The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-10
THE REV. DR. STAGG
 ON CHRISTIANITY
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 on earth if 1t Is worthy of being clothed. It Is the churchs business to speak to men about God, and only God. This is the remedy for humanity. It would stop strikes tomorrow morning. It would si- lence every philosopher who knows not his bearings. There is no other solution for humanity's fight. We are in a bad world-a world that has sinned against God Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus of Nazareth and a few obscure men put In operation movement that was opposed His early disciples went into the cities of the earth, and they were opposed. That kingdom this day is opposed as 1t moves out upon the prin- cipalities and powers of the earth. It can't conquer the world in a day, though 1t Is a divine kingdom. It is by slow stages that 1t moves. Nevertheless it moves. It Is changing men. A contrast with the past. even though we acknowl- edge the enormous wickedness of the present, will make 1t apparent.
 Christianity Leads to Peace.
 'The history of the past fails to point out any nation uninhuenced by Christian principle wherein the blood of it's people was not shed In order to appease its god. The Grecian states were far advanced in the arts and sciences, and boasted of their philosophers, sculptors, orators, and poets. but 1t was their custom to sacrifice hu- man life to propitiate their gods before going to battle The Romans were nearly celebrated for their victories, their his- torians, their scholars and their warriors in the conflict of arms but until Christi anity appeared as a potent factor in the development of their civilization, their re- ligious ceremonies were almost as cruel as the sacrifice of life in their wars To so late period as that of Trajan, both men and women were sacrificed on the altar of their numerous gods. The crueties of the less civilized nations afflx a yet bloodler character in the record of massacres in connection with their religious rites. The Mexicans sacrificed thousands in the per formance of their religious devotions The Peruvians once killed two hundred chll- dren for the health of their sovereign If 1t has been charged against Christianity that it is a religion of blood like all the rest, let it be remembered that 1t has never but once offered a human sacrifice and through that one 1t claims to have abolished death itself"
 Men Not All Equal.
 The cross of Christ is the viewpoint II puts a glory round about man. 1t puts halo round about life, that makes gold to appear as a paltry something. It would make millionaire feel mean to bend the back and drive as dumb cattle a creature in which Is living soul The church of God is in the earth to teach men about His sacrifice, to teach men that He came not to be mlnistered unto, but to minister" The Gilbert act in Lon don, when 1t provided for indigent men, Afaa lxr hod fA Ia afa manity, in It's meanness, brought the able-boded pretending to be helpless. All effort to reform man, all effort to better his condition, without considering the moral necessity of making God real to him, and judgment certain, is energy dissipated In an effort that will fail Men are not equal. It was not intended that thy should be equal. They are not born equal. It is not possible, in the earth anywhere to make them equal; they are only equal in the sight of God. This earth is not very large when we consider other things that are material. There are planets that make the earth as a mee speck in space. It does not take one long to cross it's surface A human | soul Is taught by divine revelation that | 1t is bigger than the world where it | dwells for a time, that moral force and moral energy Is the one great aim of this physical existence; that we are not to be measured by the thing that is seen, but we are to strive for the thing that is unseen. And when men so believe when you who are in the pew so succeed in liv- ing, because you first believe God means what He says when He thus declares about life, then the tumuft on the street will cease and revolution will no longer be possible. But as long as irreverent I tl,ao their command to enslave and to crip- pe the answer of humanity, when all other means have failed, will be revolu- tion, and blood will flow along our | streets as blood has flowed along the | streets of other continents 1t is an idle 1 dream to think because science enables us to relieve human suffering that there | fore man has gotten hold of the secret | whereby humanity can be controlled in the heart The human hand and dyna- mite are dangerous. The human soul and bad idea are hell anywhere. And bad ideas are in the earth, and bad ideas | possess men, and the only salvation for | the world Is to return to the theories of Christ. He never lifted hand to strike anyone. He told a man to put back his sword in its scabbard and never draw it in His defense; 1t is the Christ who was spat upon, who was hoisted upon the l wooden symbol of disgrace and crucified.
 God is Forgiving.
 With no vindiciveness with power to | send to hell. He lifted the thief on the cross to paradise Able to wither in one divine word of censure. He lifted the dying request to His Father, that His enemies might be forgiven, because they knew not what they did. Instead of the church. as | some tell us. losing its place, it is begin | ming to dawn upon men here and there | who are up on the mountain top watching | for the kingdom of God, that 1t will be | in your day and mine when some Jona- l than Edwards will thunder again from the | pulpit and make men shake whose feet are ready to slide and all that silly. sup erficial, pious, platitude about love that | has been dshed out to the people will | lose it's place. Things are becoming tnn