The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-06-04
The new RECTOR
Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins Begins
His Labor at Grace Church.
Preached An Able Discourse Yester-
day Before His New People.

Rev. Floyd w. Tomkins preached his
frat sermon as rector OF Grace Church to
q large congregation yesterday morning.
His text was taken from st. John VIII:
Is, III am one that bears witness OF Ny
self, and the Father that sent Me beareth
witness of Me-" and spoke in substance
~ follows:
The words of the text were spoken In
the midst OF one of the hottest controver-
sizes Of our Lords life, and they carry
their significance very plainly, as point
ing out two indisputable points OF His
divinity. the testimony of His own
The first was given in that exalted, daring
cry which none but q perfect being could
ever make: (Which Of you convinceth
Me OF sin 2" No ighteous rlan had ever
lived. Fault was found everywhere, and
before 1t every assertion OF excellence
was doomed to fall. Error condemns a
ing. However clear the logic, II q
flaw is found anyw where the whole fabric
OF the argument il lost. No matter how
strenuous my assertions OF honesty, the
least dishonest act that may have done
proves my fallibility. So that the cry OF
Christ and the life which was able to sup
port the cry were the virtues that he bore
OF Himself. His character was His testi-
mony. But more was needed.
Goodness might prove the divine man
hood, but 1t could not prove the authority
for the mission for which the divine
manhood was on earth. He came
for Q purpose, and that purpose must
power acting through the divine man
hood to prove 1t eternal. A perfect
Jesus were good indeed for the sin
sick world to treasure upon the pages OF
her weary history: but it were but to
make more desperate the need when the
struggling mass OF humans found the iso-
lated character too high for attainment.
An example can go so far, but 1t becomes
q rnocking menace, rebuke. a terror,
when no battle, no effort, no denial can
reach L..
The witness of the Father came in nice
AZ at the Baptism and the TRANSPORTATION,
in miracle through his whole life, and in
glory at the Resurrection and Ascension.
This witness of the Father gave men hope
and courage as they heard.
Gods existence Is known as theory,
but when he speaks to my troubled heart,
when He works through my struggles
and gives of His power TO make my
humanity better and pqTer than
God becomes a fact, personal being, and
cry, 81 know God, even as am able to
cry ssGod knows metz 1 bear witness of
myself in useful, manly life, and God
bears witness of me in the daily work He
does In me and through me.
How that truth makes clear so much
which otherwise we could not under
stand. Take for instance the hollow
ness OF the efforts of a man to find
satisfaction in base morality;
the unreality of so much so-called re-
ligious life; or the difficult and common
experiences of man who tries to serve God
as earnestly and truly as he can and who
is met by crushing trouble. His life bears
IL
God and yet his prayers are
not answered, sickness breaks him down,
sorrow comes to make his heart ache and
his days pass in loneliness.
The self witness of the moral man for
time seems to be enough but at last the
In the case of the so-called religious life
it is the man who is at fault Gods wit
ness to the man may be right, only
the witness OF the man to him.
self is wrong. The selfish nature
will not yield to tie influence which is
throbbing through it, the character is SO
rebellious that II denies net only its own
in so rejecting itself, rejects as well
the. higher, nobler witness of God. To
the man whose noblest efforts seem to
fail, however, Providence gives the deep
est proof OF the double witness.
The witness OF God varies as much with
us as It did with the Christ. "Come down
from the cross and we will believe in
Thee" cried the mocking voices about
Calvary. But He did not come down. The
greater witness was given by His dying
there, that the blood. and the death,
and the victory and the life might be
for rs. Was there any discord In the
voicesf Not to the ear which. listens
for q deeper, richer harmony than the
simple concord of human wishes. Char
acter and Providence were at one there
as never before, when the perfect Jesus
with all His love and pure goodness met
the divine strength of pardon and peace
and bound them in one golden crown for
the hco da of hio chfldrov.