Evening Star Newspaper, October 7, 1891, Page 9

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It is equally effica- cious and valuable in its effects when taken for those disorders and derange- ments incident to that later and most DR. ARTHU Ecumenical Conference Today, THE CHURCH’S MISSION. ‘The Divine Presence and Its All Iiluminating Power--Kegeneration and Not Reconstruc- tlon—The Permanent Strength and Creden- tals of the Church. Foremost in English Methodism is the Rev. William Arthur, M.A, and when it was planned that he should attend the Methodist ecumenical conference, no one but he was sug- gested us the proper person to deliver the opening sermon. Unfortunately the great Preacher has lost that vocal power which once. was his, but that lamentable fact Was not permitted to interfere with tl Program, for an arrangement was made with the Rey. Thomas Bowman Stephenson, D. orator of the highest grade—should read the sermon. The discourse, which was based upon the apponded text, was as follows: Behold. I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Istacl from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Zion.—lIsaiah viii: 18. In the Episile to the Hebrews theso words directly applied to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. and to that family of the sons of God of which he is the everlasting tather, while at the same time ho is not ashamed to call them brethren. As read in our text the words were used by the prophet Isaiah as of himself and his two sons. ‘Lhe name of one of these signified the haste of the ler descending upon the prey, and the name of the other the return of a remnant from cap- tivity. ‘The name of the father signified the salvation ofthe Lord. Thus taken together the group stood as the symbol of a history in which ruin should indeed be incurred, but restoration should be brought in by a Savior—God. At was in the evil time of King Ahaz. Fall had led to fall, sin had followed sin, and now Woe was treading upon the heels of woe. 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Having lost his faith Ahaz could not sinile at this threatening of the idola- trous as vain breath because directed against the promise to Judah of the scepter and law given till Shiloah should come, and against the promise to Daniel of a line that should merge in the kingdom that cannot be moved. The backsliding king and his backsliding people quailed and moaned before the peril, and were moved “fas the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.” OUTSIDE THE GATES OF JAFFA. Ahaz had gone outside of the Jaffa gate and Stood by the upper pool. Doubtless he bad with him his best engineers and chief captains, contriving how to secure for the city during the approaching siege its supply of water. In tight rose the green peak of” Behi-Samuel, the monument mountain, evermore repeating to Jerusalem the name of him who poured on the son of Jesse the anointing oil. On the other side rose the tower of David, the pinnacle point of Zion, that holy hill, which even then. had been made by David's harp forever memorable. Between these two objects, under the city wall, stood the faithless son of believing fathers; who publicly preferred to the God of Jacob the god of the Syrians, seeing that in fight that people had prevailed; he who passed bis chil- dren through the fire, who demolished the altars of God, who shut up the temple and cut in pieces its vewsels and who set up idolators in every corner of Jerusalem. Leading his son, whose name said “The remnant shall return,” came the man whose own name said “Salvation is of the Lord.” Not as @ war captain did he come, nor as a digni- tary of the court. That man was he whose lips had been touched with the coal from off the altar; whove soul had resounded with the voice of the seraphim, erying, “Holy, holy, holy.” Today, however, being a dark day he came to bring gleams’ of hope. “Be not faint hearted,” was his word to the men of spear ishield. Syria and Israel might together ery that they would set up a king on Judah, but as to this -vaunting, “Ihus saith the Lord, it shall not stand,” a sentence this which is evermore repeated, and will be repeated ever- more, as to all counsel tuken, and all purpose formed to cut off the line of the Messi: of God or that of his seed or his seed's seed for- ever. the prophet then directly challenges the king to ask for a sign, to ask it “either on the depth or on the heigiit above,” for he was not there as the messenger of a God of the moun- tains nor of a God of the waters, but of one whose word bore sway higher up than the stars and deeper down than the roots of the hills. Abaz, sike « typical politician, veils bis thought under a fair pretense. He, indeed, would not tempt God by asking for a sign. ‘Thus shrinking back the king is no longer addressed as an individual, but as representing the line of the promised, seed. “House of David,” ries the voice fired by the altar coal. “House of David—the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a sou, and call his name Immanuel.” So, then, the seed of the womun is to arise, and not a# a merely human prophet, priest or king, but as God with us, who shall join together in one the nature of man and that of God. TOE NAME OF DOMAXTEL. The all significant name of Immanuel once uttered is soon repeated. Ahaz indeed hoped to defeat the alliance of Damascus and Sama- ria by himself joining in alliance with the mightier Nineva. But this resort would be yain and would only bring on heavier calamity. The prophet, as if pointing to the hidden waters ghding nviselessly in the aqueduct, and with them contrasting the rage of swollen rivers, told that they who refused the waters of Shilcob should see a headlong flood. From the Tigris, across the Euphrates, would sweep the power of Assyria: it would swallow up Syria and Israeland, the breadth of th chureh, having on up and makes it the key rings out from her walls to every weapon that is formed against her. Let the kings set them- let the rulers take counsel; when di- jed against her perpetuity avd increase their shail be a3 pas«ing storms againsta mount- “Anspciate yourselves, O ye people, and ye gird yourselves, and take counsel to- sing onward, would “fil land, O Immanuel!” The ain. ““Asipe shall be broken in piece: ye shall be broken in pieces; gether, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shali not stand | us.” ' Mark this fortitude i | bat of faith. ‘The confidence shall be put to rout, that de frustrated, that proud wo gzonud is felt, not because are many, | hero lewd | psal for God is with ot of calculation, that solid hosts ue men of Judah or brave, or resolute; not because a them, « mist makes z their march—but be- | cause of one shor: reason, God is with us. On | the lips of Teh the name of her | soul is both melody and thunder. It is soon | after the words last mentioned that