The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-01-22

The dedicatory services of the Sum
ner Avenue Presbyterian church were
held yesterday. The church was beau.
tifully decorated with potted plan is
and flowers which formed heavy en-
bankment in front of the pulpit. After
a preliminary service Rev. S. Logan,
DID, preached an excellent sermon.
He chose for his text | Corinthians i,
22-23: For the Jews require sign,
'and the Greeks seek after wisdom
"But we preach Christ crucitied unto
the Jews a stumbling block. and unto
the Greeks foolishness During his
remarks DIR. Logan said we are here to-
day to dedicate this house to the wor-
ship of the living God. In this text
we have the subject of all divine
preaching. 1t would be well to under
stand what He means when these words
are uttered.
Suppose we should see these three
men upon the cross with the multi
tude's attention drawn toward the cen
tr4l figure We would undoubtedly
ask the question: Who is this man?
To this question there are two answers
He is a Jew OF the pursst blood. He is
a native Of Galilee, a young man of 33,
with reputation which no man dars
question. He has been prosecuted and
has also returned good for evil. The
lower order of people said that He was
good, but the question which had to be
considered at that time was whether
He was worthy leader or worthless
bad man. He was only man and q
Nazarene. If we look up history we
will find that the question of His being
mere man is divided. In what He
has done, and what He has refused to
do, goes to show that the answer that
He is only an imaginary man will not
satisfy us.
Even the Greeks and barbarians re.
ceived two apostles few years later.
1t was in those days perfectly known
that He was more than an ordinary
prophet, for He could not only tell the
future, but could recall ths the past,
and recall it truthfully He knew
what was in man, and il his was true.
He must have made man. Hence. he
must have been God He was the
greatest power that the world has
seen. We recall the words of Mary,
If Thou had'st been here, my brother
would not have died These, then,
are the two answers which we should
receive from the surgiug crowd near
the cross.
When we analyse these answers we
find that either is sufficient as he is
both God and man. When the people
were asked, Who is this mang they All.
swered This is Jesus, the saviour of
the Jews. This is the Christ which the
gospel breaches, and this is the Christ
cructicd, whereby we must come If We
wish to be saved. The first man says
He hangs there as malefactor. but nc
man has accused him of being SC. But
He is culprit, nevertheless. He is
lifted here and exposed to the world for
his claims. He may have been misun'
deIstood, but however blind His judges
He hangs there as a culprit, 1t is par
fectly known that He had legion oi
angels ut His command, and did moi
hang there because he had to. We
come to another question. Why does
He hang there2 1t is because He is a
sacrifice for the sons of the earth.
During His whole life no evil was
ever discerned in Him toward God or
man. AS death is the penalty of sin,
He died for those who have commit
ted sins. He does it TO fulfill coven-
ant divinely sealed that God should
send His only begotten Son to die fol
sinners. Coils promise of grace be-
came the prophecy of salvation Sin is
so horrible and Gods love so great
that Jesus is there as a recompeuce
This is tie Christ. the true preacher
of the world. and by whom all preach
ing must be judged A man who
undertakes to preach the gospel with
Christ on the outside will meet with
disaster. If we are without Christ we
are without hope Of redemption.
An afternoon service was held at
o'clock, at which Rev. James Mcleod,
D. D., preached an eloquent sermon.
A large collection was taken up to
liQuidats the debt of the church. Rev.
DR. Logan preached again at the even.
ing services.