, 1889-02-07
DIR. Forbes Tells What We Must
Do to Get Salvation.
The dedication Services at the
First M. Il. Church.
Neeting A ftsr Tw enty Two Years separa-
tion--surveys Postponed Until Spring
1.-THE Weeks Summary.


OF their handsome new house of worship.
1t the corner OF Sprague and Bernard
streets. This Is, at present, the largest
church building In the citv, but already
its capacity is found much too small TO
meet the growing demands Of the church
and city.
The dedication services were conducted
by Rev. Bobert Forbes, D. D., OF st.
Paul, Mimi. The day was perfect and
large crowd was present Besides DR..
Forbes, there were present on the plat
form Rev. A. G.. Wilson, pas.
tor of the church; Chaplain Macomber of
Fort Sherman and Revs Nelson Clark and
F. w. Buckholz, of this city. Prof F,
Mueller, of Spokane, had charge of the
music, assisted by an excellent choir.
Promptly at II o'clock DR.. Forbes
opened service by giving some directions
regarding the seating and ventilation, and
announced hymn No. S7l, which was sung
by the choir. DR.. Forbes then lead in an
earnest prayer, asking for the blessing of
God on the service, that the people might
be filed with the Spirit of Christ, and
that the light and truth might be spread
abroad throughout all the world He
prayed for Gods blessing on the Catholic
church, its pope, cardinals, bishops, priests
and members; that its charitable work
might be prosperec, error eliminated from
its creed and from all creeds. He prayed
for all churches called herterodox and or.
thodox, for they NJ. CA. for the temper.
ance societies and all moral and beuevo.
lent institutions,
After prayer the choir sang very beauti.
fully the anthem II viii Extol Thee"
Chaplain Macumber and Rev. Buchholz
each read appropriate selections of scrip
ture, taken from the church ritual. Rev
Nelson Clark announced the hymn "All
Hail the Power of Jesus Name" which
was heartily sung.
DR.. Forbes chose for his text "How
Shall We Escape if We Neglect SO Great
Salvation ?'-Aeb II: 3. Among other
things he said: I'm the religious creeds
of christendom are many things of mere
human invention, which clearer light and
fuller investigation will compel us to lay
aside. But there are some things which
were not invented by priests. Sin, sorrow
and the grave are facts, Sin is a fact
and the theologian is no more compelled
to explain it than Is the philosopher. The
but there is a beauty in it. The simple
fact is, man did something God forbade
him to do. The man who would eat an
apple in disobedience of Gods will would
climb into heaven if he had the power to
do So The fact Is, sin came into the
world. There is something wrong in the
human heart. Go to the police court and
nature which is wrong. The policeman
walking the street with club in his hand
and loaded revolvers in his belt tells the
same story. Ard there is great strength
IN this current of evil. Consider the eff
forts made to resist it. Courts, Jails, po.
licemen. schools, preachers. teachers,
mothers prayers and all moral influences
cannot check il, Sin is fact.
Men say they wonder God would try
wonder
your boy may fall into sin and crime and
be thrown into prison cell and kiss him
and tell him you love him still. Your
child on the street is in great danger OF
death from runaway team and you would
rescue 1t even though it cost you your own
life. William Taylor, that Rrandest of
old men, tells of his child falling over.
board from vessel and how it was but
the work Of moment to unbutton and
throw of his coat and jump into the water
and save his child. and he alludes TO 1T Us
the Rrandest act of his life. .,
God is love, yet cannot comprehend
him and the philosophy of his plan of
atonement. He would not be IA God
for me to worship if | could fully
Christ, reconciline the world to himself
That much we know. now state prop
osition that | cannot prove, namely:
That Christ would have come it ain bad
Z not entered the world. He would have
}. come 70 reveal Gods love for humanity.
But man fell into sin, ana | would have
been surprised if God had not tried to
save him. And man is worth redemp-
tion's price. He ia alluded to as "a
worm OF the DUST" but he is the master
piece of creation.
"Mau is infinite. One man is worth
REDEEM ption's price. One poor negro boy
in the jungles of Africa has in him the
germ of immortality. If even such a
poor boy had been forgotten in redemp-
tion's plan Christ would have come back
again and endured the hardships of the
cross
"A Unitc riau who Is Christian and
good man says Christ is the best man who
ever lived, and that he was filled with the
spirit of divinity. He cannot draw dis
tinctions between divinity and deity. The
Swedenborgian says Christ was God and
clothed with humanity. Between these
two extremes there are very many shades
of belief all the way from one to the other.
believe both extremes and all the shades
of opinion between them, and even then
now YOU have not told me half about
Christ. We spend too much time over
these questions and not enough time In
trying to help and save sinners.
"Christ credits more to US than we do
for him. He says, "Inasmuch as ye have
done 1t, to the best Of my STeth- bret
my little daughter, the light Of my
home, was at the point Of death
was 80 troubled | actually forgot to pray;
If you had come to my home and relieved
my child would you not have relieved meP
So when you relieve human suffering you
relieve Gods suffering. Many of you will
not believe this but think of 1t and You