The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-22
FIRST SERMON PREACHED 4saa.'. BY REV. W. M. CRAWFORD
Pastor of Cumberland PreSbyT terian Church Locates Here and Will Construct the
 House of Worship.

Rev. Walter M Crawford of the Cum- berland Presbyterian Church preached his
 first sermon in Montgomery Sunday
 morning at Il o'clock. MT. Crawford has
 been sent to Montgeme by the Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
 whose intention it is to build house of
 worship in the Capital City of Alabama.
 Mir. Crawford has secured residence at 3 Clayton Park and has removed
 his family here from Petersburg, Tenn.
 Temporarily, the Cumberland Presbyte-
 rian congregation will worship at the
 rooms of the Young Mems Christian As-
 sociation, on Commerce Street. The Sum-
 day morning services were held here and
 good sized congregation greeted MT. Crawford.
 The choir was augmented by the voices
 of Mrs. w. s. Winferd, Mrs. Freeman
 and Miss Hood.
 The theme of MT. Crawford's first ser- mon in Montgomery was Prayer" and
 he selected his text from James V, 16:
 The effectual feryent prayer of right
 eous man availeth much
 MT. Crawford showed that everything in the universe Is governed by law and
 that even heavenly bodies are held to
 their Respective places by law. He said
 these laws not only apply to the things in the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, but they apply to the promises of God
 -"When we begin to peruse the golden pages and ponder the wonderful truths of the Bible," said MT. Crawford i've find many precious promises. In order to come into the possession of these prom ises there are certain conditions with | which we must comply. The first of these conditions Is humility. It is the soil in | which the Christian grows and fiourishes. We must first feel our utter dependence | upon God before we can possibly offer an effectual prayer"
 To substantiate his assertion that hu-
 manity is one of the elements of prayer Mir. Crawford read from St Luke xviii l0-14 and from St. Luke xiv, H. He said that Ewing, King, Wesley, Calvin, Lu-
 ther and Knox were humble men and de- clared that this was the reason their
 names remain today as titles of sover- eighty and their memories stood as the standard of commanding greatness. MT. Crawford said that another essen- tial of prayer was a forging spirit. He said that Jesus Christ prayed for those who crucified him. and that the religion of Jesus is the only religion that requires
 men to love their enemies.
 Submission the mediation, of Jesus Christ and Faith were pointed out as ele- ments of prayer by MT. Crawford. "A great number of people, when they
 go to the Lord in prayer, already have their minds made up as to how they want their prayers answered" continued MT Crawford. "They say Thy will be done when in their hearts they want it their way Jesus prayed for the cup to pass from Him. Finally his piety rose superior
 to his fear and He says, Not as I will
 but as thou wilt Paul submitted to the
 thorn in the flesh: Job to his misfortunes
 and troubles; Abraham submitted to take
 his sons life, Whether your path be one of thorns or of flowers be submissive to | Gods will.''
 Concluding his remarks Mir. Crawford | said that faith is very important con- | dition of prayer. There can be no loftier l exercise of soul ever given to created in | telligence he said. than to come in con-
 scious contact with the living God and | be able by faith to say My Father" | '"To those interested in the establish
 ment of a Cumberland Presbyterian
 Church in this historic city, look not to ] me- he said, mot to the State Board of Missions which is at the back of this
 movement, but look by faith to Cod The services were concluded with a benediction and many persons went for
 ward and were introduced to Mir Craw- ford
 It is the purpose of the Cumberland
 Presbyterian Synod to build handsome house of worship in Montgomery and MT
 Crawford announced that he was to stay here at least until the new church is constructed. He says that the building committee will come here very soon to select a site for the location of the church.
 The headquarters of the permanent committee on Missions of Alabama is in Birmingham. The following are the members of the committees: Rev. w. B.