The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-02-04
THE OBLIGATORY SERMON

Address of DIR, Frank Fox Delivered
at the Dedication of the Con-
gregational Church.
Sunday morning DR.. Frank Fox,
of Sioux Falls, delivered the dedica-
tory sermon at the exercises of the
Congregational church, and which is
printed in full below:
The Place of The Church In II Life
OF To-day
Text Tim. 3:15 THE church
of the living God. the pillar and
ground of the truth"
This age like the Athenians of old
seeks the new thing and looks light
ly on that which is ancient.
Science has made us masters of
the clements and inventive genius
has enriched OIL age with a thous-
and useful inventions.
We are rich with the accumulat-
ed treasures of the ages. Many say
Il am rich and have need of moth
lng," % realizing that in spiritual
things they are poor and blind and
naked"
The s~elf-satisfied souls of this age
should remember that other ages
have had much of which they, too
could boast.
Greece flourished in tie age OF
Pericles, yet that civilization per-
ished for lack of the l%eavening i'm
fiucnce of the true religion.
Rome had her age of Augustus.
grand and imposing beyond all that
men had seen before, yet the glories
of the Augustan age vanished in the
political and social corruptions which
characterized the reigns of Tiber-
ius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.
Historians tell us of the glories
of the Elizabethian age in England.
1t was famous for the Elizabethan
erature. The age was enriched by
Shakespeare and Sidney and Bacon
and others of lesser note.
But this glorious era was follow
ed by the blackness of the Stuarts.
No amount of philosophical learn
ing, literary excellence, or %scienti-
fic success, can save an age from
moral r%eprobation.
knowledge, divorced from the NOR
al and spiritual truth, for which the
Church of Christ stands, is of little
value to men.
We have hundreds of millions in
vested in colleges and universities.
Learning has been the idol of this
age. The Church has been neglect
ed by many. This has resulted in a
two-fold evil. There has been an
appalling increase of dishonesty and
despair in high places. The state
has spent millions in educating a
set of conscientious rascals who are
using their sharpened intellect to
plumber the public. There has also
been a shocking increase in de-
bauchery and self-destruction in high
life. Neither wealth nor learning
can satisfy mans deepest need. The
world is in imperative need of that
truth for which the church stands,
Gods revelation of Himself to men
through Jesus Christ.
Christ organized His Church and
sent out men to preach his gospel.
to extend and perpetuate among men
a saving knowledge of God.
/. The Church is a Divine insti-
tuition composed of believers who
have convenated to work with Christ
for the evangelization of the world.
l.. Paul's favorite symbol for the
Church is 1.-The body of Christ" He
said to the Corinthian church eye
are the body of Christ" to the
Ephesians ""rhe church which is His
body" to the Collossians, "He is the
head of the body, the Church." I
fill upon my part that which is lack
flesh for His body's sake which is the
Church.
2. The Church fathers condensed
the teachings of The Apostles into a
creed of three sentences. One clause
of this ancient creed demands atten-
ton in our consideration of the
church. 81 believe in the Holy Catho-
lie Church." Through the Christian
centuries millions of devout men
have repeated this brief but compre-
hensive statement of Christian be-
lief.
This Greed is falling into disuse,
some clauses are no longer believed
and revered as they were by the men
who wrote them and others who
found in them the expressions of
their belief. No clause in this Greed
seems to be so neglected as the one
81 believe in the Holy Catholic
Church."
Three words in this clause need
to be defined and rescued from the
misconceptions of superficial minds.
Some time ago, I had to take an
early train at a flag station. There
being no opportunity to buy a ticket.
I paid my fare to the nearest town.
| When the train pulled into that place,
I jumped off and ran into the Office
and purchased a ticket. In making
change the agent gave me a IS gold
piece, worn perfectly smooth, no man
could tell the mint from which it
came. Even the I'm God we trust
was gone. Banks would not take it.
1t had to be sem in and recoined.
Some words are coined in the
fires of human thought, famed to
a white heat by the breath OF the In
finite. They go forth as the mes
sengers of Heaven with the inscrip-
tion of the Kingdom on them. nut
frequently after generations of care
less use and abuse, the heavenly in
scriptions which made them valuable
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