The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-01
FAREWELL SERMON BY REV. DE OWES Soon Takes Up His Duties
 at Greensboro CHRIST'S HUMANITY The Rector Tells His Hearers That We Must Not Expect God in
 Man But Man in
 God

1 As tribute to the work of their de- parting rector, who has been in their midst for the past six years, the con- gresation of St. Andrews church and
 their friends taxed the seating capacity
 of the edifice at the morning worship yes-
 terday. when the Rev. Raimundo de
 ovies spoke his last day message from l the pulpit of this church. The Rev. de Ovies will go to Greensboro next Thurs | day to enter upon a new charge. and
 his evening services last night were the
 final ceremonies previous to his leaving l this city.
 | pr. de Ovies commended his successor, Dr. Willis Clark of Eutaw, to the mem bership of St. Andrews in the highest terms of praise, and urged them to recog-
 nze in him a fellow worker. His last text to the congregation was that God I is mighty In His perfection, but men are men and we mustn't expect God in I man but man In God. He also thanked | the membership for their hearty response | to his request for a sum of money that
 would leave the church free of debt with his going, and proudly stated that, out l side the notes of obligation on tine rec | tory, the building was completely removed l from financial stress.
 l The announcement was made that the pulpit next Sunday morning would be sup piled by Dr. Clark, and in the evening the Rev. W. S. Claiborne of Sewanee | would tell of his missionary experiences among the mountain folk of Tennessee Speaking in his informal manner with easy address, MT. de Ovies said in part:
 Is the Good Man
 ''So many people look upon Christ as a good man, while there is all the difference in the world in calling Him a good
 man and the good man. For instance, any one may refer to his house of wor- ship as a church without mourning your | displeasure, but should he happen to be of different creed from your own and term It the church, you would become of- tended. Jesus Christ is the best of men of all times and Is perfect humanity. There Is a necessity for us all receiving
 this view of the Savior as man and God before we can realize our highest pul- 1 pose and aim.
 Tt is all very we'll to preach of the wonderful goodness of Christ, to read the
 Bible and tell people of the exactions of Christian living, but this only touches us remotely. and can be of little comfort In measuring our own imperfections It Is all remarkably true regarding the ab- solute perfection of God. but we are mortals and do not have the faultless attributes of God We are all men. not gods. We have bodies that cry out for, | the satisfaction of appetites and for 1 things that are debarred from the right 1 eous.N ltris pH1very well to talk of the. | noble examples iof the conquest over sin
 that Christ accomplished, but He was the | Son or God and We are the sons of our
 mothers and fathers with all their weak
 ness and frailites of body and mind.
 "To me 1t has never mattered very much to talk of Christ as the Son of God, but to go on further and consider | Him as the man put an entirely different | construction on the matter. We can then think of Him as having our faults, our l passions, as sympathizer, Being who l understands us, who never condemns i without hearing, and who is our friend and be comforted. We are then at one 1 with Christ, who Is at one with God
 People can understand us partly but even in homes there are mothers who do not know their daughters, fathers who 1 have not become acquainted with their 1 sons, and sisters and brothers who fail 1 to sympathize with one another in the time of a crisis all because of lack
 
 In the home we cannot among our friends so we have no where to look except to Christ. who never fails to respond. l would like to impress upon you the lesson of Moses as departing word, for it illustrates the truth that a great gen. eral cannot succeed without great army to sustain him Whatever has been wrought during my ministry here in tho advancement of St. Andrews. has been through the efforts of the hardworking, staunch and honorable members of this church. Moses could not lead the children of Israel Into the promised land. until they themselves believed that they could go there of their own responsibility, which did not gain credence until after his death. They spent 50 years in expecting Moses to do it but 1t did not occur iintil they went of their own accord What we need for the upbuilding of the King dom of God all over the country Is not l sJ much more spiritual ministers, but | the men of God and the women of God in the pews to execute the prayers of ! tho man in the pulpit. Too often godly l men and men of prayers go 9 -hegsins, | for the oratorica requirements of the ! modern preacher isolate him from com petition
 Recommends New Rector
 'Dr Willis Clark, yn,ir new rector is l a man of God; I do not know about his | preaching, for have never heard him. | but his work has shown results that only man wholly sody can denote.
 ''I am going to make a prophecy con 1 cerning the prosperity of St. Andrews in the future. You have never seen such prosperous times before in the church as will come to St. Andrews within the next few years The same loyal persons who have led the church to It's present status will continue to go onward and I predict Q glorious coming for you. To use the parlance of the street, believe that St. Andrews is going to come across and may Heaven send its bless ings upon each and every one of yeu.' | l