The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-28
IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
ORDINATION AND INSTALLATION OF TWO
RULING ELDERS.

An Able and Instructive Discourse
Defining the Duties Of Elder, by
the Rev. J. LOwrie Wilson, Sunday,
April o5, 1856.
The service in this church was noted by the
ordination and installation into the office of
Ruling Elder two of our distinguished citi-
zens. Judge J. S. Cothran and Major A. p.
WardIaw. Mr.. Wilson, pastor of the church,
spoke as follows:
"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair
ns the noon clear the sun, and terrible US nm army
with banners."-Song VI, ~.
! This passage, so highly poetic, refers to the
church-picturing her beauty In ChriSts es-
TEEN, her lofty mission, and her equipment
for accomplishing it. For the tire "song, v
of which it forms a part Is but arepreSent t:i-
| ton of the relations between Christ ana His
people. The bride, who figures SO prominent
| iy liz it, is unqucstionably the same that is
styled elsewhere "the Lambs Bride;" and the
person, towards whom her affections SO ar
IDENTIFY flow, the Lord Jesus Christ. On no
other hypothesis can this "SoEs of Songs bc
entitled to n place in the canon of scripture.
The conception is too sublime to refer to any
other than Christ In the closeness OF His rela-
tion to the church. This must ever be borne
in mind, lest otherwise its gorgeous imagery
mislead. But rightly apprehended, the per-
son of Christ as here set forth, appears the
"Chiefest among ten thousand, the One alto.
passion for Himself; while His "Bridc," the
church, appears also In light of surprising
beauty, the recipient Of His tendercst and
most iInpassioned love.
Few descriptions of the church. with which
the scriptures so abound, are more compre-
| hensive. For it Is but life-painting OF His
| "Bride," in which her gifts and graces. her
! conflicts and her triumphs. are pencled with
,,t,f1 fg atr.
! cry particular worthy or its Divine Author.
Nature, in It's most impressive phenomena, is
made to set forth her relations to Christ and
| the world. the stupendous work before her,
| and the manner and means of it's accomplish
ment. "Who is she that looketh forth as the
| morning. fair as the moon, clear rs the sun,
| and terrible rs an army with banners?" The
picture is complete, ChriSts own ideal OF the
| crurch in all its multiform aspects. AS such
it deserves our earnest thought, alike for In
structiOn and encouragement.
| Now, tho first thing that strikes us while
gazing upon this picture, Is Its missionary
absence of any other, to indicate that anima-
ting principle, that native impulse, which
prompts her as by intuition to disseminate
the light and truth OF God. The church was
the grace of God should be poured, only. to
stagnate there as In q pool Of selfishness; but
rather us an agency for dffusing it to others.
So prominently is this feature Impressed up
! on nGT, til3t IL IL were ellIuluuLeu IleI
distinctive characteristic disappears. Take
any one of the several metaphors employed
| in the text, and it reduces In its last analysis
| to this-active service in the cause of Christ ;
earnest, self-sacrificing endenvors to make
Him kn own to others.
Your attention will necessarily have to be
limited to-day to but two aspects OF the
church:
| J. It's general design and nature: and
II. Its thorough equipment for the work be-
fore 1t.
I. First, then, as to It's general design and
nature.
truth already limited at, that the church is the
appointed agency for communicating the
knowledge of Christ to the pcrishing of earth.
For it is represented. in the very first glimpse,
as ''looking forth as the morning."
BY this impressive metaphor the Holy
Ghost would doubtless have US to understand,
| the development OF her own graces, and the
constant enlargement In the sphere of her op-
erations. Like "the path OF the sum-" her
| light is to shine brighter and brighter unto
the perfect day." dispensing the "shtdows' be-
fore it, and ever expanding the circle OF its In
fluence: Hence she is; pictured as in an :I. eX'
pectant attitude. Not rs yet "nlready per
| feet" in her own attanments and experience;
nor rs having realized the grand design of her
mission until the lost of earth shall have had
the refusal of Christ and His salvation. Her
inner life is to be unfolding itself day by day
her ''graccs" to become more and more appa.
rent; and the theatre of her labors to broad
| ell until IL lakes III Gno WnOC WOrlQ. t1Gr uL-
| titude is that Of expectancy.
| \ cO-worker with her blessed Lord, and like
II M in this particular she is TO respond In
His name and by His authority. to the MACE,
dOnian cry" OF perishing humanity, and
break TO them the glad tldings of great joy" +"
"Advance' Is therefore to be her watch-word,
the battle order Of her great Captain. "Ad-
| vance" the inscription on her waving stand
ards, the shout of her sacramental hosts as
they move onward to the conquest of world:
That flag OF the bloody cross is to be plan ted
OH the ''Danks of ancient rivers" on ''many, Il
palmy plain" The name of "Jesus" Is to be
! to cheer their lonely passage through the dark
river of death. Immortality, brought TO light
Though His gospel, Is to restore hope to
hearts long sunken In the depths of despond-
broken down, and their idol.deities thrown to
the moles and the bats. The shacllles torn Oft
which have fettered religious thought, and
the human soul emancipated from error
dal-wave" of redemption, absorbing in its
course the biliows of every. ocean. Is to break
at last with "tidingS Of great joy" on the mos
distant shore, "tll Ikea sea of glory 1t spread
splendid prospect spreading itself out before
her. while ''lookng forth as the morning."
and such the design of her great Founder.
Her mission upon earth Is to gather together
into the fold OF the One Shepherd His elect
people from the four corners of the earth. and
there qualifying them for His service here
and in glory.
md. Again. the nature of the church, and
the lines i'll which she is to move, Is also hero
indicated "Who Is she that loOlieth forth as
the morning, fair rs the MOON" BY this we
are to understand her relation to Christ and
the world. For as the 'mOOn" is noth lunii-
nous bouy, but dependent on the sun for cv-
cry beam that it receives: so with the church.
She has no light in herself, but such alone as
she receives from Jesus Christ, the sun OF
Righteousness" She gives forth only what
law Ill &c form INIT a rpHpp.
ter OF His glory. Whatever she originates in
herself. either im doctrine or in government,
and attempts to impose on the conscienceS Of
men. is Tor this reason un warrantable. For.
like the nOOn.' she Is OPAQUE, l. f., is utterly
dark, incapable of producing light. and de.
pendent on Christ for every solitary beam that
She enjoys. To set herself above tho word Of
God and to bind the cOnscicnceS OF her mem
hcrS hy doctrines and ordinances OF her own
deviSng, is to usurp the authority of Christ
her king, and to arru.ate to herself functions
that do not belong to her. She cannot origi-
nate light: creative power is an attribute nl
Deity. lie alone can say ".et there be light,'
and Eight wnSl" Every attempt of hers 10
create "Iight,' or to take ChriStS place in this
particular, has the contrary effect. When the
'moon" passes between the earth and the
sun, it throws the latter into eclipse, and
darkness ensucs. So when the church gets
between Christ and the cOnScicnceS Of men, it
ness is the result. Even to impinge Oh the
crown-rights Of Jesus is to effect y partial
eclipse. Such surely cannot be called "fair AS
the moon;" for the "moon" appears "far''
only when rejecting the suns bright beams
on a world lying in darkness. and certainly
not when Ubscurlng it with her own passage.
Again. as the "monn'' receives light from
the sun only to pour it back on the dark side
satellite Of earth for this one .purpoSe--'a light
to rule by night" Her mission ends with the
sunrise. But SO long as might continues her
presence is neediul to dispcl the darkness.
IL Crb nj
another and brighter orb. whose glory she re-
fleets only in part So too, with the church.