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THE PULPIT.
A BRILL!'NT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. J H. MELISH.
Subject: Faith Once Delivered.
Brooklyn. N. Y.—The Rev. John
Howard Melish, rector of the Church
of the Holy Trinity. Clinton and Mon¬
tague streets, Sunday morning
preached on “The Faith Once Deliv¬
ered.” The text was from Jude 3:
“The faith which was once for all de¬
livered to the saints.” Mr. Melish
said:
A Pentecost seems to be taking
place in Korea. Forces, no doubt in
large part political and commercial,
but also supremely religious and edu¬
cational. are bringing that Eastern
nation to a new birth. Men every¬
where are inquiring about the “new
religion. * > Churches are
many times a day. Teachers and
preachers cannot meet the need, We
seem to be witnessing what has not
been seen for centuries, a nation
turn Christian.
What Is of great significance in the
Teligious awakening and conversion
of Korea is the kind of Christian re¬
ligion which is receiving this over¬
whelming response. If the reports
an true, it is a religion with two
sides. Those who have received it
and who are extending it among their
fellow countrymen, know only “The
Father” and “Our Elder Brother. It
The names which have been and are
to multitudes of us Western Chris¬
tians of value have no existence to
those Eastern followers of Jesus. God
and Jesus they know, but “Christ
and the doctrines of the Trinity, the
incarnation, the atonement, are not
even names. Their religion is with¬
out dogma.
Is this a sufficient statement of the
Christian faith? I do not mean if It
is the sum total of the Christian
truths. Of course, it Is not. Neither
do I mean if it is the < < irreducible
minimum, >» without which
a man
can hardly he called a Christian. But.
is this faith in God as Father, in
Jesus as Elder Brother, sufficient
for life and death? Can men live
by this? Are these the regulative
ideas of our religion, the fundamen¬
tal propositions of which all other
truths are corollaries?
Such questions can be answered
only by the deep experiences of life.
Life, the abundant life, is the test of
truth. There are times which trv
men’s souls. Then it is that a man’s
books are opened, his words are
weighed, his traditions are tested. At
such moments the soul is concerned
not with words, but with realities.
He demands real answers for real
questionings, Such was the experi
ence of Job when disaster befell him.
Under the fire and the whirlwind not
only Job’s property, hut Job’s the¬
ology, was swept away. Orthodoxy
proved too weak to lean upon. Such,
too, was the experience of Saul of
Tarsus, when he discovered that law
failed to make men righteous. He was
driven In new needs to revolution ize
his religion and morals. St. Augus¬
tine, Luther, Wesley, also, were men
who, face to face with new experi¬
ences, as few questions which ortho¬
doxy failed to answer. They were
driven to the fundamentals of faith
by tbe facts of life.
If faith in God as Father and
•Tesus as Elder Brother is sufficient
it must answer the deep questionings
which spring from the deep experi¬
ences of life. These questions are
three in number. Behind all philoso¬
phies you will find them. To answer
them all religions have set them¬
selves.
The first question is: Ts there a
God, and if there is what is He like?
It has its origin in man as a reason¬
ing and moral creature. What is the
origin of what we see and feel? Is
this universe „
self-evolved or is it the
expression of some power which
moves through it and presides over
it? If there is such a Power, what
. it . like?
is Has it any of the attri¬
butes of personality, intelligence,
righteousness, love? Behind all hu¬
man doubts and questionings is this
mother of questions, Is there a God?
The second question is: When a
man sees upon his soul the blot of
a sin can it be removed? What theo¬
logians call sin is a universal ex¬
perience. When Herbert Spencer
came to America he was entertained
at a banquet by the most learned
company which had probably as
sembled here. At the end of the
Program of speeches Henry Ward
Beecher was called upon. He praised
science and eulogized the debt which
engion owed the men who toiled
so painstakingly to ascertain truth.