come | those of our text, in the course of Jan carnest eahortation against seeking other | deliverer than the Lord alone, or gther oracle than His holy word and testimony. Aud as the | ever-recurring expectation of the coming Im- { manuel outbreaks the strain [which is “Unto us a cbild is | and the governme: | and His name shali selicr, the Might ‘the Frince of Pe these piophe' with Him the men whom the Father bax given | to kim out of the world, standing as | tha: there is among the working with them. n strength ahd credentials of the church indi- cated as living forces, consisting of: ne image of her Lord in her children; and ‘The power of her Lord in her mission. R’S SERMON The Discourse Which Opened the he light shed upo! expressions by the Epistle to the Heurews enables us to see our Lord, and «4 God and a Saviour— going everywhere, He with them and thus zre the permanent ‘The presence of the Lord in the midst of ber; 1. As to the prescuce of the Lord in the midst of the churcb, whenever in the Holy for the in tokens that the Lord was with her. At = men of Gent e ke what ime of place ten hold of the skirt tiles will of one man of Israel, Ying we will go with you,” then reason will be identical. namely, “We have heard that God wi ou.” The Church of the Patriarchs had Ilis presence manifested by angelic visits, the Church of the Egyptian Captivity by portents, the Church of the Wilderness and of Canaan by symbolic ap- pearances, as ,the fire of the bush, the mount, the shekinah, and all these had His presence manifested by spiritual gifts and saintly graces; by providential intervention and dispensations ot prosperity and adversity, respectively, at- tending upon obedience and disobedience, and, further still, by endowments of miraclo power and of prophecy. Prophecy often pointed forward to a form of resence to be manifested by the glory of the rd making its tabernacle in the flesh, an when that did appear, He,by whom it was man- ifested, himself pointed forward to its speedy cessation, and to the ever abiding presence of | of the soul and tothe world through them in their lives, gifts and victories. Obviously of these Varying forms of presence the central one was that of the Son of God, manifested in the flesh. He, the Virgin-born manuel, it was of whom the word was spoken,"“When He bringeth in the First Begotten into the world he saith, and let ull the angels of God worship Hiun.” ’ Accord- ingly, as he entered the world, his advent morn was sung in by a multitude of the heavenly host. ‘This sinless Immanuel is pre- eminontly and typically the Holy Seed, at one @nd the same time the Everlasting Father, and the First Lorn among many brethren, in the likeness of whom are born all who are born of God. He was « man of sorrows, yet shall He see of the travail of His soul and shall be satis- tied. He was numbered among the tranegress- ors, yot shail He justify many. His generation shall uo man declare; yet shail He see . His seed. He was cut off out of the land of the living; yet shall He prolong His days. Him it pleased the Lord to bruise; yet sball tho pleas- ure of the Lord prosper in His lands. Of signs and wonders He is the sign and wonder. His presence in the body, glorious and blessed us it was being localized, wax necessar- ily dependent on time and space. When Laza- rus lay dying and the sisters looked away to the custant blue lines of hills in Moab, wondering where the Master might be and ‘whether He would arrive in time, it was not then presenco, butabseuce. Therefore speaking of the approaching change from His dwelling with them in the body to His dwelling with them by the spirit He never described it as one that would deprive them of His presence. ‘True, He said, “I lea world,” but never “I leave you." When He spoke ‘of their course toward Him, He told them thatevery one of them would be scattered to his own “and leave me alone,” but in contrast with this, “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come unto you.” ‘That they should not sce Him He did plainly say, and also that they should not be able presen to foliow Him whither He was going; but wit equal plainness He said,“I am with youalways, even to the end of the world.” THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL, ‘The presence of the Lord in the church uni- Versal. Strictly speaking, the church univer- sal includes both the church militant and the church triumphant. To our ascended Lord are ascribed three distinet circles ot dominion. He is Lord both of the dead and of the living, a realm which includes not only the earth, but also heaven and bell. He is prince of the kings of the earth, a realm wider than that of the church, and He is head of the church, her living members being members of Himself and < collective living members constituting his body. Aw head of the church militant Ho is her Prophet, delivering her doctrine both as to faith and morals. “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;” so spake He to the Father; and to the apostles He said that “the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, shall’ bring all things to your re- membrance, whatsoever I have said unio you.” He is also her High Priest—the sole Mediator between God and man—alone entering within the veil, alone presenting sacrifice for sin; none of His ministers ever bringing other sacrifice than that of a consecrated body ani of habitual praise and prayer, which is the common offer- ing of all whom He, the Son, makes free in the Lord's kingdom of prieste—a kingdomof priests in which every one of you who is in Christ holds « censer wherein may burn the ascending famno of praise and prayer, while none—nay, not one but the High Priest alone, ean pour and sprinkle the blood without shedding of which their is no remission of sin. He assures and maintains the church's perpetuity, so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. He is her foundation; not the stone which is laid on the foundation, but the foundation it- self, the rock which’no man ean lay, but upon which are laid the foundation stones, prophets, namely, and apostles,over which rise up other living stones, and all are fashioned by the spirit into a habitation of God. ‘The presence of the Lord with His members in- dividually is always spoken of as anactual dwell- ing, amaking of Hisabodeand of the abode of the Father with the man an inhabitation of the heart by the Holy Spirit. Citing his own ticular case Paul cries: “When it pleased to reveal His Son in me thatI might preach Him among the Gentiles.” Mark, he does not say merely revealed His Son “to me,” but “in me.” In which words he intimates two things— the real method in which the child of God is born again, that is, by the revelation within his soul of the Son of God as his Savior, and, in the next place, the true source of all living testimony to Christ, namely, the revelation of Him in