The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-22


 , strong in faith and undannted |, bis confidence in Godl Men will heliave in Chfsts power to save when fbav 800 a man whose reliance on him keeps them calm in the presence of death when
 dugh Latlmer the dying martyr, turned 10 the trembling Ridley who was being tied 10 the stake at the same tirne be was being tied, and said, Be of good comfort, Master Ridley. and plav the man; we shall this day light such candle by Gods grace in England as I trust shall never be put out at once Nicholas Ridley became a man His nerves ceased their quiverng and he was able to die as a Christian hero. When the frightened patriot Herault de Sechelles ascended the seaffold, over which hung the glittering guilotine and saw the snrglng French mob below him he was as pale as death. His knees trembled and his teeth caattered Rut when he turned and looked at the intrepld Danton by his side, who seornfulv said to the executioner: Man. wait a mo- ment; let the people have a good look and see how brave man can die Her ault de Sechelles became as brave as Danton was brave. q well remember myself" wrote an old soldier. "as a frightened boy trembling in the ranks at Gettysburg. With fear 1 saw the Con- | federate troops being massed for Pick 1 etts famous charge. All that l could do was to restrain myself from dropping my gun and running to the rear But sud denly every cowardly feeling in my heart was stilled when l heard a great shout and saw the most magnificent man I ever looked at calmly riding down the lines. Calmly and clearly he spoke as he | said: Steady men, steady We must hold these lines Steady, steadyr When I saw Winfield s. Hancock thus ride along. utterly oblivious to all personal danger, my heart became that of q hero. l became like unto him who at that mo- ment was my great eXempar."
 Yes, yes. We all know what the power of personal example means in life We know that when men are brave about us they make us brave. We know that ! when men are true they make us true | We know that when men are noble ex- amples of Christian faith they inspire us with like Christian faith. So when Paul, amid the shriekings and groanings and heavings and bombardments of the Medi- terranean whirlwind, calmly and delib- erately stepped forth and said, Men, I eXhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any mans life, but of the ship" then the sailors and passen- gers stopped and said to themselves; Why. that is strange talk. We cannot understand it. but Paul must have had | d SHbfIiidiildl NlSltllt UT tlHt it Nbhlu | not have spoken thus. You speak so positively o preacher, that we believe you. What God yours must be to in- 1 spire such conidencel Would that we had your faith and your religion Men and women of the Christian life, are your ac- : tons and words living witnesses of your faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ?
 Nothing Mean About Him.
 Why are the crew and the passengers of this Alexandrian corn ship happy of heart? Because Paul kept holding up be- fore them the mistakes of their past life ! in order that they might the more easily be led to follow in his way. Paul was not | a mere taunter a sneerer, a ridculer a tantalizer. He was not one of those mean, contemptible fellows who Iways stand around when anything goes wrong and say, "I told you so." He was not one of those miserable comforters of Job who are about as healing to the bleeding heart as a poultlce of cayenne pepper or stinging nettles would be to a mangled arm caught in a press. But Paul was | like a good physician who comes to an overworked man and says: My friend I told you if you did not hold up you would have a nervous breakdown. Now this breakdown has come Therefore l want you now to trust me and to do what l tell you to do, and then we will make you we'll" Paul in the same gentle way as the good physician stands beforr l those helpless voyagers and says: | Friends. l told you not to loose from Crete. I told you that if we tried to make Rome during this winter equinoc- tial you would regret 1t. But now that this harm has come to you l want you to obey my commands. and I promise, by the God whom I represent, that there shall be no loss of any mans life, but of the ship"
 Cat and Mouse.
 1t is a eontemptible characteristic to tell a man his faults and keep telling them, merely to glory in his misery, even as fendish eat might tease and tantal- ze a little mouse and yet not kill it. It is a contemptible thing for d man to come around when your little child lies cold in death and say: Well So-and-So, II am sorry your baby is dead. but 1 knew she would die. l knew it when you called in Dr. Bgdose your physician. He always kills more patients than he ever cures. l told you so. l told you so. If you had only followed my advice yc1r baby would have been alive today" Can he bring the child back to life again? It is a mean, contemptible act in man to come to you after a financia ldisas- ter, and say: Well, Jones, you were caught, were you? Just as l expected Aha you would not take my advice ' when. in fact, the man never gave you any advice or offered any sensible plan by which you could get out of your threatened danger. But though Ii is a mean and contemptible act to ridicule the misfortunes of others for the joy you have in seeing other people suffer, 1t is justifiabe to plead with them to accept your advice in their trouble by remind ing them that your former advice would have saved them from getting into trouble
 In order to erect a mansion it is often necessary to tear down and clear away the walls of an old family homestead. But no man has right to tear down or destroy anything unless he can erect better in it's place. The most misch/v- ous of all social reformers is the de- structive iconoclast who has nothing to offer us in the place of the institutions he would tear down. We know our so- cial system Is imperfect. but we would not have it mended by an anarchist who like the leaders of the Frenih revolution of 1793 would commence by demolishing the good and the evil together. It is easy enough to be a censorious critic. It is not so easy a matter to furnish q bet ter for that which you deride. l remem- Der many years ago, as an imaginative boy, l read that strange. weird horrible story called Caesars Column" In fas- cnation I followed it's author step by step as he deftly tore the beautiful pat terms of modern society into shreds. In horror read on as he denounced the social status, not as the generation Of a Noah was destroyed by this old earth as water-logged craft, shipping tidal wave after tidal wave, but as a huge column of tIA1 N4aHH