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DISCOURSE

PREACHED AT THE DEDICATION

OF THE HOUSE OF

THE THIRTEENTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,

IN HARRISON AVENUE, BOSTON,

May 3, 1848.

By J. I. T. COOLIDGE.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST* OF THE SOCIETY.

BOSTON:
WM. CROSBY & H. P. NICHOLS,
ill Washington Street.
1848.

Kfyt tJotoec of ©fjttsttanits.
A
DISCOURSE
PREACHED AT THE DEDICATION
OF THE HOUSE OF
THE THIRTEENTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,
IN HARRISON AVENUE, BOSTON,
May 3, 1848.

By J. I. T. COOLIDGE.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY.

BOSTON:
WM. CROSBY & H. P. NICHOLS,
111 Washington Street.
1848.

CAMBRIDGE:
METCALF and company,
PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.

DISCOURSE.

1 CORINTHIANS iv. 20.
" FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT IN WORD, BUT IN POWER."
The temples which are builded by Christian hands
and for Christian purposes should be monuments of
that kingdom which Christ would establish in the
world. Beautiful as we may make them, richly as we
may adorn them, splendid exhibitions of architectural
skill as they may stand to attract admiration and cap
tivate the taste, yet the grand purpose, the sole pur
pose, the purpose which alone can consecrate them
and make them the objects of our veneration, is the
purpose, kept strongest and foremost, of establishing
that kingdom of God in the soul and the world which
is not in word, but in power. They are a mockery
and an offence if it is not so. The wealth that is lav
ished upon them, the beauty which adorns them, is all
worthlessly squandered, prodigally and ignobly dissi
pated, if the solemn, deliberate purpose is not kept
continually fresh and living, to establish, through all
the agencies and attractions of the house, the king-

4
dom of God with power in the consciences and lives
of the worshippers.
It becomes us, then, brethren of this society, solemn
ly to consider this matter. For various and sufficient
reasons, we have left one sanctuary, dear to many of us
above all others, and erected here another shrine. But
why have we built this new edifice ? For what end
is all this labor and expense ? Not, surely, to grat
ify a wretched vanity, not to make a larger figure
in the community, not to boast ourselves in the pos
session of a more beautiful edifice. But, if I interpret
your motives aright, simply and solely to carry out
with fairer prospects of continuance and success the
lofty purpose we have ever had in view, the assem
bling of ourselves together, as the Sabbaths come
round, for humble and filial worship, and the building
up of the kingdom of God in our souls. For this pur
pose we have erected this house, and to-day conse
crate it as our new Sabbath home. I shall profit,
then, by the occasion, to consider and set before you,
as well as I may, the power of Christianity. Chris
tianity a power, — a living, active power, — this is
the subject to which I invite your attention.
Our estimate of Christianity depends upon the con
viction we hold of the work which it is to accomplish.
If we regard it simply as a form of religion, we may
pay a decent respect to its antiquity, as a form around
which so many generations have gathered, which has
been transmitted from age to age for eighteen centuries,

till it has reached our time, and which we do not desire
should perish in our hands. If we regard it simply as
an article of belief, we may accept it as not caring to
reject it, pleased enough to suffer it to remain if it
comforts any heart. If we regard it simply as a law of
conduct and life, we may yield to it the cold respect
and obedience we pay to all law, divine or human,
and endeavour with what care we may to submit to its
requisitions so far as safety seems to demand. But if
we regard it as a power, — if we feel that it is a power,
a prevailing, mighty power, to purge away the leaven
of iniquity, to exterminate every form of evil, to re
generate and make new the soul and the world con
tinually, — a power, of which all forms and beliefs and
laws are only instruments, — then, most surely, our
acceptance of it will be more hearty, our reyerence for
it will deepen, and our obedience be more ready and
complete. Now Christianity is that power. It makes use of
forms. It builds chapels and cathedrals, and fills them
with the voices of prayer and praise. Jt implants
doctrines in the heart ; it establishes its laws and pre
cepts, writes them out distinctly, and commands im
plicit obedience. But it is not itself a form of wor
ship, nor an article of belief, nor a code of laws, —
not these mainly, — but a power beyond these; a
power which informs these, gives them their vitality,
makes them useful and availing. This is the point I
wish now to press.