the soul as the Savior of the World. ‘This mward revelation in the soul of the Savior bears with itan impulse urging us to live in the body the lite of Him whose work here was to seek and to save that which was lost. When we read “in my Father's house are many mansions,” tho word which denotes the immovable dwelling place set on the eternal rock is the sume which » few verses later we translate “abode,” so that the words of the Master respecting the man who loves Him and keeps His word might be read: “My Father will love him and we will come unto Him and make our mansion with Him.” The high and lofty place, on the one band, and the lowly and contrite spirit, on the other, are the two pul- aces wherein it pleaseth the All Blessed to enuse His face toshine. “Your bodies aro members of Christ—your body isa temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you.” ‘The consecrating effect of the Lord's indwelling in His children is to make the entire frame # temple inclosure, the heart being the inmost sbrine, and all the members, temple vessels, instruments of right- cousness unto God. THE NIGHT OF THE RESURRECTION. The presence of the Lord in the assembly received on the first night of the resurrection and illustration which should ever shine in the eye of the church, When the disciples were met, with doors closed for fear, there stoo they had fled Jesus in the midst of them. If and left Him alone He had not left them. Would He now come with a rod? Hearken how He greets the unfaithful. “Is it “woe unto your” Ni His first word is, “Peace be unto ‘you.” And this said, “He | shewed them His ands and His side,’ and no wonder it is added, “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” 4 ‘His first act an assembly of disciples after the resurrection, followed up His word, “Peace,” ‘the act _pointin; i= fis “cross, whereby” Heh made peace; pointing back to it now in like manner as before His crucifixion He had been wont to peint forward to it, beginning from the night when to Nicodemus He foretold that 48 Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so should He be lifted up, and not ending till the night when taking the bread, He broke it with His own hand end foreshadowed the breaking of the body which was instantly im- pending. In His lite of humiliation He had ever pointed forward to the cros#as to His life- goal; #0 now in the first stage of His life of triumph He pointed back to itas the finish the work His Father Lad given Him to do, aferward, whga He bad carried triumph up © the heavens, ie appeared in His glory,wpeak- fig of, himself as, cf tif “who ivots xed was dead,” yeu, even in the midst of the throne He stands the lamb “xs it had been slain.” ‘A second time He pronounces, “peace be unto you,” aud straigheway adds a commission which wight bring to them also the crors and the stoning. “As the Father hath sent me, even “0 Leend you.” the Father had, indeed, sent Hum that the world through Him might be saved, but by the suctifice of himself; and did | | iously, and, at need, to die for the salvation of the World?’ Yea, verily, that was wnat He did meun.. Aud now suecevds an act full of teach- ing and of hope for all mee ples. “When he had done this Ho breathed on souls of men who are without would lie the spirit, a presence which would manifest it- | self in His members, to themselves in the depth | ‘HIS PRESENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY. Now, beloved and honored fathers and brethren, we are all here present before God this day to hear all things that are commanded us of God, and if wo dwell on His presence in ioc auseartigy 14 oisoh oe to take SF aetoeee ing upon it or of ting about it, but of realizing i, and that in this our first meeting. Therefore, now, let heart tod up, lifted up unto the ‘cach soul for Steel: in an act of faith ot Goa, Thou wh say: aly Lord and my 0 for me wast crucified, and for me was raised up from the dead, Thon art here in the midst of us. WhatI am Thou knowest; und how unworthy I am to look up unto Thee. But Thou speakest peace. ance Thou upon my sinfal soul Thy word of peace, yea, the perfect peace of God. ‘Tell me once, tell me again my peace is made. Breathe Thou, O Lord Christ, upon me! Bid me receive the Holy Ghost,’ and as the Father sent Thee to live to be mved, so since Thy race is exceeding abundant send me among my fellow sinners to do and to suffer for the salvation of the world. When sin entered into the world our first parents, even before they received sentence for themselves, had heard the promise of a seed of the woman which should ot evil one, that promise being contait terms of the curse pronounced upon the ser- pent, The hope thus kindled always kept its eyes turned toward the promised seed. When Greater detinitenes was to be given to that ope by its being attached to one ict lineage the lesson was taught that uot ordi- juman causes nor the natural course of ere to bring the promised seed a} from a direct interposition of God. To credit the hope set before him that in a seed of his all the families Of the earth should be bicsted, Abraham's faith needed to triamph over ail umprobabilities. His own body being as good as dead, and that of Sarah likewise, against come the in the set only the word of Him who could not lie. ‘The Child of Promise, tuen, appeared as the type of a race divinely born, a race in which each of the sons would be one, not born of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. When the expectation of the Promised land was to be yet further defined by being attached to a narrower lineage, within that of Abraham, namely, to the family of David, both of its spiritual import and the world-wide rango of its benefits were plainly sot forth. If David's seed was to be established forever it was for this end: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. * * * A seed shall serve Him, and they shall come and declare His righteousness to a people that shall be born.” This people that was to be born, and whose distinguishing mark was to be that they would serve the promised seed, was to be accounted to Him for a generation; for other generations would He have none. ‘These, and only these, were to be reckoned as His off- spring, deriving their life from Him, bearing His image, and as sons who had been made free by the Son, holding titles to draw wealth out of the treasure room of His Father's house, and to abide in that Louse forever. Coming from all the ends of the world, these sons divinely born, this generation of Christ, were to be many— many as the dew of the morning, as the stars in the shy for multitude, as the sund by the sea- shore innumerable. ‘This holy seed was described at lenge by the prophets. It was to be the stay of Zion in the time of dissolution. “‘As a tiel tree, as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so shall the holy seed be the substance