Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1916-03-07
LEAVING ONES
FIRST LOVE
Symbolism of the Bridegroom and
the Bride
PORTRAYED IN SERMON.
Evangelist Faulconer's Utterances Be.
fore Large Congregation Last
Evening.

Seiub4eu Aas I evening l0f the union
evangelistic service in the First N. r.
Church was disappointed at the failure
Of Mr.. Homer Rodeheaver 10 put in an
appearance they were weH repa.d for
coming by the hearing Of the splen-
did sermon of the evangelist Mir H.
r. Fauconer
Many pronounced ii as the best ser
mon Mr.. Faulconer has preached I'm
the series of meetings. The closest
attention was given 10 his words
Word was received by personal friends
that Mr. Rodeheaver. the musical di-
rector of the Sunday evangelistic
party that he fully expected to be i'm
Annapolis for a part of the day yes
terday. When he failed TO come
everybody was we'll satisfied that some
unforeseen hindrance had gotten in the
way. 1t is hoped that he may be here
before the presnet series of meet
ings shall have come to an end.
The text OF Mr.. Faulconer's sermon
was from Revelation, PA. Il have
somewhat against thee. because thou
hast left thy first love" There is
nothing comparable to the words of
Jesus. 1t is pleasant to try TO imagine
oneself hearing Him speak for the
first time. The text is the word Of our
our Lord out of heaven.
Is it true of any of us" said the
speaker, that we have fallen out of
love for Jesus Nothing could be
sadder than for a man to go home To
find that hfo ,,-ifa o,,I o1,s11~o, l,,4
lost their love for him. while he still
loved them Jesus Christ is the bride
groom and the Christian people are
the bride. The love Of Christ keeps
going out to His own His love is in
finite. like all the attributes of Goo
Not one thing is true of God that is not
also true Of Jesus Christ This proves
that Jesus is God. He came IN the
flesh that He might reveal God II
was the Son of God as well as the Son
of Mary, who died on the cross The
world that He loved i'm His death was
a sinful world
The married man vino fiirts wnh
other women is an unspeakahle atofn-
ination. II is sad TO see Christian peo
pie who are flirting with the world
They have lef their first love When
a man has left his first love, they do
not talk TO each other any more What
a sorry thing it is for a man and his
wife 10 live witt out talking to each
oher Even so. the Christian gives 10
talking with God gives up praying
Al the bright hopes fade out of the life
and the ambitions for the children and
all the things that had made life
sweet and beautiful
The Christian who has lost his love
for God. gives up the reading OF his
Bible You can no more live a con
secrated. devoted Christian life with
out reading your Bible than YOU can
maintain your body in vigorous health
without food Sheep never will fol-
low strangers unless they are sick
There was never anybody who loft
Jesus who read his Bible faithfully
Your backsliding dates from the time
YOU began 10 neglect the Word of God
and prayer ] never loved my wife
until / knew her. YCu cannot love
God unless you know Him. You can
not know God without reading the
Word OF God The more you know
Him. the mere you will love Him Tho
less you read His Word, the less you
will love Him. You cannot keep from
loving God if you krov Him
with the loss of love OF God comes
the giving up of His service. The
habit of staying away from the church
is formed. 1t is a dreadful thing
when man gets into the habit OF
staying away from home with the
loss Of love for God goes the family
altar and the love Of the house Of God.
Following out the figure OF Christ
and the church as the bridegroom ana
the bride. Mr.. Faulconer spoke earn
est words about marrying TO reform
men and women. Such are usually
miserable reformations. God never
asks anybody TO start in the direc-
ton Of hell in orCer 10 win people for
heaven. The sad end is often the ruin
of the one who compromises in the at
tempt to win the other 1t is unspeak-
ably sad VIXEN one Of Gods own Deo-
pie is left without any Christ TO com
fort him
The preacher entreated his hearers
that if any of them had lost Christ
and His love. they should return unto
Him. A revival OF religion must have
its beginning in the hearts Of Gods
own people.
The union services viii continue all
this week. Mr. FaUlconer preaching
each evening in the First H. z. Church
Tire services begin at 7-30 O'Clock. Mr..
A. W Bennett is in charge Of the sing
ing and is assisted by a large chorus
choir made up or SI1e members Of the
various churches, which are co-operat-
ing in the evangelistc campaign. Last
evening Mr.. Bennett sang BY request
the solo entitled "Lffe's Railway he
will sing solo at each service. The
public is kindly invited TO attend the
meetings
Mr. Faulconer will speak to tie stu
dents Of ST. Johns College Of the Y. "
c. A. Of the College. Wednesday even
ing al 6~20 O'Clock, and Mr. Bennett will