The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-01-06
A NEW YEAR SERMON.
Rev. ]. L. Williamson, Pastor CT the
Aveleigh Presbyterian Church, .
Delivers Excellent And
Forceful Sermon.

On Sunday morning. January l.,
Rev. J. l.. Williamson pastor OF the
.Avylcigh Presbyterian church, this
city. delivered an excellent and torce-
fui New Year sermon. taking as his
text Genesis 25:r.
He said in part:
Some s. years or more before these
words were spoken. Jacob while
i,c"ing from home to escape the wrath
.; his brother Esau whom he had
rp,,bcd was permitted to see IN
dream q ladder reaching from earth
10 heaven and the angels Of the Lord
ascending and descending upon it.
nit there was something awful con-
nccicd with tha. encouraging and up
lifting vision. He saw the Lord
standing above the ladder looking
Down upon him and scene OF re-
;ei,. ire made the place to him a
dreadful place: it took its character
from lis own guilty conscience and
though it was house OF God it was
awful to :hc man who had just de-
crivcd his iathcr and robbed his
brother.
But the Lord spake unto him III
tenderness and kindness. extending
unto him exceeding great and precious
promises whereby he was greatly en-
ouraged. And awaking out Of his
sleep. he said "Surely the Lord is in
this place and I knew it not, This
is none other but the home of God
and the gate of heaven, and he called
the name of the place Bethel, the
house of God, and there vowed a
VOW. saying, If God will be with me
and will keep me in this way that go
and will give me bread to eat and
raiment to put on. so that | shall
come again to my fathers house in
peace and the Lord will be my God:
;hen this stone which has been my
pillow and which I set up here for
a pillar and upon the top OF which |
POW pour the consecrating oil, shall
be Gods house. and OF all that thou
shalt give me | will surely give the
tenth unto thee"
But oS years passed away, and
though God was all the while full
filing his covenanted promises
ing with him and giving him pros
pcrity in all his affairs, bestowlng
much more than Jacob had dared to
ask, and bringing him back to his ma
tive land in peace. enabling him to
effect a comfortable settlement there
still for some unrecorded reason or
perhaps for no reason at all the VOW
which he made at Bethel remained
imp, rformed.
And this was not until after his
sons had made their name odious in
the neighborhood Of Shechem and
their longer stay there unsafe. The
command to go back was therefore
9th reasonable in point of time and
tender in respect to language. The
disgraceful and pernous events that
had recently taken place in Jacobs
family must have produced in him a
strong desire to remove without de-
lay from the vicinity of Shechem, and
at Bethel he would not only be re-
leased but be established in a spot
that would revive the most deiigh: ::ul
and sublime recollections. And how
much he felt the touching nature Of
the appeal IS evidenced by the imne-
diate preparations he made to arise
and go to Bethel.
And now | want to take the text
as a message to us toda". The first
day Of the year is certainly fit time
for us to go back to Bethel and renew
our covenant with the Lord. And
beside. this is our communion season,
a time when gathering around the
Lords table we reconsecrate our
selves to Him.
And are not some of us in Jacobs
plight? Isn't the old story Of
Jacobs forgetting or neglecting his
vows repeated every day? Isn't it to