thereof.” Born of the spirit agd multi by the out- iris Nis seat wan't have pouring of the ereave in long lines of extending growth. “I and suffér that the world through Thee might | he deadness bere and deaduess there, le bad to | be NESDAY, OCTOBER THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D.C. WED it be filled by hu- ‘by those who, like Himself, would do the will of His Father will their meat and drink, angel food, which the world Knew not that they ed to eat. NOT IN NATURE BUT IX GRACE. On asecond occasion this same lesson was Pointed anew. One exclaimed, “Blessed is the womb that bear thee,” and He made reply: “Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.” The root of kindred tin the word and was to consist in the keeping of the word, not in the discovery of other forms of saintship,nor in unregulated will, worship or eccentric nd the practical life of mon, but in rogulatod habits of devotion and virtue, such as were be- id in His person, and such as are taught in the word of God as necessary to an entrance on the new life He proclaimed a new birth, a birth of the spirit, '« birth trom above. | ‘Lo Nico- n= }08e historical position was unques tionable, whose churcl. relationships were reg- ular, whose character was not only correct but high, the word of the Lord was this: “Ye must be born again.” What! born when he was old? Yes, oki and young, in the church or out of it, the elder and roler, or only private disciple, the sentence of the Savior is, “must be Lorn =. or “else cannot see the kingdom of In His teaching church membership, office and success are set aside as tests of nature. Action and action alone would declare what that was, and action not as men see, but as it is seen by Him to whom naught is under cover. When the disciples with joy exclaimed: “Even the devils are subject ‘unto us through thy name,” He said: “In this rejoice not that the devils are subject unto you, but rather rejoice cause Your names are written in heaven.” Personal birth into the divine family, persanal registration in the book of living citizens of that city whose builder and founder is God is the tole proper basis of church office or of such Success in, any church mission, and xs for the individaal; the only recognized attestation of his birth ihto the family of God is good works. So fOr the mibisters of Christ their spiritual Offstring are the only seal of their apostleship. It is in vain in any clrurch for a member whose life does not accredit him to speak of his adoption into the fpmily of God, and above all others, it is vain in the churches are called Methodists, fo, if in any church it is a pitiful sight to see the ministers, instead of looking for senis of their apostleship, furbish- ing up an ecclesiastical blazon, the sight is most enchanting to ail when exhibited among ourselves. Point to living men and living women, in tho raiment of the holy seed, the fine linen, clean and white, and sa} the seuls of our apostieship aro yo in the Lord. Personal service was not to pass as a substitute for the divine nature, any more than member- ship or office or apparent success. ‘-Many,” He seys, and this many should ring in tue care of us who in His name hold office and do work. in heaven and would make the doing of that | God. votions leading off from human ties | cred: 7, 1891—TEN PAGES. Father.” They are divinely scaled with ‘tho Holy Sprit of promise, who “beareth wi ‘with their spirits that they are the children of ” They are also divinely im the impulse of the spirit which forme anew urging them to “follow after * and | also urging them, like their divine exampiar, to | seek and to savethat which was lost. An irre- Pressible desire swelling up in the soul of a| man—‘4f by any ineane I might say some” of Him who loves us and gave | for us, working in Bis child. | Given, then, among men a race born of God, | fashioned and sealed of the Holy Spirit. im- | pelled by that Spirit to live for the end for | which our Savior lived md dicd, you havea race bearing two characteristics: ‘Ihe image of | God and the devotion of their powers to set for- | ward His work. When the holy seed abounds | in any chureh then does she hold in her band | entials that no gainsaying ean cancel, living | epistles, not hidden in tho parchment of the scholar, but known and read of all men, | written with the finger of the mighty God in | the hearts and read through the living and the | doings of children who beer the likeness of the ‘THE JEWELS OF THE CHURCH. Any church that abounds in such children, thongh she be lacking in all other wealth, will have her jewel, ‘To her it will be said: “As a young man marrieth a virgin so sball thy sons marry thee,” espousing her cause for better, for Worse, to live and to die with her, and expous- ing it for the Iegitimate and ineradicable rea- son, “Iwas born in her.” And though not a| soidier owns her word of command, for her will | march joyful sons, intrepid as an army with banners, resolute to overcome and shoitting “Jesus the Conqueror reigns. they will take the prey from the lion and the hear. Aye. andricher endowment will she pos- sess, with higher deense than even the love | and duty of the best sons, for with the same breath will be added unto lier. ‘As the br: groom rejoiceth over the bride so will thy God rejoice over thee."” ‘There remains for our attention the third form | of credentials mentioned as springing out of the presence of the Lord in the church, that, namely, of the power of the Lord in her mis- | sion. What is the scope of her mission was ma pong) Lope she was sent into “all the world” no limit of territory, to “make disciples of all | '—no limit of race, to “preach the Gor pel to every creature”—no limit of caste, class or condition, nor yet any limit of number, wu- til the last unit is reached. As thus distinctly set before her the objective point of the charch is all mankind, taken both collectively and dis- tributively. ‘Her processes are distributive, she baptizes “every creature” one by one, but her results are collective, ‘‘all shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest.” And so pez Lapin 3 of the least are overlooked, or any of the greatest unconquered, so long does her commission remain in part unfulfilled. Both the Papal and the positivist schools preeonize schemes for the reconstruction of society. Our Lord and His apostles sought its regeneration. They did not look upon it as one of these struc tures, made with hands, which can be pulled “Many shall say unto Me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in ‘Thy name? And in Thy name cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works/” But on the ground that their works were iniquity, kindfed is disowned, even recognition 1s re- fused, and His word to them ie, depart from me. If He thus insisted upon holiness of a8 the only proof of a new birth and & new birth as