Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-13
THE ANNIVERSARY SERMON
Delivered Before the Woman's Board ot Mis-
 sons at Meridian, Miss.
ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.
Is Buglc Call to the Work Which Cannot Wait Statistics ofthe Treasurcf's Re- port-"Living Epistles"-M
 sionary Mass Meeting.

Meridian, Miss, May 11.-(Special Cor rcspondcnce.)-Th anniversary sermon of the Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- sions of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, was preached this morning at Cen tral Methodist church to vast congre- gation from Ezekiel ix., And everything shall live whither the river fioweth.
 The eloquent preacher recently made the tour of the world, and this morn ing he came fully up to the expectations of his audience. Here is brief synopsls:
 Ezekiel was in some respects greater prophet than Isaiah or Jeremiah. His entire ministry of over two years was during captivity. Whilst he was ever talking of liberty Inc himself knew not its sweetness The prophets vision of the temple was incomplete until the sight or the river flowing from it was caught. This illustra teS the necessity Of the out flowing of the Holy Spirit.
 Only by the presence of the spirit which moved Luther and the apostles can we resemble them and extend the gospel. The water issuing from the right side of the temple was the proph- cts vision of the spirit in the gospel It issued from the threshold of the tenn pIe showing that the church is the source and means, and that everything shall live. Whither the river floweth it takes blessings with it; the flowers wear a more gorgeous tint; the arid waste be- comes luxuriant, just as the water of the Nile moistens and fills with life and en- ergy the desert sands of Egypt.
 The people of the earth are difTerenti- atcd by their ideas of God. Other relig- ions bring God to the lead of men; Chris tianity draws men upward to God, and is the only religion that gives man the idea of the fathefhood of God, thus answer ing our longings for a Father.
 It not only gives satisfactory ac- count of the origin of man. but gives an exalted conception of man. The mghtier the God the mightier man is made in the image of God
 In the tombs of the ancients are such inscriptions as, "I was and am not:' 'I have gone to an eternal sleep" KafIlr mother, dreading to consign her dead child to the ground kept it in her arms until the decaying frame fell to pieces. Christianity puts life into every grave.
 Under theSGreeks the state was every thing. the individual nothing. As Max Muller has said: Where the Greeks saw barbarians we sec brethren where they saw nations we see individuals"
 The gospel also reveals mans duty to man, not in a battle for place as in the survival of the fittest" but the duty of the highest to the lowest, of saint to sinner.
 Paul was debtor to all. Christ talked to a lost woman from q well curb It gives freedom Rutherford spoke of his prison as his palace. Paul in prison was freer man than Nero on the Caesars throne. and Ezekiel by the vision of the far-flow- ing water rebukes all those who would selfshy hold back the gospel from others.
 The gospel gives new and higher es- innate of childhood. In the golden days of Augustus a father had the option to accept or reject child at birth, and so with many of the heathen today. In- stance the opening in the doors of found- ling hospitals in China through which babe may be slipped to be cared for, no one thereafter ever having any idea as to who the parent is.
 In Westminster abbey. the worlds greatest mausoleum, child has sepul- ture. This is Christianity. It gives higher conceptions of womanhood and motherhood Aristotle and Socrates considered woman little better than slave, and the Japanese have saying, ITO give woman a sword is like put ting a knife in the hands of q monkey" I was never so humiliated as when in India I saw women and donkeys har- messed together to the same cart. The Lord Jesus Christ's last act was com mending his mother to the beloved Johns care.
 As the river goes it broadcns and deepens until it sweeps over all lands So the gospel.
 Miss Barnes of Georgia led the children in a missionary mass meeting at the Central church this afternoon, and Dr. Morrison speaks on Mexico tonight.
 Saturday Nights Session.
 Meridian, Miss, May 12.-tSpecial)- The anniversary meeting of the woman's board of missions of the Methodist Epis- copal church. south. held last evening, was most interesting. The singing was fine. and Rev. J. w Cooper, D. D., con ducted the religious exercises
 After aserviee of prayer and song Mrs. w. D. Wightman. president, delivered her annual address. as follows:
 This assembly of Christian women brings to mind the first recorded incl . v. c- Iz.<=. c..a. AI.e E..e.4