The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-07
REV. QUINCY EWING AN ABLE PREACHER He is Also an Exceptionally lm-
 pressive Reader CHURCH OF ADVENT FILLED Pastor Elect Was Listened to by an Appreclative Congregation and
 Hope is Expressed That the
 Call Will be Accepted.
CHURCH OF ADVENT FILLED

1 The Rev. Quincy Ewing, rector of St.. James church, Greenville, Miss, conduct ed the service and preached at the Church of the Advent at Il o'clock yesterday. He has been asked to become the rector of this church and the vestry and members of the congregation express the hope that he will accept the call He made an ex- cellent impression. To begin with, he has l a quiet grace of manner that charms He has deep, sonorous voice and is an ex- ceptionally good reader. Not often indeed does one hear the prayers and lessons of the liturgy of the Episcopal church so finely delivered
 The gospel yesterday was the twenty third chapter of St, Matthew, often re- ferred to as one of the most dramatic por- tions of the Bible It is the chapter in which the phrase Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. hypocrltes!" reeurs several times MT Ewing read 1t with solemn ef- feet and without any affectation whatso- ever. And last but very important, MT. Ewing is an intellectual preacher and his discourse showed careful preparation.
 
 doors, was filled.
 The musical part of the service was well rendered by the full surpliced choir, Mr. Grambs presiding at the organ. The prin- cipal numbers were Te Deum by Blum- schein. a jubilate by Van Lear and a duet sung by Mrs Ransom and MT. Ab- bolt as an offertory.
 The Sern,on
 MT. Ewng's sermon follows:
 And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what | is that good, and acceptable, and per- feet will of God. CRom. F, End v)' So the text stands as we read it in our l English New Testament The English words do not precisely correspond with the Greek of the Apostle Paul, and 1 do not think they clearly embody his 1 thought. What the apostle wrote was not, l Be not conformed Cor fashioned) to this world;" but Be not fashioned to this age, this time" Translate the injunction 1 of the apostles thought, Be not con- formed to this world' and some might well be disposed to question the wisdom, the soundness, of it; or even to conclude that it is meaningless. For "world' IS, or l may be, term so comprehensive, that ! l life and being of all we see or think, or feel, or dream, or know. Not to be con formed, somehow, to the world in which our life has to be lived were to be con- formed to nothing whatever; in other 1 words. to be annihilated, to be nothing ourselves. If we think about another world, our thinking must be done i'll ac- cordance with the laws of thought that obtain in this. If we worship God, We can | A SO Un l pirations, that are inseparable from our earthly environment.
 The Christian Gospel which possessed 1 the heart of St. Paul, when he wrote his 1 epistle to the Romans-how could that 1 gospel have ever been delivered to IT n save In large conformity to earthly con- 1 ditions and opportunities? Conceive of l Christianity as having been lived, as hav- ing been wrought out by it's Founder in some other planet than this. amid con- l ditions and opportunities unlike any we are familiar with, and 1t becomes for us l straightway an unreality, it ceases to be 1 Christianity. We can not conceive of our 1 selves as protesting, as feeling the slight 1 est interest in. any religion that did not I rest at once it's commands and it's ap- 1 peals upon the facts and laws, and real 1 ites, of this world in which we must think l if we think at all, and feel If we feel at all. and aspire. if we aspire at all. It was l a word much less inclusive than "world' l that the apostle employed in his injunc- ton; and his thought as he expressed it rings true to the deeper needs of the hu- man soul as true today as when he wrote l his epistle
 Sound Advice.
 Be not conformed to this age~ Sure ly no man desiring to follow Jesus Christ could have paused to question for one | moment the soundness of that advice! 1 When we recall indeed what sort of age it was that the apostle had in mind; an 1 age which stoned. imprisoned. crucified l it's prophets of the higher life and did 1 pitiful obeisance to human monsters on the worlds imperial throne; an age when i the life of any beast was more toerabe 1 and safer among his fellow-beasts of the i jungle than that of the good man among | his fellowmen-it may, perhaps seem to l some of LIS that the apostles advice sent to Christian men and women. to people whose acceptance of the Christ was their protest against the fearful iniquities of the time-it may seem that such advice was utterly unnecessary, superfiuous Surely, we may think, no Christian need ed tc be told not to conform himself to an age dull and brutal and vicious, and vile enough to tolerate upon its dominant throne the monstrous will of Nero! But when we reflect that the followers of the Christ have never been Chrsts | themselves. pledged as He is the highest and best, buwarked by His sublime pur- pose against temptation in all it's forms :: | when we reflect that to live the Christian life amid daily conditions and powerful ideals that are anti-Christian, means a conflict bitter and uncertain, whence no ------------------ ------------------------------ ----------------