the only entrance to a holy life, He did it not in order to drive men to desj of their salvation, but on the contrary, to lead them to come to Him and find the rest for their souls. Out of Him life for the dend was an impossibility; in His presence death itself de- will pour out my spirit upon thy seed and m blessing upon thine offspring, and. they sball spring up as among the grass.” Rapidly and in multitude, not, however, short lived as but though of switt growth, stable “as willows by the water courses.” ‘This holy seed on the one hand would make their boast in their Heavenly Father, no matter what name they might previously have in- yoked: “One will say I am the Lord’s, another will called himself by the name of Jacob, and another will subscribe with hie hand to the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel.” Yes, by that name would they have called themselves, as would we here this day, for who of usis there who would not rather lose the name of his Father's house than that sacred name of Christian by which we are “The glory of children is their and the degree in which this is the case in any other instance is as neught com- pared with his right to rejoice even with a joy full of glory in whose soul the voice of the Holy Spirit raises the cry, Abba, Father. But if thus the holy seed would glory. in their diyine parent the Lord himself is pleased to acknowledge them before His enemies. are,” He says, “my witnesses,” and aj ‘Bebold I create Jerusalem a rejoicingand he: people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem parted and life came in, and when His spirit was breathed forth He poured out life trom Himself and infused it into others. TO BECOME THE SONS OF GoD. “To as many as received to them gave He Power to become the sons of God.” ‘To possess power is much; to have the prerogative of giv- ing it is more; but to give power to become is among men unknown, for it involves the pre- Togative of giving life to the dead. Holy Serip- ture, in speaking of Christ's work upon nature, employs no such terms. Its language is: “All things were made by Him.” To make a thing is different from giving it power to become. We can make iron into an engine, but we can- not give it power to become one. All the science and skill, the authority and force in the United States could not give to this church in which we meet power to become such an edifice as yonder Capitol. Only where life exists is there power to jand where life does not exist the prerogative of giving it belongs to none save to the Prince of Life only. The liv. ing seed has powe: to become a plant, the liv- ing child to become a man, but the lifeless mote cannot become anything but a lifeless mote. Place it in the hand of a man of science and side by side with it the seed of the maple andask him to give it power to become a and joy in my people." And again, “This people hae f loeed tw myself; they shall show forth my praise.” “THE MINISTERS OF OUR GoD,” Rejoiced over by the Lord they would be rec- ognized by men, ‘“Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you the ministers of our God,” “and their seed shall be known among the Gentil ind their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed that the Lord hath blessed.” When the Sonof God was mani- fested among us He became the prototype and exemplar of the holy seed. In the Old ‘Testa- ment the Lord made His own nature the stand- ard for the character of his people, saying: “Be ye holy, for lam holy.” So in the New Testa- ment tous the Lord Jesus Christ is the standard and the exemplar, that we should walk in His steps, for “He that eaith he abideth in Him ought himself so to walk even as he walked.” Kindred of nature manifested in kindred action and honored with formal recognition is set forth even in terms more tender and — ti- “He that sanctifieth and they that are sanc! fied are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Here mark the ground, the oneness of nature and the fact of sanctification. Not on other ground, be that ground what it may, will He them brethren. They will not win for themselves a maple seed. No, in that presence science and force both say: “Itis notin me. That seed represents behind it an invisible contriver who gave — to become and to continue so to do until the end of the world, to become timber, leaf, sap, fruit, and all along to ingrain its wood with points of beauty of a prede- termined kind. his strange power draws its origin from ages lost in the unknown before the first line of history, and reaches on to ages lost in the unknown hereafter. Show us that power, weigh it for us, measure it for us, tell us its chemical elements or its anatomical structure! It is a power invisible, intangible, inaudible, silently enthroned, a speck, and from that chair of watbority teaching us that it comes forth from one wi throne is set above the river- head of life. Now the great and happy power of becoming the sons of God, of putting off the image of the evil one and putting on the image of Him who created us, of ceasing to be what we ought not to be butareand of becoming what we ought to be but are not, of being transformed by the Tenewing of our mind, so as to walk in newness of life; this thriee happy power may be that pearl of great price for which in this company some soul is now above all things longing, ask- ing: Who ean give me power to become a child of God? Who can vound the deep and bring mo up the pearl? One there is, my brother, and One in the midst of us here this day, in whose title to kindred with Him by quoting their Methodist parentage or a saintly lineage in an; other church. No more shall we thus gain Hi recognition than did the Jews by qnoting to flim their descent from Abraham. The fact that they were the children of the first Adam ‘was testified to by their manifest fall with him in sin, and so must their rising again in the second Adam be testified to by their mani- festly walking with him in newness of life. If the Jew was not allowed to claim to be the child of Abraham unless he did the works of Abraham,and was terribly told that, working evil works, he was the child of his father, the devil, most assuredly netther we nor our chil- dren, nor our children’s children, will ever recognized if, naming the name of Christ, wo do not depart from iniquity. Other grounds of claim to kindred with Him are continually put by the tempter into our mouths, but let us say in faithfulness one to another, be the church fo wnich you belong what it may; be the good cause you support the best in the world; be the line of God’s servants in your own family bright and Dlessed; be the lite of your pastor or that of your fellow members ever so sain’ if you yourself, instead of being child of the kingdom, are in works a of the wicked one, then will you yourself be cast out. When once our Lord had entered on His public ministry He