The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-13

have a bullet pierce his heart and in- stantly drop dead. And some men may in- stantly exterminate their lives by the evil effects of sin.
 Man Des as the Leaf.
 But. after all, most leaves do not die a sudden death They live on through the spring. They live on through the sum mer. They live until the cold of oncom- ing winter makes dormant the wonder ful forces which give life to the tree They die as gradually as the summer days slip into the fall days; as gradually as the ebbng tide, each wave of which is little lower down the beach than the preceding wave; as gradually as the tWl- light slowly grows dinner; as gradually as the echoes in the mountain ravine be- come softer and softer. Man dies as the leaf. gradually. It is sickness after sick ness. It is fewer walks, less work, less physical energy. It is a gradual benumb- ment of the mental and physical facui- ties You know you are not as strong as you used to be. What Is the matter? We are all fading away as the leaf. as the autumnal leaf.
 But this autumn day, as the leaves are everywhere falling from the trees, l know God has a purpose in their death as well as in their life. One reason why God every fall strips the trees of their leaves Is that the next year the forecasts may be robed with another covering of green. And one reason why God makes one gen. eration of human beings pass away from earth Is that another generation may be born and live and have the opportunity to do the work which is necessary for them to do and then pass on to the eternal life beyond the grave. as past generations have done and as we must do.
 Did you ever stop to consider from an earthly standpoint the blessings of death as well as the blessings of life2 Every year in order to make the fruit l trees and vineyards bear well the far mer with his pruning hook has to go l al oag them and ruthlessly destroy nun | dreds of buds in order that the other buds may have enough nourishment to l grow and do their work. In order that the human race may be strong and phys ically well God has to kep his pruning hook busy or else this old earth would soon be over-populated. and there would not be room for man to live by the side of man. 50 great are the possibilities of growth" said the old sage, Benjamin Franklin, ''that the productiveness of the vegetable and animal life is inconceiv- able and almost without limit" By the Malthusian doctrine we learn that If death did not destroy one generation al- most as soon as it was born the world would soon be an impossible place for human residence.
 By that Malthusian doctrine if there was no death the human race would don- ble itself every twenty-five years In the United States there are today over TO- 900, 900 people. In twenty-five years from now there would be 140,00O,0OO. In fifty years frow now there would be COG T,, 1xro there would be 56O,OO0.OO0 people, and in a hundred years 1.12O0OO,000 people. Thus the race would keep on doubling and re- doubling until at last man as cannibal might be driven to feed upon man, as the earth, with all its productveness would be incapable ultimately of sup porting such multitudes.
 Span of Life is Short.
 The span of human life on earth is very short, yet like that of the leaf God does not permit mans life, short as 1t is, to end until his work has been fully accom- plished The Bible tells us that man s earthly "days are as grass, as the flower of the field. so he hourisheth. For the wind passeth over 1t and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more" But, though the life of the grass or the leaf may be short as that of an insect, yet it's life is absolutely vital to this coun- try.
 Once destroy the vegetation of a land and you turn that land into a Sahara, Leaves suck in the moisture. They are reservoirs for water. They decide wheth- CT country is to be fertile or not. Once destroy the forest with it's leaves and the orchards with their leaves and you | change the whole atmospheric condition of the country, as parts of Spain and | Portugal have been robbed of all moisture l by the destruction of the leaves. Thus each generations spiritual life is abso- | Iutelv necessary to be matured and de- veloped for the spiritual life of the gen. eration which is to follow. Your spiritual life decides what is to be the spiritual | life of your children and your children g | children.
 | Would that our spiritual life might | not only be a saving gospel for our | selves. but also for those who are rc | come after us. There is a beautiful story I ( a nuf n q