The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-12-21

ton Of the price Of goods has inevitably
driven some people to the wall, and she
Is one Of the first to CO. What Is the mat
ter Oh nothing. except the fact that
thousands of men and women, some Of
whom are members Of the church, are
driving prices down and down until at
last a groan Of agony is coming from
the threats of hundreds Of thousands Of
working girls whose moral and physical
life is being crushed out Of them. If an
article is worth SO, pay 1t or go without.
1t is far better to pay young men or wo-
men a living salary to support them be-
fore they do wrong than 10 establish res
cue homes to save them after they have
gone astray.
The Hypocrisy of Depreciation.
Depreciation, when it is unjust. is by
pocrisy, and it Is in a large measure re-
sponsibe for the depressed conditions OF
spiritual life in the church as well as IN
the home and the store. Some people ap-
pear to think that the religion Of the
Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with
the weekday. They act as If they had a
right to leave their piety at home on
Monday morning, as they would put on
or off their Sunday clothes. But l want
to tell you that Christs teachings are
utterly at variance with such hypocritical
| nonsense. If a man is not a Christian
during the weekday, he Is not a Chris
tian on Sunday. If a woman Is not
Christian in her dealings with her gro
ceryman and butcher. her baker and ser
want girl and on her shopping eXpedi-
tions, she Is not q Christian when she
goes to church. A falsehood is just as
big and black when uttered over a store
counter as when 1t Is told in church. 1t
is as heinous an offense as was that lie
told under the shadow of the uplifted
4 =
he was preaching to Ananias and Sap
phira near the Jerusalem temple. And
so, my brother, If you want to consecrate
I your stores and factories, your adver-
Using columns, your commercial buyers,
your clerks salaries and your draymen's
! wages. When some one asked George
| Whitfield whether a certain man was a
Christian or no, the great evangelist an
| swered How can 1 tell? l never lived
with him." So God will never declare we
are his children unless we resolve, like
John Wesley, that during the Monday
and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thurs
day and Friday and Saturday as well as
Sunday we will try TO do all the good
we can to as many people as we can as
| long as we can"
Beginning our sermon with a text Sc
! lected from the book of Proverbs we
would end with spirit inspired pleading
peroration from the book of Ecc1esiastes.
The two indirectly teach practically the
same great lesson of our duty toward our
fellow men-'Let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter" Tear God, and
] keep his commandments, for this is the
| whole duty of man. For God shall bring
every work into Judgment, with every Sc
cret thing, whether it be good or wheth-
! er 1t be evil" Are we one and all ready
to obey this inspired injunction? Are we
ready to consecrate to the Masters SER
vice our dealings with human beings, as
we'll as our direct dealings with Christ?
Are we ready to consecrate our whole
lives to Christ-not tomorrow or next
week or next month, but just now-just
now? Brother, sister, do you know any
| better moment to promise to live for
/ Jesus than this moment, which is now
ready to fly away?