The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-01-21
DEDICATION.


- a b
The q. B. CHURCH DEDICATED FREE
From DEBT.
An Elssnent sernsn By BishsP Wesver.
last Sabbath, according to previous
notice. the beautiful new United Brethren
Church was dedicated. Bishop Weaver, Of
DAYTON, Ohio, officiating.
The day was quite stormy but this dio
not prevent the people from coming out
10 see the church and hear the Bishop
nreach. and before time for the services
to commence every available seat was
occupied.
The exercises were open ed by volun
t.rv by the choir, after which the Presid-
ing Elder, Rev. NJ. Bowman, who was
formerly pastor here, announced lynn
No. 1174.
ITO thee this temple we devote,
Our Father and our God;
Accept it thine and seal it now,
Thy Spirits blest abode"
This hymn being sung BY the congrega-
ton led by the choir, Rev. Mr. Bowman
led in prayer. The lesson OF the morning
wa. read from the 122d and saith, Fsrims.
HYMN 515-..Rock Of Ages Cleft Tor
Ne was then sung, after which the Bis
hon announced as his text verses OF 'he
14th chapter of john
"Let not your heart be troubled; ye pc
lieye in God, believe also IN me.
.In nv Fathers house are many man,
clone. if1if mere not so, I would have toio
Won. 90 to prepare place for you.
"And if go and prepare place LOT
YOU, l will come again anu receive yUa W
unto myself: that where am '"e'e ~
may be also.
The speaker began By saying that owing
tosthc usual length of Dcdivatory services
he would not attempt any elaborate SEE
monizing. At the time these words were
spoken the disciples were very sad. Iney
had been associating for some time Win
the Saviour Of the world and now he was
about to be taken from them. They
would be left alone in the world with NO
leader; they who were introducing new
system of theology and religion, would
have no one whom they could go to for
counsel. They were but dozen plain
unlcttcred men, and the whole world was
against them. Their hearts were very
sad at the approaching parting. Jesus
percelving this said unto them Let not
YOUR hearts be troubled. We are very apt
to make for ourselves unnecessary troub-
lie. We worry about the subject OF dying
when We shall die; where we shall die;
and how we shall die. So with many
other things. We are afraid we may be-
come poor or that something, we don't
know what, will happen to us. The great
cure for all this is Faith in God, and Je-
sus Christ. Ye believe in God, believe
also in me- Christian faith is an antidote
to trouble. That faith must be an anti
dote to trouble, it must be personal and
active A person may belong to church
where there are ninety and nine who have
faith but that will avail him nothing, he
must have faith for himself. Many chris
tians have trouble from the fact that they
try to manage their affairs themselves and
do not think it necessary to go to the
Master. They apparently think they
must not go to him unless they have some
great grief or trouble. Such is not the
case The Bible tells rs that not a spar
row fallsth to the ground without the
knowledge of the Heavenly Father. He
likes to have us bring our small troubles
to him. as we'll as our great ones. In my
Fathers house: the dearest spot on
earth is our fathers house, and though
we may have been absent from there for
twenty, forty, or even fifty years our
minds will often revert back to the happy
times we have enjoyed there. We must
think Of Heaven as home. We too often
think of it as some magnificent, cold,
distant place where we are total strangers,
but this is not the view of it Christ would
have us take. One Of our American
writer's has beautifully expressed himself
thus used to, when I was boy, think
of Heaven as some splendid and beautiful
city, most magnificent place, filled with
strange, beautiful beings but everything
was new and strange to me. One of my
little brothers died and it then seemed as
if could see him away off on one side Of
the city alone. By and by another, and
another died until had 4 br-thers there.
Then other relatives and friends died un-
until it seemed as if have more acquain-
tances in heaven than have on earth.
And thus we all ought to feel. Heaven is
our Fathers house-Our home. Heaven
is also a place, not dreamy, shadowy un-
define, ETHEREAL existence, but a locality,
place. 60 to prepare place for you.
Christ tells us he will come agar. and re-
ccivc us unto himself that we may behold
him, rs lie is. He wants US to behold his
glory in Creation, in his 'Providenccs and
in Redemption.
The Bishop preached n most elo-
quent and interesting sermon, which
was listened to with the closest attention.
We only wish we could give better re-
port Of it. After the sermon he stated
that the cost Of the church, was $500 of
which s., 800 had been paid. leaving q
balance of $2,70O to be provided for
Hardly any ono present expected the
amount would be raised, but the work
was commenced and to the surprise Of
every one before services closed $2,449
had been subscribed. At the evening
service $4OO more were raised making
. total of $2853, or $153 more than the
amount asked for. The church was then
dedicated free Of encumbrance, much to
the surprise of all present, and the joy Of
the members and friends Of the church.
Bishop Weaver is one of the most success
full church dedicators in the U. B. demon
ination, and we think We never saw his
superior. He is good and interesting
speaker and has the best of control over