The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-11-24
Dedication Of = Church.

On Sunday morning an omnibus full Of
ladies and gentlemen left the Methodist
Church TO attend the dedica,cry services C a
church IN High Prairie Township. The
distance is about eight miles, and the jour
ney ont and back WAS 2 very pleasant ore.
The new Church = OF the Cskaloose road,
directly west Of the city, and the ride ont =
through rich and we'll settled portion Of
our county; tie farms arc wei! fenced, The
houses good, and there is every indication Of
abundance and prosperity. The Church Is
IN tho same enclosure with the bell School
House, and near the laige and hne residence
e Mr.. j. P. SalisLurN. The building il Of
wood, Of good size, well built, md very
neatly and comfortably finished.
The people turned out in large numbers
70 aid in defeating church wkici, their
bounty had erected, and every seat in the
commodious building was occupied. The
sermon in the morning was preached by
Rev y. r. Mitchell He took his
text from Acts, XVI, s: Why should
It he thought thing incredible
v ith YOU. that God should raise the deady'
The serm on was an earnest and able effort to
prove the resurrection of the body, and occu-
pied nearly an hour and a half Of very rapid
delivery. The first part of Mr.. MitchelPs
discourse was an appeal to reason and science
&" sustain his position, and the conclusion
vas mastery fortifcation of his position by
numerous citations from the old and new tes-
lament Scriptures. The speaker delights in
Eating the views Of opponents in very strong
terms and then proceeding very quietly to
topple them all over. Before anybody has a
chance to draw long breath, and say to
himself "Well, am glad he has knocked
the wind out Of that argument; it has troub-
led me long enough the irrepressible
preacher is rushing ON with: "And again,
the oejector may say"
We nave rarely seen more close attention
given by old and young to any sermon, and
doubt whether any clergyman could have
i,etter met the demands Of his audience.
There were tears from stout nen. and arpro-
wing nudges and mods from neighbor 10
neighbor. Ii the true tet OF oratory Is 10
coavince your audience, then We think Mr..
Mitchell is an orator. lie makes apt local
allusions, relieves the nearer by pointed an
s,dotes, and has illustrations and quotations
from Scripture 10 drive home any
-,ecial argument. In one place lie stopped
and said he should not attempt 10 prove that
the Bible was true, and Immediately followed
the remark by the following quotation from
Simpson: '.The Bible must he the invention
ri good men or angels; Of bad men or devils;
.,r God 1t could not be the invention of
good men or angels; for they neither would
.or could make book and tell lies all the
while they were writing it, saying TINS
saith the Lord when it Was their own nven-
lion Ii could not be the invention Of bad
men or devils; for they could NOT make 4
took which commands all duty, f"rbids all
sin. and condemns themselves TO all eternity.
I therefore draw this conclusion: the Bible
must have been given by the inspiration OF
God"
Another strong point Mas made ON the po-
>iiicn recently taken by Mr.. Beecher that
the Jews had not been taught the doctrine of
resurrection. The contrary WIS proved by
citations from Job, Hosea, Martha and Others
in the Old and New Testament. Perhaps
Mr.. Mitchell is most iorciblc as 4 criiic-in
detecting the weak points Of All opponent.
showing that they are unscriptural, absurd,
ridiculous. But We made no notes of the SER
mon. and did not intend to make even a brief
summary Of it.
After the discourse, Rev. Mr.. Robinson
stated that the Churce had been in progres,
about two years and had cust s., 500; that all
had been paid but $3.50 \ statement OF
the work, subscriptions, &c, will probably
he published In The TINES
Mr. Mitchell said that when he came
here, in 1867, there were only seven Metlo-
dist Churches in Kansas, and that the
First Methodist in Leavenworh Was
then worth more than all OF The
rest put together. There were now twelve
churches in this District alone, and the pro-
:-ress in the rest of the State had been equally
marvellous In his Judgment, if France
had had during the last fifty wears lrotes-
;ant pastors to fill her pulPits, she would
have maintained her government. If they
had had free pulpits they would have had
free schools. In this country even the
Homanis,s were better patriots than in
Europe, and the chief opposition to the
dogma of infallibility had come from Ameri-
IAN bishops.
Subscriptions TO the amount oi about one
hundred and fifty dollars were then taken
up. The dedicatorv exercises took place in
the evening. The Leavenworth guests were
very handsomely entertained at the hcspt-
able mansion Of Mr.. Salisbury, and we
think We express the wishes ct them all.
when NC return TO him and his family the
most hearty thanks.