The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-03-19
REV. c. ERNEST SMITH.

The fifth anniversary of the rectorship
of Rey c. Ernest Smith at St. Micha. Is
and all Angels Protestant Episcopal
Church occurred last Sunday. DR.. Smith
anniversary sermon was from the text
Numbers xiii, 30: "And there we saw the
giants, the sons of Anak, which come of
giants: and we were in our own sight as
grasshoppers, and so we were in their
sight"
Dr. Smith said he did not regard an an
| nlverSary sermon as a record of individual
success or failure so much as IL matter of
congregational success or failure In
that spirit he invited his hearers to look
| back with him over the past five years of
his rectorship, and he desired them to do
that not in the usual spirit of sclfcom
placency and self congratulations, but in
the spirit-more scriptural, even if less
common-of those who felt that they had
failed in what had teen required of them
and were but Improbable servants. AL
though much had been done, more might
have been accomplished.
AT the time referred to in the text
he said 1.-The Israelites were at kadesh
Barnes, receiving the report of the spies
who had been sent to spy out the land.
All the spies reported fayorably of the
productiveness of the county, but ten of
them described it as utterly beyond the
power ofIsrael to successfully conquer it,
The result was a national failure in the
q eat crisis of their history. History often
repeats itself. The lack of their faith,
with its attendant evil results which char
acterized the ten spies, characterized
Christian churches today. Men reckon
without God. They number up the diff
culties and forget the encouragement until
they are in their own sight as grasshopp
ers. Such men when they come into
church relationship are always leaving
God out of the court They. only see be-
fore them the children of Anac The
grasshoppers are with us still.
But see what has been accomplished so
far as figures can tell us anything. 1t is
not much when one remembers what
might have been done; not much, either,
if one thinks of the numbers and strength
of this church, but it is a great deal if we
take into account the small number of
those who have really been instrumental
in the doing of it. During the past five
years there have been 100 baptisms, 216
combinations, 50 marriages. the communi-
cants have increased from AL to 94S.
There are now 416 families and 1 ,7O6 souls
a Sunday school with 431 children and 81
teachers and officers Two thousand
eight hundred and seven public services
have been held and over 1858, 900 has been
subscribed.
"Of course, every congregation has
many, more or less, connected with it who
arc of the same spirit with the ten men
who were so terrified by the sight of the
armed warriors of canaan. There are
pessimsts-men who are always looking
on the dark side and predicting disaster;
poverty stricken Christians, poverty strick
en- in spirit, hot in purse; telescope Chris
tians, who see the heather in other lands,
but do not see the numerous avenues of
usefulness at their own doors and in their
own church. But there are also many
faithful workers like the two faithful
spies who told the Israeltcs that God
would make Il way for them in Canaan.
This is our lesson today. Let every per-
son in this congregation have such faith in
God that he can say: "If God be with US
it matters not who may be against us.