Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-06-01
Dedication of the PRESBYTERIAN
Chnrch


friends celebrated the consumma
ton of their labors, prayersand mu
nificent expenditure by the solemn
dedication of their beautiful church
edifice to the service of God. The
prominent points in this interesting
ceremonial were the reading of q
history of the Church from its first
small beginnings to the present
time, by the Rev. j. w. Lupton,
pastor of the Church, the thought
full and eloquent sermon of DIR.
Palmer, and the exquisite singing
of the choir, accompanied through
out by the organ handled in mas
terly manner by Prof. Caldwell.
DIR. Lupton, speaking of the con-
trast between the beginning in 1922
with sixteen members and no build
ing, with the present membership
| counting by hundreds, meeting in
one of the cOstliest buildings in the
State, mentioned that spite of the
heavy expenses of the building,
contributions for other purposes had
not fallen off, and that those of 1877
amounted to S42, 1876 90.
DR.. Palmer is well known in
GAINESVILLE as one of the ablest
preachers in the United States: His
Cor,p, ~, Loot C,,Y,Io1, Voc oo,.+o >. "
not such as to detract from that rep
utation; we never knew him to
preach with profOunder thought or
greater evangelical fervOr, and his
exquisite1y chosen language was a
fitting vehicle for the substance of
the discourse. The text was Psalm
132, verse 10. ''For the Lord hath
chosen Zion; he hath desired it for
his habitatiOn." The dominant idea
of the sermon was the apparent par
adox of the special presence of God
in holy places together with his
diffused presence throughout the
universe. He represented that the
one consideration which reconciIed
this apparent contradiction was the
infinity of God that it was only an
infinite being which could be for
ever pouring out the fulness of his
creative, conservative and sanctify-
ing energies and yet continue to be
himself the possessor of boundless
power, wisdom and holiness, so
that though for instance the fulness
of the Godhead dwells bodily in the |
Son, yet the Father is not exhausted |
of one iOta of the same fulness with
which all the attributes of the
Eternal G0dhead dwell in him.
Again, quoting the promise Of the
Savior that if any man would do
the will of his Father, both Father
and Son would come and dwell
with such a man and take up their
abode in him, heimpressed upon his
hearers that that holy presence had
been manifested and was manifested
in all its fulness in the souls of mil
lions upon millions of true believers,
and yet the infinite, eternal presence
in the Holy of Holes, the highest
heavens, was neither diminished
nor impaired, norshorn ofany beams
of its effulgence.
Again, he spoke of the same prin-
ciple as manifested in the material
world. He described, as the central
fact to which all modern science
points, the unity Of force. He point
ed out how the same force that COM
menced by producing motion when
it ceased to act in that way continued
operative in the production of heat,
and conversely how that which
as calOrific force ended
by producing motion how electric,
galvanic and photOgenic
forces were each capable, under Cir
of producing the charac-
teristic phenomena of all the rest,
so that the only terms in which the
grand proposition can be stated,
which is the central fact of modern
science, are, that behind all these
varied agencies productive of light,
heat, motion, attraction, repulsiOn,
and disorganization,
behind all these forces, as they are
rallied, something exists which
seems to have neither beginning
nor end, something which the phys
cist can only designate as force alb
5Olute and indestructible, but in
which the Christian recognizes the
eternal will of God indwelling
throughout all material nature,
luickening all, actuating all, forever
as it were, from the
center of his Godhead, and yet
always leaving an infinity Of power
md goodness behind it.
His application of this profound
was the assurance con-
yeyed to the congregation that they
need not doubt but that God would
30 with them, whenever they met
or worshipin the beautiful building :
which they were now dedicatlng TO
him, in all the projections of his
power, his mercy and his love, just
Is abundantly so as he is present to
he angels and archangels and the
spirits of the blest made perfect in
he Holy of HOLES, which is forever
'adiant with the light of his pres
ence.
This feeble abstract is all that we
AN give as a shadOwing of this Won
lerfuI sermon; we would not have
attempted it but for the considera-
ion of some members of that con-
to whom it was a bitter
disappointment that they were I'M
lble to hear it. Perhaps even this /
nay be better than no account of it
It all.
We have said nothing as yet of
NG,.nA