The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1903-05-29
RELIGIOUS NEWS.

DR.. Chas B. Wellborne, pastor of the
First Cumberland Presbyterian Church
of Texarkana, Ark, occupied the pulpi,
of Rev. w. A. Provine. at the First
Cumberland Church in this city Sunday
morning and evening, preaching. two
scholarly sermons which we're greatly en-
joyed by those who heard him. Dr.
Wellborne is in attendance upon the
general assembly of bis church which is
in session at Nashville, and came out at
the request of Mr.. Provine to preach to
the latter's congregation. He is a most
engaging speaker, man OF power and
great learning and splendid reasoning
faculties. He preached Sunday night
on the sacrifices which God requires
every Christian to make, quoting for his
text the we'll known passage from the
18th chapter of Romans, i'll which Paul
beseeched his brethren to present their
bodies as living sacrifices unto God,
which was their reasonable service. Or.
Wellborne said there were religions
everywhere and there were zealots in
every religion, who made certain sacri-
fees. He referred to the religion Of the
old Druids and their sacrifices. TO the
heathens and their sacrifices, and said
that the personal sacrifices by the an
clients were greater than those of the
Christian people of today. He referred
to the mother who stood on the banks
of the Indus, waiting TO cast her baby
into the jaws of the crocodile, as sacri-
flee to the God she worshiped. Paul
said | beseech you, brethren, to pres ent
your bodies as living sacrifices. Paul
might have gone further and said this
was our duty, for no man can be Chris
tan and not make sacrifices. But Paul
does not seek to drive us in sacrifices.
He bes2eches US in kindness. There
was something in humanity that makes
US want to be entreated. 1t must be
the divinity within us. The speaker re
tered to the mercies of God, which he
said we're boundless and innumerable.
No man could be thorough Christian
and abuse the body, and he who did 1T
sins against the body Just as much as he
who encroaches upon some other per-
sons rights and privileges. He referred
to custom Of the North American In
dians, who, when they lost one of their
great chiefs were want to lash them
selves and lie upon their faces for days,
in order to appease the wrath Of the
great spirit, who had taken their ruler
from them, This was cited as showing
the fact that there was embedded in the
very nature of man the idea of atone
ment; that we must do something to
bring ourselves back into harmony with
God. But that was getting at it in the
wrong way. God doesn't require that
we MAIN our bodies to do sacrifice to
him. If our bodies are to be sacrificed,
he said, they should be presented in all
the physical beauty and grandeur with
which we are capable of presenting
them He said he had often wondered
if it wasn't an insult to God to waste
our energies and our bodies until they
are old and worn out and then offer
them to God. It's the living body that
God war ts, not dead one. He wanted
strong, healthful, vigorous body. The
speaker then spoke of the reasonable
ness OF the request. He said If God gives
us all we have, and we depended on him
for everything, what was more reason
able than sacrificing our bodies to him.
He said many people thought they
were going by the Bible when really
they are controlled by public sentiment,
and they go by public sentiment often
times even though they 60 transverse to
the teachings of the Bible. He de-
scribed the overpowering, mastering,
subtle influence of public opinion and
the way it was carrying thousands of
good people in our great cities away
from God by the parks and beer gardens
and places Of amusement under pretense
that the laboring classes had to have
recreation aud pleasure. He said the
christian could live without what the
world regards as necessary for happi
ness, and yet be happy, but the world
could not live without Christ. He re.
called the fate OF the wicked cities Of
Sodom and Gomorrah, which were
spared for years because of one good
man, Lot, who lived 10 them, and he
believed there were many cities all over
the world today stepped 10 corruption
and sin which were being spared for the
sake Of the good men and women who
lived in them. In closing, he asked
why should not Christians therefore,
present their bodies as sacrifices unto