Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-22
southside Baptist Church.

Southside Baptist Church.
 pr. J. B. Hawthorne, the distinguished
 Baptist divine of Atlanta, delivered one
 of his characteristically able sermons at
 the Southside Baptist church yesterday
 morning.
 The announcement that he would
 preach there filled the church to it's ca
 pacity, and large number were turned
 away, being unable to get seats.
 pr. Hawthorne preached from a dou-
 ble text; St. John, viii, 12 q am the light of the world" and Matthew. V, 14,
 ''Ye are the light of the world"
 He said: Jesus spoke the words of the
 first text when standing on what was
 known as the treasury house of the tenn
 pie. In it was a chest into which people dropped their contributions. In the cen ter were two enormous candle sticks with elaborately ornamented branches. These lamps were lighted at sundown and through all the night their exceed ing brilliancy illuninated the whole city of Jerusalem, reminders and tokens Of the presence of God. Early in the morn- ing of the great feast of the Jews Jesus
 sat amidst these two candle sticks, and
 while the lights were expiring exclaimed:
 T am the light of the World' st
 Another and grander object was the
 rising sun. I can see Him now, in my imagination. as He stood there with the people gathering around the fiickering light and as the next object, the rising
 orbit of day, appeared like a gorgeously
 arayed bridegroom coming out of the east, He exclaimed: q am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness" They called Him the Son of Righteousness, but how appropri- ate the name He gave himself-the light of the world-for as the sun is the light of the material and visible universe, so is He the light of the moral world.
 Tn the beginning, as soon as light was created, the elements of chaos began to take shape, water was divided from wa ter and land began to appear and vege- tation to grow. Some writers have compared the sun to man running a
 race-it passes from horizon to horizon and nothing is hid from him and through ages he goes on his luminous way. That sun has been as beneficent as luminous; everything that grows is nourished by him. without him herb, beast nor man could live. He not only sustains the ma
 terial and visible world, but spreads be- yond and prints myriads of splendors that are invisible to us.
 T am the light of the world" He is the one source of wisdom and salvation for erring humanity. Is He simply teacher of menP Is His sphere limited simply to the removal of human ignorance? Such a conception of Him is based on an un-
 
 such d serious matter; an assumption born of ignorance and lack of intellect an assumption that the school house and not the church of God is the great regu- lator of all the world. That is radically | false; knowledge alone cannot make us better men and women. Bob Ingersoll | is as we'll informed in some branches of | learning as William E. Gladstone but | one Is brilliant blasphemer who for a. few hundreds in silver denounces Christ | as usurper and the Bible as the most infamous book in the world. The other l is Christian gentleman, a man whom a nations treasury could not bribe into | saeriligious utterances of his creator We | all know that knowledge and righteous ness are not convertible terms. Some of our representatives in legislative halls know more about some piece of rascal l ity than they do about getting whole l some bills through congress or the leg l islature. Some bank cashiers have shown l themselves wise enough to enlighten a | nation and base enough to convert every l dollar entrusted to them to their own use 1 Some Of our most prominent men are l guilty of every crime in the decalogue. Some of the foulest crimes have been l committed by men who hold diplomas
 from the best colleges. True, knowledge | goes further than the intellect.
 l Sin Is a loathsome disease that covers l mans whole nature. It is born enmity | towards God and his laws, and is in open 1 rebellion against him and his goodness | Sin means separation of mind and heart 1 This being mans condition he needs more l than instruction, he needs deliverer he | needs Savior in other words he needs l God, who breathed life into him. All | through the worlds history, in the 1 blessed Bible, in the burning bush, in the
 luminous cloud, we have visible manil l festations of the presence and blessings l of the invisible Jehovah. The Lord is my light and my salvation. When Christ 1 says T am the light of the world" he | declares his oneness with God. Christ | was God manifested in the flesh He was | made in nature and in sympathy with l man, and nothing but personal contact | with that Being could emancipate man | from his sin and lift him to God ? I Our only salvation from sin is to know | God. We may know something about | God, but not know him. I know many l things about the present emperor of Ger | many, but do not know him; can learn | something about God and his creative | power without knowing him. What men | need most is knowledge of God.
 But the second text; what will you do | with it? "Ye are the light of the world | in the midst of this perverse generation, | among whom you shine." Christ. turning l to his disciples, sa . "The light of the l Christian is a derived light" in other ] words Christ works through men to bring | other men to him.
 | Dr. Broadus, doubtless the ablest ex- l pounder of testament scripture in the i nineteenth century, said men must show | their virtues in the presence of men. | When isolated from the world itis easy