Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1915-05-14
METHODIST CHURCH
DEDICATED SUNDAY
DIR. e. E. Wiley, of Bluefield, a
Former Pastor, Comes to TaZe-
well to Preach SermOn-The
Building is Free of Debt.

chair in the aisles was taken, and
some people standing.
The new church, erected within the
past two years, at a cost of $4,000
was declared free of debt, and was
formally dedicated to the worship
and service of Almighty God"
The new structure, which occupies
the site of the former building, was
DIR. E. E. Wiley, now at Bland Street,
Bluefield, and he was asked to preach
the dedicatory sermon. Under even
ordinary circumstances the announce
ment that DR.. Wiley is to preach in
Tazewell is sufficient to draw a capac-
ity audience. On this extraordinary
occasion, and the other chruches being
closed, there was an audience present
which filled the church to overfiowing.
The services were simple, informal,
but interesting throughout.
A condensed newspaper report can
give only an imperfect idea of the
sermon. 1t was listened to with deep
interest throughout.
Mr.. Wiley chose as text the
words of the Master, "Have Faith in
God," found in Mark, 11th chapter
and 18th verse. He said in part:
"To love God is the Bibles greatest
commandment; to believe in Him is
its greatest privilege.
The stress laid upon faith in the
divine revelation, the frequency of its
mention and its connection with every
life of consequence mentioned in it
suggests its Importance. If it really
is what the word of God says it is,
the statement, Have Faith in God,'
deserves to be written upon the Intel
of every home, the cornice If every
school, the cornerstone of every
church, nd the arch of every State
hall.
Behind the privilege of faith God
has put three forces to produce and
develop it-a book, a personality and
an institution.
"The Bible is the literature of faith;
Jesus is the author, and likewise the
finisher of it, and the church furnish
es the conditions for its growth and
it's perfection. Thus in terms of the
mightiest printed pages, the divinest
of all human beings and the most
marvellous of all institutions, God an
nounces it's position in the spiritual
order.
"The circumstances of it's utterance
are familiar From Bethany came
Jesus and the twelve at the dawn
of day, bound for Jerusalem. Being
an hungered,' he appeals to fig tree
for fruit and its answer is only leaves.
In his disappointment he pronounces
curse upon it, a curse that blights
it to its roots, when, on the morrow,
the disciples express surprise at this
phenomenon, he makes the brief, la
comic rely, Have Faith in God'
1.-TWO phases of this subject may be
considered as throwing light upon it.
First: The meaning of faith. The
word, itself, has always involved mys-
terry, and yet it is not mysterious.
Faith is not complex, but simple, when
viewed in the light of its origin and
it's necessity. The fall of man in
Eden not only corrupted human ma
ture, but placed a chasm-an abyss,
between man and God. The problem
then was, on what terms can man and
God approach each other in commun-
ion and fellowship? On what terms
can heaven and earth treat with each
other? The medium between the two
was that of trust in God. Across the
bridge of faith man could reach God
and God could reach man; heaven
could send its blessings to earth and
earth could send it's needs into heav-
,en. Thus by an intellectual and spir-
itual process possible to every human
creature, God has made provision for
the complete restoration of man to the
estate from which he fell.
Second: The fruits of faith. If
God and man are thus brought into
contact, how easy it is to explain the
results attributed to faith. How sim
pie become the spiritual miracles out
lined in the Bible and felt in Chris
tian experienced
Regeneration, the greatest of mir
acles, is one of them. Through the
medium of faith the omnipotent spirit
of God and the helpless nature of
man come in touch with each other,
and the latter is transformed into the
very image of God. Thus are explain
ed such statements as the uprotting
of mountains and of trees by faith,
tho small as the grain of mustard
seed. The power of God operating
upon the tasks of man produces the
results so marvellous, so impossible,
indeed, as to require a figure like that
to describe it.
To the church the privilege of faith
was emphatically extended. Jesus
made it part of the church's charter
At the very time of its founding, when
feter maJeSClc confession was made
he assured him that the keys of the
kingdom would be given it. The
keys of the kingdom were faith in
God. And with this the body of the
believers have been unlocking doors
of power adown the ages, and the
achievements of them are so numer.
GUS and so startling as to even stag.
ger the imagination"
The speaker then referred to the
achievements of the Methodist church
in Tazewell since the early days, wher
the first little group assembled in the
Ferguson home-the Peery's, the Wit
tens, the Greever's, the Ferguson:
and two negro slaves, preached to by
that stalwart pioneer, Rev. John Kob
Ter. Five churches have been bull
since that time-five churches at in
tervals of some forty years, culmi