The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-04
|DR. .I.A.MACSPORRAN
 PREACHED INITIAL SERMON YESTERDAY
New Pastor of First Presby- terian Church Made Splen- did Impression Upon
 Large Congregation

! Dr. John A MacSporran, the new
 pastor of the First Presbyterian 1 church, delivered one of the most ap- pealing and appropriate opening ser | mons ever heard in Birmingham to large audience Sunday morning. He
 made a decided impression upon the ! congregation, his text being taken from the ninth chapter of the First Book of Samuel, "Tell me, pray thee, , where the seer's house is?''
 I was visiting is Edinburg some , time ago." began pr. MacSporan, ar irving there late on a Saturday night, but despite the time, l was enthusi- astic to see some of the historic places Two small urchins came to me want ing to shine>my shees. l told them to take me to the most historic, interest," ing place in Edinburg and l would pay 1 them we'll They at once escorted nc 1 to an old house on the outskirts of the | city, I was perplexed at first. asking
 them what was historic about thu place. Why. that's where John Knox, 1 the great seer lived, they replied. l went back to my hotel and thought. | Yes, the lads were right; it was tho | most historic place m Edinburg, this 1 house of the prophet, house of the man | of God, who had devoted his life to | comforting and instructing others l that they might go the right way and 1 have revealed to them the hidden life" | pr. MacSporran impressed upon the | congregation in an earnest manner tho l need of more seer's houses in our city | today and volunteers to direct in-' quirers thereto. The first lesson we have to learn. Is to ask where tho 1 seer's house is. When we arrive in d l foreign city In strange land, ask for | Vtc n H. | uuiries as to the location of the legls- lative halls or where the millionaire l lives We need more great soul seerS l in every community to uphold the | standard of our idols known as per- feet manhood.
 '"The trouble with some of us,'' he I continued, g'is that we do not hunt the | seer's house until we are In distress, | until we have failed in our own re. sources. until we are in need of the | seer, otherwisexwe pass 1t by. | "We will have learned our lesson when we are able to direct the mill l lions of hearts that ;, are crying for homes in the world today, to the seer's house. We must find the seer's
 house, seek the holy trail, dedi- ! cate ourselves to God and then we will be able to lay hold of youth and show them the right way.
 There has never been time when
 q man of vision was needed worse, the entire world is seeking light. Where can we find it?
 There Is only one seer-the church of Christ. Jesus was a seer. He saw through everything, saw the needs of the inhabitants of the earth Christ Is an extension of His incarnation. Tie truth is, the church of Christ should
 be known as the seer's house.
 Are the churches to be dead, cold l L. Al,o 0,tt ttyrf for duty, and chase asses as Saul did? We must make the church the seer's house a place for people to come that they may see themselves in the light
 of the cross of Christ, How do you
 decide the most important choice of
 life? Which church do you choose? Some people choose one because 1t ts
 the most popular, others because the
 minister breaches short sermons, and sttll others just because 1t is handy Should We do SO? No! Go to the seer
 he will tell you the right way. Make
 him sacrifce-go any distance to
 find his house. But there is always an alternative. Saul forsook the seer and his life ended In a tragedy. He forgot God, the commonest of all lifes trage- dies today.
 After Saul had forsalSen the seer he could no longer be heard to ask Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is?' but Can you tell me where the witch of Fndor is?' Also Call me up Samuel Oh, why did I forsake my
 seero This would not have happened
 had I not forsaken my God Call me up Samuel,
 Friends" said pr. MacSporran, "the ones that forsake the seer today
 usually live In the house of the witch. We must have an interpreter, tn
 world is crying out daily for light.
 There is a new day confronting Us,
 the boys are coming back from over Ithere' and we will not be on sprit-
 ual level with them. They have found
 the seer. they have stood on the bat
 tlefields with Christ When they return
 they are not going to ask. where Is
 the First Presbyterian church.? or
 where is the First Methodist church?'
 or the church of any other denomina-
 ton, but they are going to ask Where
 does the seer live% Loyalty must be
 the word today, loyalty to our God and
 fellowman As we continue our pill
 erimage toeether here. let us continue
 to ask, Tell me, I pray thee, where the
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