6
And I begin with its action upon the human soul.
What is the condition in which Christianity finds the
soul ? I shall enter into no merely doctrinal state
ment. I shall not endeavour to penetrate and unfold
the deep mysteries of human nature. I shall take the
simple fact of all human consciousness. And I state
that fact, I believe, when I say Christianity finds man
a sinner, at variance with God and his own eternal in
terests, in need of conversion, reconciliation, and con
stant renewal. He needs more than instruction, im
provement, or a better development. He needs a
change, a conversion, to be placed in a true position
towards God and his own destiny. He has not the
consciousness of peace flowing from the love of God ;
nay, he is conscious of no peace, of the absence of all
true peace and heavenly hope ; and it is a pain, a deep,
sad pain, to him that it is so. I endeavour not now to
explain how it is so, how it came to be a fact ; I take
it as a simple fact, verified in all human experience.
The condition which Paul describes himself to have
experienced is the inward history of every soul. There
is a fearful conflict going on within all hearts between
the law of the spirit and the law of the members.
There is a spirit within, which aspires to all that is
good and pure and holy, which feels the beauty of
truth and virtue, which hates all injustice, meanness,
and falsehood, which is full of -noble, generous, hu
mane sentiments and affections; a spirit which thrills
at the tale of magnanimous deeds of pure disinterest-

edness, or touching charity, or self-sacrificing devotion,
and burns with righteous indignation at the scene
of baseness, oppression, and cruel wrong. There is a
noble side to human nature. There is that within
man which must call out our deepest veneration,
' force us to extol his glory, and confess his dignity and
honor. There is that within him which justifies all
that has been said or can be said of his greatness, of
the original and essential capacities of his mind, of
the divinity of the human soul, of its participation of
the Divine nature. There is that within him upon
which he ought to look with awe and wonder,
something which should make him tremble when he
thinks of blighting it with sin. They who say there
is nothing good in him, no foundation for goodness,
ho feeling of goodness, no love for it, say what is not
true, what is not just either to God or man. Man
loves goodness. The vision of true, pure, lofty virtue
always makes his heart kindle and glow and leap, and
he would make that vision abide till he had bathed
his soul in its light and beauty. But — and here is
the solemn and fearful fact — but when he would
realize in himself that beautiful and beatific vision,
when he would struggle up towards his own ideals,
when he Would substantiate them in his own character,
when he would lift his affections up to the heavenly
things that come to him in his musings, then he feels
— who has not felt it ? — that law of the members
holding him in captivity to the law of sin ; a power

8
which he cannot shake off; and the fearful conflict
comes, and the good that he would, that he does not,
but the evil which he would not, that he does. There
is a weakness, an infirmity, a depravity, a proclivity to
evil, give it what name you please and explain it as
you will, — I take the stern fact, — there is a conflict
going on in the depths of the soul, in which the
victory inclines to one side, the law of the members.
The spirit counselling compliance with the law
of God in the inward man is wearied, oppressed,
overborne ; and in its stern straits and urgent peril
sends up the cry, " O, who will deliver me from this
body of death ? " This is the solemn fact, I believe, in
all human consciousness, the impenetrable mystery, as
I conceive, of human nature. It stands in the experi
ence of every earnest soul. We read it in the diaries
of the noble men, gloriously triumphant at the last;
in their deep, bitter contritions, which seem at times
almost extravagant to colder and less awakened spirits.
Paul felt it, and, to escape its anguish, became in vain
a Jew of the straitest sect. Augustine felt it even to
agony. Luther felt it, in the seclusion of the cloister,
with an anguish as if he were engaged in personal
conflict with the enemy of souls. George Fox felt it,
as he sat upon his work-bench, and it drove him
abroad into the fields to find relief from the tumult of
his heart. All men who have been purified have
been so as by this fire. Who has not experienced it
at times with bitterness of spirit ? Who has not been

