-
Articles/Ads
Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 2 of 4 Article PROVINCIAL. Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
310 ; James Sugden , Sun Square and Compass Lodge , 119 ; John William Young , J . G ., 962 ; Edward Tyson , S . and W . D ., 119 ; Isaac Hartness , Steward , 119 ; Anthony Tyson , 1 , 073 ; William White , P . M ., Sun Square aud Compass Lodge , 119 ; George Henry , 77 ; George Carrick , Wigton , 327 ; Thomas C . Howitt , Scotland , 370 ; John Nixon , Perseverance Lodge , 371 ; and James Coulthard , 119 . The Lodge was closed in due form a little before two o ' clock .
The brethren then repaired to St . James's Church , where divine service was performed by Bro . the Rev . W . Williams , of Cockermouth , assisted by Bro . the Rev . T . R . Holme , the newly installed Worshipful Master , and the Rev . Mr . Ives . Bro . the Rev . F . W . Wicks , was also present iu his surplice . Bro . Williams chose as his text the last verso of the first chapter of tbe general Epistle of James : — " Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is thisto visit the fatherless and
, widows in their affliction , and to keep himself unspotted from the world . " He said : There are tw o ways of considering dutythe one by considering our moral constitution , the other by considering our relation to God and to our fellow beings . Now , every inhabitant of the world is a religious being ; but our text defines what true religion is . Man is made for virtue , but , as an old philosopher said ; he is without it . To restore that virtue ,
God has revealed His own mind to us , and , scattered throughout the pages of His Holy Word , our duty is clearly and distinctly revealed . Sometimes more elaborately in the Old Testament we find out where are our duties under the peculiar circumstances that may arise in the various relations in which we may be placed : but in the New Testament we find gathered together those various duties , condensed into principles , and those principles , pressed home upon our conscience , teach us ,
under more various circumstances , what we should do , and what is required of us . Man is made to worship , and our text alludes directly to worship , for the word translated " religion " may be translated " service , " True service is to visit the fatherless and widows in their aflliction , and to keep himself unspotted from the world . But there is a danger while accepting these very brief summaries of the truth , while seizing hold of principles , that we draw them so near our eyes as to hide other principles . At first sight it would appear that our text teaches us a duty
that is very , very simple , and that the religion of God is very easy ; and if would bo so if we were to conform literally to the requirements of the text , without entering into the deep principle that underlies it . For example , if the whole of our religious duty to our fellow men consisted in paying occasional visits to those who were afflicted , if we could go and enjoy ourselves in the world and live as we pleased , provided we performed this occasional duty , clearly religion would be a very easy thing .
But tbe text goes on to define our relation to God , and it says not only that men are to visit the widow and her children in their affliction ; but we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world . The first part of our text deals then with our duty to man . Man was clearly made for Society , and so long as society lasts , the duty which our text lays upon us must continue . AVe are all mortal beings , and death brings sorrow , it brings woe , it brings want . Our Lord said , '' The poor ye have always with
you ; " and not only does our text allude to those who are in pecuniary distress , it alludes to those who have mental suffering , who have sorrow , who have agony at heart . The text teaches us that to such we owe a great duty ; that we are , as it were , the sponsors , of society ; that to all who were in distress and in affliction we owe a solemn and high duty ; that the widows and orphans must be visited in their affliction . Now , how are we to do that ? Is it simply to enter the dwelling of the poor and to
say , as is said too often with cold sympathy , " Weep not ? " It is rather to visit the suffering in the spirit of the Gospel aud say , " Weep not . " When our Lord said to the weeping widow , "Weep not , " he restored her son ; and to give proper relief to those who are suffering , our relief must bear some relation to the suffering which is endured—thero must be a correspondence between our relief and the suffering which the person whom we visit experiences . Nowwhat does the widow requireand what
, , do the orphans demand ? It is not enough for them to bo told they must not weep . Everything about the dwelling suggests tothem tbe cause of their sorrow ; the absence of the father's voice when the time comes round for family and domestic worship cannot but be felt . The widow demands her husband , and the children demand their father . But mere philanthropy will not meet this want . Alsitiug such , aud distributing relief , will not remove the suffering . The soup ticket , your well-plonished
Provincial.