took sn early opportunity of describing the holy seed in a manner never to be forgotten, o manner which, for all invalidates every claim to "rindres with ‘tim unless it be accredited by kindred action, since it alone shows that in the two cases tho nature is of the eame kind. Rumors of His words and deeds had filled the country side. Though of lowly craft He was known to be of royai blood, and as men talked of this wonderful Son of David the question ever and anon arose whether it might not be the Son of David who was tocome. His p at home were troa- bled. His mother and brother came out seck- ing to win Him back to private life. The found Him discoursing to a dense crowd, which m did not make way for but onl; the word: “Thy motherand Th; brethfensiand 8.” Hereupon without desiring tospeak with Me put a question whieh the chnsch must e- mer forever, a which finally se tled tho point hat bioed veletion, as though it were of the closest, and though the blood Were that of the line of ‘David. “d He now mean that they, too,were to live labor- | edged ture mention is made of the presence of | Ghost.” This may be taken as the typical ac- Brunweis Carpet, ber yard. Caah, Ge. eredit. ie. | the Lord more is inteaded than naetely iis ex- | tion of the hood, im so far Ingrain Carpets, ver yard. Cash. ‘ibe. credit, 4e- | istence in u given place. Were that o ly meant, | as it is the act of the ‘not when Carpets sewed aud land free Of cost. No charweior | (10.1 is es much present ou the fuce of the sea as | presenting His sacrifice, but when blessing the pone in dhe heart of aeaint. When Moses said “If| people. it ie the risen Lord breathing the life. TERMS: ‘thy prowanco Ro not with me carry us not up | of wou into {he cout of men end weak rs vente, tence” be had ig view a manifest mn od with from So toler end U wr cent ecwast allowed for evtde-| such es would tarry a gracious effect Lest | This Plea weeting of ‘ihe ofareh na ot poms ta tains cays presely Lhe contempiates something which would | the ede as afford a practical token of favor aud belp aks reverent trust to expect, whether - . = |ing,"Wherein shall it ve known ere that Land | sembly of two or turee, of of hundreds, or wed GROGARE'S Thy people Rave fata grace in thy sight? Je it | of thousands gathered in the name of Jesus, not in that Thoa goe+t with;us/” The operation | the presence of our Lord speaking peace; His CaEdIT BOtesn. of this token was tobe both upon themselves | preseuco setting himeelf forth to our faith as | and others, being to themselves a reassuring srihonaie cruotes, vetine ome Sree eer } we S19, Stl cod S23 Wheto. evidence ead to others » striking sign that they ence us Ente Os Marvont, ootetrain- do The a BOOKS: | oa the lacwof ‘ha extth, crea. the people thet | cif, to God, amd’ His 'prteonae. eadting ae pest ee could eay, “God is with Ga” Them, ka tow, and | with the Holy Bpisit end’ with power fross on res Scar, WL st. aw. og /asalways, the one ,attraction of the, church | high hand lies the fullness of that power; and if thou wilt now and here receive Him, in true repent- ance and simple faith, as the Savior of the lost and as specially thine own Savior, thou shalt go down to thine honse justified, and from this day forward those who know thee observe a change that will lead them to “Over thee has passed the hand of Him gives us power to become the children of will who SOWING THE GOOD SEED. In the parable of the sower the Lord speaks Of the seed as the word of God without specify- ing by whom itis sown—prophet, apostle, evan- gel for the Messiah hinvell, Tt fe othorwics the parable of the tare. | There He speaks of Himself ond Himself exclusively as sowing, and the seed sown is no longer only the of God, but is “the children of the ki are the children , but the tares are the one. We all, each in his degree, in sowing the incor- season, and the; any month of, th tel fruitevery an is for meat'4nd their leaf for medicine. In ‘thom nay thé needy find what will reliove and the bleeding whet will heal. Dat any whoclaim to be the piniiting of the Lord and bear notgood frult, nor yet frait that can gurvive » chan; of selon, have to learn that theax is nid at root of bear ve, but bri \d the fruit ine FA ¥ i | | i l il if i (SSeEee 228, frat HE u : all I i ii I i i F | | to my, down and built again, but asa stracture built Bp mithont hands, “ftly Joined together,” not by labor from without, but by life force growing from within. Such structures may indeed be marred by hands, but only the act of the Life Giver can build them up by making their say wholesome, which makes sound timber, with he leaf and nourishing fruit. A REGENERATED WoRLD. The structure of socioty is settled. I8 lies in the couple, the family, the kindred, the neigh- borhood or township, the nation, and finally, the circle of nations. Regenerated individuals constitute the basis of regenerated couples: these of regenerated families, these of re: generated kindred; these of regenerated towns; these of regenerated nations; and soon to a re- generated world. Our work as set before us, then, is not to give, to the shoots of the wild the new timber and’ the new bark, but to have them all grafted on new stems, which will give them new sap; and then may we look for new fruit. The place of the church herself, as she moves on her errand to bring all men to the knowledge of Christ, by bringing Christ to the knowledge of all men, is marked in the descrip- tion of the place of the forerunner John. He “was sent to bear witness of that light;” so is she. He ‘twas not that light;” no more is she. She is the candlostick. And even if the candle stick glisten, it is not in its own light. At mid- night ina room where no light is a golden candlestick has no more brightness than one of potter's earth. Jobn was a lamp which burned and shone with his Lord's light. ‘The chureh is a golden candlestick which shines so long as it is fed with the off of the Spirit. His presence is her sole illuminating power. She shines whon the lory of her Lord has risen upon her. And if, asa light, the Lord with her is her illuminat- ing power, so, as the salt of the earth, the Lord with her is her savior, and when He withdraws His presence the salt loses its savior. Yea, and if the light of love ceases to shine the candie- stick may be removed. ‘The intention with which the church moves in her mission is also indicated in the case of the forerunner. He bore testimony in order that through Him all men might believe.” re the testimony of the intended only a8 a witness against the nations, that they might be without excuse, then would the min- istry of the follower be less glorious than that of the forerunaer, for it would be a ministry of condemnation eompared with » ministry of righteousness. The Lord himself was sent of the Father not to condemn tie world, but that the world through Him might be savec. To Him