9
oppressed, and wellnigh broken-hearted, when aspira
tions for the true, the good, the heavenly, have lifted his
whole soul, kindled the warm glow of his spirit, made
him conscious of a God to be obeyed, conscious of a
soul to be cared for before all other things, conscious
of the grandeur of his nature's capacities and powers ;
and yet has felt at the same moment the fast-clasp
ing bonds of that other principle, which has held him
down, and prevented the attainment of his desires ?
Who has not felt the need of a power beyond him
self, to determine this conflict to the triumph of the
spirit ? I say of a power ; not of a direction only, not
of a clearer light alone, not of a new law.
There is, I conceive, a mistake in some minds here.
It is sometimes asserted, that man needs only a clear
law with its clear sanctions, a religion which shall
set before him plain and palpable duty, with sure,
speedy, and righteous retributions. But may we not,
-do we not, know law enough, and duty enough ? Is
the difficulty a simple lack of knowledge? Is this the
only cause and the full explanation of the inward con
flict ? Is not the difficulty a want of sufficient power
to fulfil the law, to obey the command, we see written
out so distinctly before us ? Does any one feel that
it relieves the difficulty to say, with ever so great plain
ness, Do this and thou shalt live, do that and thou
shalt die, obey and you shall find deliverance? Is it
not simply and only restating the very difficulty itself?
The conflict arises, not because we know not what to
2

10
do; not because we are ignorant of the path of duty,
but because we see that path so plainly, and the
plainer you make the path, the more you aggravate
the disease and our wretchedness. Was it not so with
Paul? He had the clear requisitions of the Jewish
law to guide him. He heard it sounding with its aw
ful sanctions continually in his soul, and he strove to
obey with all the energy of his lofty spirit ; still his cry
was, " O wretched man that I am ! " O my friends,
it is not enough to make strong appeals to men to
rise up and be men, to live a holy and divine life, to
assert the soul's native dignity, and to perform a soul's
duties. This may sound well and loftily, and, uttered
with beauty and eloquence j is greatly seductive. But
is not the very difficulty, that, though men desire ever
so strongly, they cannot rise up. Is not the yearning
to do this very thing the foundation, the seat, of the
distress itself? Might you not as well go to the blind
man with the promise of a cure, and, standing before
him, simply and with whatever beauty and eloquence,
describe the glories of the universe, the lineaments of
friends, the blessings and delights of sight, and then
bid him see? Would he not answer you, " O, do not
mock my misery ! Why tell me of the splendors of
God's universe, why tell me of the sweet smile of
those dearest to me, and tear my heart with the an
guish of expectation, and then, when I hang on you
with the whole strength of my hope, simply command
me to do that which all my life long it has been my

11
misery that I cannot ? " So might the struggling soul
say to him who calls upon it, in its own strength, to
rise and be true to itself, — " O my brother ! these
words of thine may seem to thee all powerful ; but to
me, alas ! who know what it is to feel my inability,
they bring nothing but the blackness of despair."
Men want not so much a new law, as power. And
it is this power which Christianity offers to supply. If
Christianity were only a law, a body of precepts, a re
publication of the whole duty of man, — if this were
all that it is, it were wellnigh useless. Christianity
is a power. Paul declares Christ came to do for man
what the* law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh. Christ came to breathe an energy
and a force into the soul from a source above the soul,
to supply the living power which man craves. He
came to impart an influence which should bear up the
sinking soul above the stormy waters of its passions ;
to lift up the faltering heart, to fill it with hope, to
animate it with the promise of help from above, to put
consciously beneath it the everlasting arm of God, to
bid it be strong, not in itself, but strong in the Lord
and the power of his might, for he it is that shall
trample down all its foes and give it peace. Christ
came to bring supply and support and encouragement,
to penetrate every hidden recess of the soul and bring
forth all its powers, and enlighten, inspire, fortify them,
to supply its inward necessities, its deepest wants, to
fill its capacious desires, to lay its hand upon the very

12
energies of our nature and pour into them a quicken
ing inspiration, to take the lead and control^ the form
ing and perfecting of them. And to effect this, to do-
this great work, to impart this power, Christ comes to
the soul, asking only its faith, its trust and confidence
in him and his gracious; message.. He unfolds the new
doctrine of repentance and reconciliation, — a doctrine,
as he declares it, full, not only of unutterable comfort,
but also of largest inspiration ; bids us look up and
behold, not a stern Judge, but a kind and loving Par
ent in the heavens, regarding us with a pitying eye,
and sending down to our side his own mighty spirit.
He tells us we have not a slow and painful journey
back to our Father's love, but that we may spring
confidingly and at once to its embrace ; that it is here,
close to us, before, behind, and within us;, a love en
compassing as the Divine presence itself; a love per
petually waiting at the door of the soul, and ready
to enter in, would we but open that door with the
words, " Father, I have sinned before thee." He
shows the Father watching for the first faint sigh
of contrition, for inward light and peace ; as going
forth to fall upon the neck of the returning prodi
gal,, and folding him, covered with sin as he is, yet
breathing penitence, to the bosom of his compassion.
The Gospel he proclaims is no cold republication of
the law, no bare system of precepts, but a warm,
kindling influence from the boundless love of the
Father, poured through his own full heart. The Gos-

