The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-12-04
TRIBUTE TO REV. OVERS
Large Congregation Hears His Last
Sermon as Pastor Of the Farm.
ington Christian Church.

Rev. Edward Overs, who has re-
ccivcd and accepted call to preach
from the Christian Church ut Anson,
Texas, delivered his farewell dis
course as pastor of the church in
Pennington last Sunday evening.
The church building was crowded to
its full capacity, The members Of
the local Ministerial AlliHuc" had
previously decided not to hold ser
vices ut their respective churches
ON that evening SO that they and the
members of their congregations
might be present to show their
! Christian fellowship and good will
to the retiring pastor. On account
of the revival in progress at the
| First NJ. f.. Church, its pastor was
not present, but he sent II rcprcson-
tativc in the person of DR.. f.. NJ.
Smith, teacher of philosophy ut
Carleton College, to voice the scnti-
mcnts of that congregation.
Rev. Overs chose for the theme Of
his discourse on this accession "The
Supreme Glory OF the Church." He
said in part that "the history of the
nineteenth century has been one Of
the greatest in the history of the
world, and that the writer Of IL will
| tt,tA VIII Ia
stranger than fiction The intima-
tions and dreams of yesterday have
become the realities of to-day. The
marvellous no longer prOVokes mar
vel and the wonderful has become
commonplace - nothing surprises,
everything is anticipated. That
which man has done is but an ear,
nest Of the things he yet shall do.
"Gladstonc has said that the first
nifty years Of the nineteenth cen.
tury marked more progress in art,
science, invention and discovery
than the previous five thousand
years; the next twenty more than
the previous fifty, and the next ten
more than the previous twenty five
century, in short, whose achieve
mcnts ARE so surprising that We
must compare it, not with any pre-
ceding century, but with the whole
historical period.
"As we gaze upon the wonderful
/ t.f, g In al
achievements of man, it seems that
imaginatian has created realm al
her own and named 1t fact.
"Brilliant, however, as have beer
the intellectual and material achieve
ments of the century" said the
speaker ''they do not constitute its
crowning glory. All these things
dazzling though they be, may cock
ist with infamy. Note the polished
Greek, the commanding power o.
j.. Rome, France under Louis tn,
D Fourteenth, and to-day. Civiliza
r ton is Il scepter over limited
1 realm; beyond this It Is a broker
reed. III can give outward rebpecta
f, bility; 1t cannot redeem.
The speaker then, tracing the de
: velopment OF human knowledge from
, its savage state, asked, "Fron
q whence shall come that higher know
ledge without which the spirit shal
remain undeveloped? Missions" b.
said, represented the highest min
r istry which man can exercise ant
= which man can receive-the minis
o, try of,making God known to man.
n "This is the Supreme Glory Of tn
l.. Church?
O eighteen hundred years hav'
q been required TO begin even the uni
versal missionary era in 1900. CO.
n whispered worldwide evangelical
!. tion, and It is the glory of the cen
n tury that 1t Ia fulfilling the Divin
a purpose concerning it. William
y Carey found the Church dying, an
:. bade her rise and touch the world
n wretchedness and go forth healed.
The spenker said that the purpos