New York Daily Tribune

Church of the Moravians—Our Need of Eternal Life.

The services of this Church, the Rev. Dr. A. A. Reinceke, pastor, are held in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, corner of Twenty-third-st. and Fourth-ave. Yesterday there was a very slim attendance at the College Chapel. After the usual exercises, Dr. Reinceke took for his text the exhortation of Paul to Timothy: "Lay Hold on Eternal Life." (I Tim. 6:12)

The following is a summary of the address of Dr. Reinceke: Our Need of Eternal Life. It is the greatest gift of God; redemption of death; salvation from everlasting punishment: eternal life. It does not mean a continuance of life forever, but a freedom from sin, the enjoyment of absolute peace with God, riches which never take wings: life which never passes away: perfect holiness in the likeness of Jesus. Such we need, for sin has brought death unto the world. We lie under a broken law, which says, 'Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.' The Pharisee thanks God he is not as other men. Here are no degrees in sin. It matters not whether a man be at the bottom of a stream but a foot in depth, or is tangled in sea-weed caverns of the mighty Ocean: he must drown. Those who speak of great, and little, and many sins, forget that man's ruin was from one sin—a sin which placed the whole world beneath a curse. Eternal life is then the only hope we have. How long does it take to obtain it? Men toil for many years to attain wealth and fame, they suffer every privation with pleasure, and labor is but joy: yet, how often they fail. Few attain the goal and many of those who grasp the glittering casket, either crush it in their impatience, or it drops from their nerveless grasp. But the riches which time cannot rust or corrupt, which are everlasting and not fleeting, may be obtained without this trouble. They lie at our feet, and await our pleasure. While we are looking and searching, we are treading upon God's greatest gift. 'Lay hold of eternal life.' We want no preparation. We can never make ourselves better. We not only have it freely offered to us, but are called upon to take it. When in human experience did the rich follow the poor, begging them to accept of a portion of their worldly goods? Yet it is so here. God presses his bounty upon us. He knows the misfortune which awaits us, and yearns over us as the heart of the poor father to aid his prodigal son. He watches for him through long years of hope-deferred, heart-sickening expectation, and when he sees him at a distance runs to him. Eternal life is yours whenever you decide that it is necessary. This makes men put it off day after day. But there is a limit. 'God's spirit will not always strive.' What shall be done? Nothing. Jesus did his work. Salvation is not of works, but of faith. 'It is finished.' Yes, indeed. Finished in every part. To try to do something ourselves is to treat God's plan lightly; it is to set ourselves up in opposition to Him. Doing has ruined as many as salvation has saved. Cast it aside and stand erect in Jesus. But when are we to lay hold of eternal life? God says 'now,' and be it whomsoever who asks the question, may the Lord enable him to do so.