The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-12-11

The sixth anniversary of the dedica-
tion of Elm Park church was cele-
brated yesterday by the congregation.
Special musical programmes were rem
dered by the choir and in keeping with
the usual custom of having some espe-
cially prominent and eloquent speaker
otficiate, both the morning and even
ing sermons were delivered by Rev.
DR.. d. Dorchester, jr., pastor of Christ
Methodist Episcopal church of Pitts
burg.
Rev. DR.. Charles NJ. Giffin, the pastor,
spoke briefly on both occasions of the
great progress made by the church
since it's inception; expressed the hope
that the coming year would be the
greatest in the history of the church
and urged the members of the con-
gregation to use every effort to make
it so. The musical features of both
services were particularly elaborate
and included several difficult organ
solos, which were rendered in Organ
list Penningtons usual mastery style.
Rev. DR.. Dorchester Is tall, erect
and athletic in appearance and pos
sessed of singularly clear and pow
erful voice, which, coupled with a
simplicity of gesture and an easy and
forclble delivery will undoubtedly
make his eloquent words live long in
the memory of those who were FORUM
ate enough to hear him, In the morn
ing he spoke on spiritual IllumTra-
ton" and in the evening he took as
his text l Corinthians, 6, Is and 10.
HIS EVENING TEXT.
Know We not that your bodies are
the members of Christ? Shall l then
take the members of Christ and make
them the members of an harlot? God
forbid. What? Know ye not that
your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost, which is in you, which ye have
of God and ye are not your Own" He
spoke in part as follows:
Everything in this universe de-
pends on something else This estab-
lished fact can be proved in many
ways. Society is not a mere aggrega-
ton of beings, it is not simply an in
complete mass of people Without re-
ciprocal action of the parts of society
it could not exist.
Fifty years ago Tennyson sang of
the glorious Millennium day, when the
of battle forever furled and the ned
ration of the world an ac mplGshed
| fact Every decade since then we are
coming nearer the realization of this
blessed vision. Sometimes we are in
! Clined to thinA of this as a visionary
thing. something far away in a dim
| and distant future, but | say to you
| again, we are coming nearer that time.
"And this country Of ours is working
| individually toward a realization of
| that dream. The victory at Manila
| on the OutermOst rim of the world, was
| nevertheless heard of in its very cen
! ter, and the thunder of a militant
| democracy must have caused the mon
! archs of the old world to tremble. This
! American spirit is now knocking at the
! gates of the far east and proclaimina
! to the whole world the principle of So
cial, civil and religious liberty.
GREAT ISSUES OF LIFE.
Man is the most interesting object
| in the world. He explains the uni
verse and makes everything in it. The
! great issues of life lie in his hands. We
| determine our own destinies. 1t is
! true we do not make our own CirCum-
stances, but we can and do decide
what We shall do in these Circum-
! stances. You must he yourself beforI
anybody. God intended you when h
! made you in His image to become Z
| person, to become a cause.
| 1--WE should first of all learn to- re-
spect our own selihood. Each indivi.
! dual has his own struggles, each lives
| in a different world of his own. And
| that world is just such an one as eact
! individual makes it, If we broaden
| our views our world becomes larger
and just as surely as we narrow 'oui
! views our world becomes smaller.
Some persons contend that each
man counts only for one. This, how.
ever, is the arithmetic of materialism
| the arithmetic which the idle elias.
of society cipher by. There is a ten.
dency Of this sort prevalent in Amer.
! lean society today, tendency to maxi
| life center In material supremacy, tr
raise the lower appetites above the
| higher attributes.
This is a growing tendency in that
! class OF society which would iron US
| out smooth until not wrinkle of in
! dividuality remained. Rut this Is no,
! christian society, however. Jesu:
| Christ takes the lowest man and
| makes him not only a true man bur
a son Of God, clothed in the mantle Of
the Lord, on which none dare tread
with impunity
NOT a PAIRING DOWN.
Giving ourselves for Others is no
| parting with our Individuality Sci,
sacrifice is not a pairing down, bu
! rather pruning which makes us NOR,
fruitful. Let us take the words spok