Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1867-11-21
THE NEW METHODIST
CHURCH.
Dedication of the Lecture Room
Prayer by Rev. j. Z. Chapin--Sermon
by Rev. DIR. A. Wood.


cess OF erection in this place, for the pur
pose oflistening to the dedication services,
on Sunday last. The services were COM
menced by the congregation uniting in
singing the sixteenth hymn, "Before Je-
hovah's awful THRONE" &c, followed by a
prayer by Rev. ]. f. Chaplin, pastor of the
Presbyterian Church:
o Lord God, our Heavenly Father
Thou creator and upholder Of all things
in Whom we live and move and have our
being; before Whom the nations of tile
earth are but as dust in the balance and
the inhabitants thereof as but grasshoppers
before Thee. We, the creatures of day,
rejoice in the privilege of coming before
Thine awful throne to lift up our voices in
admiration and prayer towards the God OF
the earth. We rejoice in the gift of Thy
dear Son in the which we are assured q
Thy loving kindness and tender mercieS
toward us. Thou wilt hear us though we
are but creatures of a day and worms of
the dust; Thou wilt pardon us though we
be the chief of sinners; Thou wilt blot our
transgrcssiOns as thick cloud and render
within us clean hearts. We bless Thee for
the mcfcIul provision OF Inv grace Dy
which we are permitted to assemble to-
gcther for Thy worship, that we may sing
Thy praise and pour out our hearts i'm adj
miration and thanksgiving towards Thee.
We bless Thee for the privilege this morn.
ing, our Heavenly Father of mingling our
hearts and voices with Christian brethren
of every name. Before Thee we can be
not only of one mind. but of one soul, for
,rn oil inf tnI in ha rpaf
work. And now, our Father, we come
here to manifest our interest in the success
ful completion of this great undertaking.
May the blessing of God rest upon it, and
may it be place where multitudes shall
be converted to God and made TO sing the
songs of redeeming love- To this end
sanctify this house enter il by Thy Holy
Spirit, and may it be made sacred by Thy
holy presence. Bless the labors of Thy
people here our brethren, and may they be
the means of doing great good in thiscom
munity. We pray that the people here
NAV he encouraged and may be led 10 sa-
cred!y dedicate themselves to the Lord
afresh, and may this be the beginning of a
glorious revival of spiritual life. Bless us
in the exercises of this day. Be with him
who is TO speak TO US out of Thy word,
and open Thou our heats 10 receive the
truth that it may be as good seed sown on
good ground, ard may this be glad day
in Zion. Enable the people to so set them
selves to work for The Lord that they may
bring themselves living sacrifice holy and
acceptable unto Him. We pray that Thy
kingdom may come and may prosper in
this community and that iniqu.ty may be
stayed. Hear us in this our prayer; bless
us in all the exercises of the day. May
Thy Kingdom come and thy will be done
on earth as it is done in Heaven. And Thy
name be praised forever and ever. Amen.
After the prayer, Rev. Aaron Wood, Of
Michigan City, read selection of Scrip
ture from the forty 18TH chapter of Isaiah,
also part OF the sixteenth chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans, and a part of the
eighteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apos-
ties. The congregation then sang the nine
hundred fourth hymn, Father in
whom we live" &c. The dedication SER
mon was then delivered by Mr. Wood,
from the following text (Romans, chap.
XVII, v. and 3, For none of us liveth
unto himself. For wheter we live, we live
unto the Lord; and whether we die, we
die unto the Lord. Whether we live
therefore or die, we arc the Lords"
To do justice 10 the speaker, it would
be necessary TO give a rerbdtim report of
the sermon. This we have in our hands,
but its great length and our limited space
forbid its appearance as a whole in our
columns. We therefore content ourselves
with careful abstract and the copious
extractsfrom the many different and more
brilliant portions of the discourse given
below:
In his introduction. the speaker paid
very high tribute to the character of St
Paul as writer. He said, substantially,
the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, con-
templated as a human composition, has no
parallel in the world of letters. If we take
the three prominent facts in history as a
foreground for our view, namely, the jew
ish religion, the Roman Government, and
Grecian education, as they existed in the
days OF Paul, and then with them we take
the facts that had TRANSFERRED in the midst
Of these great realities FOR about thirty
years, we have four things upon which
Paurs Epistle TO the Romans shows more
comprehensive apprehension, more intense
mentality and a higher literal comprehen-
sion of those facts than any book written
by any man in any age. The prophets
themselves, with all their inspiration, do
not so well understand the covenants made
with the human family and the Church, as
did this student of Gamaliel. And his own
exposition OF their covenant signs and SYM
bols excel even those of the prophets
themselves. and all the Rabbis understood.
So, if we would study the beauty of that
ancient ritualism, we are better instructed
by Paul than all other teachers. Again, il
we take all those who have given their lives
to recluseness and to the disciplining of
the mind, and group them altogether, from
ZOroaster to Camp, we cannot find in any
of them, either in Scotch, English, Ger
man, Roman or Greek writer's, such a
comprehensive mastery of all the philoso-
ply of the time as we find in the Pauline
letters, concerning mind and thought. If,
then, we would study these great facts in
history, and attempt to contemplate them
in their influence on the progress of socie-
ty and the necessities AMI forms of civili-
Zati0n, We find no commentator who so
thoroughly understood and triumphantly
mastered them as did the author of our
text.
To the student of facts and from cause
to effect, this Epistle to tie Romans brings
very extraordinary power that is well
worth our careful attention, as men and as
citizens, as well as believers and Christians
trusting in the Savior. The text, in It's i'm
mediate connection with the context, was
first and primarily addressed to the Jews as
an exposition of the Divine influence over
the nation of the Jews in their rites and
ceremonies.
The speaker then proceeded to apply
this exposition of the text to the topic of
his discourse, giving the text specific ap-
plication to the topic; that is, that wbatso-
ever the organization of the individual
to whom God has given the powers and