The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-10
SERMON OF REV. RICE
POWERFUL PLEA OF A SELMA
 PASTOR.
The Subject Chosen Was "The Three Crosses" and It Was Handled in Masterly
 Manner.
Advertiser Bureau,

evening heN. U. B. hice preacneu d pow erful sermon to large congregation | takine for his subject, "Ine Three | Crosses" Rev. Mir. Rice is splendid
 talker. and his sermon on this occasion l was particularly interesting Below we ! give synopsis of his address.
 In these threc orosses we have the l world from the beginning to the end iii
 the cross oa the left det us say) we have the ancient. world at its best. All the science and philosophy of the ancien | world could do nothing more than de-
 velop the physical and rational powers | of man. And since the racial develop | ment Is analogous to the individual de-
 as ~ beinF the @ more nc eooS simpe s. Man me is i the | microcosm corresponding In every re- | spect to the makrocosm. He therefore Is
 soul (mindl and body. IL Thes.. V. y3.) | As to the process of gruA sh, however, he
 Is body. soul. and spirit. At birth he
 IS only body, pure animal plus only
 During this period which may last | several years he displays all the appe-
 tites and passions displayed by any other animal He Is under the direction of m
 stinct and irresponsible. hence an inno- | cent Icing. If he never attained any
 higher degree of growth he Is known as "a natural born idiot" But according | to the natural course of human devel. | opment he will In a few months in some | cases and few years ln all other eases
 show signs of a rational growth. Hence | forth he is rational CT reasoning ami mai. I say animal, because all through | the first and second stages. or during the physical and mental periods, he Is sub iect to the animal instincts as motives
 This being true, he is fighter. Fer
 as yet he knows nothing of 2 love L1r t9r first period of development he contend:d unequally with better equipped animals in the fight for fife.
 became king of beasts, the most terrible individual lighter the earth has ever known. During tris period he organized civilizations of the ancient world: His only motto was Might makes right. God is always on the side of the strong diers were the only missionaries. and swords and spears the only arguments, these taking the place of tooth and clav
 count of the unconverted, uuregencrated
 individual of today. iIe is the represent
 ative of past age. The remnants or
 the ancient world wl,.s funeral oc-
 cured at Jerusalem on tha day of the
 crucifxion of tHhIisc.
 Tie funeral proc Assipn from. the tsstle
 of Antonio to Calvary was the funeral
 procession of the dead past That day non-resistance won. That day light ana
 fury died natural death, died for want
 of an enemy with whom tu contend died
 because it was no longer heroic to hght,
 no longer fashionable, no longer popular.
 That day fighting ceased to pay, has ever since been at a discount and bids fair
 ere long to be a hopeless bankrupt.
 Fight and might represented In the im- penitent thief were that day bereft of
 nothing remains of their former glory but the faint echo of ancient battle cnes and the power to rail on the sons and
 During the first period nC in1ivijual and
 racial growth the only motive 10 acton was and is fear of punishment. nrI,ns
 the second period Of srowsn rear Q, n,dsine pdin
 Is introduced, viz: hope of reward. These two are the motives and the only mo, tives that prompt every thought ana ana
 or present. But these two motives
 were and are unable to lift the ln- dividual or the race higher than the tional animal uife, higher than ,nre- stricted competition higher than military civilization, higher than despotism and
 tyranny, higher than the fight and fury of the motto that might makes right and being so in this world what reason have we to hope that it will be else in the world to come. And as sorrow, sin, sickness famine, pestilence, crime, dis, ease. oppression. slavery, hatred and murder and death characterfze those two motives 0ear of punishment and hope l of reward) here it stands to reason with | out appealing to scripture that so 1t will be in the hereafter with those their fol- lowers. But there is. a third stage of growth, viz, growth in grace.
 Now I do not mean to say that there | was never an example of this stage of | from 1t. Tehre were the Abrahams, | Isaacs and Jacobs in all nations.s But they | were the exceptions, they were isolated and individual examples, while the race | as whole was unregenerate and the | special tendency was in the same direc- ton, and that on this side of Calvary there has been a strong tendency in the | opposite direction, viz, the direction of peace and that right makes might.
 This then necessitates new and | stronger motive, a mightier dynamo than fear of punishment or than hope of re- ward.
 What can be a stronger motive to right | of heaven? That is the great question | that Jesus answered. And that stronger | motive he supplied. He proved to man | relation r % Now what is the he true n G motive % to filial obedience? It is not the child's | fear of parental punishment or hope of | the parents every command (outwardly | while inwardly. he hated them) through | fear of punishment or hope of reward, | fear of corporal punishment. fear of los ing material advantages or gifts already | In possession or through hope of inherit | ing their property after they were dead, | he would have the spirit of true child. | And should this spirit become known to | his parents 1t would be a source of great | grief to them. This is. however. not the | natural spirit of child. The child nat
  regardless of fear or hope. This spirit Is | kndled in him by the love of the par | ents of which he is constantly conscious. | We love Him because He first loved us." This during the first and second period of | growth is instinctive affection, during | the third period 1t is conscious affection. | But in either case 1t Is the love of the | parent for the child that begets love in the child for the parents. And 1t ts love | and love alone prompting the child to action that can render its obedience &C., cebtable 10 the parent.
 Now Jesus by his death on the cross proved his love for sinful man and his | by the Father proved that | this obedience was well pleasing to the | Father, proved that the love of the Son | was generated in Him by the love of the for us, generated in all of us by whom 1t is accepted as proof of Gods love to us, love in us to God. And thus furnish ed higher motive to human conduct and right action than fear of punishment or hope of reward, both of which are supremely selfish motives
 This bore fruit immediately in the theft on the right who, at once acknowledEed his crime, his just punishment. his faith In Jesus as Lord and King his faith In the immortality of the soul. his belief In heaven and his belief in the power and willingness of the Savior to save him. He also proved the existence of the new life | and spirit in him in his attempt to win over his companion in crime, thus con- like tends to beget like" that the fruit | ,f Christian Is another Christian.
 Are you a faithful tree, my brother pr are Nyou cumbering to ground? The fruit of the grape is not the vine nor the branches, but more grapes. thirty or