The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-06

K. W. owens, Rev. T. F. Morgan, G. W. Buckley. F. c. shephard.
 Financial Statement.
 The report was accompanied by the fol- lowing financial statement for the year ending December al.. 1so2:
 RECEIPTS.
 Cash on hand Jan. 1, 1909. a, ,eo3. 50 Cash sales of Bibles....... 476l.S5
 Membership fees ........!. 49.75
 Rent ..---..,....-......,.. 2051. 26-Ss. .6n .S6
 DISBURSEMENTS. '' Superintendent's salary....$ 750.00 tl Other salaries and inci- Donassa esai American aai;;;ii,isiii. Bible s'',e
 t60ciety .. ............-.... zo0.W
 Paid for Bibles ........... 5,55o.s7
 Balance on hand Jan. list
 1898 ..................... 1,s70 0.5f-$S, col St
 Dr. A. l.. Andrews. pastor of the Dex-t ter Avenue Methodist Church, had been selected to make the principal address Sunday evening, but, owing to illness, he could not be present.
 Address of Dr. Rice.
 pr. ]. A.. Rice, pastor of the Court Street Church, was called upon to take the place of pr Andrews. He spoke ex- temporanecusiy and without prepara- ton, on 'eThe Origin and Use of the Bible."
 The following is . brief synopsis of Dr. Rice's address.
 Many of us feel towards the Bible as if it were a book dropped down from heaven in some strange magic way and were. therefore. not to be touched or studied as other books. but only to be revered. It means a totally different thing when we think of 1t as coming through the burning hearts of men and directed to a situation.
 "The Bible came out of religion and not religion out of the Bible. It came as an answer to. the same questions that have stirred our hearts as well as those of all men everywhere. It was born of a deep need of the times and was in all its parts Gods message to a situation. Not less. troublesome has been our contention as to the purpose. Mems heads have been taken of because they denied 1 that the Bible taught science. Even in my day trouble has come of that idea. We thought the actual time of creation was given as 4Oo4 B. C., but have myself 1 seen literature as old as that Step by step we have been driven to see that all the supposed scientific information there was not science at all and was never 80 intended, was merely incidental. Nor is the purpose to teach philosophy. And, last of all. we are beginning to see that it was not even given primarily to teach history as we know history. What. then, 1 was its purpose? To teach religion; to reveal God to men.
 t'When we reach fully this conclusion, our position Is impregnable Let the critics do their worst; let the archeologlsts discover what they may; let come what will from every quarter. we have In this old book the last word in morals and re- | hgion. All that came before Jesus | Christ were but letters in the Word I God would speak to the world. He is the truth. He stands out solitary and alone in marble whiteness against the dark background of the world-history, far above the highest of all. Everything back of Him, converged upon Him: every thing after radiates from Him. When all the adverse agencies have uttered their last word. the spirit of the Bible, of which He was the fullness abides intact 1 foreverI And this-it is alone-is after all, what is worth while.
 How shall use the Bible? l study It, reed lt, by books. Get some simple .help, thet will guide you to a knewIed6e of thsIF origin of the circurn- | stances out of which they come. have little patience with the use of the Bible by tid bits. Many so-called Bible read ings. collecting several sentences from
 here and there often wholly misunder-
 stood and mlsapply the meaning of the
 author. It should be said of Scripture
 texts as of railroad tickets, not good, if detached" How different, if we grasp
 the books as a whole and their message | to their timer How much more in
 teresting. for example. Is Amos. if read at single sitting and grasped a decla-
 ration of Gods righteousness and the ter | TOTS of his wrath on injustice and oppres-
 sion: or Hosea as a beautiful illustration
 of Gods tender lovel Where can we
 better learn Of the exalted holiness of | God than in Isaiah? Who pleads the
 cause of the country people like Micah
 Where is there a stronger statement of
 individual accountability to God than
 in Jeremiah who discovered the individ-
 ual and first separated him from the
 nativesf Who has so strikingly given
 us picture of art in worship as Ezekiel ?
 Who better than Haggaj and Zecharcal
 has stirred men to value the place of 1 worship, or who has more strongly put | the claim of God upon our material re-
 sources than Malachi? Where is there
 a more beautiful story of the faithfulness
 of unwedded love than in the Song of
 Songs? and so with all the old Testament
 books
 '"ro come to the new, the book of
 Matthew seems to most but a scrapbook
 of incidents in our Lords life. But | when we remember that 1t is a logical
 argument and see how the author mar
 shals his facts to reach a definite con-
 clusion in a climax. 1t becomes a dif- ferent book Many of the Jews had
 accepted Christ with no thought of lov- | ing the traditions of their fathers and | when Paul announced the startling con-
 clusion that the two must separate, one
 being from the first intended as the cul- imitation of the other, they were about 1 to let go all. Then came this book to | show how step by step the sweep of his- tory moved on to the grand message of universal salvation for all men every where forever. So read, 1t becomes a new and living book So with the rest
 We should read 1t habitually. so as ] to keep ourselves with the atmosphere out of which 1t came. filled with the | spirit that produced it. We should read 1t as a personal message from God to us personally.
 | Are you a business man? The prin- | ciples upon which you are to succeed are here set forth? A lawyer? doctor? Or | do you want to make the ideal home?
 Where else can you find such compen- dium of wisdom and knowledge? Are you in the deep waters? Are you look 1 ing for light on the deepest problems oi l life? Do you want to know what God ! thinks of you? How to find the way tc Him? Who He is and what to those
 in need? Here and here alone you find 1 all these
 'Yes. this Is Gods message to all nler
 everywhere forever. Loose her and le ] her Ro' with the vvinHa nf tha va,ind III