And then suddenly turning aside, he
mace an appeal to universal experi
ence. There was not a man there,
e said, who had not done something
ror which he was ashamed, who did
Rot wish he had not done it, who
'•ould like to have men know it, who
would not if he could wash his soul
eai ' it- Scientist, philosopher,
theologian, ,,
assembly statesman in that learned
sal experience. rose tothatappeal to univer¬
So say all men. There
nave been times when sin weighed
so heavily upon the consciences of
men that they have sacrificed their
cniidren, the thrown themselves under
car of Juggernaut, fled to mo¬
nastic penance. His as deep an ex
Perience to-day as ever, but it is ex
Pressed differently. Has my life been
or any use to others? is the question |
upon man’s soul to-day. Not have
wrong so much as have I dons
ight? His the sense of failure in
well-doing that weighs upon men.
om, individual and social, is a uni
the third an -^ tragic question experience.
dies is: When a man
snail he live again? The sight
°t a dead face is the mother of all
mysteries. It compelled him to ask
whether that soul had gone, and in
so asking it lifted man's thoughts
from the temporal to the eternal, the
natural to the supernatural, the hu¬
man to the divine. Before the ex¬
perience of death man stands ques¬
tioning, eager to know, half believ¬
ing, half afraid, wondering whither
his friend has gone and he himself
will go.
These are the deep questions
which , . spring from
the deep experi¬
ences of life. How does faith in God
as Father, in Jesus as Elder Brother
give sufficient answers?
Is there a God and what is He
like? "Yes, »* says Jesus, "there is
a God. He is my Father and
Father.” Some men there are who
find it easy to believe on their own
experience that God is Father. Others
can believe only when the sun is
bright and the sea is calm. When
the storm breaks their hearts faint
within them. But the multitude of
us men and women are glad that
Jesus Is part of our life. Our bright¬
est moments of assurance, get their
light from Him; our darkest mo
ments are not altogether black be¬
cause He is part of life. It is by
faith in His experience, supported by
His character, His sanity, His truth,
His deeds that we keep faith in God.
Faith in the Elder Brother makes us
His fellow children; kepp faith in
the Father through storm and sun¬
shine.
When a man sees the cursed s r,r >t
upon his soul can he remove it? A
man,” said .Tesus, “had two sons."
One went into the far country and
painted his soul black with loose and
unworthy deeds. When his money
was gone he felt his disgrace and
shame. He did not commit suicide:
he went straight home. No sooner
had he reached the road outside the
gate when he was hailed and his
father ran to meet him. Whatever
the spot may be upon the soul if a
man will take his disgrace and shame
to God he will find in Him a Father.
So with social failure. Ts the time
short that remains? Waste it not
in vain regrets over it. The past is
irrenara’ole, hut the future Is still
one’s own. “Comp let us he going.”
When a man dies shall he live
again? Knowledge gives no better
answer than in the days of Aristotle.
What seems to be scientific proof,
when examined, turns out to be
simply man’s hope expressed in scien¬
tific phrases. But man has trust¬
worthy evidence, not in the spiri¬
tualistic sense, but in the inference
as to what the other world is like
from what we know of this, in his
hopes and faith, in the testimonv cf
his poets and prophets. And of all
such witnesses to life that desires to
be eternal stands Jesus, our Elder
Brother. Betore the gate of a oath
He stands and holds the kev. it is
sight of Him, master of life and
death, that strengthens our faith in
immortality, quickens our hope for
the dead and casts about life here and
there the golden radiance which sur¬
passes the sunset glow.
For all these experiences of life, in
answer to all these deep questionings,
faith in God as Father, in Jesus as
Elder Brother is sufficient.
In Korea the Christian Church has
learned to ask this faith of its con¬
verts and no more. When will the
church at home learn this much
needed lesson? There are questions
which this simple faith does not an¬
swer. Christianity no sooner had
reached the educated Greek than the
questions came: What is the relation
between Jesus and God? How is the
Elder Brother related to the other
brothers? What is the true idea of
incarnation and of atonement? Men
have a right to ask these questions.
That right, was won long ago hv Ori
gen, of Alexandria. But. let it be
clearly understood that all such mat¬
ters of speculation, while legitimate,
are not the “faith once delivered.”
The faith once delivered is related to
speculative faith, as it historically
has found expression in the creeds
and doctrines of the church, as the
tree is related to its leaves. The
faith once delivered, trust in God as
Father, in .Tesus as Elder Brother is
the tree. The creeds and doctrines
are the leaves. From season to sea¬
son they must change as new life
pushes off old forms, because the tree
itself abides.
I wish I could persuade men who
to-day reject all creeds, and with
them the faith, to see this distinction
between faith and creeds. It is possi¬
ble to reject the latter and live by
the former. I wish that I could per¬
suade men who identify faith and
creeds to make this distinction. It,
would do much to win the thinking
world to the religion of Jesus. It is
p, real distinction. The faith once
delivered existed many generations
before the most venerable creeds of
Christendom were born. It will con¬
tinue to inspire and strengthen men
when all our creeds shall have passed
away. The faith is once for all de¬
livered.
