The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-07-14

hurl itself into an abyss of total and
eternal destruction.
And as God Is thus ruler In nature, 80
Is He, in the person of Jesus Christ His
son. master of the affairs of men and
nations And the sense of this fact can
man neither elude nor deny. We may
endeavor to escape from the conscious
ness of this presence in the world or az
fairs. but our endeavor is futile so long
as reason obtains and conscience oc-
cupies her throne. For the browning civ
ilization of the ages declares 1t; the nom
or of the commercial world emphasizes
it, and the existence of every kind OF
eemosynary institution on tne iace ~, VI
the earth Is a perpetual, incontestaple
witness of 1t.
Germain to the Thought.
Put more personal and german to the
thought desire you to carry away with
Won this morning. is assurance OF tpe
fact of the perpetual presence or the son
of God among the sons OF men III INC
moral and spiritual life as well as IN
,otura1 and physical affairs. Not only
70 the world in general has been deliver~~
the ,ltimatum of Gods rule and omnl-
notent mower in connection with all al
fans material but to every creature OF
Gods hand in particular, comes q mes
sage for his moral and spiritual nte'
health, safety and comfort
And this message was and Is delivered
bv and through the medium OF Jesus
name, ana that name only. And the re-
cord of testimony to the truth Oh TINS oe-
claration is worldwide accepted history,
both sacred and profane.
According to this record. 1t is now more
than nineteen centuries since there cul-
minated the greatest crisis in the history
of Cod's dealings with man.
Pagan philosophy, which, for beauty Oh
imagery and ingenuity of conception, has
never been surpassed in any age OF the
world Grecian literature, art and song,
the zenith OF which has never been reach
ed in modern days, and Roman warfare,
research and conquest, of unparalleled
bravery, tireless energy and unbounded
enthusiasm had all failed to satisfy the
mind of man. Glutted was human desire
with feasting upon the greatest accom-
plishments and grandest achievements of
the suprcmest age and time the purely
material and sensual world had ever
known. But there was that implanted
within mans immortal soul, that turned
away from it all with a feeling of dis
appointment dissatisfaction and hunger
still There was no lack of religions. Ev-
cry nation had It's God: every man was a
worshipper, and every worshipper had a
shrine. That powerful, innate conscious
ness of an eternal Being commensurate
with an eternity of duration, that thirst
ing of time for eternity, that hungering of
humanity for Divinity, that yearning of
the child for the parent, which today
possesses and controls the immortal soul,
also cropped out in divers ways in the
days when the philosophy of the times
declared that Man, like the brute, is
born, lives and dies; the cold grave re-
celves him, and he is no more forever
Let us eat. drink and be merry, for to-
morrow we may die"
Clearly Demonstrated.
1t demonstrated clearly, fully and forci-
bly, the fact that man can live satisfied
with no philosophy that does not en-
brace in its scope the principles corre-
spondent with and to the divine constitu-
ton of the human mind; that does not
provide for and assure the complete
qualification of the spiritual desire of
his immortal soul.
The philosophy of the ancients could
furnish them no living god Their vari-
Gus religions could satisfy none of the
divine desires of their nature: and, fear
full of offending by neglect a being, whom
by their intellect they failed to discern
and hoping to appease the hungering and
thirsting of their souls for that right
eousness which bringeth peace, they
erected an altar to the Unknown God"
And we read that Paul, passing that
way and beholding the inscription en-
graved thereon, told them on Mars Hill:
Eye men of Athens. l perceive that in
all things you are too religious. For as
I passed by and beheld your devotions
found an altar with this inscription,
To the Unknown God. Whom therefore
we ignorantly worship Him declare
unto you.
Christ. not only their Savior then, but
also yours and mine now. In Him the
unknown was made known; upon Him
the human heart rested as the foundation
of its faith, and through Him the mys-
terry of the nature and destiny of man
was revealed and cleared away The
crisis was not simply averted to present
itself for solution at some Slture time:
it was solved foreverI The danger was
not evaded, to be met again to harass
and trouble man. II was bravely chal-
lenged and successfully eternally van
pushed. The reign of the old dynasty
in morals passed away: the teachings Of
Jesus> Christ obtained. and time again
began anew, COMMUNICATING the fact Of
the worlds delivery from mystery, de-
SPAR and death.
And during all the centuries that have
INTERVIEWED this same Delverer, this same
Divine Satisfier of the wants of man.
this same Omnipresence, mighty to COM
fort His people, has stood in their midst,
seen Of all men; has been to them a
(Confinnad -, cfxkL n-~>t