The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-16

poerite "but there Is no need of my hur- rying. The ushers always keep my seat. I make a fuss about having any one else put in my pew. Besides, 1t is not dlg- nified for me to go ahead or even to be on tme Let me come in just before the sermon and disturb the service and then every one will be impressed by my en- trance and the solemn devotion with which I kneel in prayer"
 A Modern Pharisee.
 Our Pharisee of modern times comes in late as usual A quiet little lady dressed in black s seated in his pew. His face and neck get as red as if he had been taking a ten mile tramp under the tropi- cal sun We are almost afraid he will burst a blood vessel in an apoplect1c III. "Who is she? For what is she thereE Wasn't her husband that old drunkard who died in delirium tremens five months ago and who died bankrupt, owing me S5OO?" "Yes," said the usher. But her own life nas been sweet and pure, and as she used to know your family in bet ter days she asked for your pew. She has come to church because she wants to Joln our church." "Join our church, eh! Yes" said the old hypocrite, "l know why she wants to join our church. she wants me to help her and to let her children enter the society of my lam ity I will not do it. Now, MT. Usher, see here, this is going too far. This is too good a church for the rabble. We can start missions for the poor l do not want a lot of people with scandals pe- smirching their names using us Tor social hospital. l am willing to pay my pew rent and help out the pastors sal ary and help to support a few foreign and home missions, but 1 am not willing to be dragged into the social mud with a lot of ordinary clerks and poverty stricken women and general 'deadbeats. If you cannot kep this church entirety for the exclusive class, the social up- per tendom,' why 1 will get out.' God help me if I have made this scene too personal Some of you know who repre- sents the modern Pharisee clothed in the filthy garments of arrogant pride That person, o man or woman in God sight is your self satisfied. evil self. You are even now making the hypocrtical prayer of him who of old said, Lord, l thank thee that I am not as other men,
 But, lastly, l believe that pride is often the result of bigotry and ignorance. It is possible to become so absorbed In a particular work and in some one church as to overlook the fact that other men in other churches are winning souls and planting seed in other fields which will yield a harvest as great as our own, though other sicllles may be used to
  to produce it.
 Phillips Brooks Advice.
 How do you know that your own church Is the best church and the only true church? Have you ever studied the ways and the means other ministers are using in our sister churches? It would be a good thing for you to worship In some other church for little while before you are so quick to condemn their ways of doing things. "Other sheep have which are not of this fold" said Christ. One of the best truths l ever read from the pen of that great big hearted and noble Christian, the most beloved New | Englander of his day, Phillips Brooks, was from a letter he wrote to min | isteriaI friend in America. The letter went something like this: Dear brother, you ought to come over to Europe at l least once a year to find out how the | big world is, how many people there are | in 1t trying to do right and how small | the Ep.scopalan church seems looked at | from this side of the Atlantic. You can surmise what Phillips Brooks meant. He