purse , will neither heal the broken heart , nor turn sorrow out of doors . The mere philanthropist will altogether fail in that . To satisfy the demand of the widow he must rifle the tomb of its dead ; he must bring life again unto the dead , and restore the husband to the widow , and the father to the fatherless . We know that mere philantrophy is altogether insufficient to do this , and . therefore , xJhilanthrophy must bo Christianized ; and I take it my brethren , that your presence here to-day is in sympathy
with that doctrine that you , connected with an institution characterised by its benevolence and philanthrophy , wish to lay your offering upon Christ's altar , that you wish to baptise your benevolence , and to feel that it is tlirough gratitude to our blessed Master for what he has done for us that you would love Him and love others . The widow requires to have her husband restored , and the Christian philanthropist says , " Thy husband shall live again . " He teaches her the doctrine which the
services of this season so frequently remind us of , namely , that the great Head of our Church " died and rose again , " that " it is appointed unto men once to die , " and that "blessed are the dead who die in the Lord , for they rest from their labours . " The Christian philanthropist can tell such a sufferer that her husband will live again—not in suffering , not in sorrow , but ( if he be Christ ' s child ) in everlasting glory . He can call to the mind of the widow the iiroraises speciall iven her ; he can
y g tell her that God himself has vouchsafed to be a Father of the fatherless , and the God of the widow . Iu this way , the Christian philanthropist can bring joy where sorrow reigned ; he only can disperse such sorrow ; he can raise the hopes of the fatherless and point the widow to immortal blessing . But this is but one aspect of our subject . The other portion of the text teaches us a duty of still graver importance , because , after all , the duty first inculcated in the text can never be performed unless the
other is rightly performed . We cannot do our duty , in other words , to our neighbour until we do our duty to God . We cannot visit the widow as Christian philanthropists until we are both Christians and philanthropists . We cannot do what is right to others until we do what is right to ourselves ; and therefore the text says that we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world . It is plain it is not meant that we are to indulge in cold selfishness , that we are to stand aloof from the
world . On the contrary , the Lord Jesus Christ taught us that a Christian must be a social being . He taught us that by bis own example . AVhen entering upon His public ministry . He was present on a festive occasiou , and throughout the whole of His teaching He inculcated the same doctrine . He said Christians were to be the salt of the world . Is that salt then to be collected together and raised up an isolated monument ? No ; it is to be scattered throughout the world to exercise its saving and
preserving influence , and so Christians are to be scattered throughout society , that they may exercise a moral and benevolent influence in the various spheres in which they move . The text which I have selected is taken from a letter that was written to Jews who had given up Judaism , and embraced Christianity ; and therefore St . James said , " Keep yourselves unspotted from the world . " Ho meant here a great and eternal truth , namely , that God bought manas the Apostle St . Paul tells us" Ye
; , are not your own ; for ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit , which are God's . " This is the sense in which we are called upon to keep ourselves unspotted from the world—that we are bought by the blood of God ' s own Son . This is our profession of faith , and we are called upon to be consistent with our profession . We are called upon to live out the precepts which our religion inculcates , to
illustrate in our lives the doctrines which we profess to love . Thus , then , we are to be kept free from the world—conscious that , of our own power wo cannot , but reminded of St . Peter ' s promise that " we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ; " rememberiiijr , too , that our great High Priest above represents us , and that shortly before leaving this earth He prayed , " Father , I pray that those whom thou hast given me may he kept from tbe evil that is in the world . I pray
( said He ) not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world , but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil that is in the world . In this manner , then , we are kept as a branch is kept from withering which receives the sap from the vine ; so by a living union with our covenant Head , we retain our spiritual life , and are kept pure in the midst of an unholy and sinful world . I shall not detain you , my brethren , as it is my intention to speak to you very briefly , knowing the day has been fully occupied by the arrangements already made ; but I have
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
310 ; James Sugden , Sun Square and Compass Lodge , 119 ; John William Young , J . G ., 962 ; Edward Tyson , S . and W . D ., 119 ; Isaac Hartness , Steward , 119 ; Anthony Tyson , 1 , 073 ; William White , P . M ., Sun Square aud Compass Lodge , 119 ; George Henry , 77 ; George Carrick , Wigton , 327 ; Thomas C . Howitt , Scotland , 370 ; John Nixon , Perseverance Lodge , 371 ; and James Coulthard , 119 . The Lodge was closed in due form a little before two o ' clock .
