The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-06
DR. RIcEs SERMON.
Large Congregation at the Court
 Street Church.

Large Congregation at the Court
 Street Church.
 A large congregation was present at the Court Street Methodist Church Sunday morning to hear the nrst sermon of Rev. J. A. Rice. D. D.. as pastor of the church.
 The text of pr. Rice was selected from I Corinthians xii, 14- T seek not yours. but you"
 In part, Dr. Rice spoke as follows:
 Christianity Is aggressive. Itsdoes not wait for an opportunity, but makes one; does not wait for men to come to it, but goes to them. Its very conception of God commits it to this. policy. All other re- hgions represent men as seeking for God; Christianity represents God as seeking for men. It seeks for the individual man. not mankind. not humanity. but the con crete individual. Neither does it depend upon the crowd. All life is inexpressibly lowiy at many points. He who would en- ter any kingdom of truth must enter upon his knees as little child.
 This determines the methods to be used. Jesus retreated before the crowd. but sought the individual. One by one they must be brought in; it is . hand-to- hand. man-to-man contest.
 Tt reaches for the inner life. of the ir- dividual. It draws a sharp line between what one is and what he was. It disre- gards the mere trappinss and externals. strips every man of all that is extraneouS and deals fearlessly and frankly with the inner life. In the hours of the physician all are merely patients: all else is lost sight of but their deep need. So with Christianity.
 God offers to you His own life into that of us all Therefore, whatever hna- itations there are to grace are not in God, but In us. The supply is inexhausti- ble, and it's efficiency depends only lpon our capacity and earnestness. God is waiting for us to get ready. If we open our hearts and give full response to His infinite lov& we can have a revival before sundown. His truth throws all the re- sponsibility back upon them.
 Christianity appeals to the whole inner life. Its two great words are sin and salvation. It comes to the intellect with final truth and rests in absolute certainty amid untold questionings; 1t comes to the heart with positive answers to our deepest cries, with food for our deepest hunger. with fellowship and solves in our deepest solitude and sorrow, it comes to the active side of Afs with exhaustless opportunities for fruitful efforts In an tmperishable field. it comes to the whole life and calls out our deepest and best. making the highest reguant over the lowest The smothered cries. the Strug- gling energies, the latent forces, are % be liberated. developed and directed.
 'It appeals to the whole inner life as it stands in social relations. No life can be above. There is such a thing as a social mind and for thts every man is responsible to the extent of his ability. This social mind is more than the aggre- gate of the individuals. This mind Is also responsible for the individual So take only one secton of 1t, the church is responsible for those who come under its influence. Young people will not join . cold church and ought not. The fearfulness of our responsibility for each other Is shown by the terrible fate that overlook those described in the twenty fifth chapter of Matthew who did noth- ing when there was something to do. There Is no religion then mentioned. In fact our Savior, so far as we know, never used the word.
 ''The text is the motto under which we should work. Not yours. but you In all our business relations with men, in all our social experiences. in all our contact with our fellows, let us say to ourselves over and over again. not yours, but you' The motto of the business world Is not you but yours.' If 1t could be reversed and all men say in all their