, 1884-03-12
DEDlcATlONl
Preparatory Services at the New Con-
gregational Church.
The Great and Final Event to Occur this
Evening.

The new Congregational church will
be dedicated this "Wednesday evening
by appropriate services. The sermon
will be preached by Rev, A. F. Sheriff.,
pastor Of the First Congregational
church, Omaha. Several pastors from
Colorado, with Rev. Mr.. Eldridge, of
this city, viii participate in the services.
Everybody is invited. Let there be
a large attendance. Services will COM
mence at 1880 O'Clock.
The ser, ices at the Congregational
church yesterday afternoon were fairly
attended considering the storm pre-
vailing.
After a brief devotional service, Rev.
Mr.. Case filled up the hour in practical
suggestions as to Sunday school work.
At the Congregational church last
night the Rev. James b. Gregg, of
Colorado Springs, preached upon s'The
Devotional Study of the Bible" The
following is a sketch OF the discourse:
Is. IL, 3:-Therefore with joy shall
we draw water out Of the wells Of sal
walton.
In an Oriental village the public we'll
is the place of universal resort. There
are no private wells, and the existence
of the community is dependent upon
the source of supply which is common
to all. The books of the Bible may
naturally and appropriately be regarded
as wells of salvation. For the scrip
lures are able to make us wise unto
salvation, and they are wells in their
freshness, in their sweetness, in their
inexhaustibility, in their power of re-
freshing the soul.
They may be compared to wells also
in this regard, that we cannot get at
the treasures which are hid in their
depths without pains and labor.
True there are in the scriptures many
sweet springs and clear, Sparkling brooks,
on the surface, whose water may be
easily tasted by every weary wayfarer.
There are hundreds of verses in the
Bible whose meaning is obvious. and as
aSNiNbo 10 OONiOuo. n llLJio CUllu
can understand these passages.
But in very many eases to draw out
the meaning of scripture requires study
and labor.
One difficulty that somewhat binders
people from reading the Bible more is
the partially obsolete style of King
James, version.
1t is more of an Intellectual effort to
read any writing Of the 18th century
than a book or newspaper of to-day,
aud this applies to the Bible as well as
to Shakespeare.
Again, the method of the thought Is
oriental and ornamental, and to grasp
the thought considerable historical
knowledge is often necessary, especially
in the prophetical books.
Again, there are parts of the Bible,
that is to say, the Levitical books,
which are outgrown and no longer ex-
ert a direct religious influence upon the
average reader.
The cruoer morality of Old Tesla
ment times is superseded by the higher
morality of Christ, and the failure to
recognize this fact often occasions
moral p~erplexity, and distress OF ex-
cites prejudices in the mind Of the
reader against the Bible. Mr.. Inger-
soil, for instance, quite ignores the fact
which Christ distinctly recognizes that
the morality 40 less than the doctrine
Of the Bible is progressive.
Again, no book in the world is read
and studied so much as the Bible, and
n very familiar with it often dead
ems the force OF its truth.
Passing to consider here one may get
the best results from devotional study
Of the scriptures, the following sugges-
lions may be offered.
LIST. Understand what you read. To
do that requires study and labor, but 1t
is precisely this study and labor that
awakens interest.
The water from the wells of Saliva
ton tastes sweetest and most refresh
Ing when you have yourself dug the well
aud drawn the water.
Effort is necessary to get at the
meaning of the Bible, because the BIZ
BILE is in the main not a book of rules
but a book of neutrality-suspicious.
which every man must learn to apply
for himself according to his W cir
cumstances.
Still further effort Is necessary, and
because the Bible does not take a
moral to every tale like Ksop's fables,
but leaves the reader to draw the moral
for himself.
Further, the Bible is adopted to de-
velop and ~sanctify the human imagina-
| ton.
Fiction is a natural craving OF the
human mind. The profoundest truths
come to us not by the warm and cold
logical processes but in story and i'm
agery and visions. So to the heart of
the child that is in us all God speaks by
the tale Of Paradise at the beginning OF
His word and in the visions of the di-
vine judgments and Paradise regained
at its close.
Again the scriptures furnish a discip-
line for the affections. The word OF
God IL addressed not only to the head
but to the heart. We need not only to
see the truth but to love it. We may
cultivate our higher and better sensi-