Birmingham age-herald., 1895-08-19
THE CHURCHES. Words of Wisdom From the Sa-
 cred Desk. : WAY OF LIFE MADE PLAIN SynopSes of Sermons Delivered in Birmingham Pulpits Yesterday-The Message
 of God to Man.

Rev. R. D. Wear the pastor, preached on the subject of Faith" taking the Sth verse of the third chapter of St. John The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou heareth the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth so is everyone that is born of the Spirit"
 He said: A great many people are skeptical when it comes to spiritual mat ters, and very credulous of the material. Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, could not understand the second birth, and for that reason rejected it. He be- lieved Christ was a teacher who came from God, because no man could do the miracles Christ didiwithout God.
 That's intellectual acceptance of Christ; yet Christ told Nieodemus that was not enough.
 The natural man cannot know the things of God, for they are spiritual. Man cannot understand the new birth or regeneration and therefore rejects the whole teachings of Christ The sick man, emaeiated, paralyzed or parehing with fe- yer, rejoices when cured. He knows cev- tain remedies applied cured him-Why, he cannot say; yet he believes in those remedies. Is there just reason for reject ing the theory of regeneration? It was
 
 said: Believe on Christ and be saved" :" The way to become regenerated is to un- lock the golden door of faith.
 We all know that vegetable life springs from seeds; that certain conditions of soil climate and other elements operate to make it grow; that heat is necessary to make the seed sprout. Why these agencies are necessary we cannot say. It is a mystery. Yet we know 1t is true, and believe in it. We see heat turn ore into iron gas into light, and when I ask you why it is you tell me it is force; that's all. You can't explain why, yet you accept them. You say heat force causes the flowers to bloom in spring.
 Man stands today accepting thou sands of things done by heat, which he does not understand, yet rejects Christ because Christ's mysteries stagger his mind. You may plant different kinds of seed in the same bed and they will spring up each into it's own kind of plant. You don't understand why they do but you accept it.. You send your dirty linen to the laundry, where by the use of water, certain chemicals and heat, it is cleaned. Your soul is dirty, filthy, and before you can become good man, a pure man, you must have it cleaned Christ is the force that cleanses it. It is the magical touch of divine love that changes the unclean soul.
 There are other forces you do not un- derstand, yet which you accept. Elec- tricity, the photograph the telegraph, the telephone.
 There is another force. You see the drunkard who reforms. He gets religion, cleans up, gets job and goes to work. You do not understand why he did it and reject the spiritual force. There are two chemicals when placed near each other one changes the other. Christ and a sim her placed together the sinner is cleased by the pure character of Christ. You be- lieve in the chemical agencies and reject the spiritual agency.
 We know certain medicines will cure certain diseases, though we cannot say why. Still we have faith in those medi- cines Christ cures the souls diseases and because we cannot understand why we reject it. That is not consistent.