The brethren then repaired to St . James's Church , where divine service was performed by Bro . the Rev . W . Williams , of Cockermouth , assisted by Bro . the Rev . T . R . Holme , the newly installed Worshipful Master , and the Rev . Mr . Ives . Bro . the Rev . F . W . Wicks , was also present iu his surplice . Bro . Williams chose as his text the last verso of the first chapter of tbe general Epistle of James : — " Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is thisto visit the fatherless and
, widows in their affliction , and to keep himself unspotted from the world . " He said : There are tw o ways of considering dutythe one by considering our moral constitution , the other by considering our relation to God and to our fellow beings . Now , every inhabitant of the world is a religious being ; but our text defines what true religion is . Man is made for virtue , but , as an old philosopher said ; he is without it . To restore that virtue ,
God has revealed His own mind to us , and , scattered throughout the pages of His Holy Word , our duty is clearly and distinctly revealed . Sometimes more elaborately in the Old Testament we find out where are our duties under the peculiar circumstances that may arise in the various relations in which we may be placed : but in the New Testament we find gathered together those various duties , condensed into principles , and those principles , pressed home upon our conscience , teach us ,
under more various circumstances , what we should do , and what is required of us . Man is made to worship , and our text alludes directly to worship , for the word translated " religion " may be translated " service , " True service is to visit the fatherless and widows in their aflliction , and to keep himself unspotted from the world . But there is a danger while accepting these very brief summaries of the truth , while seizing hold of principles , that we draw them so near our eyes as to hide other principles . At first sight it would appear that our text teaches us a duty
that is very , very simple , and that the religion of God is very easy ; and if would bo so if we were to conform literally to the requirements of the text , without entering into the deep principle that underlies it . For example , if the whole of our religious duty to our fellow men consisted in paying occasional visits to those who were afflicted , if we could go and enjoy ourselves in the world and live as we pleased , provided we performed this occasional duty , clearly religion would be a very easy thing .
But tbe text goes on to define our relation to God , and it says not only that men are to visit the widow and her children in their affliction ; but we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world . The first part of our text deals then with our duty to man . Man was clearly made for Society , and so long as society lasts , the duty which our text lays upon us must continue . AVe are all mortal beings , and death brings sorrow , it brings woe , it brings want . Our Lord said , '' The poor ye have always with
you ; " and not only does our text allude to those who are in pecuniary distress , it alludes to those who have mental suffering , who have sorrow , who have agony at heart . The text teaches us that to such we owe a great duty ; that we are , as it were , the sponsors , of society ; that to all who were in distress and in affliction we owe a solemn and high duty ; that the widows and orphans must be visited in their affliction . Now , how are we to do that ? Is it simply to enter the dwelling of the poor and to
say , as is said too often with cold sympathy , " Weep not ? " It is rather to visit the suffering in the spirit of the Gospel aud say , " Weep not . " When our Lord said to the weeping widow , "Weep not , " he restored her son ; and to give proper relief to those who are suffering , our relief must bear some relation to the suffering which is endured—thero must be a correspondence between our relief and the suffering which the person whom we visit experiences . Nowwhat does the widow requireand what
, , do the orphans demand ? It is not enough for them to bo told they must not weep . Everything about the dwelling suggests tothem tbe cause of their sorrow ; the absence of the father's voice when the time comes round for family and domestic worship cannot but be felt . The widow demands her husband , and the children demand their father . But mere philanthropy will not meet this want . Alsitiug such , aud distributing relief , will not remove the suffering . The soup ticket , your well-plonished
Provincial.
