The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-10-13
NOTABLE SERMONS
At THE REUNION
CaroIinians From Abroad in
the Pulpit.
LARGE CONGREGATIONS
Al Greensboro ii is 10 the Word Of God That the
Scattered Sons Listn First as
They R visit the Dear Old
especial to News and Observer

Especial to News and Observer.)
Greensboro, n. O., Oct 12.-The throngs
who were gathered in this Reunion City
on Sunday were treated to four splendid
sermons, delivered by North Carolinians
who have distinguished themselves in
other States and who are here to join
with their brethren in this grand fraternal
gathering. At every service in the city,
morning and night, and in the Opera house
in the afternoon were especial sermons
preached to overflow congregations by dis
tlngulshed divines, natives but now non
resident of the State. Every sermon was
in itself an event and probably at no time
in the history of North Carolina religious
life have so many able sons of a like class
inspired and uplifted so many people in
one city In one day. Among the preach.
ers were Rev. w. w. Moore, D. d., LII.
D., of Richmond, said to be one of the
ablest men in the South today in the theo-
logical realm; DR.. G. w. Byrd, d. D., of
Boston. The day and night were given
over to devotional exercises, and the day
was truly one of fraternal fellowship and
spiritual refreshment.
The immense auditorium of the First
Presbyterian church was crowded with
wOrshipers at II o'clock and hundreds
were turned away for lack of room. Rev.
Walter w. Moore, D. D., LII. d., of the
Union Theological Seminary. of Richmond
Va, native of Mecklenburg and highly
distinguished in the theological world.
preached a magnificent sermon 1t was
this beloved divine who delivered the SER
mon when the splendid building in which
he stood Sunday morning was dedicated,
ten years ago, then, as now, one of the
most splendid church edifices in the oSuth.
DIR. w. w. MOORES SERMON.
1.-The Making of Transitional Men, What
Makes Them and Why They Make" was
his theme. His text was from First
Samuel 1920: "And all Israel from Dan
to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was
established to be prophet of the Lord
In part he said:
The lofitest ideal ever set before ma
ton was that which God placed before the
Israeltes when he entered into coven-
ant with them at Mount Sinai. 1t was
expressed in these words: Eye shall be
unto me kingdom of priests and an holy
nation" This was no ideal of military
glory or material wealth. such as most ma
tions have striven to attain 1t was an
ideal of personal and national righteous
ness, of spiritual privilege and of help
full service to mankind
You are familiar with the melancholy
history of Israers failure to realize this
splendid ideal in the generations immedi-
ately succeeding the covenant at Sinai.
With the loss of character on the part of
the priests and Levites, the ceremonialism
of which they were the opponents necessa-
rily lost it's power and religion lost its
hold upon the people. Hence arose the
necessity for a system of palmer ana
more effective teaching, and the demand
for leader of creative genius to organize
such system. 1.-THE ages call and the
heroes come I'm this crisis of the
chosen people, second only in Importance
to the Exodus, there appeared a leader
second only to Moses-Samuel the
Prophet. And so grandly did he meet
the crisis that evoked him that for three
thousand years his influence upon man
kind has been second to that of no mere
man that has ever lived since his day
For Samuel was not only the organizer
of what we call constitutional government
but he was the originator of two of the
most potent and beneficent agencies of
our civilization. the pulpit and the school.
He Ievolutionized the political and re-
ligious life of Israel. He was the last of
the Judges, the first of the prophets, the
founder of the monarchy. He was the
connecting link between the old regime
and the new. He was reformer, organizer
epoch-maker of the first magnitude And
there is ne character in all Scriptural his
tory from whom the man of this trasition-
al epoch in North Carolina can learn so
much, for they have the same kind of
problems to solve and the same kind of
work to do.
1. And first of all, if we would know
how such men are made, we should note
that Samuel was the son of his mother.
The most potent influence in the making
of the man who made Israel, who first
founded schools and who first organized
preaching, was that of a wise, gentle, just
and loving mother. 1t is not merely an
alliterative epigram when we say, 'thel
hand that rocks the cradle rules the
world" Our age has seen more clearly
than any other that even the prenatal
influence of a mother on her child is very
great 1t was not a mere accident or CO.
incidence, as some one has pointed out,
that Nero's mother was a murderess. Oh
that Napoleons mother was woman
of prodigious energy, or that Sir Walter
SCOTS mother was a great lover OF
poetry, or that Lord Byrons mother was
proud woman, ill-tempered' and violent,
or that john Wesley's mother had execu- |
tive ability enough to manage an empire,
or that Washington's mother was devout
and pure, and of the loftiest character
the woman of whom he said. "All that
am owe to my mother. There must be !
something besides mere chance in an array
OF facts OF which these are but specl-
meas. When to the prenatal influence
is added the after influence of association,
example and instruction, moving along in
the same direction through all the years
OF special susceptibility, nothing short
OF eternity can reveal how decisive have
been the influence of mothers life and
personally upon the life and personality
of hor child