The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-24
THE EVENING SERVICE.

THE EVENING SERVICE.
The evening services at the First
Methodist church were attended by a
congregation so large that the entire
seating capacity of the church was fill
ed and it was necessary to place many
chairs in the aisles. John 7. Manson,
vice president of the Twentieth Cen
fury Wesleyan league, which has been
Instrumental in devising ways and
! means for the collections of the funds
! necessary to raise the debts from the
several Methodist churches of the city,
presided. After the singing of the dox-
ology the pastor of the First church,
j the Rev. enry Baker, invoked divine
blessing on those assembled. The
singing of a hymn was followed by
prayer by Bishop Daniel A. Goodsell,
who fervently thanked God for the OPP
portunity to be present and join with
: the Methodists of New Haven in their
service of Thanksgiving and asking d.
vine assistance to continue the good
work in the city for the cause of the
Master Mr.. Manson made few re-
marks, in which he called attention to
the work which has been accomplished
and pointed out that now that the
churches were free from debt it was
the duty of the members of the many
! churches to seee that they remained
free from debt The past is now
matter of history and it should be the
care of all to look to and take thought
for the future. An offertory by the
choir was splendidly rendered and the
collection taken was a generous one.
| The sermon of the evening was
preached by the Rev. James M. Buck
ley, D. D., LID, editor of the Chris
| tan Advocate of New York city. His
| topic was from the twentyfourth chap
ter of Exodus and the eleventh verse,
portion of which reads, And they
also saw God and did eat and drink."
He said that no pagan, no Mohamme-
| dan, no Jew or Christian ever looked
upon Mt. Sinai without being appalled,
| by the sight. There Is no such range
| in the world as that and the holy
book furnishes the best travellers
guide through the holy land published
with the exception of details as to ex
penses and other matters. Continuing,
| the speaker expended at much length
and with varied interesting and thor
oughly convincing arguments of the in
| spirations of the Old Testament and
the truths taught by Jesus Christ. He
said that the New Testament was
| founded on the teachings and truths
of the old and that Jesus Christ was
| the chief corner stone. Many of the
| figures of speech used by our Lord in
| His teaching were explained at length
| by the speaker and he said that 1t
was almost impossible for anything to
| be said or written these days without
| using figurative language. Many mis-
| interpretations are made of statements
| in the Bible by reason of their being
| taken In the literal rather than in the
fgurtative sense Dr. Buckley discussed
| the psychological point of view, ably
demonstrating the absolute truths of
| many statements in the Bible which
seemed to be contradicted.
He closed by asking all just how
they expected to continue the remain
der of their lives in the matter of their
adherence to the principles and rules
of the Methodist church. He referred
to amusements such as dancing, card
playing, wearing of jewelry and hte
| like, saying that nothing should be
done by any one that he could with
all sincerity and honesty drop on his
! knees Immediately after and pray to
God without feeling of shame. He
| said that a Methodist should never be
afraid to stand up for the rules of his
| church. In closing Dr. Buckley said
| that he desired to congratulate all the
| members of the several churches and
| the gentlemen who had been at the
| head of the movement on their ability
| to say that they were free from debt
The closing prayer was by the Rev.
| Frank H. Rail, pastor of the Trinity
church