Subtlest thought shall fail and learning
Churches falter, change, forms
. perish, systems .
But go; human needs—they
our will not alter,
Christ no after age shall e’er outgrow.
Yea, Amen! life’s guide O, changeless and One, Thou only
Art spiritual goal,
Thou, Thou, the light eternal across heaven the dark vale lonely,
the of the soul.
REIGN OF TERROR ENDED.
Bandits Who Raided a Suburb of Bos
ton Have Been Driven Away.
Boston, Mass.—In a desperate gun
with 500 policemen, one mem¬
ber of the Jamaica Plains bandit
was riddled with bullets and kill¬
in a ravine in Forest Hill Ceme¬ j
He fought to the last ditch. I
companions in the* raid of Jamai¬
Plains escaped, hus ended a 26
reign of terror in Boston, in
the bandits killed -two men and
fifteen. .
WBP
Tht
Sunbatj-Scftoot
INTERNATIONAL LESSON
MENTS FOIt AUGUST 2.
Subject: David Anointed at
hem, 1 Samuel 16:1 -IB—
Text, 1 Sam.
Verses 11, 12—Read Chapter
TIME.—1063 B. C.
Bethlehem.
EXPOSITION.—I. The LORD
not chosen these, 1-10. It
well for the generosity of Samuel
he mourned over the fall of Saul (v.
1). If he had been like the
of men he would have taken a secret
if not an outspoken delight in the
fact that the man for whom they had
in some measure at least rejected
himself turned out so poorly. “There,
I told you so,” he would have said.
But Samuel was of a nobler mold,
and grief, not exultation, filled his
heart at the folly and ruin of his
rival. But while it was commendable
that he should be grieved at the sin
and consequent rejection of Saul, it
was not right that he should spend
h’s time in idle mourning. God had
“rejected him from being king over
Israel;” another king must be sought
out and consecrated to fill his place.
God does irot wish us to be crushed
by the sins of the world and so to
spend our time in morbid and useless
lamentations over them, but to rise
and go forward to the duties, however
disagreeable, that these sins ertail
upon us. Saul was a king that God
had provided for the people (ch.
9:16)—a king according to their
choice (1 Sam. 12:13); David was a
king whom God had provided for
Himself—a man after His own heart
(ch. 13:14). Little by little God dis¬
closes His purposes to His servant
Samuel. In chapter 13:14 He shows
him that He has sought out and ap¬
pointed this king. In the first verse
of this chapter He tells Samuel that
this king is a son of Jesse, but not
until the twelfth verse does He point
out which sop of Jesse. Hundreds of
years before it had been prophesied
that the sceptre should fall to Judah
(Gen. 49:10). Samuel, for all his ex
cellencies of character, was human
and fallible. Like so many others in
the Bible (Ex. 3:11; 4:1-10; Jer.
1:5, 6) and out of the Bible, to whom
God has said “Go,” he hesitated to
undertake the work for which God
had commissioned him for fear of
the consequences (v. 2). When God
says, “Go, ' » we ought not to reply,
“How can I? I 1 but to start and go,
and leave God to settle the “how.”
* i If Saul hear it, he will kill ll
me.
“The fear of man" brought “a snare >>
to Samuel in this instance (Prov.
29:25). And how foolish that fear
was. How could Saul or anybody else
kill a man who had a work to do for
God? Did the Lord bid Samuel to
tell a lie to secure his safety? (vs. 2,
3). Not at all; the Lord is never put
to such straits as that; and it augurs
a lack of faith in God when we resort
to falsehood or indirection to secure
our ends. God simply refused to
argue with Samuel the question of
his going, and again bids him go, and
tells him what to say and that at the
proper time He will show him what
to do. What Samuel was bidden to
tell was the exact truth as far as it
went. We are under obligations to
tell the exact truth, even to our ene
mies, if we tell anything, but we are
not under obligation to tell all we
know. This Is the way in which God
frequently guides His servants a
step at a time. Notice how each step
is marked out by the phrase, “the
Lord said” (verses 1, 2, 7, 12). Are
we also taking each step according to
the word of the Lord? It is blessed
to walk this way. We, too, can go
on knowing that the Lord will show
us what we shall do day by day, hour
by hour, and moment by moment.
Samuel was allowed no discretion
whatever in the matter (v. 3). He
was simply to listen to the voice of
the Lord and anoint the one He
named. David was wholly God’s
choice. Note the difference in the
language about the anointing from
that about the anointing of Saul (ch.