purse , will neither heal the broken heart , nor turn sorrow out of doors . The mere philanthropist will altogether fail in that . To satisfy the demand of the widow he must rifle the tomb of its dead ; he must bring life again unto the dead , and restore the husband to the widow , and the father to the fatherless . We know that mere philantrophy is altogether insufficient to do this , and . therefore , xJhilanthrophy must bo Christianized ; and I take it my brethren , that your presence here to-day is in sympathy
with that doctrine that you , connected with an institution characterised by its benevolence and philanthrophy , wish to lay your offering upon Christ's altar , that you wish to baptise your benevolence , and to feel that it is tlirough gratitude to our blessed Master for what he has done for us that you would love Him and love others . The widow requires to have her husband restored , and the Christian philanthropist says , " Thy husband shall live again . " He teaches her the doctrine which the
services of this season so frequently remind us of , namely , that the great Head of our Church " died and rose again , " that " it is appointed unto men once to die , " and that "blessed are the dead who die in the Lord , for they rest from their labours . " The Christian philanthropist can tell such a sufferer that her husband will live again—not in suffering , not in sorrow , but ( if he be Christ ' s child ) in everlasting glory . He can call to the mind of the widow the iiroraises speciall iven her ; he can
y g tell her that God himself has vouchsafed to be a Father of the fatherless , and the God of the widow . Iu this way , the Christian philanthropist can bring joy where sorrow reigned ; he only can disperse such sorrow ; he can raise the hopes of the fatherless and point the widow to immortal blessing . But this is but one aspect of our subject . The other portion of the text teaches us a duty of still graver importance , because , after all , the duty first inculcated in the text can never be performed unless the
other is rightly performed . We cannot do our duty , in other words , to our neighbour until we do our duty to God . We cannot visit the widow as Christian philanthropists until we are both Christians and philanthropists . We cannot do what is right to others until we do what is right to ourselves ; and therefore the text says that we must keep ourselves unspotted from the world . It is plain it is not meant that we are to indulge in cold selfishness , that we are to stand aloof from the
world . On the contrary , the Lord Jesus Christ taught us that a Christian must be a social being . He taught us that by bis own example . AVhen entering upon His public ministry . He was present on a festive occasiou , and throughout the whole of His teaching He inculcated the same doctrine . He said Christians were to be the salt of the world . Is that salt then to be collected together and raised up an isolated monument ? No ; it is to be scattered throughout the world to exercise its saving and
preserving influence , and so Christians are to be scattered throughout society , that they may exercise a moral and benevolent influence in the various spheres in which they move . The text which I have selected is taken from a letter that was written to Jews who had given up Judaism , and embraced Christianity ; and therefore St . James said , " Keep yourselves unspotted from the world . " Ho meant here a great and eternal truth , namely , that God bought manas the Apostle St . Paul tells us" Ye
; , are not your own ; for ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit , which are God's . " This is the sense in which we are called upon to keep ourselves unspotted from the world—that we are bought by the blood of God ' s own Son . This is our profession of faith , and we are called upon to be consistent with our profession . We are called upon to live out the precepts which our religion inculcates , to
illustrate in our lives the doctrines which we profess to love . Thus , then , we are to be kept free from the world—conscious that , of our own power wo cannot , but reminded of St . Peter ' s promise that " we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ; " rememberiiijr , too , that our great High Priest above represents us , and that shortly before leaving this earth He prayed , " Father , I pray that those whom thou hast given me may he kept from tbe evil that is in the world . I pray
( said He ) not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world , but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil that is in the world . In this manner , then , we are kept as a branch is kept from withering which receives the sap from the vine ; so by a living union with our covenant Head , we retain our spiritual life , and are kept pure in the midst of an unholy and sinful world . I shall not detain you , my brethren , as it is my intention to speak to you very briefly , knowing the day has been fully occupied by the arrangements already made ; but I have