The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-05-24
DR.. M'CLURKIN IS
NAMED MODERATOR
Continued From Page one.)

sured that the honor was one due his
presbytery more than 90 himself and
he expressed his gratitude feelingly
for the confidence the Assembly had
imposed In him. without further GER
emony the opening session of the as
sembly closed with the announce
ment that this morning the list of
standing committees and other Off
GERS of the assembly would be named.
Auditorium Completely Filled.
The audience of delegates and Wis
ftors present at the first session of
the General Assembly last night COM
pletely filled the magnificent auditor
ium of Reid Memorial church. On
the platform besides DIR. Williamson,
the retiring moderator were DR.. S. r.
Lyons. pastor of Reid Memorial
church; DR.. J. w. Carson, of Xenia,
o., and the Rev. J. NJ. Jameson, Of
Monmouth, III. Following the devo-
:tional exercises which marked the
opening, DR.. Williamson delivered the
annual assembly sermon 1t was a
forceful and a most eloquent plea for
John ,xVI-8-11; when He is come He
will convince the world of sim In
part DIR. Williamson spoke as follows:
This passage of Scripture is con-
fessedly difficult one 1t may SAVIOR
or presumption or vanity, one or both
Ito undertake its unfolding in this
presence. The hope is INDUCED, that
nd
cised In view of the fact, that it was
early settled that II some form the
truth about the Spirit must be the
theme of this sermon. With that set
tied unalterably, these words met all
the requirements as TO a Scripture
basis for truth concerning him and
encountered no objections save the
difficulties attending the interpreta-
ton of this word. These seemed al
arming when 1t was found that an
interpreter of the word so able as
Ry1e felt constrained to say. that the
difficulty of rightly interpreting the
wondrous sayings of our Lord In this
place. is undeniably great" Had he
stopped there 1t would have been less
discouraging. To that he added. 1T
may we'll be doubted whether the full
meaning of these words has ever
been grasped by man, and whether
there Is not somthing at the bottom
which has not been completely un-
folded. Truly the well is deep. But
the water from the surface of deep
wells Is cooler and more refreshing
than water from the bottom of wells
that are shallow. So down the buck
,et must go for a draught, even
though fathoms of living water be-
yond it's reach remain undisturbed.
1t is the truth about the Spirit. About
that, no two opinions can exist. Let
us hope 1t may yield up it's meaning
about him In his precious massion so
as to benefit every one of us here to-
night. e
I'm the endeavor to discover the
mind of the Master as here set be-
fore us, much must be made of the
truth to which he gives expression
about himself. Two things alone of
lall that he said leading up to and pre-
pairing the way for these words are to
be noted: First, his own mission to
this world was about to end. The Sec
farewell message, is that he was go
ing away, leaving the world uncon.
vinced He was despised and rejected
by men. These two facts in the way
of approach to these words are care,
fully noted, because they seem to
furnish the key to the meaning OF
what he further says about the Com
forter who was to come. With these
facts In the background, listen to
these words again: When He, the
Comforter is come, he will convince
the world of sin and righteousness
and of judgement.
1.-TWO things stand out in bold relief
in this statement. First, these very
persons will be convinced. Not re
proved merely. They will be reprov
ed it is true. but it will be the re
proof that attends their conviction
Right out from the company of mer
and women who in their unbeliei
joined hands in executing the sen
tence of death aaginst Christ, would
come many who would be as free, as
bold, and out-spoken as Peter to say
Thou are the Christ the Son of the
living God. That would be done
which had not been done under his
own personal ministry.
THE second thing contained ir
these words is the truth about how
this was to be done This convincing
work will be by the Ministry of the
Spirit. When he comes he will con
vince the world of sin, righteousness
and judgment. And he will do all thi:
by convincing these same people thai
this Jesus, who had come from Hea
ven and returned to the Father, wa:
indeed the Christ. Something in tn;
nature of a trial in court under hi
true words, the world was in tn,
place of the judge or jury To thi
jury Christ came affirmed that h,
was the Savior. That was sustained
by signs and wonders, man,
wrought by himself. attested by tn,
visible descent of the Spirit at hi
baptism. and by a voice from HEAVIER
declaiming him to be the Son of God
When all the testimony was in an,
the witnesses all heard, the verde
was rendered. And ii was this: TIL,
claim is not sustained by the test
mony. Undes>the Spirit the case wa
admitted to trial anew before tn,
4..I