13
pel is not a command following us wherever we go,
and asserting its fearful retributions for every diso
bedience ; but it is the manifestation, in the form we
might comprehend! and feel, of the Father's; urgent
desire to lift us out of the power and love of sin into
purity and peace ; a manifestation through Jesus Christ,
whose heart was willing to be pierced with contradic
tion and pain and agony ; through Christ dying, pour
ing out his life-blood upon the cross in the strength of
his affection, if so be he might lift off the. heavy yoke
of bondage, and bring us back to the home of our
Father. The Gospel is not an imperative command ;
there were commands enough, and too many, before ;
the Gospel is a merciful Redeemer, the friend of the
weak and sinful, coming to us, faint and weary hy
the way-side of life, and binding up our wounds ; sit
ting by our side to animate continually our faltering
purpose, to fan to a flame the first weak desire after
holiness ; saying to us, " There is one in heaven,
whose eye looks down upon you with ineffable pity and
love, who* sends his spirit to your aid ; put your trust in
him and you shall not be confounded. The work of
life is hard ; with man it is impossible, but with God
all things are possible. He is mighty to save to the
uttermost, when every arm of flesh shall fail." The
Gospel is the heart of Jesus throbbing with the inspi
ration of God's love for his human family. It is this
that gives it its power. The soul that, so accepts it,
so realizes it and rejoices in it, submits itself to God

14
and finds the promised . peace. The conflict ceases,
and all is calm and hopeful ; for if God be for us, who
shall be against us? The soul finds a support in
all its journey. It is never alone, for the Father and
Son are with it for ever. It can do all things through
God and his Christ, who strengthen it. It joins with
the glad and unburdened heart of Paul, — "I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
I proceed, now, to the second part of the subject,
upon which I must speak with greater brevity than its
importance demands. Christianity a power in the
world, a power to produce deep, broad, enduring
changes in its history and condition.
Two views are held in regard to the operation of
this power. The one is, that it works as a leaven,
silently pervading the whole fabric of society, pene
trating with its purifying influence into all existing
orders of things, into civilization, literature, science,
social organizations, slowly changing and elevating
them, imparting continually truer and loftier ideas, and
opening the mind to the perception of the wider rela
tions of truth and duty from generation to generation,
— that Christianity, in its character, is diffusive as the
light, and, like the light, is noiseless and gentle, yet
searching and penetrating everywhere. The other
view is, that it is a reforming, revolutionizing power,
overturning and destroying every institution or custom
or habit or condition that opposes itself to its mighty
progress, or is at variance with its sublime purpose of

15
redeeming and saving the world ; that it proposes
wholly to remove, expel, and annihilate every form of
evil, purge out every leaven of iniquity, and to make
anew the world into the likeness of heaven.
But it appears to me that these views of the object
and power of Christianity should not be considered as
separate and opposed. They should be embraced in
one conviction. If we study the history of Christian
ity during these eighteen centuries, the most evident
conclusion is, that it has worked its own way, wrought
its changes, remoulded the institutions and habits of
society, and impauted its regenerating spirit, mainly by
its own silent, mighty, and resistless force. Jesus
Christ preached his Gospel to the individual man. He
sought to renew, support, and sanctify the soul, to
build up in it faith and piety, brotherly love and moral
power. He addressed himself directly and only to the
private soul ; that he loved, and that he would save.
Nothing outward in human condition engrossed his
notice or filled his thoughts. And the men who were
the companions of his ministry, and who received most
largely of his spirit, followed the leading of their
great Master. " They left home, possessions, coun
try ; went abroad into strange lands ; and not only
put life in peril, but laid it down, to spread the truth
which they had received from their Lord, to make
the true God, even the Father, known to his blinded
children, to make the Saviour known to the sinner, to
make life and immortality known to the dying, to give