testified the forerunner in order that all men might believe. So did the Apostle Paui testify that “His gospel and the reaching of Jesus Christ was made known to all nations for the obedience of faith; not for the scaling of their condemnation, albeit to those who refuse the light condemnation mast be the resul:. ‘The sanctification of Christ's members, the giving of gifts to officers, the building up of churches, the increase of the holy seed, though all in themselves wide and glorious énds, are at the same time means toward the all-comprehen- sive end, the salvation of the world. No less than this was the end for which the Son came forth from the Father, and for which He will be with his own seed and his seed’s seed to the end ofthe days, “It isan ond demanding not aly power, excelling all powers. ‘And et" us, in the depth of ofr say: n Ah, Lord, in the sight of this great mountain which has to be moved, the excellency of the power is of Thee and not of us. THE AGENTS OF THE CHURCH. In fulfilling this blessed commission the agents of the church include all her true members. Her officers, of whatever grade, are gifts given to her by her head, but not these officers exclusively are to do her work, any more than are captains, colonels and generals exclusively to do the work of a campaign, The church’s officers are set for the prompting of the entire force to move the enemy, part part with the part with Tis ieian eect Son inet With God, todeliver the invitation. It is on thee, my tenon, pacer manus thomunebogees mover nee ‘whove tombstone few will visit Even thou art be who art called upon by the = oer of pein dy the light if & aves Ashley the way to Jesus ras part of the teach- arch, and as = the Pas im remembrance at the day dawn, when the wise shall form s will ine ‘as the stars forever in the sai ot ‘or feaching by composition in Sate es ch one word, “They forth the Lord working with ac ‘the word with signs fol- < ‘of the Lord efter we at himself the eve of an; how holy, bow awful je who fiiteth all wn ali, bs FAVE Rs against ull foos, pigmy oF giganti the heavens? is first and last the power of the Lord working an them, working with thom, working above them and also above ad yersaries, visible or invisible; above them, far above, out of their «ight, ie beld scepter in the hands of the Lamb, who is Lord fords and King of kings. When tie church had scarcely begun to ge forth with the pur- pose of preaching everywhere, down to ihe lime within the memory of living men, the classic lan history, of the Bible and of Tomance were surrounded with bigh walls and gates barred against Christian missionaries. The Turkish empire, the Mogui empire, the Chinese empire, the’ empire of Japan and that of Morocco were all in this manner fenced around. The remote parts of Afiica were guarded by darkness ana death themselves. And in southern Europe rare were we spots ere it was not an offense, punishable by thé | police, to circulate the Bible, or to preach or except under forms prescribed. walls hes passed the scepter which nd they who before could oni slender biaste outside the ramparts now march up straight before them and in the name of Jesus of Nazareth enter in. THE LORD's Dorxos. This is the Lord's doings, and how marvel- ous in our eyes it ought to be. We shall be better ablo to judge if we weigh tho language used @ hundred years ago by wise men of poli- tics, showing how silly were hopes of any such change,and by wise men,even of the chucches, ali alarmed at the danger of fanaticism. The same scepter in the sume hand is over us this day, over us here present; also over our cv to worshi But over th rades in the war, a0w out with the field force; | over every corps bearing aay flag which is iow- ered before the kingly standard ot the Lamb, but is held aioft and carried onward against any other; over all these and over every do- in this solemn moment, and He who| holds it sits on the right hand of ower till the Lord shall make ali His enemies is footstool. ‘The power wich works above us and for the same Which also works with us. When Peter spake to the multitude of Lord as being then at the right bar exalted, be also spake of him as wor! moment in the midat of them. .”” said the apostle, “hath shed forth this,.which ye now see and hear.” The distance from the place they were in to the throne in the midst of heaven was no distance to Him. And J’cter was, there- fore, as clear as if the Lord stood beside him that they would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost if they would repent aud be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remussion of sins. When Paul and Barnabas return from thetr great missionary journey what they do in the church at Antioch is to “rehearse all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” So again at Jerusalem, “declared all tings that God had done with them.” The most uotable evidence of @ superior power accompanying their word, and that of a saving power, was not ng at that in the gifts of healing or of tongues, but was | in the increase of believers and their godly living. “The word of God increased and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.” When the sound of the rushing, mighty wind had ceased and the cioven tongues of flame had disappeared the three thousand men and women living new lives remained. So when the shaking of the place where they were on a later occasion assembied had passed over the power in preaching and testi- fying continued, and the swelling num- bers of the five thousand covered the ground. | When the group around Cornelius broke out, as Peter preached, speaking with tongues and magnifying God,'all felt that a greater than Peter was there." Thus were aposties and others certified as ministers of Christ— ments which worked as moved by a agent, servants with whom the Master went, am- bassnssadors with whom was the hand of the King—that King whose sign manual isa new creature—a sin: man created anew in the moral image of God. To an apostle, an evan- gelist or o pastor who, in the light of faith, stood as already in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at Hs coming what was his hope, his glory, his crown of rejoicing? Sons of the Holy Seed who were his own sons, children of the kingdom who were his children io the a ‘The working of the Lord in us is that, in the mistion of the church, which most nearly touches the men of faith and His working in the individual as well as in the assembly. Whatever the duty may be our “striving” in the discharge of it is “according to His work- ing, which worketh in us mightily.” If He can give more than we can either ask or think, “it is according to the power that worketh in us.” If we will what is according to His pleasure, and having willed do 1, then know we cally that He worketh ‘ia us “to will and to do.” If to ou: humility is added a depth, to our fortitude a