The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-05-24

20 Hod duo 10 nts grace praying ina
In all your deliberations in this con
yention. you may be ever mindful o
the sacred responsibility which Ia
traditions OF the great past and tn,
hope Of the greater future impose up
on you. God hath set our feet in I
large room, therefore We shall plaE
and work on the broadcast lines Of love
and faith.
How gracious is the promise. how
splendid is the vision of the future
in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"All that we value in religion, all
that makes life worth living. all thai
elevates and consecrates human tot
and effort for progress and improve
! ment, all that ennobles and sanctifies
the pain and sorrow and sacrifice oil
humanity hinges upon this truth:
that God, the infinite and omnipotent
became man for our sakes and on our
behalf.
1.-THE greatest of ali theoiogians
said II determined not to know any
thing among you save Jesus Christ
and Him Crucihed." AS it was in the
beginning so it is now, the enemy of
the faith in subtle and plausible fash
ion is trying to rob us of this truth
and substitute a subjective impress
sion for the objective fact, to take
away the supernatural revelation from
above and give us natural evolution
from below to deny that God ever
became man and to beguile us with
the notion that man has become God.
If this were a speculative inquiry
about an absent Christ, who died and
left this world eighteen hundred years
ago, it might be open to discussion.
But we have not so learned Christ.
On the contrary our Christ is with us
still, here today, present in the Holy
Communion, present where two or
three are gathered together in His
name, present in His church, personal
ly and really present, even as He was
present to His disciples in the upper
room in Jerusalem and on the shores
of Galilee, by the power of theHoly
Ghost He whose christianity con-
sists in tender memories OF a dead
Christ, whose teaching he may admire,
may dispute about the articles of the
fundamental Greed of the church; but
men who find Christ present from day
to day as a living Person in the Holy
Sacrament and in the church, can new
err sympathize with such mental at
titude.
Il tell you, my brethren, that the
antidote to all Pantheism, from Spi-
noza to Mrs. Eddy. from Socinus to
the last evolutionist who makes
Christs divinity to be nothing more
than a perfect human development OF
moral character, is the truth we COM
memorate this week, viz: that as
Christ came into the world to reveal
the Father, the Holy Ghost came into
the world to perpetuate the presence
of the Christ in His church and sacra-
ment. 81 know Him whom | have be-
Iieved," said the Apostle. and Il de-
termined to know nothing among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'
Here then is the foundation of our
hope. the inspiration of our work, the
master-light of all our seeing. God
grant us grace to live what we have
learned, that we may be illuminated
with the true knowledge and under
standing of His word; that both by
our preaching and living we may set
it forth and show it accordingly"
Morning Session of the Convention.
At the morning session of the Con-
vention the greater part of the time
was taken up with the election of dele
gates to the General Convention OF
the Church to be held at Richmond,
and this work had not been completed
when an adjournment was taken for
lunch.
The delegates so far elected are as
Clerical Delegates-Rev. DR.. Win
chester of Memphis. Rev. DR.. Roose
of Christ Church, Nashville, Rev.
Samuel Ringgold of st. Johns church,
Knoxville. and Rev. w. B. Capers OF
st. Peters Church, Columbia.
Alternate Clerical Delegates-Revs.
Drs. Logan of Nashville, W. G. Rob-
ertson, of Chattanooga, ]. G. Morris OF
Memphis and r. X. Smith of Frank
lin.
Lay Delegates-Dr. B, l.. Virgins
Of Sewanee, Judge II. H. Ingersol OF
Knoxville, Mr.. George NJ. barrow OF