16
a new impulse to the human soul." They said noth
ing of the world, nothing of human institutions. They
reprobated not the terrible oppression of the Roman
power. They counselled obedience to existing au
thorities. They preached no crusade against the
forms and usages of society. They condemned not
the warrior. They taught the slave to respect his
master, to endure patiently his servitude, to be a
firm, earnest, consistent Christian, fearing God and
working righteousness, even beneath the pressure of
his galling yoke. They overlooked all .outward cir
cumstance and condition. They lifted the soul above
external circumstance, gave it power to live as a
child of God in spite of condition. ,They led men
to build their hope in heaven, and find peace, joy, de
liverance, in the new life, over which wrong and con
tumely and oppression and penury had no power.
And so it was in the early days of the Church. In
the apologies for Christianity of the first centuries, we
may read that much stress was laid on the fact, that
Christianity had touched nothing outward ; that Chris
tians were quiet and peaceable, resenting not injury,
resisting not oppression. Long was it before any
voice was lifted in opposition to any existing order of
society. The work to be done then was in the indi
vidual soul, to renew and elevate it, and to build round
it the firm defences of Christian hope and faith. The
work then to be done, first and foremost, was to pro
cure a lodgment for Christianity, to give it a hold upon

17
the world ; not the application of its majestic truths to
the wrongs and abuses of social life. And yet Chris
tianity wrought mighty reforms even then. It was al
ways preparing the way for a nobler history of the
nations ; producing by its silent influence, even while
men slept, those great revolutions of thought and
feeling which send society forward with tremendous
strides. It gave birth to the grand ideas, whispered
with fear in the private ear in one century, perhaps,
yet preached from the housetops, and realized and
embodied in a new order of things, the next. It in
fused itself into the new civilization of modern times,
and breathed in an ever purer literature. It directed
the researches of science, gave to art its divine inspi
ration, to music its richest strains. Everywhere it
made itself felt as a new spirit, moving over the
troubled waters of society, and bringing order and
beauty out of darkness and confusion. Everywhere
it made it clear, that a new kingdom was establishing
itself in the heart of the world. As the elements si
lently, but inevitably, take down, particle by particle,
the loftiest mountain, reducing it continually to the
level of the plain, so Christianity, by as silent and in
evitable a power, is removing, particle by particle, the
huge mountain-weight of evil which presses upon the
heart of the world. Or steadily, as the light by insensi
ble degrees grows from the feeble glimmering of the
earliest dawn to the perfect brightness of the noon, so
must Christianity increase, pouring brighter and broad-
3

18
er beams, till it shine in full radiance over the world.
So it must, whether men will aid it or stand aloof from
it ; whether they rejoice or tremble at its progress ;
whether they welcome the growing light, or cry out,
because their deeds are evil and they love the dark
ness, that it is not day.
But, my friends, Christianity sometimes brings
around great crises. If it is a silent and pervading
influence, if it works in secret, there are times when
it comes forth openly on the earth, and summons men
with a mighty voice to its side. There are times when
it introduces a new era ; when it makes itself known
as a radical power, — a power to resist and expel and
exterminate every form of abuse, wrong, injury, and
oppression which stand embodied in the institutions of
society, — a power to upturn and revolutionize. There
are times when it is seen to be, not only an axe lying
at the root of the tree of evil, but a power applying that
axe to its legitimate purpose. There are times when,
openly and in the sight of all men, it begins its strict
applications to the whole existing order of things, and
summons it to its bar, judges it, and sees its sentence
executed. There are times when it is plainly pal
pable, that if it gathers its forces in secret, they can no
longer be pent up, but must burst forth, to the thanks
giving or dread of men, with tremendous and irresisti
ble power, and topple down the high-towering abuses
which have lifted their heads so long, as if in proud
defiance, and sweep them across the brink of annihila-

