The Dawson journal., 1886-05-20
Dedication at New Bethel.


teresting services of the kind tha
we have attended in many days
The church at New Bethel, con
stituted within the last eigh
months, having completed thei
house of worshop, invited DR.. j
G. Ryals to preach the dedicator,
sermon, and the third Sabbath il
this month was agreed upon al
the time.
Accordingly on Sunday morn
ing early, the crowd began t.
gather at the handsome new build
ing and by IL o'clock it was i'm
mense. In the house the seat;
were all filled and the aisles were
packed with chairs; still, there
were many who could not obtain
seats.
The programme as reported II
your columns was adhered to, ano
was much enjoyed by the people
Decidedly the features of the
service were the sermon by DIR
Ryals, and the charge by Elder
Binion.
DR.. Rya's announced his text
in Haggai, 90, "And the glory
of this latter house shall be great
er. than the former, saith the Lord
of hosts:'' theme-The GLORY OF
the Christian Church.
We will not attempt an analy-
sis Of the sermon, lest we should
do it injustice, but as the Doctor
enumerated, one by one, those
features which constitute the glo-
ry of the Christian church, and
exhorted the church unilinc ling-
ly to make those features promi-
nent, we felt that the discourse
was grand, and would accomplish
great good. The speaker made a
fine impression upon our eommu-
nifty, and the opinion prevails that
as Professor of Theology, he is
the right man in the right place.
Elder Binion's charge was orig
inal, practical and forcible. He
dwelt upon the fact that by this
formal dedication, the house be-
came the house of the Lord, and
hence should be used only for
purposes of His glory. Again, rs
the house of the Lord, it should
be respected by the people. Dur
ing services, they should not
stand on the outside and talk, nor
sit on the inside and sleep. 1t
should be kept clean. Men should
not spit on the floor. He had
thought of various plans to pre-
vent this. One was to seat ladies
and gentlemen together. The
presence of ladies on all seats, he
thought, would deter men from
such an unbecomlng practice.
But this failed because the pres
enoe Of ladies could not always be
secured on every seat. He had
almost despaired, but he had an
other plan which as yet had not
been put to test. He thought ii
would be capital idea to seat to-
bacco chewers to themselves, and
remove every alternate plank OF
the floor. In this pleasant way
the speaker got in some good
work. Then dropping all pleas
antryy he made an earnest appeal
to all the people to have enough
respect for the house of Gota to
keep it decent.
These brethren at New Bethel
have a very neat house of wor-
ship, which has cost them ! think
less than thousand dollars.
They have fitted up inside and
outside with all necessary app!i-
ances, and covered the whole with
thorough coating of paint. They
have comfortable seats, Ca very
rare thing) plenty of lights foi
night services, carpets for the
aisles, and neat pulpit, carpeted
and Fl ted up with pulpit chairs.
Best Of all they have no debt. One
brother said to the writer, "Not
even q prayer was made in the
house till all was paid" All hon
or to these brethren; they have
done nobly. None of them are
rich:
Altogether it was an exceeding
ly pleasant and profitable day.
The weather was fine; order was
good, and notwithstanding the
crowd was immense, estimated at
near a thousand, there were am
pie refreshments for all. The im-
mense table was loaded with good
things.
We could not remain to the af-
ternoon service, but learned that
Elder Cawoods sermon was much
enjoyed.
Elder L. w. Parrctt is the eff
Gent pastor of this church and to
his tact and energy, is due in
large measure the pleasure and
success Of the occasion.
B. w: d.