The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-28
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
BY THE REV. FRANK DE Yyf77 rALMAeg D. D.

1 9lr becomes rarefied there is not enough substance there for man to breathe. God laas mas aecreed that physical man never can ily ike bird away to the stars. He IS Tree to live in this air only as he l preathes that air when his feet are plant l eu upon the solid earthn
 Down into the shaft or a coal mine aeseend Farther and farther 1 go until the darkness seems to be hurled at me. cilng In dumb fear 10 the miner at my slde Me go down and down until the heat becomes like the bistering sands or the Sahara desert. Fresh air from above is now pumped to my panting lungs. But the heat grows more and more intense until it seems l cannot live. Suddenly we come to the end of a long coal shaft Why not farther?" I ask my guide. Has the coal vein stopped hereF' Nay is the answer, the coal is just as rich farther on, but it Is an impossibility now to work it. The farth- CT we bore into the earth the hotter it becomes. God has deereed that physical man must live on the earths surface He may pass around the surface of the earth, but cannot go through 1t. He can never tunnel his way from New York to Peking.' What Is true of the air and the land is true also of the sea. In that wonderfully interesting book call ed "Intra Mundf' the author describes one of the pleasures of heaven as walk ing through the crystal halls of the river of life We know not what may be the delights reserved for Us in that celestial sphere. 1t may be ours 10 pass dry shod through the river of life as the He hrews passed through the Jourdan. But while we are in this mundane life we can never explore the crystal halls of the Atlantic ocean nor sail though the
 ether of the skies. If man leaves his natural element he dies as surely as dld the fish we caught some weeks ago when they were drawn out of their natural element. Physical man has his limitations of life. If we would physical ly live we must obey certain physical laws. We cannot eat pebbles like an ostrich. We cannot hibernate like snake. We cannot drink in water like a bluefish. We cannot eat grass like an OK. We cannot breathe the foul and fetld air of a miasmic swamp as the frefly, with it's little lantern. makes its home among the bogs and calls the green slime it's playground. Physical limita- tions hem in the liberties of physical man. We can live our physical life only as we obey Gods physical laws.
 Our Social Limitations.
 We also have social limitations. By that l mean in the liberties of social
 
 where his neighbours liberties begin. As q citizen of the United States ] have no right in the sight of the law which Is not possessed in an equal degree by every other private citizen of the United States. Neither has any other citizen of the United States a social right which l as an individual citizen do not possess, In other words my liberties are mine only as long as l do not transgress the rights of my neighbors.
 Let me illustrate my thought by the civilized laws of my country. America Is called "the land of the free.' But freedom does not mean license. For the benefit of our social life we have estab- lished restrictions on liberty, and those restrictions must be obeyed. l see a ship sailing hither from the orient It is mag nificently furnished with lavish splendor. It Is owned by an oriental gentleman of high caste who is coming to live among us He has heard that America is the land of the free and suposes that here a man may live he pleases. He has on board eight wives, and he sets mp his harem in one of our great cities One day an officer of the law comes to him and says: This kind of household Is contrary to our laws You have seven wives too many" But the oriental re- plies: q have taken out naturalization papers and l am free citizen. l can live as l choose" But the officer an swers: No you are under legal re- strictions. If you continue to violate them we will send you to prison as a bigamist."
 The land of the free? Yes, if you obey our laws, but not otherwise. You are free to do as you will in your own home that is if you do not abuse your off, spring. If you do. as an agent for the society for the prevention of cruelty to children l can step In and take your children away from you The land of the free? Yes, 1t is the land of the free if you do not try to foreibly enter my home or rob my store or refuse to pay your taxes. or to go to war as an American soldier when you are drafted or serN o in the jury box when you are impannel- ed. You are free in social sense only when your liberties do not conflict with the equal liberties of someone else.
 Not only does man have his physical limitations and social limitations but also his mental limitations As the United States government first has it's national legislature. and then this national form of government Is subdivided into states, and these states into counties, and these counties into townships so I find the great human race Is divided and sub divided and again redivided in reference to its limitations. And in no way can you trace these limitations more than in the mental makeup of the Individual.
 Educational Limitations.
 Under the old educational system ev- cry American college used to exact A hidebound course. The young man who was a candidate for the B. A. degree had to take just so much of mathematics so much of languages. so much of the sciences, so much of philosophy, SC much