The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-01-02
SERMON FOR THE NEW YEAR
REV. MR. PERRY,s ADMIRABLE
 ADDRESS AT ST. PAUL,s.

Opening Words of Genesis His Text
 @Central TruthD of the Creation
 story-What Nature Teaches Us
 The Lesson of EyoIution-strength
 of Early Influences on Mans Char
 acter.
 At St. Paul's church yesterday morn ing the rector, Rev MT. Perry, preach ed an excellent sermon for the New
 Years season before a large congre-
 gation. MT. Perry said in part:
 I have chosen for my text to-day the first words of the book of Genesis: Tn the beginning, God" They do not com plete the statement. More would be
 required to make a thesis for a scien-
 tist, or a sentence that would parse.
 But for the presentation of a master
 thought these four words are sufficient.
 They are like simple theme of music
 to be developed in different keys and
 various settings, according to the mood and power Of the composer.
 The poet took them first and expand ed them in the song of the creation. which comprises the first chapter of the
 Bible. Then in the hands of the law
 giver they became the motif of the first
 commandment, Thou shalt have no oth- CT God but me- which determined the whole decalogue. Later, the scientist
 found in them the keynote of all true natural philosophy.
 Only as we understand the
 origin of things can we know their object. On every hand the earth pro-
 claims the everlasting principle (to
 any who have eyes to see or ears to
 hear it) that the natural world is but
 the expression of an unseen power which gives the universe its mission.
 All that is or ever shall be has its
 existence from Him who was in the
 beginning God.
 Mir. Perry then showed the effects of this principle on each human life. How lsupremely true this was" said he, ..of
 Jesus Christ. There was life filled with new beginnings, and In each be- ginning God remained supreme. He continued:
 Every effective life has something of
 the same inspiration with which to meet the chances and changes of the world.
 How else can the soul find renewal with the changing seasons unless it
 has it's roots deep in the being of God?
 The bloom passes from one period and another of Nfe, but so long as 1t draws upon the source of life. each death pre-
 pares the way for new birth, each ending only ushers in new beginning,
 and in every beginning God is present
 to give each period of life a power and
 beauty of its owH
 No man among us needs to be per lsuaded by any argument how strongly | at some time, probably in early life, perhaps. only in the beginning, God laid
 claim upon his conscience a,sd s; heart
 He knows how in those days his powers gathered; the vision came which first inspired your work; he consecrated ! himself wholly to the course which lay l before him. There was then no loneli-
 ness and no despair. He delighted in the confidence that grew from a clean
 heart and the cornpanionship of God All unintentionalIy the spiritual bands i began to break, at first simply by neg
 lect as the privilege of prayer was dis regarded, then by the abuse of one rule land another that had been dearer to him once than life itself. Farther, and farther then he parts from the power which in the beginning gave him strength, and hope, and life itself. He throws himself desperately into one oc- Icupation and another, one recreation
 after another to fill up the void that will not be filled except by him who rightly occupies 1t. Yet, deep down in l his heart of hearts there remains one link which holds us all to our true DO sitions as spiritual beings. It is the patient, forgiving love with which the Father holds every man in his sight as
 he made him in the beginning, a child l of God.
 I With this thought in mind. may we lnot interpret the opening of another year? Coming as 1t does on Sunday, il l Is our privilege to listen to the word which may best give the year its char. acter. Tn the beginning. God--' is the first thought with which the year Istarts upon it's life. Tn the beginnins l God--" the rest is silence. How shall that sentence proceed for us though the advancing year? Must it be a spir ! itual impulse now stinging us to a brave
 resolve, only to be surrendered when
 cares surround and forgetful pleasures fclaim us? No! Let the chapter con tinue for us in the strain that it be gins to-day. Tn the beginning God will claim our earnest consecration now in his communion. Let him hold us in that intimate relation. In the begin ming God will be the object Of our best efforts. Let him receive that perfect service from us constantly. Then from the beginning to the end God will be the abiding presence in our hearts, to
 prompt each thought and word and act In closing Rev. MT. Perry read the following splendid little poem, relating
 to the subject of the sermon <. A flre-mist and a planet, ' A crystal and a cell, s. t.+ | A jelly-fish and saurian,
 And caves where the cave men dwell:
 Then a sense of law and beauty.