. within the ep ol the astronuvmer's vision between which there were uot mani- fest ALl ces. ‘The wamo fs true of the human 1 two preclsely alike were never fuuml. You huve scen those that strongly ro- sembled each ather, yet tiere were broad differ- cnices quickly and eaaily deteated. There never nave been Lwo human Taces exuctly altke during all the ages that our race bas Hourished oy the earth, “Then contemplating that which gives expresslon to the face, the mind and disposition, we (ind quite o# great a diversity, Persons of the sume faimly may reaciuble each otner fn som thiues, but vach one fs found to luve his own fudividuallly, marked and dlstioet, And thls bs the glory of God's creation: while there is_order und <, in this uul!fi' everywh order aud unity we flnd futlbite varlety, Now if we find this varlety in the mutesfal creation, fn humuan faces, in the winds sud dispositivns of i, When we step over lato tie domain ot the purcly spiritual, should we expect to meet un- deviating sumencss! Should wo expeet to find all Christlan experfences run (n the sue moldf God hes graclously given us variety here as well as elsewliere. What sualopy suggests, the Scriptures and the duily mauifestutions of Christlan life continm, © OQur two texts this evenlug pont to twovery ditferent expericnces. Que presents to us Saul of Tarsus, 11 thaw an ordinary young man; bowaa self-relfunt, i)rulll_‘, cgotistival, well cducuted, su extremo Pharisee, lilled with ull the bitterness of bls sect, He belfeved that be was dolug Gud service when he perseented and wasted the dn- fant church at Jerusalem. He was on his way to Damas.us to do the satue cruel work ju that vity, when u light zbove the brlghtvers of the noonday sun strewmed upon hin frowm the Licavens and prostrated hli to thocarth. ~ Jesus tutked with blm. - He submitted to Chrlat, and ried out, * Lord, what wilt Tuou bave me to dot" e rose from tbe carih bilnd. The supernatural brightucss had deprived bl of Lis eyesizit. e 'was led by the hand fute Da- Jros Fur thres days and nichts he ato nuthivg, drank nothing. ~ An awful vonflict was ared within lus soul.” Thougl Lad truly submitted o Christ, ke was ju splritua? dark- uess. Nur did be come out of It untll Auvanlus, sent’ by Clirat, luld. bis Lands upon bim and sald, “*Brother Baul, the Lord, even Jesus, that applared unto thee in the way aé thou camest, | gonnine. hath gent. me, that thou mightest recelve thy sight, and he hlled with the toly Ghost.” Then both rh_vn(cll and spiritoal blindness were re- movedy aml Baui's soul was flondod with the mnarvelous light of the Gospel. Luke, his com- rnn(on and cc=worker, who doubtless had often hcard him relate bis experlence, writes that it was ns if scatea fell from his cyes, The sun of righteousness burst, ki a monient, on his vision, fn l-orbed, Nuw, take this experienco and subtract from it everything infraculous, and It still remalns extraordinary, Yet down through all the azes there have Deen experfences Itke Baul's {n muany respeets, Men fike Saul have had terrivla spir- ftunl contests, aml have been suddenly fted out of darkuecas into marvelons Nght s but, mnck vou, such experlences have been the exceptivns rather than the rute. ‘Turning now to the other toxt, we find that it !n-lnlu Loqguite a different experience, John the Japtist was standing with Livo of his dlsciples, —onewns Amirew, whila the othier was probahly John the Evangelist,—and Jesus came alons! Jdoln the H.'l‘!llst sald, * Behold the Lamb o Gol and his two disciples mmediately fol- lowed Chelst, and they continued Lo folluw Him to the end of their lives, To be #urey Lhey Were the diseiples of John, They hid recelved John's baptisin, but thi3 was the first thne that Chrlst hatl bren polnted out to them, and without any rtrugale whatever, without any power of darkness coming I upon helr sonle, they sinply and glodly accepted Jesus as thelr Havior, and the work of their conversion waa done, How different was thls experlence from that of Baul, ani} {\:Ul wius Justas true and And ail alonz the line of the history af Christ's Charelion earth we find experien-cs :,Imt correspond with those of Jolm and An- oW, Nat only tho Seriptures, hut present, every- day Chwistian life, exhibits ‘mantfold varlety In Chirlstian exverien ‘Iake a mecting for cons ference, whers Chrlstlans relate thelr personal exerclues of soul. Men slt bythe hour Intenacly fnterested