The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-06-20
.OR. M'COY BREACHES
 AT THE ANNIVERSARY
Methodist Bishop Pays Tribute
 to Dr. Handley
CELEBRATION IS CLOSED
Preacher Says Value of Men of pr. HandIey's Faith and Conservation to, Community Cannot F.
 He Estimated

The celebration of the thirty-sixth anniversary of pr. L. S. Handleys com ing to Birmingham and the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Gen. tral Presbyterian church passed into history with the closing service held last night as the greatest in local church annals. A simple service of divine worship closed the celebration, pr. Handley delivering the sermon.
 At the service held yesterday morn ing, a sermon was preached by Bishop J. H. Mccoy which is considered by many to have been a masterpiece of pulpit oratory. Dr. Mccoy preached l from the text And a man shall ba as an hiding place from the wind. and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in dry place, as tho shadow of great rock in weary land," taken from Isaiah 32:2.
 The simile of the text was employed by Bishop Mccoy in glowing eulogy of Dr. Handley. the oversh allowing per sonality of the latter being compared to great rock which furnishes shade from the sun of the desert. We sre given the picture of a desert waste," said Bishop Mccoy, "in the midst of which is an oasis The hot winds sweep the drifting sands over the little fertile spot, and the grass and flowers which have sprung there are buried. But standing there is a great rock, lifting its crest above the plain, and on it's lee side, where the drift of the sand hrT grass and infant trees, brought into life and fertility by it's shelter. And so the strong and overshadowing per sonality of a man of character gives shelter and life to the weddings or society. Gods nearest approach to life has been through the representative men of various ages, like John and Paul. and Martin Luther and John Wesley, whose personalities have thrown shadow, across the world and broken the drift of centuries
 The movement of God down the ages has been through the upper ati- tudes. touching the intellects of up- standing genius, illumining these minds and so flashing the truth to men. It is the representative man in the king
 
 movements of history; who typifies and gives explanation to these movements
 An institution, says Emerson. Is put the heightened shadow of a man. So the great shadow of the personal- ity of Thomas Jefferson lives today in the institution of democracy, and 50 with Washington. And so 1t Is with pr. Handley. The institution known as the Central Presbyterian church lives ps- cause he has deposited tn erein the full force of his personality.
 God lays the hand of divine ordina- tion on the head of the representative man and makes him the first power or the age. Who can estimate the yalua or man to community who loves God and whose hand is always rea.x Tor the missions of mercy which Chris | tianfty stands for? | nave seen many celebrations at the opening of railroads at the onen. ing or great stations like our own. at l .he Vislts or presidents: but I may sav m all soberness, I have never seen ons Wh1ch mad the significance of thts ono when people of all denominations bavs come together to celebrate inc rn.. whose thlrty-six years of life have on. riched society in Birmingham. It Is in | 1.i'Hs ilhe inlS that history fa made We really do not know what |. history when 1t is in the marlrt,. Ioday we celebrate history that [. worth while It is an unsneakoh1> pressing to the community to have bed man or faith and conservation uke | pr Handley He has been like .tbe shaoo" Of a great rock in A wearv iand, breaking the drift of worldIinass
 The drift of our modern day ltfe demands such lives as that of Tr Handley You think we are not in dan ger of losing the faith of our child hood. There was never day like tbI. to encourage the loss of that fai,h- Agnosticism and insidious unbelief at- tack the very foundation of the Root of Ages. and men are taking down the Bible from it's honored place of ola The drift of unbelief Is broken by fb . man who stands up and says T he- lieve In the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible It is easier to be a good man when some man in the neighborhood Is good.
 During the long life of my friend In Blrmin gham, brilliant men have coma like meteors; have created sensations and gone. while he, in living his lifs of quietness and humility. has added to the wealth of Birmingham and Ala- bama. The poor man needs only hia poverty as a letter of introduction to him. He Is not a brilliant man. but a man possessed of divine love; who haN been able even to love out the line be- tween Jew and Gentile."