Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-10-30
Keokuk Presbyterian Listen
to DR.. F. F. Stoltz.
TRIBUTE TO OTTUMWAN
Are Impressed by His Practical Elo--
quence and Attracted by His Force
full Personality-Exchaneed PuIpits
With Or. e. 3. Newcomb.
(From Tuesdays Daily.I


Attracted by the strong and force
full personality of the speaker and i'm
pressed by the practical eloquence of
his address, the congregation at the
Westminster Presbyterian church in
Keokuk listened to DIR. F. F. Stoltz,
pastor of the First Presbyterian
church of this city at the services
Sunday, he having exchanged pulpits
with DIR. E. B. Newcomb. The Keo-
kuk Gate City pays the following trib-
ute to DR.. Stoltz in it's account of the
Sunday serviees:
'Dr. Stoltz has a face of power, de-
termination, energy and charity; his
features are large and mobile, and
anterior badness makes his forehead
apear to have extraordinary height.
He is a muscular man built on a large
frame and figuressuggestiv of mas
siveness which is impressive.
He has a resonant voice, finely
modulated with distinct enunciation.
His gestures are forceful, illustrative
and useful rather than graceful In
the pulpit he is on nearly constant mo-
ton with a slow and dynamic move
ment. represed and commanding. He
has no affection and not the least trace
of attempt at art.
Earnestly Convincing.
His language was pure and well
chosen, with a tendency to the strong
or Anglo-Saxon rather than to Ro--
nance derivities His diction is not
ornate, but is lucid; his thought is
earnest rather than rhetorical; his or
atory is convincing rather than beau
tiful; his sermons are full of philoso--
ply and almost entirely lacking of
figures of speech. He is an example
of practical scholarship.
The Church for the Times.
The title of the sermon was, The
Church for the Times. The text was a
quotation from Luke, referring to
Christ, opening the minds ofsthe apos-
ties concerning his death and resurrec-
ton. The unaided human mind can
not understand the Bible, the preacher
said; and the organic relation of
Christ to the past and future must be
appreciated. Repentance and remis-
sion of sins, through the sacrifice of
Christ We're told in prophecy in the
old testament, and there the relation
OF these fundamental things to modern
times is important.
These fundamental things point to
preaching the gospel to all nations-a
distributive idea. Whenever the
church has lost sight of or has given
undue emphasis to one of the three
things. Christ's suffering, death and
resurrection, the church has lost there
by.
The church is missionary because
there is required a worldwide procla-
nation of the gospel. The church
does not guide its course by study
OF comparative religions; it asks only
what is the plan of one who is on the
throne. The missionary church ap-
preciates its opportunity; and the
need of the world measures this oppor-
tunity.
The man who is citizen of the
whole world is never mean citizen of
the land in which he is" said Dr.Stoltz
and he continued that the missionary
church works on the line of largest
blessings. He then told of a church
choir which had it's prayer meetings
and supported its missionaries as an
illustration of the ultima thule in
which there is the true spirit of the
church for the times and all times. He
told of Wichita church with an $1S,-
600 debt which supported missionary
i'll China and saw its debt melt away;
and DR.. Stoltz said he commended the
plan to debt ridden church.
'Tke nineteenth century was cen
fury of preparation; the twentieth
century is the century of accomplish
ment for the church" he argued. The
sermon was thoroughly optimistic as
regards the church catholic, and es-
pecially so as regards the Presby-
terrain church and it's evangelistic
work.