fu all that [s sald,~just beeausethera are no two cxperiences that are exaclly alike. Il all wero preusely of the same Lype, run in the same mold, such a meet- ing would become Inexpressably dutl, DBut fince each experlence in most of its pracessea differs from every other, because there B3 n varicty ns vast nafna ficld of roses, you are charnied and riveted to the spot, 5 (IL) But, while there Is endiess diversity in Chiristian experlence, there nre certain points In which all such experfences are identlcal, Firat, In cvery uine Christlan experfence will be forttid conviction of personal sinfuincss, This fs o deep that tho person thus wrought upon fecls lils need of Jesus Chirist asa Savior, Tam not Inslsting that this convictlon of sln must reach some degeree of Intensity, but that such convie- thou §3 ani clement i real Chrlstian experiences that we canniot anlc!ly eonclude that n religious experience where it fe not found Is m Christlan experience. 1n some cases this convictlon s intense, in others it is comparatively slicht, How to account for tns varled tntensity of conviction Tdo not know. Men reason in this way,—and 1 do not m{ that their reason- fng is not sound: They tell us that when u chill {s brought "up I a Chris tian houschold, and its outward llfe s ay Mameless ns that of a mature heliever, we eanuot reasonably expeet, when It 1s brought 1o Chrlst, that it will have such a strugele with sin and sueh shiarp conviction as one who has been notorfously sinful and has jong stood out In opposition to the Gospel. This may be true, ~—=in the main it 13 doubtloss trie,—but there arc marked ¢xeeptions to lt. Bome years ago with n little glrl who had been L fo the traths of the Goapel. ' She is o Christiany she has Blhe had ordinary Sho was not destitute of She Bhe was convicted of erybody sald, always beena Christlan strength of character, will, but was a very amiable girl, was about 13 years old. sfn, Never fn my Hie have I met with uny one whoze conviction” was sharper and deeper. It was - feartu) strugelo with evll, and i lasted for full two months. At lenZth the light dawned on that troubled apirit, the struwgle was over, the burden was rolied off n[:nn Christ. Yiewing such cases, i becomes doubtiul if wo 1 reason very conclusively In reference to the vazied Inteurity of convictton in different Ingividusls, We have simoly tho fact before us that some wen, when they arc brought to faith In Christ, wre more frequently convieted of sin than othera. DBut wnatever b the intensity of conviction, such conviction, fn some degree, {8 part an parcel of every true Christlan experlence, Second—In “every fienuinu Chiristian experi- ence there is anapprehenslon and an appropria- tlon of Chrlst asa personul redeciuer. The trie bellever sees Chirist as lils sin-bearer; as tho Ona who dled for him {n hls stcad; a8 the One who bore for hin the penalty of violated law, and who thus delivers hiim from morited coudemna- tlon and puntshtnent, Yet Christtans difer in the clearness of thelr apprehenslon of Christ. Bome view ILim without ny qu:rvmllnqi mist; others approhend Him vnguc!{; aco 1llm indlstinctly, But every trae belicver sces Illm more or lews cleurly, anmd all rest wpon Mhn ond Hls atoning work for salvation, And without this appretiension of, and trust in, Christ os our s:tbulllule, there Is no genulna Christlan expo- rience. Zhird—Flowing forth from this apprehension of Christ as our personal Savior, there s o con- sclousness of i forgivencss, ‘The bellever Is assured, in his own soul, that his transgressions are blotted out, and that tod for Christ's sake will remember them no wore against him fore cver, Thus sl experiences, Wowever varied In other respects, are kientical n thesc three points,—couvictton of sin, upprebiensfon and ap- propriation of Christ s u personal Savior, and consciousuesa of min forgiven Tt the processes through which mea comoto this conselouances of forgivens ro ns varicdus he faces of persuns who experience It 1t Is of the last {mportance that we clearly and heartily recoinlze tins fact. It makes no diiference what rond & man takes to come to Christt the all-ln- portant polnt i3, docs ho comed Is he really in Chrlstt 11as ho the consciousness that the Lord has pardoned himi Some, when convicted of sin, are liko Saul, at Damascus, in grent dark- neas. The struggle with their evil - passions {s shur] They wre tossed to wud