The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-14
SERMON OFMR. MCQUEEN
EAaNEsT REMARKS AT CHURCH or
 HOLY COMFORTER. F

ft Rector of Episcopal Church Spoke en
 ssChoosing Lifee Basing His Ser
 mon on an AdmOnitipn from
 Deuteronemy.
 -o-
 At the Episcopal Church of the Holy @ Comforter yesterday morning tns rector. Rev. Stewart McQueen. prescmeo a strong sermon on "Choosine Ls
 MT. Mcqueen spoke from Deuterono- my. xxx. ls: Choose Life.
 .rhe words" said MT. Mcoueen, take ua hack into the far-distant past. They bring before us Moses, the leader oI Gods Chosen People. His work IS almost over. He is about to pass away He rehearses in the ears of his bretn- ran inc many blessings which had been vouchased them, speaks warnings of various kinds, finally crowning 1t all with the solemn and awful admonition' Choose life
 ..rhis Divineiy inspired command. while given a special people, under peculiar conditions. Is not local or tenn porary, either in it's nature or applica- tion. It rests upon all mankind in all times and places. Therefore, it ap- plies to us.
 "observe. too. the likeness between our condition and that of the people who were bidden Choose life They were Journeying through a wilderness to the promised land. Temptations of all sorts beset them. They are con- tinually assailed by enemies fierce and vigilant. The life they lead is to de- termine whether or not they shall en- ter upon their promised inheritance. Our case is similar. We are passing through a wilderness, the wilderness -E ~AA upon us thick and fast every hour of every day. Our enemy (the great ad- versary, Satan) never sleeps, but is ever on the watch to compass our des- truction. We, too have an inheritance assured us, eternal, unfading, in the heavens. Our entering therein hinges upon the life we lead. Hence the force of the God given injunction. Choose Life
 How significant, how impressive the first word. Choose Instantly 1t makes rise up before us in awful majesty, the most tremendous reality fo our existence-personal responsibili- ty. It means that upon us. whether we will or no, is placed the prerogative of electing life or electing death. It means the power to choose between good and evil. between light and dark ness, between God and Satan. between heaven and hell. This is the supreme fact of our life, the omnipresent law of our being. from which escape Is utterly impossible, strive as we may. Wherever we are. whatever we are, whithersoever we go. personal respon- sibility stalks by our side, and con- tinually commands in tones whose au- thority we dare not question. Choose |. Of course. we naturally shrink from
 -X alize 1t fully, no wonder we exceeding quake and fear, because it involves this issues of life and death. It reaches from earth to heaven; it compasses time, and eternity. But let. us take courage, for. like everything in this world, 1t has its compensations. It ennobles us as nothing else does. II dignifies us as nothing else can. It re- veals and teaches and drives home to our consciousness, more than any other truth in life. the fact we are made in Gods image. for we are given God like power. a power limited to us. solely and peculiarly ours. For observe, from the time God said. Let there be light, and, there was light" to the time when there shall be a new heaven and a new earth among the countless myriads of the universe We alone possess this power, and shall possess 1t. The life or rather, the existence, of all other creatures is automatic, perfunctory, governed by instinct, without will or direction. They know nothing of re- sponsibility. To them there is neither good nor evil. They are simply un- moral. Upon us alone, therefore, upon us, because we are free. moral beings, the sons of God. joint heirs with Christ, is laid the divine omnipresent impera- tive-"choose
 Let us, men and brethren, realize what we are to choose-Iife. How comprehensive, how profound. how far-reaching that word! How 1t re- minds us the Master so often makes life the subject of His teachings. emphasiE- ing and revealing Its nature, its truths, and instructing in its duties. Yes, you remember. He tells us of life that He Himself Is it-T am the resurrection and the life He tells us He came that we might have life and might have it more abundantly.' And His Apostles always strike the same key note, as, for instance, St. John-'He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life Tn Him was life, and the life was the light of men Thus, you see life is everything, both under the Old and under the New Dispensation. The former bids us choose life. The latter reveals Christ as our life. Moreover 1t declares His life must be in us, other wise are we not alive at all but dead in our sins.
 . we shall not pause to define life, but concern ourselves only with what life Is. To this end we should understand what it consists in. Manifestly. it is-living. But what do we mean by living? De we mean struggling for pleasure. or toiling for gain simply. or do We mean activity, hustle, hurrying to and fro? Does life consist in these things? True. they enter into life, but they do not make it. Put along side