The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-01-03
LEAVES WORK At
HOUR OF SUCCESS
Rev. g. G. Atkins Bids First Congre'
gational Church Goodbye Just
As Appreciation Ripens.

they parted with a pastor whose dis
tress at devastating was equally evil
dent.
Here was a situation In the beauti.
full brown stone church at Woodward
and Forest that was calculated 10
produce beautiful brown study.
IL the Rev. Gaius Glenn Atkins did
not feel that he was the man for tho
place, how CHANGED II that the congre-
CATION that assembled To- hear him
preach for the last time was 30 great
that there was not place for any
body else? II the congregation felt
that II was expedient for him TO go
away, why was II that this parting
occasion palpitated with genuine
yearning for his retention?
The anomaly becomes more mysti-
flying In the light OF the pastors fare
well sermon. How strangely imper-
sonal IL was for a neutrality-suspicious.
strikingly luminous and searching.
The speaker effaced himself and his
going away In declaring the eternal
satisfactions, the thirst-quenching
qualities of. the Living Water"
The sermon. marked by that intel
lectual clarity. spiritual intensity
and rare felicity OF expression
which have made this ministry
notable In the middle west, is
given here In full as the COM
pletest exhibit of the calamity Congre-
gationalism and the community suf-
fers In the termination OF the pastor
ate of the Rev. Gaius Glenn Atkins.
The congregation OF Sunday morn.
ing. notable for it's size and sympathy.
is explainable on the principle that
blessings brighten az they take their
leave" Since IL became settled that
DIR. Atkins would not remain his par
ishioners have had the opportunity Of
rejecting upon the shortsightedness
OF the base Indian who threw pearl
away richer than all his tribe"
IL the pastor had been accorded
hearing and heartiness as friendly as
that OF the farewell occasion, earlier
I'm his ministry, things might have
heen different. 1t was his misfortune
To be preceded by two men who were
strong in personal .contact-one pc
culiarly sweet and tender I'm pastoral
irtimacies and the other hearty and
exuberant in social fellowship. While
"a
decessors in capacity for the finer
sentiments that bind pastor and poo
ME together. DR. Atkins has kept his
tender promptings deeper than they
has not been as conspicuously ana
aggressively social. The current or
his thoughts has run pretty much to
his message-and IL has been won
derful message. as wisely modern. rs
fine in thought and diction. as master
full as any American pulpit that Is dc-
claring the imperatives OF religion
has been offering practical age
mt an inconsiderable minority mas
missed the pastoral urbanity OF the
pervasive sort, has missed slikewise
some OF the final syllables OF the put
pit locution and their criticisms reach
ing the minister's ears, in one or TWO
instances in the form OF anonymous
letters. attended by some shrinkaSe
of attendance and receipts. led that
super.sensitive man 10 the conclusion
that he was not the type oil inter
preter that this particular constituency
required.
The voice that has been so splendid
". sonorously insistent upon men ana
women living the beauty OF holiness
has not been heard enough In the
hollow howdy-dos OF the churcn sup
per and the street. The hand that
was beckoning and pointing men ana
women To The better way win diSnlty
and dehniteness didn't happen To be
exactly the glad-hand OF the politician.
So il Ia all over. In tenderness, ana
not al all IN bitterness. Dr. Atkins laid
down his work here at the very nour
when his success seemed 10 be In
ripening The grief OF the great Dody
NJ the congregation over the interrupt
ton OF passionate for which great
things were confidently expected Is
given a bitter tinge by the reflection
that II was all brought about by at
tachinG undue weight 10 the minor and
least essential aspects OF a magnl-
fcent ministry.
DIR. Atkins sermon on Living
Waters" follows:
You will find the text for the morn
ing i'm ". 10. -, OF the Gospel, accord
Jesus answered and said unto
her whatsoever drinketh or TINS
water shall thirst again. but VINO.
soever drinketh OF the water that
shall give him shall never thirst
but the water | shall give MN
shall be in him and with him, or
rather springing up into eVeriast-
ing life. 49,
Your minister was asked little
while ago to repeat before the ehd OF
this present pastorate sermon on
living Water" which was given some
time last year. IT Is quite Impossible
10 repeat a sermon. even " the form
OF words is kept. which has not been
40 in this case, the power or sermon,
none the less depending upon the tenn
per I'm which Il Is uttered and the spirit
In which IL is heard. And II IL never
possible TO reconstitute or recreate the
same group OF spiritual conditions. In
deed i do not remember the form In
which that sermon was cast. nut ain
glad nevertheless. this morning to
take It's essential message, and TO de-
clare that once more.
For IL is the message OF Jesus christ
that in his discipleship all our hunger
ings are satisfied, all our thirst Is
auenched. all our restlesSness Nanishes,
and our strife IL changed To peace. He
said all that under the simplest and
most human OF conditions. he was
talking at a wayside well. To woman
neither too wise nor too good whom
had come out OF a neighborhing city
to draw n lar of water He himself
was weary and tired. He had asked
her for drink, and out Of that there
came a wonderful conversation. lie
carried II up Immediately into its
thirst by which they were moved there
together--hlmself and the woman who
had come to draw the water--he found
In that thirst n symbol OF all human
Itys needs; OF all our prayers. aud our
Iongtngs, and our heart aches, ana our
vain desires. and he said II only YOU
knew my secret all the stress and fret
OF your life would disappear There
n way of living In which restless