Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-11-27
! CONFIRMATION SERVICE
Held at st. Matthew's Protestant Bpis-
copal Church Yesterday Morning.
A LARGE GLASS CONFIRMED BY
BISHOP PETERKIN-HIS SER
MON A VERY APPROPRIATE
ONE - A SERMON BY THE
BISHOP AT ST. ANDREWS P. E.
MISSION LAST EVENING-SOME-
THING OF OTHER SERVICES
HELD YESTERDAY.

At st. Matthews P. E. church yester-
day morning, the Rt Rev. George w.
Peterkin, of Parkersburg, bishop OF the
Protestant Episcopal diocese of West
Virginia, administered confirmation to
a class of twenty-one. 1t was the sec
ond class of the year to be confirmed at
st. Matthews, the bishop having con-
Quoted a confirmation service at this
church on Easter Sunday last. During
the service, which was attended by a
large congregation, Bishop Peterkin de-
livered a sermon very appropriate to the
occasion.
His text was according to Acts xvi,
20, 3O-31, "And he called for light
and sprang in and came trembling and
fell down before Paul and Silas and
brought them out and said: 'Sirs,
what must I do to be saVed?' and they
said: Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved :" In
part he spoke as follows:
Some men have made themselves
famous by the great deeds they have
done, and by the everlasting benefits
they have conferred upon mankind
Though these monuments be not i'm
perishable, the world will not soon let
their names die. And so the greater
names of Scripture are deservedly fam
GUS and will no doubt continue this
time, with the everlasting hills. But
along with these greater names go
humber ones, the names of those who
by their association with the great Re-
deemer of men and their peculiar re-
lation to the progress of His kingdom
in the world have also been reserved
from oblivion. Thus it is that where
soever throughout the wide world the
Gospel is preached the dtSd of the wo-
man who anointed our Savior with the
precious ointment, is told for a memoir
ial of her. And so also, this Philippian
jailor has made himself famous by that
earnest question of the text-a question
which associated with his name has
come sounding down through the ages.
He speaks well who declares that the
grand significance of the Gospel Is
help, and that the measure of mans
readiness and eagerness to receive help
is first his own feeling of helpfulness.
Alas it is to be feared that in most of
the persons we meet on our streets,
and even in our churches, it would be
hard to find any such thing as a deep
conscience of sin at ALL So it is that
amid the many general questions people
ask about the church and about relig
ion so few comparatively press this
close, personal question of the Philip
plan jailor, What must I do to be
saved?' And yet think have right
to proceed on the supposition that you
all have some sense of sin. How can
you be without it? Must not every
man, whose nature is at all complete and
awake and active, know there is such a
thing as sin in the world? Yes, more
than that, he is thoroughly infected
by it.
"If you would call to mind some one
of your past failures you would see how
the matter stands, that conscience and
knowledge and sense of duty are OPP
posed to incidence, selfishness and
wrong desire and that the conflict was
eventually decided according to the
best of your own will. 1t is the will
that rules all the powers of the soul.
In it lies the essence of our minds and
the unity of our being. And so it is
that the reason and conscience ought to
guide, yet too often motives that spring
from appetite and passion rule the hour
because we will to have it so. 1t is
then necessary that this will be won
over to the service of God.
lie WuO SlonuS, DIS IL were, U0HlnU
the secret foundations, whence our
being issues, He, and He alone, can
deal with this awful disease with
which we are afflicted. He, and He
alone, can lay restraining hand upon
sin in the very citadel of its dominion
and win the victory over all opposition.
Our deliveranoe must come from Him,
and therefore must begin with that
which He puts into us. Do not suffer
yourselves to be deceived. The influ-
enceS of education may develop the ma
tural excellencies of your character in a
beautiful symmetry. 1t may repress
excuses and correct vices. 1t may cul-
tivate the natural sentiments, refine the
tastes, exalt and enable the temper and
tone of the mind, give dignity and grace
to the manners, impart light and au-
thority to conscience, force and prin-
oiple to character. 1t may inspire re.
spect and reverence for religion, even
form religious habits and fill the mind
with a high religion and veneration
But for all that, it cannot shed abroad
the love of God in the heart. 1t cannot
overcome our natural enmity to Him