The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-25
DISCUSSES POWER OF GOOD AND EVIL The Rev. J. D. Mooney Takes
 Two Texts WE ROB GOD OF HIS GLORY Pastor Said That While His Theme Was Not New He Hoped it Would Reveal Itself With
 New Power.
WE ROB GOD OF HIS GLORY

The theme upon which I shall speak this morning Is not new, anymore than any theme around which there clusters the tragedies and triumphs of life, is ever new. But while the theme Is not new, I hope that it may reveal iteslf to us all with new power. For in this large world there is a great necessity nhat we see with a clear and open vision.
 Good and Evil.
 There is a personal good and there is a personal evil Somehow we have allowed ourselves to form the habit of looking upon evil and good as abstract terms, and as vague influences, whereas they are nothing if they are not con crete and personal. The evil and the good that is in the world today manifest themselves only when persons reveal them. There are in the world a large variety of personalities, and yet in the last analysis they all resolve themselves into two, the personality of God and that of evil We all need to realize that not only does evil live in our hearts and lives but there Is a power behind the evil that shapes it, and sends 1t out into the world with the impression of personality. The same thing is true concerning the good that is in us. Now this personal power for good or evil is felt in every sphere with which we have any relation.
 God Feels It.
 
 of God, God feels and is hurt by the in- fuence of your life, and why? Because you are robbing him of energies and ac- tivities and service that belongs to Him, and you are yelling the glory that he desires to manifest through your life.
 God is not seen except as He Is seen in the lives of those whom he has cre- ated He shows His power in life through the agency of the indwelling of Christ, who reveals through life and its experi ence the power of God, and men see it. Unless Christ dwels within a man God is neither seen or felt in that mans life. Can we ever rest under, or be satisfied with the thought that we are hurting God that we are robbing Him of a glory that ought to he Ills? And yet we are doing this unless Christ dwells In us with fullness and power. And so when God tries to reveal himself to mankind and to you don't let the selishness and the worldlness of your life lie as a shadow between God and humanity. ke alize that one sinner destroyeth much good, that in your life there is a per- sonal power for evil. On the other hand the life that puts forth a personal power for good is felt by God also, and while the sending out of evil into the world limits and retardsss Gods desires, the sending out of a personal goodness helps God in making known his power and in revealing His love.
 Lines You Touch Feel 1t.
 Not only does God feel the destroying power of the life of evil as He tries to come nearer the worlds heart, but the lives you touch, some very closely, feel it also. Human nature Is so susceptible to influence, especially that which is evil, and you are inhicting upon them the deepest wrong by making their struggle any the harder by any injurious influence which may go out of your life.
 On the other hand. the personal good is felt by the same associates and by the same fellow spirits. 'Ye are the salt of the earth" means that you are to give to your world, the world that you touch, it's standard and it's inspiration.
 Your Own Life Feels 1t.
 But nowhere is the influence of per sonal power for good or evil felt more than in the individual life itself. Your own life feels the influence of your state of heart. With the gracious power of Christ within you, you are without one of the best developing agencies in human life. Life, instead of going forward, away from the average and the common place, Is content to stay there. No di- vine voice calls to 1t from the heights no power pushes to the summit of lfe's mastery and lfe's power. The good that beats at the door of the soul is sent away without gaining entrance, and aspira- tions and ideals that Christ might create never reach fruition.
 On the other hand an experience of Christ in the soul and of His power in the conflicts leads to a thirst for life goes on, the soul expanding the heart growing sin becoming weaker, Christ stronger, self-forgetten and Christ pre- eminent.