Cañon City record., 1906-05-17
CANON NETHODISTS DEDICATE
HANDSOME new CHURCH EDIFICE
Bishop Warren Denver
Sunday.

Christ said: came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister unto
others l am come, said the master,
that you might have life and have it
more abundantly.' Christ never de-
fined the gospel, but he illustrated it
when he likened the kingdom of hea-
ven unto a mustard seed, and the
leaven, which the woman put into the
bread. The apostle. Paul, said the
gosple of Christ is power
ASK yourself what is the distin-
gushing characteristic of earthly ex-
istence. You might say it was duty.
You might say it was wisdom. You
might say it was power, but only the
last definition would be right. Every
drop of water is full OF steam, which
is after all only undeveloped power.
The heart of mountain may be blown
out by an internal dynamite force
which is unknown and unsuspected.
The definition of the gospel as Civ
en- by St Paul becomes richer. strong
er and more consoling TO the Christian
every day. These others, steam, grav-
ity, electricity belong to the power of
matter. AS sure as there are realms
of power for matter just as truly are
there realms of power for mud The
realms of power for matter are every
where present The comet gave from
the sun for, perhaps. thousand years
is still controlled by physical law
and gravity swings it around from its
far aphelion and brings il back again
All the realms of physical power are
subservent to man alone. An ele-
phant cannot handle electricity, nor
monkey steam
All of the realms of material power
show that there is plenty of it You
cannot bind the power of steam by
iron bands. Down in the earth is a
power that occasionally bursts its
bands and lifts mountains high in the
air. If you tried to bind the earth to
the sun by steel wires ii would take
so many at the point of contact with
the earth that mouse could not move
about among them. There is power
enough If you will only avail yourself
of it. II you do not it is your fault
All power is transmissible Niaga-
ra is a source of tremendous physical
power and 1t is available for CONNER
cial purposes at Buffalo and Albany,
more than half way to New York City.
Christ died and told half a dozen men
to turn the world upside down in the
matter of morals and right living
Who were this handful of men to re-
ceive the divine commission? Were
they the elite, the four hundred?
Did they possess oratory? Did they
have civil power? No. the civil power
ol
military might? No, the military might
was against them. And yet these men.
destitute of social standing. destitute
of civil and military power, destitute
of oratory, were instructed to turn the
world upside down.
There were many prosecutions of
the followers of Christ during the first
three hundred years of the Christian
era. The disciples We're thrown
among wild beasts TO be torn to pieces
on account of their loyalty to the Re-
deemer They were tied to stakes and
burned to illuminate the gardens of
the Emperor Nero To avoid this
persecution the early Christians inven-
ted language that their prosecutors
could not understand. To utter the
maine vi NutiSA HltdHt AhAfA
and death In that day such a gath
eriug as this was impossible. but in
defiance of all opposition Christianity
fiourished. being inspired by the pow
er of God. which is mightier than all
OF the powers of earth combined.
Gods power transmitted to human
nature conveys to il some OF the divine
characteristics. The Christian by
close communion with God has i'm
parted to him wisdom, for God is all
wise Communicated wisdom from
God creates will power in man and
makes him refuse to bow down in
meek submission to the enemy of hu-
man souls. God is love and his char
acteristics transmitted to man makes
him love his enemies, makes him love
his fellow men. Love communicated to
man in this way enables him TO with
stand persecution without complaint.
Enables him to be scouraged and
stoned and imprisoned for the sake
of Him who died that man might live.
Those of you who are present here
today have an opportunity of dedicat-
ing this beautiful church TO assist In
communicating the love of God to your
fellow men. 1t is the greatest oppor-
tunity you have ever had in Canon
City of conveying to others knowl-
edge of the divine love. unless 1t was
a similar opportunity to this"
After a prayer by Bishop Warren
statements were made by Pastor Chat
fee and the bishop in relation TO the
dedicatory offering. 1t was announced
that the cost of enlarging the church
had been $4,000. OF which $4,000 was
subscribed, and $4,000 paid in, leaving