Omaha daily bee., 1884-10-27
COUNCIL BLUFFS
ADDITIONAL LOCAL NEWS.
THE NEW PASTOR,
Rev, DIR. McCrcary Begins his Min
tstrAtions at the Broadway
Methodist Church.

Yesterday morning Rev. DR.. McCreary
preached his frat sermon as pastor of the
Broadway Methodist church. He has
been one of the leading members of the
Erie, Penn, conference, and for the past
three years has been pastor of the church
at Meadville. He comes here with the
reputation of being a very scholarly man
in the pulpit and warm-hearted social
man outside of the pulpit.
Owing to the storminess of the day the
audience was not large, but it was an ex.
pectant one. The new pasotr was eyed
closely as he arose to open the services.
A man of medium heighth and weight,
with well.shaped head, hair turning gray,
a full beard, glasses, a scholarly look, a
happy face, a good full voice, a rapid
speaker-such was the now minister.
He chose as his text part of the
l1th verse of the first chapter of First
Timothy: "The glorious gospel of the
blessed God"
1t was Paul, the apostle, and not Saul,
of Tsrsus, who wrote these words. To
Saul of Tarsus, Christ and his gospel
were like unto roots in dry ground. He
prosecuted the church, but to Paul the
apostle, Christ was chiefest among ten
thousand, and his gospel was to him the
most glorious system of truth, and he
was called to spend the remainder of his
life in going about and declaring at the
risk of great bodily peril the great truths
1t is very evident from those state.
ments that some change must have oc.
Cured either In Saul of Tarsus or in
Christ, the giver of this gospel or in the
gospel itself. But no change could have
taken place in Christ, for he was divine.
and being God Himself, was in accor.
dance with the words of Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, to day and forever"
There could have been no change in
the gospel, which is the gospel of Christ,
as it is said by Himself of His words,
"Heaven and earth shall pass away but
my words shall not pass away" The
change only occurred in Saul.
There are many like Saul of Tarsus
who perhaps when they hear Christian
people and ministers speak of the glory
of God as revealed through the gospel
are greatly surprised. They can find no
beauty nor glory in it. "Have I been
mistaken all this time concerning this
dull, dry book that men call the Gospel z?
Are there in 1t gems of surprising bril-
liancy, that my eye hasnever looked upon
or beheld :"
They go home and take the dust cov-
cred bible down from the shelf, and turn
over page after page and see no glory
beam from the sacred pspe, and they
close up the book and say, "Surely, it
must be a grand mistake"
If there are any among you here this
morning who think that the Gospel is a
dry, dull book, void of glory, it is because
you look npon it as Saul of Tarsus did,
with scales upon your eyes and unbelief
in your hearts.
Let the divine hand of power touch |
your eyes, and his mighty light sweep
from your soul the darkness of unbelief,
and the glorious gospel will be revealed |
to you in its beauty, brilliancy and
power, and you will know and behold 1t
as Saul did.
This fact is beautifully illustrated In
the following story:
In the distant land of India O prince |
and princess, who were ranked among
the aristocracy of that country, were to
be welded, and when the day came for
the ceremony one of India's grandest
halls was thronged with fair women and
brave men; and the prince and princess
came to the assemblage and were
welded. And when the ceremony was
the bridegroom reached out
his kand to bestow upon the bride his
gift, according to a custom pre-.
valent among the people of that nation at
that time.
AS she reached out her fair arm and
delicate hand he placed therein what
seemed to be a crude, rough iron ball.
When the bride looked upon it her
eyes flashed end her cheeks burned with
scorn and disdain, and in rage, she flung
it upon the marble floor of the palace, dis
daining it as gift unworthy of her rank
and position and unworthy the bestowa
of the man who had become her husl
band.
But when the ball struck upon the
marble floor, 1t struck upon secret
spring which flew open and disclosed q
silver ladle. They stopped and picked it
up, touching another spring which dis.
closed priceless wedding ring contain
ng brilliant gem of golden setting from
iolconda's mine, priceless In brilliancy
md beauty, and the fair bride, with a
,appy smile, placed it upon her finger,
Is gift worthy of the highest rank and {
If her husband who had bestowed it.
Now, il the bible seems to you like a
lull, dry, uninteresting book, you must
With the fingers of faith, learn to touch {
he hidden springs, and then realize its [
light, set with gems of spiritual beauty; :
brighter far than gems from the mine, or
pearls from the depths of the sea.
In Paul's going forth and proclaiming !
t wherever he went, he fully realized in
t, the wisest truth, the wisest system of 8
ruth the world had eyer known. I
You have all heard of the Greek who q
vas endeavoring to solve difficult q
problem, the solution of {
which would add to the worlds knowl- G
dge and furnish the minds of men with I
mother great truth. After many days
nd weeks of evere.study he was unable g
o accomplish it, ana one day while I
linking over the problem that filled his '
mind from day to day he suddenly COM i
the truth, the solution was re- r
'ssled to him, and he leaped out of t
he house and ran down the street in the 8
Widest ecstacy, crying at the top of his
,oice, Eureka Eureka" meaning ~
AVE found i'll" The revelation of that
ruth filled his mind with the glory of 1t,
o such an extent that he forgot his sur
in his excitement over his find c
ng of this new and grand truth in the
'rogress of civilization and in the way of h