Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-18
THE IRISH EVANGELIST
Delivers An Eloquent and Telling Sermon on
the Way of Salvation at the Presby
terrain Church.

l
| terrain Church.
The Rev. George c. Needham, the evan
gelist, spoke yesterday afternoon at the
First Presbyterian church, taking for his
subject Christ the High Priest" This
afternoon the subject will be 1.-THE Com
| ing of the King" to which subject one
twenty-fifIh of the New Testament is de-
voted. On Thursday afternoon the sub
| iect will be ''The Bible-Its Value and
Uses, The services will not close until
Thursday evening, thus giving everyone
chance to attend at least once.
Yesterday evening the church was rather
| more than comfortably full to hear the
celebrated evangelist. The service was
opened in the usual manner, the visiting
| ministers assisting. The Rev. Needham
then read from the 9th chapter of the
Gospel According to ST. Matthew from the
18th to the 54tn verses inclusive, taking
for his theme the 51st verse. And, be-
hold, the vail of the temple was rent in
twain from the top to the bottom; and the
earth did quake and the rocks rent"
This manifestation of God occurring
as it did Simultaneously with the death of
his beloved son at once carries the mind
that his Savior was dead without realizing
his Redeemer liveth and eminently fits
it to grasp the plan of salvation.
From the foregoing text the speaker clear
ly and briefly pointed out the way of sal
walton as it appeared TO his mind and evil
IDENTIFY found a hearty response in the
hearts OF his listeners. He first elaborated
on the point that Christ was a voluntary
sacrifice, that IN his last agony his cry
ELI, Eli, lama sabachthani'' was a cry of
triumph and that death came from above;
1.-The vail of the temple was rent from the
top to the bottom"
He then showed by various references to
different parts of the Bible that the vail
was type of Christ and that it was rend-
ed when Christ died and became the way
into the hottest of all. The ground work
of this vail or curtain was fine linen which
is spoken of in the Bible as a
type of righteousness and it
was interviewer with material of
rainbow hues making the texture so
strong that it would have wirhstood the
united strength of two yokes of oxen, be-
ing more than four inches IN thickness.
Although the speaker could see much
that was beautiful and suggestive of types
in the various colors in the vail he did not
dogmatize on the subject as he could not
find the scripture to bear him out
His next thought was that Christ not |
only became man but became sinner
otherwise his death need not have been |
part of the plan of salvation. The rending |
Of the vail simply means freedom to come |
into the presence of God through Christ of |
whom the vail is type.
His secondly was that salvation was |
gift and in no way dependent on a mans |
exertions. Man had only to accept God |
and was entirely dependent upon the mercy |
of God for everything He believed that |
man was 'teetotally depraved" and that his |
works ayailed him nothing and in fact his |
good works only commenced after he |
had accepted Christ. Otherwise the |
vail would only have been partially |
rent and Christ's atonement need not have |
been SO complete. God in his mercy reach
ed down, not only to the earth, but even |
rent the graves and would reach everybody |
who would accept His grace; ''the veil of |
the temple was rent from the top to the /
bottom" leaving nothing for man to do. |
His idea of grace was gift or, as the little |
Irish lad put it, getting everything for
nothing"
The speakers third head was that by the
death of Christ the way Of salvation was
direct to the throne of grace. Under the
old dispensation man approached God |
through the priests. who alone were per-
mitted to enter the hollest of all, but that |
now man through Christ might go d-
rect into the hottest OF all, for tits
written: 'The veil was rent from the top
to the bottom"
At the close of the service all those who
wanted to be christians were asked to hold
up their hands while the audience engaged
in silent prayer. Not hand went up, al
though there was not one present who was
not affected. The devil in their hearts
aroused their pride and kept them still
Holding up their hands would have been
giving the devil a fair fight Perhaps
there is no good reason why one should
give the devil a fair fight; be takes every
advantage of you and why not use his own
weapon against him? Never mind taking
issue with the preacher, but take the sub
ject home in your heart. revolve it in your
mind and if you don't get the best OF the
devil you are no man"