fro. God reveals Is” grace to them suddenly, ‘Their darkness plves place to thy light of noonday, Buch m !pcnklnir {from the depths of experience, tell us of the ¥ mar- velous light of the Gospel.” W have all met guch experlences. Bat, on the othier hand, this vousclousness of pardon through Christ comes to very many belfevers firm!uully. The light comes in upon them hke the dawning of the morning, All that they can say is, I wasin darkness, bul now amin the Il,;nl; hut how 1 cumg into the lght 1 know not.'” Can any man sy that this s not & gevulne experience! Wa canuot trace out the processes of the Holy Spirit. Again, we Thear men speak of thelr sin as a_ burden. Turfl vy, *0, we are crustied ta the very carth under the burden of our pufit.” " And God somctimes takes this burden off at once, Then the frecd sout exuits In the liberty so suddenly scenred, But it is not nlways thus. An gellot of our day has sald that thie convieted stnner (s sumetnues Mke a man carrving a heavy bag of sand on his shonlder up a bifl. “He stag- gers under bis burden, Bul some one stealthily plerces the bag, und, usknown to the beurer, he sand goes gilently spinbing out. Every mo- ment it grows lighter, When the top of the bl s reached” the burnlen is gone. So men are bordened with in, Little by Nttle and hmperceptibly tiod removes tt. It s all gone at kast. Chrlst bas taken it completely from the soul. But how, it Is quite impossible for those who are so converted to tell, But gone it fs, and they rejolce n sulva- tion, Now that {3 a genubie “experience, and ft comes huine to some of us here to-night, who cannot tell just how or when God changed wur hcu‘ru; bug that the change has been wrought we luow. (I11.) In the third place, let mecall your ut- tention to the mischic! which may come frony nut recogaizing the ditference In- espericnces,— not hearthly rcs-umuzlu% the various pro- by whivh men ure led to fuith in Chrnat. The most vivid tmpressfons that we recelve and the clearcst knowledge that we possess canie from personal experience. Hence we ore rone to think that the only pathway to such inpresaions and knowledge s through “methods and experiences precisely llke our own. The celebrated Adolph Mouod, one of the st elo- quent Protestant preachers thut France ever had, slucerery bedleved that in order to preach u goud sermon a man shoild weite out every word f bis discourst, in the best posaible styfe, an:d then remt it uotll he kuew "t by bemt, sud delyer 6 from mem- ory. Wbyt Just beeause that was bl personal experience. ile wrote hls eermons with gr read them th only onee, when | ut his tongue's end, and then he delivercd s with singular furee. Because that was his experience, he thought that every mijulster in Christendom who would reach tho highest excellence should do the same, He mage @ grear wistake; not more than ong preacher §n o thousaud could succusafully adopit such @ method. % We tind the same parrow views In men en- goged ln sccular pursuits. One lays hold of business enterprises and succeeds. ” Ho there- {foru 8ays to sulne yonu&r and comparatively inexperlenced wan, ““You out to do s0 and su; if you do not, you can’t succced; your methods are pot worth a straw; you ought o adopt these fnstead.” *Why?' saya the young mau. _ * Decauso that f3 my experlence.’” A be judges ull others by the steudard of bls own ietbods. Fifty years ozo tbero was in this count: mednf lype o‘!‘g Christian cxperience. It ?. celled by our fathers *‘the ww experionce.’ Where did it coma fromi Manifestly f style of preaching In that day, Tne"lnrfi::t:hn‘( the last generatlon preached tho lag of Much of thelf prenching way fa] = of forcc and fire. - They dld cortainly alro preach the (iospel, the rlad-tiingy: but not with that fullness with which they m\;‘ cinimed the Inw, Under sush preaching o were—I nse the worl thoughtiully—awrary convicted of &in, and they eried out for m, Ruclia result is, by no means, to hedepre 'I'hese experlénees were renuine and true, W, flnd hiere and there an_experience of tho samy type now; but the peevailing tyne of exper, enve at Hie preeent timo is quito iferent, Coge victlon of aitt Is not »o sharp. 