Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-07
LISTEN EAGERLY
TO DR.. LOCKE
IMMENSE CROWD GREETS THE
NEW PASTOR
CHOOSES "FAlTH's VICTORIES"
FOR FIRST SERMON
Bishop Mclntyre's Successor Preaches
to Vast Throng at Auditorium
Building Being Decorated
in His Honor

Despite the SllgnI llcielhSheJ "
weather Yesterday morning 1t was d
true california welcome extended TO
DR.. Charles Edward Locke, the new
pastor of the First Methodist church,
Yesterday morning on his assuming 'i
active pastorate as the successor ot
Bishop Robert Mcintyre. Ihe eteae
auditorium and Sunday school room
were packed with large cohsIesa.iior
long before the hour OF the nloriills
service, and it was a full house thdl
greeted the new pastor.
In honor of DR.. Locke the pulpit ana
choir rail had been elaborately deckeu
with greenery and fair blossoms as
paragus ferns outlining the cholr ran,
while in front of the pulpit were
banked ferns and dainty hued amaryl-
lis lilies. -
DR. Locke, who has been called TO
this pastorate four previous times, sue
cumbed to the fifth call and yesterday
morning greeted many admirers anu
old friends. 1t had been arranged that
he should be accompanied 10 the PUPPY
by a member of the official board,
while the choir sang the doxology, out
unostentatiously and quietly DR.. Locke
made his way to the platform, Wnere
he was greeted with the strains or the
we'll known Praise God from Whom
All Blessings Flow"
The choir rendered an elaborate pro-
Guiding a splendid TIE Deum.
DR.. Locke took for his topic Faiths
Victories" and in his opening prayer
made a touching reference to his pre-
decessor, Bishop Mcintyre, ana
stirring reference to the temperance
question, which brought forth many
hearty "amens."
On Slopes Of olivet
DR.. Locke said in part;
early in the morning. after re-
freshing sleep amidst the fragrant
bowers of Bethany, on the second day
of our Lords sad and triumphant pas
sion week, Jesus with his disciples was
on his way around the graceful slopes
of Olivet to the great city. All being
hungry, and seeing a fig tree, they ap-
preached it, confidently expecting to
enjoy the luscious fruit, for the season
of the ripening fruit had come, but the
time for the gathering of the harvest
was not yet. When they reached the
tree they found nothing but leaves
Christ thereupon pronounced curse
upon the unfruitful and. useless tree,
and Immediately it withered away
When the wondering disciples saw the
fig tree withered away they marveled,
but Jesus said, IF ye have faith and
doubt not, ye shall not only do this
which is done to the fig tree, but Also
if We shall say unto this mountain, be
thou demoved and be thou cast into
the sea, it shall be done; and all things
whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, be-
lieving, ye shall receive
John was the best loved of all the
disciples of Jesus. Our introduction to
him is when he is a young man, when
he and Andrew at the suggestion OF
John the Baptist. Behold, the Lamb
of Cod and Follow Jesus inquire
Where dwellest thou? and he replies
Come and see.' Sixty years have
passed; he is now an old man, standing
on the mountain top of expectancy,
with the light of immortality aglow
upon his face. Looking forward into
the future he cries, 1t doth not yet
appear what we shall be- and looking
backward upon the way he has trav-
eled and upon the great world strug-
gling for mastery he shouts trump
antly This is the victory that over
cometh the world, even our faith
Faith and Reason
Faith is the assurance of things
hoped for, the evidence proving of
things not seen. 1t has been truth
fully said that faith is a higher fac
ulty than reason. Reason builds la
boriously and often fruitlessly it's tow
ers of Babel, but faith quickly scars
into the very bosom of the infinite.
Faith is a grateful arch which spans
the chasm between man the finite and
God the infinite. Faith is a gift. BY
grace are ye saved through faith-it
is the gift of Cod Faith is the subtle
force by which man adjusts himself
to God Like the sailor who fastens
a line on the shore and brings his boat
to the landing by pulling upon the line,
so faith throws out its hope toward
God and draws upon it. AS Walt
Whitman's 'noiseless, patient spider
throws out its gossamer thread which
20 tnh enr1oayyhara cniI1c C1tnh
upon God and we draw ourselves to
him. Faith is sightseeing him who is
invisible Faith is the Christians hy-
pothesis soon replaced by demonstra-
ton. 1t is the kite which the soul let's
out over the great chasm between God
and man, whose delicate line supports
stronger and still a stronger, until
the mighty cable sustains the souls
weight of care and hope.
Faith is pardon, peace, regenera-
ton. Being justified by faith we have
peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ We are saved from sin
not by evolution or by revolution or
by works alone, but by faith. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved
Faith is life. The just shall live
by faith was Luther's discovery on
the staircase in the Lateran. The life
which I now live in the flesh I live by
lIlC ldltI VI Tic cOll Ol 1Ous NuIlSl
is life. He came to interpret and en-
large life for each of us.
Faith also is character. Faith in
Christ is the foundation of character
the inspiration of achievement. Char
acter is what man is doing all the
time. When the disciples asked Jesus
what they should do to work the
works of God he replied, Believe on
him whom he hath sent What we
believe will determine what we do
Great men are great ideas incarnated.
1t was said of Abraham, He believed
God and it was accounted unto him
for righteousness
1.-TWO young men roomed together
and studied on the opposite sides of
the same table in European univer-
sity. One of them became William
Mast, the founder of German Metho-
dism in America, and the other was
David Frederick Strauss, the celebrated
skeptic, who sought to maintain the
mythical theory concerning Jesus
Christ. Gen. Washington and Tom
Paine, Henry Ward Beecher and Bob
Ingersoll present an interesting and
pathetic study in contrasts the part
ings of the ways between men and the
influence of their lives may be found
at the point of what they believe. A
mans belief crystallizes into what the
man is.
Realization and Doubt
Faith is the substance of things
hoped for Faith realizes while other