Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-10
SERVICES EAT AN END
Observation-Disclosures COMPLETE
CONSIDERATION OF CHURCH.
Sermon Yesterday ! Morning by Rev.
Mr.. Small Of, Cleveland, Ohio,
A Former Pastor.

The exercises of8the past week in COM
memoration of the aconsecration of the
completed Mount Pleasant Congregational
Church were concluded yesterday. At the
morning service the sermon was preached
by Rev. Charles H. Small of Cleveland.
Ohio, who was the first pastor of the
Mount Pleasant Church. Mr.. Small took
his text from the sixth chapter of the Cos
pei according to st. Mark Saith yerse-"And
Jesus when he came out saw much people
and was moved with compassion toward
them. because they were as sheep not hav-
ing a shepherd In opening his remarks
Mr. Small said he desired to call the at
tention of his hearers to the infinite COM
passion of the Divine Heart.
In this incident said Mr.. Small,
there is a concrete expression of that
which Jesus taught in the beautiful parable
of the lost sheep-the infinite love OF the
Fathers heart. We may get some faint
from our own heart feelings. We yearn to
help and inspire to, better things the
young man who fritters away his life, the
man who yields to temptation, the young
girl who does not appreciate her privilege
of identifying and ennobling life. If this
Is human compassion and longing with its
limited vision. how much greater must be
Gods?
1.-THE divine compassion Is far-reaching
and inclusive. Jesus looked upon the multi
tude individually and collectively. and Is
there any community of people today that
He does not look upon with compassion
and desire to help? 4
1.-THE need of those people on the slopes
of Gallilee was no greater than the need
today; His desire to help was no stronger
than 1t is now. Christ not only meets our
needs and becomes our shepherd, but He
creates the need in our hearts. By His
purity. strength and beauty He leads us out
into larger desires and needs, which he
stands ready to fill.''
At the conclusion of the sermon the pas
tor, Rev. NJ. Ross F'ishburn, received nine
teen members into the church. This cere-
mony was followed by the celebration or
the holy communion, at which Rev: Mr.
Small and Rev. Mr.. Fishburn officiated.
Rev. Frank l.. Goodspeed of Springfield,
Mass, pronounced the benediction.
Mr.. Small's Sermon.
In the course Of his sermon Mr.. Small
said
Christ and His apostles were confront
ing at Caesarea Philippi the worship of
Augustus Caesar. There on a spur of
Mount Hermon, overlooking the sources of
the Jordan, stood the temple built by Herod
for worship of mere man. Jesus had been
rejected by the church of his nation. The
disciples, nevertheless, made their great
confession. To them He was the Son of
God, and upon Peter and his fellow-apos
ties. holding the great truth of His divine
His transcendent influence, He had won
their hearts, wrought His likeness into
their ideals so that in after days they
membered His words. exemplified His teach
ing, radiated His spirit and told to all COM
ing time who and what He was-the Son of
God and the life and light of men. Stand
ing that day poor exile in the center of
His little company of weak men, without
a temple or an army, nevertheless before
three centuries had passed away He had
assembled the throne of Caesar, and when
the great world power fell to pieces before
the impact of it's foes every part of 1t was
instinct with the Christian spirit.
THE church is the great reality Of So
ciety Factories and banks and stores stand
for the physical necessities of men. The
church stands for the soul
1.-THE cross is the efficient cause of for
glVeneSs, and to attempt to grow in divine
things without that is to lose reverence for
spiritual realities, because when the cross
Is oDScured there is no mental measure of
Gods mercy and no living sense of Gods
saving grace. Below all forbidding appear
ances Christ finds the real man, and by a
miracle of grace redeems him out of a bad
past into regenerated and worthy future.
The church is for worship, which is the
highest exercise of the soul Of man, re-
curing the kingly, aspiring heart and the
sensitive conscience. What man wor-
ships determines what he is. The true wor-
SHIPPER becomes a paItaker of the divine
nature. The church Is the instrument of
the kingdom of God. By it God makes his
outnTust upon human society, pouring
through this channel a current of vitalizing
and Transforming influence into the social
and business and political life of the world
I'm Its zeal for the salvation of men the
church crosses oceans, faces dangers, defies
disease and thus becomes the power of
commerce and civilization. 1t not only
follows the flag 1t goes on ahead with the
banner of the cross. 1t guards the rights
OF childhood and womanhood, making both
sacred In the name of the Carpenter of
Nazareth 1t demands that labor shall have
its just rights and rewards, and that the
personality OF every man shall be respected
as sacred thing. 1t develops and unites
the moral forces of the world. 1t re-echoes
and reinforces the Bethlehem song of peace
on earth and good will among men,"