Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-01
FIRST PREsBYTERIAN.


 The summaries of the several sermons are as follows:
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN.
 At tho First Presbyterian church the ser vices were conducted by the pastor, Rev. A. B. Curry, who preached from the text to be found in Mathew xii, 1920:
 He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets.
 "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench till He send forth judgment unto victory"
 This was the prophecy in regard to Christ found recorded in Isaiah xiii, 2: "He shall not cry nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street,
 When the ruler of fhe Jews sought to slay Jesus, though He could by His word have commanded legious of angels to attend Him, He did not meet them iu strife, but took Himself away. He did not strive with them, nor did He cry out aloud. IL is In reference to the gentleness and tender ness of Christ in all His dealings with men that desire to talk with you today. Un- believers of this day charge God with harshness and cruelty in His dealings with men, but it is aot true. Jesus Christ was the incarnation of God; He was and is the dwelleth all the iullness of the Godhead bodiiy.o If then it can be shown that Jesus was gentle and tender and kind, it must follow that God is also gentle, tender and kind.
 In the first place, Jesus was gentle and tender in the tones of his voice. The Scriptures only record three occasions when He cried aloud; only three times did He lift up His voice above the ordinary tones. The hrst of these occasions was at the feast of the tabernacles, when it is recorded Gin the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. The second occasion was at the grave of Lazarus, when he cried with a loud voice: ''Lazarus, come forth .p And the third time was at the crucifxion upon the cross, as recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus cried with loud voice, At all other times his tones were gentle.
 But he was not only gentle in his tone of voice; his deeds were also gentle,
 Tenderness aud gentleness in His deeds characterized His entire life on earth. Ob- serve his tenderness aud gentleness when the leper came 10 Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down said unto Him, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean. And Jesus. moved with compassion, put forth His hand and touched him, and said unto him, l will, be thou clean. Contrast this act of tenderness with the treatment of the leper by those who, when they gave food, placed It upon the ground, and stoned them. nd again when He came into Peter's house aud found Peter's wife's mother sick with fever, and He laid the gentle touch of His hand upon hers, and the fever left her. On another occasion when two blind men be. sought Him, He touched their eyes aud said according to your faith be it unto you. And still another time, when He came to the city of Main he met, near the gate of that city, the funeral procession of the only son Of widowed mother. It is recorded that when He saw her He had compassion on her, and said unto her, weep not. Then it was, In the tenderness of His great heart, He touched the bier and restored the dead to life. And He delivered him to his mother.
 The Scriptures record but one harsh act of the Son of God. He did it twice. When He found in the temple at Jerusalem money changers, and those that sold oxen, sheep aud doves, He made a scourge of small cords and drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; aud poured out the changers money and overthrow the tables. But how great is the contrast displayed in His gentleness and tender for. giveness of the woman who was a sinner who came to Him with an alabastor box of ointment in the Pharisee's house, ,and with It annoining His feet wiped them with the hair of her head.
 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same gentleness which marked and characterised his life and min- istry on earth we may now expect to find in Him.
 He is tender in awakening rs to a sense of sin. A revival of religion has been aptly called great awakening. We are asleep in our sins. God gently and tenderly awaksns us to sense of our danger. Hs does not do it ruthlessly. He does it as gently as a mother awakens her sleeping infant. The mother will arouse her infant by first opening the window and let in the beautiful light. She puts aside the cur- tain. If that does not arouse the child she perhaps places kiss upon it's brow. So God gently, lovingly opens the win- dows of our souls and lets the light of His love shine into our hearts. Again God works gently in our conversion and regeneration. The new birth is<iod's work--gentle. Man works noisily. Ali convulslons and throes are the work of man or the devil. The devil is always noisy. It is the devils work and not Gods when al sinner experiences torment. The naturel experience in conversion is sweet and gen. tie. The conversion of little child who has known DO great sin is as gentle as the unfolding of the rose. The conviction of Saul Of Tarsus was on the road to Damas- GUS, when suddenly great light shinedl into his soul and revealed to him his sin l iuness. It was three days afterwards ini the house of one Judas at Damascus that Saul was converted. Though Saul had prosecuted Christ, yet when Christ came to Saul he did not deal harshly pus tenderly with him and made known to him what he would have Saul to do. And it was in that way the conversion oi Miss Elliott, who wrote the beautiful hymn, which begins, "Just as Am Without One Plea, '' was awakened by ihe gentle conversion of Caesar Milan, as told by pr. Theodore L. Cuyier.
 God also deals gently with man .a His sanctitcaion of his soal. fne work of Gou spirit Tn specification is noiseleSs aud gentle as the unfolding of spring time. G.d does not take and lift him all the way uo at once. God leads a man gently ou in me practice O, f,mdy worship, ana from that up to a higher plale of uuty. rhs rCf Cf-p nj tI r!1 ..tt