The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-10
TIE REV. DR STAGG
 ON CHRISTIANITY
Knowledge the Ability to Dis
 tlnguish Truth from Error
WISDOM GIvETH LIFE
The Preacher Makes a Strong Plea for the Cultivation of a Study of Christianity and the Work
 of the Church.

The Rev. Dr. John W. stagg delivered the following sermon yesterday morning at the First Presbyterian church in the presence of a large congregation.
 For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellenoy of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it"-Eccles. vi;12. 1 Wisdom, money, knowledge. life--the sum total of all attachments. To get i them correctly related is the proH em at which all should work To make wis dom and money enrich life and make 1t godly Is to attain the highest end of ex- istence. The excellency of both money and knowledge is that the wise using gives protection to those who have them. To use money for any other end is to be unvise. The parable which sets forth rich man using wealth for the ease of i the soul, likewise consigns him to hell for failing to use things seen In getting values in things unseen.
 l It is necessary that we shall under stand the meaning of the most familiar words if we will follow inteligently any 1 line of thought. Knowledge Is the abil- ity to tell what thing Is and what it l is not, and wisdom Is the application of facts and the aim Is life. All we see, all We are, is explained in that one word,
 
 think so little-Llfe-the most sacred something which we have to deal with. 1 So that 1t becomes apparent that the Bible. being a book from God, who is Life, would necessarily be concerned more about life than about anything else. i It is the kind of life that is important 1 and about which mistakes are made by. confounding 1t with things. It is the l book of Ecclesiastes from which the text is taken, 1t Is the 10th chapter of John also that holds the truth: T am come i that ye might have life and that ye might have 1t more abundantly; I am the Life It is the rounding out of this idea that sent Jesus as a sacrifice to the world. All of our confusion in undertake J ing to unravel the knotty problem of l humanity is due to the failure to appre- ciate the source from whence men must begin if they will correctly get hold of l knowledge, and receive that wisdom whereby they shall apply the facts to ] life. Life is in God, brought to the world 1 in Jesus Christ, His Son.
 How to Make Life Better.
 You can not get at this subtle some- i thing which we call life by anything that administers to the comfort and the ease of the human frame in which life mani fests itself. There are two theories held l by men. The one is that life Is improved
 by improving the conditions of existence, good sanitary measure, humanitarian movements; that they affect life; that the misery we see is due to consideration
 of these things that the human frame l Is bent, that the human heart has its sor- 1 rows, because men have been ineonsider- ate of one another In these things that 1 pertain to the outside. to the shell in which the man is. The other view is that man can not be benefited unless he shall l be touched from the inside, all that Is ex- ternal must be ignored, and he must be 1 touched at the very spring of life, which l Is the human soul. The latter view Is | correct, so far as the Word of God has revealed. It has been very difficult for men to understand it In it's absoluteness, because they have confounded the giving of bread and the giving of clothing with l this principle which is alone, which stands out solemnly, emphasizing the one great truth that God revealed to the world in | Jesus. They have confounded that with 1 the natural fruits that flow from this con- ception. Let the idea once possess a mans heart, and his hand moves. Let the Spirit once enter into the secret chamber of mans soul and his money goes away from his hand, and his heart breaks over suman suffering. It Is therefore this god l like reverence for life. with all of It's pos- | oabiAeiCS iu dppIODIldle IO lIhelI that 1 which Is spiritual, that sent to the cross a man who was without silver and gold, i who considered not his food nor his raj l ment
 Should Reverence the Earnest. So that wherever we find an earnest spirit undertaking to add more to life, there should be given 1t the most pro- 1 found reverence. Plato In his Ideal Re public. and Cicero In his Commonwealth when he undertook to put a foundation to the castle which his predecessor had builded in the air, were Gods workmen; not writing simply idle dreams to amuse. but earnest souls sweating the blood of anguish to get at the secret that would bring blessing to humanity. More's Utopia amused people, at the same time 1t was an earnest effort to solve a problem. Herbert Spencer, and Henry George, and Bellamy were earnestly try ing to solve a riddle. In the most en- frightened of all ages of the world with greater material forces at our command. still the world is bad Men are wicked. The Kingdom of God seems a long way off. The Christ-like Is not in men on these streets and in our homes as 1t should be. The church itself has been spoken against as an institution that has driven humanity away from God instead of drawing to God. What the world needs is a knowledge of God, and to ap- ply the facts to life. There is but one way to help humanity. and that way Is to make God so to be desired, and the Christ life so to be loved. that million aires shall be robbed of their power to oppress, and the pauper shall be robbed of his power to think evil To under take to legisate so that men shall do their work is absurd. To undertake to control men so that they will be con siderate of their feliowmen, is a worse dream fin its hopelessness than ever Plato or Cicero or Socrates dreamed There Is way to tie the hand of every criminal on the earth, and it can be