Some Pulpit Utterances

Iowa, 1902

Condensed Sunday Sermons

FIRST BAPTIST.

At the First Baptist church yesterday morning Mr. Porter continued his studies in the Book of Revelation, preaching on "The Seven Seals," Revelation 6 and 7. In the course of his sermon, which was heard by a large congregation, he dwelt upon that awful cry of the day of wrath, "Rocks and mountains fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne."

It is a picture of men dreading the face of Christ. It is a picture of men crying for annihilation rather than look upon His face. What is the matter with that face? It was the most beautiful, the most winning, the most sympathetic face that the sun ever shone upon. Yet here are men preferring oblivion to a sight of it. A man sins against his wife. What, then, is the face he most dreads to see? It is the loving trusting face of the woman to whom he pledged himself to cleave til death. What is the matter with her face? A young man sins against his mother. He sins against her prayers, and tears. He is in the saloon taking his first glass. What is the last face on earth he would have look in at that saloon door? It is the face of his mother. Any face but that. What is the matter with that face? It is the sweetest and loveliest face in the world. There is nothing the matter with the face. The trouble is with him. A guilty conscience makes the face of love terrible. That is what was the matter with these men fleeing from the face of Him that sat on the throne. Will you dread or welcome the face of Christ?

—Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, Sept. 1, 1902, p. 5.