19
tion for ever. There are times when it puts forth its
hand, and writes upon all that opposes its progress the
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. There are times when
it arises in the majesty of truth, terrible as bannered
hosts in array of battle, and causes the foul and hide
ous corruptions of the age to quail before its divine
and awful presence.
It would seem, my friends, as if such times were
now, as if such a crisis were the present era.
Silently these centuries has Christianity been ma
turing in its believers' hearts those grand ideas which
have taken such strong hold upon the mind and con
science of the age. Silently these many genera
tions has it been laying the broad foundation on
which it would build up the heavenly kingdom.
Silently has it been unfolding the meaning of its
sublime truths, and the extent of their spirit. It is
beginning now to enforce with power the grand
deductions of those mighty truths ; deductions as clear
and irresistible as the doctrines themselves ; deduc
tions which men must accept, except upon the im
possible supposition of the rejection of the doctrines
themselves. Christianity is being applied, as never
before, to the every-day life of men. It is searching
everywhere, and it meets no abuse, no iniquity, that it
will not ere long wholly rend away and extirpate. It
finds no fruitful source of sin or sorrow that it will not
dry up, no diseased spot in the body social or body
politic, upon which it will not lay its healing hand, —

20
healing, though it be as the surgeon's hand is healing.
It is, awakening in men the stern feeling of their rights
as men, and giving them power to demand to be re
spected as men. And when this great claim is no
longer the dream of the enthusiast alone ; when it
is no longer a fair and beautiful theory of the , phi
losopher, but has become a feeling and a universal
feeling ; when human beings are awakening with
indignant might from long ages of oppression ; when
entire nations are stirred throughout, and the popular
impulse heaves from its whole ocean bed ; when,
before its majesty, armies quail, and swords are
sheathed, and cannon silenced,1 and the king flies from
his throne ere it totters to its fall or crumbles in
ashes ; then, in this universal movement of the nations
for their rights and liberties, is evident the work
Christianity is accomplishing on the earth ; and we
can only exclaim, " God speed the right ! "
And so, too, in the moral reforms of the day.
Christianity has brought things to the pass now in
which men can no longer stand neutral. ¦ Neutrality
is disloyalty. Christianity is pleading the cause of
humanity now as never before. It is calling out a
more generous recognition of what man owes to man.
It is sending its servants to investigate the sources of
the strange contrasts in the outward condition of men.
It is sending them to the lowly and outcast, to the
prisoner's cell, to the ignorant and the orphan, with
the words of Christian hope and love. It is sending

21
them to the great work of redeeming their fallen
brethren from the vile bondage of their lusts and ap
petites. It is sending them, bands of devoted souls,
pledged to work in behalf of justice, truth, purity,
and love, to the great contest of human freedom ; to
the assailing of that foul institution which spreads its
dark curse over our land, and sustains itself by no
other arguments than whips and fetters and blood
hounds, the sighs and groans of broken-hearted men,
cheated of all that makes them men. But it shall not
long stand. Cry out as men will, threaten its foes,
as lately on the very floor of Congress its foes have
been threatened, with the fire and the gibbet, it is ar
raigned now before the conscience and Christianity of
the world. And what plea can avail it in that court,
before God and his Christ. Its doom is sealed. It is
sending its brave disciples to plead in behalf of
Peace, that great claim which can no longer be re
garded as the dream of enthusiastic philanthropy.
And how are they stripping off the gilded gewgaws
and tinselled ornaments from the gloomy phantom of
war, and exposing it in all its enormity and sin, as the
antichrist which it is. Glory is not much longer to
be won on the field of battle. It is beginning to be
seen, God cannot be invoked on the field of blood ;
Christ cannot be present with armies ; war is not of
heaven, but of hell. Let this continue to be seen ;
let it become more and, more a realization to the con
science of the world, as it will and must become, and

22
there shall be an end to the " dismal, blood-red phan
tom, of martial renown," and there shall be peace on
earth and good-will to men. May that time come,
and quickly ! Let us enter into this holy work. My
friends, mighty voices are calling to us to be faithful
to our duty. Let us not sleep as do some, but take
our stand on the Lord's side. Let us work, brethren
of this society, as we have not hitherto done, in the
name of Christ, for the cause of truth, of God, and
humanity. Let us be a church, not of the past alone,
but of the present also, filled with the spirit of these
active Christian days.
With this faith in the power of the Gospel for the
regeneration of the soul and the world, we have rear
ed this building, and would now set it apart to its holy
purposes. We dedicate this church to the King and
Father Eternal, the King of kings and Lord of lords ;
to God, omnipotent, omnipresent, high, and holy ; the
Ruler of heaven and earth ; the Father of an Infinite
Majesty; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We dedicate it unto his worship and honor
and glory. We dedicate it to Jesus Christ, God's
only and well-beloved Son, through whom God has
manifested himself unto men, and made known his
infinite mercy and love; to Jesus Christ, our only
Mediator and Advocate, the Head of the Church and
the Bishop of souls. We dedicate it to the Holy
Spirit, the sanctifying influence proceeding from the
Father, through the Son, to visit and refresh, support