J ; 16). “Anoint unto Me,” God says
about David. “Anoint to be a prince
over My people,” He says about Saul.
Lord Samuel’s^ s will hesitation about doing the
was not of long duration.
He lays aside his fears and his regrets
over Saul’s disposal and goes and does
as he is bidden. Did not Samuel’s
readiness to obey God, so often exhib¬
ited (comp. verse 13), ’have some
thing to do with that power in prayer
, for which . . . , he-became famous
2:22)? “He (1 Jo hn
looked on Eliab, and
said, surely the Lord’s anointed is be¬
fore him.” But he did not act upon
his natural judgment, but waited for
the voice of the Lord and that soon
set him right. It matters little how
men see us, it matters everything h ow
God sees us. A pure heart is ai'l that
counts with God. That wins His
favor (Matt. 5:8). Dress counts for
nothing (l Pet. 3:3, 4). Learning,
worldly wisdom, power, count for
nothing (1 Cor. 1:26-28), profession
counts for nothing (Matt. 7:21).
ii. Arise, anoint liim, 11-1,‘L
David, like so many others God
called, was attending faithfully to his
humble work when God called him
(cf. Matt. 25:23). One by one the
sons of „ Jesse had
had passed by until the
seven passed, and Samuel waits
patiently for God’s voice and says of
eacro “Neither hath the Lord chosen
this,” and at last his patience is re
warded. The voice comes, “Arise,
amont him; for this is he.” David
v as not qualified for the kingship
until the Spirit actually came. Neither
are we qualified for service until we
“receive the Holy Spirit.”
t«
Real Estate f Fire Insurance
Fort Valley Realty & Development Co.
The leading Fire Insurance Companies Represented.
Office Over Exchange Bank, Fort Valley, Georgia.
»
NEWSY GLEANINGS.
A New York firm has secured a
monopoly of the sponge output o£
Yucatan.
John Vines Wright, who was the
oldest living ex-Congressman, died
recently in Washington
Paris business men held an indig
telephone service In r,;, the e rsvr French ,2? cap
“ al -
The Mexican Legation in Paris is
sued a note designed to reassure
Europe regarding the recent disorders
in Mexico. ‘
United States Judge Lacombe di
reeled the Federal receivers of the
New York City Railway Company to
cancel the leases of two lines.
Representative Burke made a los¬
ing fight in the Republican National
Convention for his plan to reduce the
representation of the Southern
States.
The Editor Bethell. condemned to
three weeks’ imnrlsonment iri Seoul,
Korea, for sedition by a British court,
proceeding, was removed to a Shang¬
hai jail.
The Children's Aid Society reported
that, needy punils in public schools of
New York could be provided with free
lunches ft, a daily average cost of
four cents.
The New York Civil Service Re¬
form Association asked the State
Civil Service Commission to investi¬
gate alleged violations in the city
Finance Department,
Theatrical managers and play pro¬
ducers threaten to quit booking their
plays in Canada unless steps are
taken to enact adequate copyright
laws before May 1 next.
Dr. Alpoim, chief of the Progres¬
sive Dissidents, told in the Portuguese
House of Lords what he declared to
be the inside history of the plot which
led to the assassinations of King Car¬
los and the Crown Prince.
FEMININE NEWS NOTES,
Mary Brush, of Davenport, Iowa,
has invented a boneless corset.
Nine women from Oklahoma re¬
cently visited New York to boom
their State.
John O. Heckscher’s will left only
$100 to his daughter, wife of Mayor
McClellan, of New York.
Dean Russell, of the University of
Wisconsin, has selected Mrs. Scott
Durand to lead the movement for
securing pure milk legislation.
Miss Clare Russell, of England,
won the final round in the women’s
lawn tennis singles on the court3 of
the Amackassln Club. Yonkers,
Mrs. Susie Halliday, a wealthy
widow in Brooklyn, chopped the tele¬
phone company’s wires on her fence3
and repelled gangs of repairers.
Mrs. Harriet W. Brand, treasurer
of the National Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union, died in a hospital
at Evanston, 111., after an Illness of
two months.
Miss Elizabeth S. Colton, of East
hampton. Mass;., speaks more lan¬
guages than any woman in the world.
Miss Colton knows forty languages
sufficiently well to read them.
