The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-05-23


3. Prayer OF Invocation-By Rev. James Nc.
! Dowell.
4. Hymn No. eo6-"1 Love Thy kingdom.
5. Scripture Lesson-Read by Rev. S. NJ.
| Smith, D. D.
6. Prayer-By Rev. a. n. Bcunson:
:. Hymn No. 56e-'We Cannot Build Alone. y
S. Notices Remarks by the Pastor, etc.
9. Ofertory.
Columbia, S. c.
| II. Prayer-By Rev. R. L. Grier.
God Almighty! followed by the prayer
OF Dedication by the Pastor.
IS. Hymn No. 26s-'.Thou Whose Unmeasured
| Temple Stands
II. Benediction-By DR.. Smith.
DEDICATION SERMON.
The text that I have selected as suit
able for the occasion is from the S4th
Psalm and the End verse, the latter
part of the verse: "My heart and my
flesh crieth out for the living God"
l suppose we might safely say that
the appeal of Philip, "Show US the
Father, and it sufficeth us'' is the out
going Of an instinct of the human
heart: sometimes dormant, sometimes
latent; unrecognized, unconscious on
the part of the heart itself, but in any
time of great exigency or emergency
it springs into being. AS the Psalmist
says, "From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee, when my heart IS
overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that
is higher than l." psalm 6l:2) 'The
living God:" ''My heart and my flesh
crieth out for The Living God." Does
that phrase grasp you? Does it seem at
all strange? The Living Cod" How
strange it seems, for whoever thought
of any other kind of God? And yet
these two words are welded together
and appear in the most indissoluable
union: THE Living God." This
phrase often appears in the Scriptures
and shows what in the mind Of the
Psalmist distinguishes his God from
all other gods-a Living God.
Throughout the territory of the
human race there were many gods, but
they were gods of wood and stone. In
all the wide world there was idolatry
except in the one small spot occupied
by this people, ,Isreal, who distinguished
their God as ''The Living God. Isreal
was the only nation that was not idola-
trous Listen to this passage, let
it sink down into your mind and heart;
s'He heweth him down cedars, and
taketh the cypress and the oak, which
he strengtheneth for himself among
the trees of the forest: he planteth an
ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
Then shall it be for man to burn:
for he will take thereof, and warm
himself: yea, ne kindleth it, and baketh
bread: yea, he maketh a god, and
| 1o bath
image, and falleth down thereto.
He burneth part thereof in the fire;
with part therof he eateth flesh: he
roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he
warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, am
warm, have seen the fire:
And the residue thereof he maketh
a god, even his craven image; he fall
eth down unto it, and worshippeth It,
and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver
me; for thou art my god.
And none considereth in his heart,
neither is there knowledge nor under
standing to say, l have burned part of
it in the fire; yea, also I have. baked
bread upon the Goals thereof: | have
roasted flesh and eaten it; and shall 1
make the residue thereof an abomina-
tion? Shall I fall down to the stock of
of tree?" Isaiah 44:l4-l9.
1 have no doubt a description like
that seems to you as grotesoue in its
absurdity. But idolatry is not limited
to wood and stone. The very word has
come down through all the centuries
unchanged. In the Greek it is 'Eido-
lon" and means "a spectre, "''the ghost
of the departed, San apparition,' "a
phantom of the mind" I should not
be surprised if there be many people
living in the full blaze of this 10Th Cen
uury who are worshipping "EidQlon"-
a mere phantom of the mind. Yshould
not be at all surprised if that phrase
that has become so popular in late
years which ascribes to God simply
unifying centre of a grand system of
philosophy, namely "a Great First
Cause'-I should not be surprised if
this phrase were the mark of some
thing like idolatry, mere phantom of
the mind. Nor should be surprised
if much of that which passes under the
title of current orthodoxy and which
makes God the figure head of merely
formal theology be likewise idolatry-
"a phantom of the mind'
THE living Godn' What are the at
tributes of life? What is it that dis
tinguishes life from all else, and Liv-
ing God from all forms of idolatrv? Is
it not something of contact; commun-
ion; association; interchange; recip-
rocity? Compare, if you will, living
father with dead father. The one in
constant touch with the family. The
other far away, remote; loved and rev.
erenced, but still no longer in personal
contact. can conceive of Il letter
from that dead~father; treasured be-
yonu any other possession, and exer-
cising wide influence over that fam
lily. The will expressed in that letter
being dominant in the family, through
all the years, but yet it is the letter of
dead father. May startle you by
fshe application of the illustration? Is
il not possible that this Bible, instead
of being ''the living oracles" of "a liv-
!, ing'G is rather a letter from dead
ffather to his children?
Constant communication, Intimate as
sociation, fellowship, interchange,
the touch-the constant touch of liv-
ing force, these only are the marks of
"a Living God. My heart and my
flesh erieth out for the living God"
Do you remember the explanation of
the great Apostle Paul, standing be-
fore Agrippa in that testing time, when
be recalled one memorable day in his
experience to which he referred when |
he said, ''Whereupon, O King Agrippa,
T was not disobedient unto the heaven
lv rision?" There was contact; there /
was fellowship. This word vision, has
been somewhat degraded in common
use. But still it has in it great les
sou and deep meaning. There is
something grand in its contemplation;