St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-13
HIS NEW MINISTRY.
Rev. Wilcox Enters the Pulpit of
the First Methodist Church.

hSt. WuCOA EntefS the FuIp1C OF
the First Methodist Church.
Rev. c. b. Wilcox. the new pastor of
the First NJ. E. church of st. Paul, oc-
cupied the pulpit of that church for the
first time yesterday. He is young man
of thirty-eight years, but has built up
reputation for pulpit oratory that is en-
viable. He has been ten years in the
ministry, FIVE of which have been spent
/ at Oshkosh, Wis. He was transferred
from the Wisconsin conference to eDa-
bic him to accept the appointment to
the First NJ. E. church in this city.
Rev. Wilcox preached two sermons
morning and evening yesterday, and
has shown to his congregation that he
is such pastor as they desired in
their pulpit. The morning discourse was
based on Job, xiii. and 4, "Oh, that
l knew where | might find Him, that /
might come even to His seat! l would
order my cause before Him and fill my
mouth with arguments. Rev. Wilcox
said that the sentiment of this text Is
not common to the entire human family.
1t is obvious that all men are not as
arduous as Job is shown by this Script
ure to have been. He then spoke of
the Indifference of people as to many
matters, and particularly on those of
religion. He quoted passages of Script
ure to show the arduorsness of people
at different times in the worlds history.
There were many instances, when go
ing through experiences of trouble.
that men have cried OUT in the language
of Job. The speaker dehominated
ages. That is shown to be true
by the affairs built by the
prophets, by the heather and pagan
temples. and the cloisters of the monks,
and the monasteries. All these show
that people in all ages believed in God.
He then discussed the proposition with
regard to the way man regarded the
character of God. Man always thought
God distant. He also spoke of
mans spiritual vision as being dark
ened. He stated that not philosophy,
infdelity nor science could answer the
question propounded by the text. The
answer is only found in Christ. He
cited examples from the life of Christ
showing His life and character.
The Evening Discourse
was founded on st. John l., 46: "And
Nathaniel said unto him. Can there any
thing good come out of Nazareth? Philip
saith unto him, Come and see.''
Rev. Wilcox said this question was
made when the Jews believed the time
had come when they could reasonably
expect the coming of their Messiah.
The reply was made by disciple. He
said that Christianity differed from the
late the affairs of ordinary life, but
when one has oundChristianity he goes
with gladness to his neighbor aud re-
lates the story. He spoke of the doubts
and prejudice against Christianity, of
the wisdom seen in the creation of the
universe and the material world and tue
attributes of God. He drew pictures of
the inhabitants of heather lands and
the red man of America, and the scenes
of nature surrounding them. He
said the heather and the Indian
| failed to see the attributes of God in His
| surroundings. but remained the mere
| child of the nature thatsurrounded him.
| The teachings of the material universe
| fail TO show the mysteries of God. ''Are
| the difficulties of the Bible greater than
| those of nature?" asked he. Continuing,
| the speaker said no man would doubt
| that he existed, or that the light Shone.
| because he could not explain their
| theories or analyZe the component
| parts of light. The mysteries of the
| Bible are not greater than in the world
around. He quoted Webster as saying:
eff could comprehend Christ l would
| be as great as He, and therefore could
save myself"
The sermon concluded with an APP
peal TO believe in Christ. the great
teacher. He said: ''Your bank notes
and mortgages are worthless unless
| they bear date from the day on which
Christ was born" He exhorted the peo-
pie to come to Christ and see if any
good can come out of Nazareth.