The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-05-08

carried conviction to the hearts of his
hearers and found eternal Judgment
in their minds, Bishop Hoss declared
that the one and only true church OF
Christ was the church invisible. Ev
cry church which teaches of Christ
every church which holds within its
members true believers of the faith
is a true christian church, but nc
visible church, no earthly organization
can claim that it is the true church OF
Christ.
Bishop Hoss made a strong and
earnest defense of denominationalism
and stated that he believed it would
be unfortunate for the cause of Christ
and detrimental to protestants if all
derominational lines should be OBJ
liberated and all churches opposed to
the Roman church were merged into
one. "Such a church would become
arrogant, intolerant, bigoted, a perse-
cutor and finally corrupt" said the
learned divine.
!, While there was much of contro-
versial and argumentative nature in
the discourse, every statement being
fortified by the inspired word of God,
| the figures of speech which inter
spersed and illustrated the strong
points of the the deliverance could not
have been more appropriately Sc
| lected or more beautifully worded. The
concluding peroration, the supplica-
| ton to the eternal throne of Grace
! that the spirit Of the living, the ever
lasting and the true God might abide
forever within the edifice there dedi-
Gated to his worship could not have
been surpassed for the beauty of Its
diction. the power and earnestness of
it's deliverance nor the deep piety
which breathed through every line.
The exercises we're opened by Rev.
C. R. Wade, the pastor of the church,
who spoke of the pleasure which he
experienced in welcoming So many
people to the church on so suspicious
an occasion He called attention to
the fact that it was just one year
since the corner stone OF the new edi-
fce had been laid.
Bishop Hoss read lessons from the
old and the new testaments and Rev.
] A. Molloy offered an earnest prayer.
He invoked divine blessings upon the
church and upon its congregation and
prayed that 1t might stand ever as
monument to the faith of those who
had constructed it, and that the spirit
of God might ever dwell within the
sanctuary.
Bishop Hoss took for his text Paurs
letter to the Ephesians, chapter two,
vesses 10 to %: "Now therefore We
are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints and
of the household of God; And are built
upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himselr
being the chief corner stone; in whom
all the building fifty framed together
eroweth unto an holy temple In the
Lord in whom we also are builded
together for an habitation of God
through the spirit"
There are two methods of interpre-
ting Christianity, said the speaker,
one LAYING exclusive emphasis on per-
sonal piety and the other stress on
the organized church. Both are neces-
sarv and inevitable constructions ana
both are sustained by the scriptures.
Rishop Hoss continued in part as
follows. THE kingdom of God is
within the heart; that is the personal
invisible and inward kingdom OF God
II is righteous peace and JOY in the
I HOLY Ghost There is no true peace
or holy JOY without righteousness. But
on the other hand the scriptures con-
tain the doctrine of the organized
church. II is true the Lord speaks
more of the kingdom Of God than he
does of the church, but the church IS
not relatively unimportant thing as
some contend.
oThe church and the kingdom are
identical: there is very little diner
ence between them. There are true
men who are touched by the Invisible
kingdom who never came within the
influence of the organized church; the
church is the instrument through
which the kingdom must do It's work
and achieve its ends. The last re-