Miss Lotta S. Rand, of Lynn, Mass.,
has been appointed deputy superin¬
tendent for the blind in Boston. She
had been secretary of the Lynn Asso¬
ciated Charities for more than eleven
years.
Tbe world’s greatest woman as¬
tronomer and one of the greatest liv¬
ing astronomical scientists is an
American girl, Mary Proctor, who has
recently started on a five-year lecture
and study lour of the world.
Mrae. de Witt, whose death in
Paris at an advanced age was lately
announced, was Henriette Guizot,
daughter of the famous historian.
She asisted her father in his literary
work, but slie was also a successful
writer of children's stories.
A Buzzard With Fame.
Rather than bring about an epi¬
demic of race suicide in East Not¬
tingham township by keeping impris¬
oned the famous belled buzzard Which
acts in the capacity-of the. RgeiijJary'
stork for that community, Samuel
Winchester, who captured the bird
a few days ago, has decided to set
It free. Great numbers of persons
have flocked to see the big bird, and
its capture aroused great interest
throughout the entire township. The j
buzzard is an unusually large one,
and is somewhat differently colored j
from others of its species. It has :
for years been recognized by a sleigh
hell wired to its leg. For nearly a
quarter of a century its hovering over !
a farmhouse has been regarded as an j
infallible sign that there was to he I
an addition to the family. Mothers, ;
instead of telling their children of the j
stork’s visit, informed them that the
belled buzzard was the hearer of the
little cli'fi. People have been trying !
to capture it for years, hut no one I
even succeeded until it fell into Mr. |
Winchester's ha.nds.
Sour
Stomach
I No appetite, loss of strength, nervous*
ness, headache, constipation, bad breath,
j general debility, sour risings, and catarrh
i :
er y represents the natural juices of diges-
1 tion as they exist in a healthy stomach.
combined with the greatest known tonic
and reconstructive properties. Kodol for
j dyspepsia does not only relievo indigestion
! and dyspepsia, but this famous remedy
| helps purifying, ail stomach sweetening troubles and strengthening by cleansing,
!
the mucous membranes lining the stomach.
Mr. S. S. Ball, of Ravenswcod, W, Va..says:—
11 1 was troubled with Tour stomach for twenty years.
Kodol cured ms and we are now using It in milk
for baby,"
Kodol Digests What You Eat.
Bottlss only. Relieves Indigestion, four stomach,
belching of gas, etc.
Prepared by E. C. DeWITT & CO., CHICAGO.
Sold by Holmes Clark & Co.
DENTIST ,
Fort Valley, Georgia
Office over First National Bank.
C. Z. McArthur,
Dentist
FORT VALLEY, GA.
Office over Slappey's Drug Store.
A. C. RILEY,
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW,
WRIGHT BUILDING,
Fort Valley, Ga.
Practice in all the courts. Money
loaned. Titles abstracted.
fire $ Cite Insurance
H. D. SkcIIic
Office Phone No. 54.
FORT VALLEY, GA.
C. L. SHEPARD,
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW,
Fort Valley, Ga.
Office Over First National Bank.
TONSORIAL ARTIST
For anythin n <r in the tonsorial line
don’t fail to call on
WILLIAMS
Next Door to Post Office.
Experienced workmen and courteous at¬
tention to all. Everything up-to-date.
SAM LOO,
FIRST-CLASS LAUNDRY
FORT VALLEY, OA.
PRICE LIST.
Shirts, plain.............. 10c
Shirts, plain or puffed with
collar............ .121*2o
Suits cleaned....... 30 & $1
Pants pressed ........ 25c
Collars.. ...... 2 1-2
Capes, collar or fancy 5c
Cuffs each per pair 5c
Chemise.. . .10c
Drawers,, I -... 5c
Undershirts 5c
per pair . .. 5e
Handkerchiefs..... 2 J-2
Handkerchiefs, silk 5c
Shirts, night, plain. 10c
Coats.............. . ..15 to 25c
Vests-.............. . ..15 to 20c
Pants............ . ..25 to35c
Towels............. 2 1-2 to 5c
Tablecloths............10 to 25
Sheets....................7 1-2
Pillow cases, plain..........5c
Napkins..................2 l-2e
Bed spreads..........15 to 25c
Blankets..............25 to 50c
Lace Curtains..........20 to 25c
Ladies’ shirt waist......15 to 25c
Skirts 2 f j to 35c
No, Cordelia, hi mg isn’t always
it is smacked u to be.
Even a crook can hand out a
tip if he wants to.