The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-20
MAN GREATER THAN
 HIS SURROUNDINGS
Sermon Yesterday by the Rev
 A. 3. Curry,
LIFE IS MORE THAN MEAT
Dr. Curry Explains Text and Praises the Efforts of Judge Feagln and Chief Austin to Prevent
 Immortality.
immortality

The Rev. A. B. Curry, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, delivered his sermon yesterday morning from the text "The Life is More Than Meat, and the Body is More Than Raiment, Luke 12. 2s His theme was that man is greater than his surroundings.
 In his sermon Dr. Curry said
 "The Divine Teacher here institutes comparison between man and the mate- rial world around him. The word Life Is, in the margin of the revised version, rendered soul" so that we may read the text thus: The soul is more than meat, and the body is more than raj ment. Soul and body stand for the entire man himself, while raiment and meat stand for all the material world around him, with which he comes in contact and which he must use The lesson of the text Is, man is greater than all his sur roundings By surroundings I mean all on the earth outside of man; food, raj 1nent. equipages, houses, land. silver. gold and business; all material things. By man I mean, not the human race, mankind in general but man any man, you, my nearer; are greater than all your surroundings.
 This will appear if we consider the in- consistences of mans creation, all else on earth was created by the simple fiat of the Almighty; but when man is to be created, counsel is held, and the God head is heard saying: Let us make man in our own image and after our likeness.' And so 1t was. Of him 1t is said: God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.' Of no other created thing is such language spoken, and this breath of the Eternal God in man. called living soul, is more than all else on earth besides.
 Man Above Creation.
 Then man was not considered with the rest of creation, but exalted above it; he was given dominion over the crea tions.' The earth with all it's beautiful furnishings of land and sky, of mountain and valley, of tree and plain, of gold and precious stones Is only the house which God prepared for his immortal offspring, man; and the child is greater than the house in which 1t lives; greater than the gilded cradle in which 1t sleeps.
 "The superiority of man appears again in his destiny. All things around him perish, as garment they wax old and vanish away, even the earth, one day being on fire, shall be burned up. But man made in the image of God like God, has immortality; he lives on and on, and leaves these surroundings to enter new ones.
 "Once more, the value of man appears in Gods estimate of him. He gave his only begotten Son to save man. Yes, the soul is more than meat, and the body more than raiment.' This truth should be remembered in all our dealings with our own souls and bodies. The man who sacrifices his soul or his body for any earthly object or objects, for meat or raiment, for gold or pleasure, makes a fatal mistake. It makes no difference what he gains by it. he loses incompar- ably more for his gain is temporal but his loss in eternal What shall it profit a man If he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what shall man gain in exchange for hIs sour
 Work on Man.
 Again we should remember this truth in all our efforts for the betterment of our fellowmen If we would do a man the highest and most lasting good. we must work directly on the man himself and not merely on his surroundings. En- vironment is much but it Is not all. You cannot always save a man by changing his environment, but you can always change his environment by saving the man. You cannot abolish murder by sim ply prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons; but if you will take murder out of mans heart, he will not carry con- cealed weapons. You cannot cure the drunkard by closing up the saloon, but you can close the saloon by curing the drunkard. Not that it is not a good thing to prohibit pistol carrying and to clAe the saloons; it is good and noble thing to improve to the highest degree external conditions I give unqualified endorse, rrent to our worthy police court judge in his efforts to break up the pernicious habit of pistol carrying by a rigid en- forcement of the law, and to our most efficient chief of police in his persistent efforts to break up gambling hells and bring the gamblers to justice This is the states duty to improve conditions and make them the best possible. It is often all the state can do. But the church can and must go farther. She must follow the example of her divine Lord, and expand her chief labor on man himself and not on his surroundings. Christ stead- fastly refused to interfere with the so- cial or political conditions of his day and concerned himself above all with man himself He announced his mission thus The Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost; and he went after lost man as a shepherd goes after his lost sheep. He announced his fundamental rule for solving human trou- bles thus; A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit; make the tree good and the fruit will be good This is the