23
and enlighten, the humble mind. We dedicate it to
prayer and praise, to social worship and Christian fel
lowship. We dedicate it to the sympathies and con
solations of the Gospel, to its animating truths, its sus
taining promises, its immortal hopes. We dedicate it to
the rebuke of sin, and to those tender and earnest per
suasions which lead the sinner back to God. Here may
the kingdom of God be, not in word, but in power.
Here may the truth as it is in Jesus be preached in its
whole counsel, not as pleasing men, but God who trieth
the heart ; and here may it be received into earnest and
generous souls, anxious not to be hearers only, but
doers, of the word. Here may man meet his God in
the simplicity of an honest worship, and partake of the
peace and joy of reconciliation. Here may man meet
his Saviour, and feel his heart burn as the Master
talketh with him. Here may man meet his brother
with true and enlarged sympathy and affection. Here
may the joyous be humbled, the mourner comforted,
the weary find rest, and the sinner be restored. Here
may the song of praise, the prayer for help and mercy,
and the holy resolve, ascend as fragrant incense to
heaven. May God, even our own God, hearken unto
his children's prayer and accept their humble offering,
and fill this place from end to end with the glory of
his presence and the grace of his benediction.
" Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, — thou and the ark
of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy."
Amen.

ORDER OF EXERCISES

THE DEDICATION OF THE HOUSE OF THE THIRTEENTH
CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY,
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1848.

VOLUNTARY.
INTRODUCTORY PRAYER,
BY REV. E. S. GANNETT, D. D.
SELECTIONS FROM THE SCRIPTURES,
BY KEV. G. REYNOLDS.
CHANT.
MUSIC BY JS. L. WHITE.
1. Unto us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all
things, and we by him.
And one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by
him.
2. The grace of God is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Saviour, Jesus Christ,
Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortal
ity to light through the Gospel.
3. This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
4. The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel ; the
Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord

25
thy God with all, thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
5. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, name
ly, this : Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ; there is
none other commandment greater than these.
6. We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, who will
render to every man according to his deeds.
For this corruption shall put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall put on immortality.
7. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise
God,
Be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
DEDICATION PRAYER,
BY REV. u. a. BARTOL.
DEDICATION HYMN,
BY ROBERT P. ROGERS.
Our work is done ; completed stands
This temple in the sight of Heaven :
To thee we lift our grateful hands,
O God ! to whom this house is given.
Here may thy precious love impart
New favor to the suppliant soul ;
And visit here the trembling heart
With strong support and wise control.
Over this altar spread thy wings,
To waft the words of living truth
Wherever sin or sorrow brings
Its mournful cloud to age or youth.
4

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Send down the riches of thy grace ;
And let thy waiting people know,
That as they pass before thy face
Thou wilt regard the way they go.
And now, Hosanna to thy name !
Creator, Father, joyful sound !
From thee our first faint, purpose came ;
Accept it with fulfilment crowned !

SERMON,
BY THE PASTOR.
HYMN,
BY REV. N. L. FROTHINGHAM, D. D.
O Saviour ! whose immortal word
For ever lasts the same,
Thy grace within these walls afford,
Here builded to thy name.
No other name is named below,
No other sign unfurled,
To lead our hopes, or quell our woe,
Or sanctify the world.
Here, many-tongued, thy truth be found,
And mind and heart employ ;
Thy Law and Promise pour around
Their terror and their joy.
Here may thy saints new progress make ;
Thy loitering ones be sped ;
And here thy mourners comfort take,
And here thy poor be fed.

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May God, thy God, his Spirit send ;
The Word is else unblest ;
And fill this place from end to end,
O Ark of strength and rest !
CONCLUDING PRAYER,
BY REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON.
ANTHEM. "JEHOVAH'S PRAISE.
MUSIC BY E. L. WHITE.
BENEDICTION.

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