steadfastness, to our zeala flame that is no: of nature, then know we that we are being strengthened by the Spirit's might in the inner man. DIVINELY RQUIFPED. The race divinely born and divinely fash- foned are also divinely equipped; and, as they | should war not with flesh and blood, they lift no Weapons but those of the Spirit. Inflaming the soul. the Holy Ghos: supplies the entire equip- ment; love the gentlest and mightiest of all aris of war; joy which prepares the shouts of victory in the songs of the march;and so on through the whole armory to the victorious shield of faith. “Fall of faith and power” decribed the fighting strength in" which Stephen moved upon the works of the enemy. As the holy seed are divinely equij 80 are they divinely strengthened. From Lord, who causeth them always to triumph, they re- ceive an investiture of both authority and power. He gives to Ris servants in their own souls power to engage and to overcome the world, the flesh and the devi. He gives them also authority over the conscience of the wicked in calling them to repentance. He promises to us the bulk of the host holding 8 champion system, back and a single hero going out to conquer or die for all. struggle is one of all and the equipment of the ® phbge Pa ilk iF 1 H Ei : 4 & FE £ 5 i i i i 4 P i fF as A HE é E E i | : i i i il s € ; lt t | f i i bk it fl li but goes at the same time iecling unconsciously | at home of the heathen abroad, for every | chikd an Chriet whose sins are clothed tm fiesh tuneoen—for' wal are they, aty | over’ more than ine, in the face of Him that sitteth ia | one, tor | is, from the be The power of the agents in the work of God | grim im | | minion of the earth waves that scepter | rank, | pressed down and for every church planted among bo has Yea, amen, glory be to God. © great God of wonders bas ot as in our mnwortdi hail not be room to receive it. He whe inging many sous to glory made the Cap- tain of our eaivation perfect thro joy for which He endured the cross and despised the shame. He made a cov. enant promise to Him and to the seed which he wastovee. “Astor me, this is my cove nant with them,” saith the Lord. “My opicte ~~ tnee and My words whick I have putin thy mouth shail not depart out of thy inouth, nor out of the mouth of thy reed, nov ino wae y seed, saith the henceforth and forever.” © to whom this covenant prom! given went on the Sabbath day into the «7na- Eogar at Nazareth and opened the book ané iound the place where it was written that the “partt of the Lord was upon Him, because He had cnointed Him to preach the gospel to the yoor; had seut Him to heel the braver hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and re- covering of ight to the blind, to set at liberty therm that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. io then eat down. The eyes of all thom thas Le s; nagogue were fastened upon Hiss, Lie opened his lips and said: “This day is thie Scripture fufilied in your eara.” THE PROMISE LN NOWISE WEAKENED. ™. that same Immanuel is here present iy hagogue thisday. Before Him we spread the covenant promise, as shown, film and His sed after Him. ‘That promise is howie weakened by the lapse of years. It uuds good within these wali. Let every eye, et those who are here met together by stened upon Rim. Lord Jesus, our and righteousness, wilt Zl stacious ipsand say: This day t this ure fulfilled in your ears. Let the spirit is upon hee be shed upon us; let the word \hat a in Jby mouth be put by that epirit inte Our mouths, and oh,letit never depart out of our mouths. Let not the word of,thunder, breaking cown the hardened, and the word of balm, Lealing tue broken-hearted, which verily Thou nto the mouth of our fathers, as du testy this day the works still following’ thowe who have entered mto rest. Let it not, of our much unfaithtuiness, give place in our inouths or in the mouths of our sons to the swWoO.L speech of the dadueee, Which the world iu the church, jonging to slumber and sleep, desires at our lips. Yea, verily lets doul portion of the spirit be given to us for Thi Dawe seake; and let the true word of God, aie, 4 powerful and sharper than a two-cdged sword, be, by that blessed spirit, afresh dis: tributed among us to the glory of Him whe suid: “Lhe words that speak unte you they are spirit and they are lita” sue And now, fathers ‘pind brethren, what more a fay? We are here, sent by a wi family of churches which for Sasnteny tat Lali the world bas bee: t to call Methodist, and sent to what end? We are not sent to Slority Methodism, but to take counsel how it may be worked more and more for the glory of Gou and the salvation of the world. Any time spent im magnifying our system or one another would rather tend to binder # blessing than to bring one down. Nor yet are we sent to dis- Parage other branches of the church of our common Savior, but, on the contrary, te salute them in the Lord, with love to wish that their children of the boly seed may again and again eny in their ears: “The piace is too straight for me.” ‘The man who here should tet upaciaim to any Christian privilege or excelience ax exclumvely granted to Us and not equally open to all who held the faith would find himseit a bigot in the wrong place. So any one who should propose that we assume any ude which would imply that the Methodist churches included the whole chureb of Christ, in any country, would find himeelf charged with a breach’ ‘of catholicity. The whole we are not, and that we mt only admit, but affirm; and ‘equally do we affirm that we are of the whole. And, then, being of the whole, We gratefully own our manifold debts te other branches of the cuurch, and doubt not thas hereafter, as heretotore, the grace ited to them will bring profiting to us. The Lord grant tint grace given to us imay be helpful also ¥9 At any branch of the church denies our claim to be of the whole, that troubles us not; it only shows that they miscunceive wiuat 1 catholicity, and they cannot kuow how much we have to do, of ibey would not want us to spend timers doubtful disputations. If, like the laborers im the vineyard, they will let us the day's work done, and afterward, at the tune of reckoning, raixe their points and questions im the presence of the Lord of the vineyard, au answer will be given that will not excite dispute. THE PURPOSE OF THE CONFEREXCE. ‘What I conceive to be the purpose we are sent here for is to seek means of being more holy and more useful and of making all the churches represented so. What would accom- i new and impelling to more fruitful action. ‘would most conduce to this would be every successive sitting we should & single eye, the task set before us, as alting Chiist and plucking brands Azd what would most conduce to F L ili deeming God for « blessing now, « and mighty, full of fruit, both justant ven with “good en i SE ‘80 that all sbail be FE. i a ai “ « oy