Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-05-20
AMERICAS AGED AUTHOR
DIR. S. f. Smith breaches at the
First Baptist Church.
A Thoughtful Discourse Yesterday
MOrIlfng.--A Celebrated Man and
What Made Him so.

The Rev. Samuel Francis Smith, the
celebrated author of the national anthem,
| Gamer Ca" was present at the morning
service at the First Baptist church yester
day morning and preached an able and
thoughtful discourse from the scriptural
passage found in the 18th. 10th and Goth
verses of the last chapter of the gospel
according to St. Mathew:
And Jesus came and spoke unto them saying,
| all power is given unto me in heaven and in
Go We therefore, and T. each all nations, baptizne
them in The name OF the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
have commanded you; and 10 L am with You
Always. even unto the end Of the world.
From this wonderful passage Of the
divine word. Mr.. Smith said he desired
| simply to take the word therefore" as
the real substance of his text, and to
show what depended upon it. In con-
nection with the text. it was the founda.
ton of the great missionary argument.
There are, indeed. many parts of the new
| testament where the whole cause of
meaning is condensed in single word.
In the meaning of the text our Lord
condenses the whole of the para
graph in that word therefore. saying
because | anu he, go and vindicste my
rights to all nations" His last act on
earth was to give this commission to his
disciples. We all have interest in the last
words o. the departed. 1t is in the same
OF Jesus Christ.
In these, his last words, our Lord
not only laid down the doctrine of his
divinity, but he gave five-fold proof of
his impersonatlOn of the divinity
First: He declares all power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. This
makes him omnipotent. He claims
the power over mind, matter,
cause and consequence. and the entire
order and succession of all events of
whatsoever kind
Second. Our Lord assumes the right to
control religious thought in all parts of
| the world-whether among the civilized
or heather. He assumes to interfere
with the right of men to retain their per.
sonal opinions OF religion.
Third. Our Lord in His farewell
speech assumes to teach a new ordinance
Of baptism, not known to the Jewish
people. He assumes to institute this
new ordinance to be observed in all parts
of the earth until the end of time.
Fourth. Our Lord asserts his divinity
by asserting his own name as the Son,
intermedstely with that of the Father
and the Holy Spirit. declaring his right
! to stand with equal authority and dignity
with the first and third person
Fifth. Our Lord said, land lol | am
with you always; even unto the ends of
! the world" Thus he asserts his divine
omnipresence as well as omnipotence.
This lintuple proof of Christ's divin-
ity was not, Mr.. Smith said, the creed of
the Baptist, the Methodist, the Presby-
terrain, the Congregational or the Episco-
pal church. but it was the creed of Jesus
Christ.
Christ is king and the universe is his
kingdom. God and Christ have revealed
themselves in the character of king of
this word. They had a personal will
and aim in the management of their
kingdom on earth. God intermixes him
self with all that is going on in this
kingdom. Christ interposes perpetually
with all that is transporting in his king
dow. His hand is in every accident,
every happening and all of the hairs on
every human head are under the control
of that Being on high. God is the phil
osophy o. all history, and is conspicuous
in all transparencies.
In conclusion Mr.. Smith said word
upon mis- ,ionary work, with which his
whole life has been identified There are
two views of this work. he said The mar
minded view is that we must save
the heather and preach the gospel to
them. The broader and more modern
view is that we must follow the last
command of Our Lord and go into all the
ends of tie world and yindicate his in>
finite right as Lord of lords and king OF
kings. The salvation and conversion OF
souls in any particular heather land was
not so i'm portant as indicating the SOW
| ereinty OF our Lord in all places under
heaven.
The pu pit platform was nicely deco
rated with plants and flowers and there
was large congregation present. The
singing by the choir was particularly
good.
Mr.. Smith, whom Mr.. Leland fittingly
spoke of as the man who ffty-sever
years ago in his young manhood wrote
what had become the national song oil
patriotism and of christian ferver, is the
incarnation of his famous hymn. Hi.
mind and body at eighty years are as
healthy a. the sentiment in My country
tits of thee" The expression of his face
is as strong and as inspiring of conf
dence as The measure of his song. Mr.
Smith looks like America" Both are
typically American. The spirit of eacl
is gentle but lofty, winning but com.
| roond;no -aonoct II haar,o In tho yaoar