The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-11-08


When the new Kentucky is developed,
the Pres byterian Church must have kept
pace with the improvement and change.
We have the men, the spirit, the oppor-
tunity. Nothing but our own indiffer-
ence and want of zeal can prevent our
church from assuming the proud position
1t once occupied in our State.
L have merely suggested few of the
considerations which impress themselves
upon the mind in an examination of this
work. No one will question it's necessity.
An Aggressive Gospel
is the only one that can maintain itself,
and our Church, if it accomphshes much
for the Master, must bestir itself in
spreading its limits and increasing its
numbers
The results of this year have exceeded
all expectation of even the most sanguine
minds, and every success of the past
augurs still greater for the year to come.
We need no better warrant for future &C
tivity than past blessings on our labors,
and every possible phase of the subject
points to still more earnest efforts on our
part as the plain and unquestionable
command of the great Head of the
Church.
Brethren, in whatever else we may
differ, here Is question to which every
heart must give the same response, and a
cause which must elicit universal interest.
AS every true Mohammedan, at fixed
hours, in whatever country he may be,
turns toward the sacred city and pros
trating himself exclaims, "God is great, I"
lo4
turn to our God, acknowledge His power,
supplicate His presence and continue His
work.
The message you hear, the spirit you
carry from this Synod, will determine the
future of this cause The noble resolve
you made one year ago at Nicholasville
thrilled every part of the Church and
aroused a glow of enthusiasm in the
heart of every Presbyterian within our
borders. We have far more to encourage
and to animate now than we had then.
We have before us the assurance of a
success which, if continued, must
Revolutionize our Church
in Kentucky, plant its truth everywhere
in the State, and make its mission worthy
of the consecrated memories which gather
about its past. The men who founded
the Kentucky Presbyterian Church and
who guided its destiny fifty years ago
are almost forgotten. Their names have
gone into the pages Of. history, but the
people of this generation know them not.
Yet for all that they did a glorious work
and have a record with Him in whose
books all accounts are Kept. The church
es they founded will live for hundreds of
years to come, and will continue to carry
blessing, JOY and hope and peace to hu-
man hearts. Around the throne of the
Most High they are permitted to COM
prehend the results of their work on
earth, and mingle with thousands who
are there to sing the songs of the re-
deemed, because Of their preaching, toll,
and labor while here on earth. So in
little while we shall be there, too Others
will rise who know us not, and will cease
to remember what we did in our day
and generation. Yet, brethren, that
same record will be kept by Him who
changes not, and in that land of eternal
rest we will have the same sweet con-
sciousness of souls saved by our efforts
that has been assured the fathers of our
church who have passed on before us.
To me the most attractive spot in
Scotland is a stone cross in the grass
market place between st. Giles and
Grayfriar's church-yard 1t marks the
place where
Our Forefather's Sealed
with their blood their faith in God !
Over it was erected the scafold on which
were executed many of those who signed |
the nations league covenant with God.
Christian people can never forget the
heroism that filled the Presbyterian
heart on that bleak, cold, dismal spring
morning in 1858, when they gathered at
Grayfriars church to consecrate their
lives and fortunes to the King of Kings.
Prosecuted, but not cast down, they as.
sembled to declare their trust in their
heavenly Father and to bind themselves
to the defense and the protection Of His
truth. When that declaration of priv
clples known as the league and covenant
was read, with one accord they approved
It's recitals and rushed with Christian i'm
petuosity to attach their names to the
great record, and in testifying for which
more than 100 Of its signers were, a little
later on, within few hundred feet of
the same spot to shed their blood.
A godly zeal filled with enthusiasm
the vast thousands who came to this
wonderful assemblage. Some on tables,
I