'Fhe conflict with ain andd gelf is not so Jonz, The strngele fs poy Ao hard, And this ditference can be traced 1o the tearhing and preaching of the present. day, Wit our “fathers, 16 may be, prenchied foq mich, we do unt preach cnongly Go U ly, Then the doctrinal element 1 the sermyng of tho past generations has griven place fn vur day (o sentiment,~and_this sentiment sometimes s a sickly hue, Tho popular. ety Is agafne creeds and doctrine, astliough they were a pesti Tence, Our fathers, perchance, weat (o the ex. treme at thines . their doctrinal ntterance; Lut much medern preaching Would he va dmproved by a larzer fnfuston . of doctrine, Shallow senttmentalists cry out for dlscoursey In which there {8 not the falistest ccont of doy trine, as if & inan could really preach a Gospy sermon withuut preaching Gospel dartring Doctrine {s the whole pith and marrow of areq, - 5 sermon, IF jt ducs not contaln doctelye 7 .:-lenrly and etrougly put, it s not worth the uy "terance, . Dint there fs one thing in which we excel onp fathers: we present Christ with a fulliess and stinctness which s serdom found in any of thelr discourses. Chriat’s willlngneas to par - don and rave every repenting alnuor Is now pre « ;sented with greater froquency and clearuesy than ot any (rc\'luua]rcrl(nl In the history of tho Church, - And, ns a resuit of this, men siew, as u wreneral thing, come to Chirlst without thaw terriblu aud proteacted struggles thronah wiiey {persons passed years ago, But many, whow ¢ experience 13 ‘of the older type, think tthat all professed bellevers ought o lave an ¢ *experience just ltke thalre, and tant it {3 n sz > tol the dezeneracy of our thnes that such ex. ! perlences are ro seldom now to be found, Ap} when they meet with such an experiencowith | -exultation they exclalm, “Of, that's genuing ¢ work; we are glad to bear au old-foshioned ez verlence nt last 1" i But obstinate opposition’ to God, Tong-con thied strugzles neainst the trath, are not Uright evhlences of the eenuinencss of Cliristhy ' experlence, 1Tere f8 nnan who lias two oy | they g0 ntothe Atreet and quarrel and fleht wit [ othier boys, Thelrconduct Is reported to the fathe e Haeallsthem to account, “*John," he asky, dil you quarrel and flgzht In tho strect? y “Nu, sir,? says Jotn, “lg carefuly my on, iat you m{." ‘Then John blubvers, and say: Fal Tdid fizhit, and lled about ft; hm‘( am very sorry that 1 .'uu'x.rm and Heds do pleary fosgrive me.” Vel maya (he father, Yo ' you have so fraukly confesscd your faults,{will ¢ Toreive you.” “Junies," he says, turning to the other mon, “come here. Did you #ght with the bovsfy tho strect i * No,“xir,”’ says James, “ iy not” % Be careful, Janics, amd tell the truth,” But_ho nlllrmsI No, sir, Idld not.” Jame ' won't confess his fault, so he has to bt whipped and scat to bed without 1 | supper. Townrds night, on the noxt day, by father says to L, ** Did you not fight “with | those boys on the street yesterday!?” * And be obstinately replics, * No, sir, 1 did not.? “ly careful™Jumes,"” pays the father. “Itell youl [ didn’t do t,”" hu “answers, and he hastohe . whipped the second time aud sent to bed witt comes; towardanight the faty onit his suppe 1 The third d: Y er says azun, ** Now, James, did you not figli with those hova In the atvect day hefore yester [y i And, after o hard strugule with hinsell —— and a loug sflence, ho breaks down fn tears anl saya, * Yes, I did flght, and have been Iy agout ity and all _the ctime I fek dreadfu]l ‘bad, and I b that you will forggive me, If you can," mfmlmr is n’l\ly tuo elwl to forglive hia repenting boy, Bxt which of the two experiences Is the ‘betterl Judging as those do, who think that a long, obat'uate, vitter struurlo azalnst the Gospells the strongest evidence of the genulneness of 4 mkn's conyerslon, that of Jumes would be magh Tustly tho better, Now for the parallel. Tlero fs a man why Thears the Giospel n his early life, and without uny speeinl opposition aceents it and joyfulty fob Towa Chrlst. And some doubt his convers'on beenuse he scems to have vome to Chrid sy casily,. On the other band, -auothe listens to the aamo truth, bLut sub burnly reslsta it Mo flphts agafnst d year inand year out. Ho growsa gray in tis Atlast ho yiclds himself reluctantly to God Hurelates e story of lis opposition to i Gosnel aud the bitterness of his inte repentance amd some exelalm, ** Al that Lus the true rin l||"= 3 8eo how God haa subdued this stubbor wiil, Oh, no! no! What fs the best Christlan noriencel Firat, thut in which there hins b Tenst a‘mnsmun to God, and sccond, that, whi bears tho best frult. Does a man grow Into Iikencas of Clirlat{ Do the Chrlatian graves ap. pear within blin? Is he truef s his character rounded ont and symmetrical] If so, who card how or whon that Chrlstlan life bezanl. Suchs man I8 fn Christ and that fs enough, If we are ever decclyed, it [s by thoeos extraos dinary aud flaming_cxperiences,” Looklug ored my pastoral 1ife, T recall some who relat startling cxperlences, and mody of them ban gona uucn{ astray: but I remember othen who began Wie Christlan 1{fe with no experiens that they cau Lell, who have remalned steadlast, Years o, when | fiest hegan to preach Chrid, several In iy congregation professed couver elon. Scven one day prescuted themaelves o the churdli aud asked for baptism. One of then told an extraordinary expericnce, The deacons lstened wad erlody **Ab, that (8 a glork oup experlenco,™ thoy sald; % we have heard nothine liko §t Tor years.,” And yvet the ms1 who related it was at the timo tho veriest fav cal. But {n that little company was a lllmlcsl( retiring wou who - attempted to tell whal Gt vt tlonw for tier, Dt Akd. nothine kel gible. Those who knew her best testltied tothe excellence of ber Hae, On thls tusthmony sbe was receivod; but vome, doubting thu propriel of the =ct, voted for her roception with suspl clons glances and a shrug ol the shoulders, She proved to be na trie as steel. Al Jearned W onor her as & fulthfnl servant of Chirist. A few years later, intho Citv of St. Loul o lad 15 years old desiring boutisn mttempte: Lo yelute hls exnerience, But b colild not give expresston to anything which sceiaed Lo suugess a Christian_experience, The brethren of the chnrch wlscly sald, “'This boy had better wait for awhile.?” 1 sald, srethron, thils lad 4 ont of work am! wish nent,”” Oue of the guod deacons responded, 4 I will take hin home, aud give hin work to do."t A few weels after he cume to tho church and sald, #iVe ought to recelve that boy for haptism. duybted him at_first, but Le has lived out Chrlstianity before megqand all iy hesltation concerning hun bas gone T baptized blw, = au 4 few years later, met him {n this city, 1lo was a truo aud de voted diselple of Chirlst. Lt us chierish broud and comprehenslye viewt In relation tu Christian experience. No matter hy what process & innn comes to Chilst; 0 matter whether he can tell when be came o not; the only vital question 1s, Does he trulf telleved Has ho submitted “his will to the Lordt Tshe In ¢*hrist! Hereare a number men In the field; yonder s the housc. 4 storm comes np. To sheller themsulves frm Ity they run to the house, Oue goes Intd ths front door, auother into the buck door, and anotber gets in througd the callar; but there they all are safe from 10 sturm. Ordinarily {t snay be beat for o man v o w by the trunt duor; but na matter how b Eets in, tf i be there, he §s safely housed frd the tempest, 8o It Is not s important huw 3 mangets to Christ; but it I8 of the lust im purtance for bim to be iu Christ, tuat he may safely sheltered from tho coming storm o Diviue wrath, 1 speak to some here to-night whoso hesttt the Lord hias touched. Yol they, have newt made a prufession of . falth, Fricods, yod bave hesitated because you have thousl your expericuce to be poculfar, or to uniike that of others, That, fuetead of d¢ rousazing you, ought to 11 you with gl;ul:n':‘ 1f your exjierience was preclsely Hke any oved vlse, then you might dxmm it. You wo! have reason to fear that you bd taken it 08 from without, But it is unliko that of otbcms becwuse it has spraue up within you and besd the stamp of your owi fudivijuality, Dont measure yourscll by anyiody else. Tho eresd questlon Tor you to settle is,Do vou love Curish und luve vou ylelded your wilt to st 1£ 39 o und tell the story of that experience, whiv ever it tuay be. Declure before God, und sugely wnd men, your love fur tho Savior, ~ Ask for $8 rivllero of belug baptized Into 1ils wame, 304 ecowe for all future thwe identided wilh visible Church of Jesus Christ, JPLYMOUTH CIIURCIT. INAUGURAL SERSION OF THE NZW PASTOM Tlymouth Church, for a comparatively 0% time without & sticpherd to lead Its fock, 0¥ bas a pastor—the Rev. Charles M., Evercst, ! pastor of tho Puritan Congregational Ch Brooklyn, Dr. Evcrest preaclicd hls frst #5 mon fu Chicazoat Plymoush Chureh yesterd morning, vul, dificult o it 14 to sult com various tastes a5 are to be fonnd in go Jurgsd. congregation, the new pastor, to use & com . but expresaive phrase, ook well? wivH, LTV