The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-02
HAPPY NEW
 YEAR To all my friends who as sisted in making t!.is the most prosperous season in the life of my business.
IKE OEB,
 JeWeler.

the paramount interests to church members are not the interests of the Kingdom of Christ, but are financial, or social or even sensual qualification. The haunts of pleasure are crowded with the members of the church, the places of devotion and duty are com paratively deserted. Men are eager to advance their fortunes ,toiling far into the night to attain their purposes, while they begrudge a little time. and less energy to the practical work and the spiritual worship of Gods church. Interests, not in themselves sinful. but futile and frivolous are absorbing the nrgis and consuming the time of even the women of the churches, till the energies and consuming the time of away from duty by the alluremsnts of frivolous pleasure.
 Lesson For Montgomery. 'The community needs such a mes- sage as is here being emphasized. Too much have the ideals and activi- ties of this city been pitched on too low a plane. Commercialism has been too
 much the ruling spirit. The values
 that have been judged paramount are those which can be expressed In the terms of the market, in dollars and cents. The reason for such situation are easily apparent. General prosper
 
 uation. With money plentiful and profits easy. there has been a stimula- tion of business activity, a search for new places of investment, an eager fol- lowing in the track of profit and &C., emulation. The result of such a situ- ation always Is the emphasis of the material to the cost of spiritual inter- ests.
 "The note of warning needs to be
 sounded. Christ says Seek ye first the Kingdom of God The Apostle teaches that the mark worthy of our striving is the prize of the high call
 ing of God in Christ Jesus Let the community learn the lesson. "The next emphasis of the text. more
 by implication than definite statement, is on our preparation for the future. Here two ideas are advanced. The matter of preparation involves com- panionship and methods. And the
 thought of companionship subdivides | into the two thought of desertion and choice. There ara some companions | that should be deserted. They have become dear, 1t may be. We have
 learned to lean upon them because of their strength in certain directions But they have drawn us away from God. They have taken us far from | spiritual things. If the year we are
 entering is to be the best year for us
 we must desert these companions | Though 1t tears our heartstrings. let | us not shrink from the duty. Desert ] those whose companionship cannot be | enjoyed without moral and spiritual | injury. There are no doubt those in | the community who are today bearing
 a smirched and dishonored name be-
 cause of the companionships of the
 past year. They had better be de- serted.
 Tn the choice of companionship for
 the coming year, Christ Is to be put first. How can life be made better
 than by taking Him, whose life Is tho | light of men, as the ideal, as the chief
 friend, as the supreme king and Lord | As to methods, the success of the | coming year, in the spiritual sense, de- | pends on faHhfulness to known duty, l on fidelity fin prayer. on constant at
 tention to the teaching of the divine | master.
 May we not make our year, in the
 language of quaint Jeremy Taylor. a
 degree of nearer approach unto GodT
 If forgetting the things which are be-
 hind, and reaching out to those that
 are before. we press toward the mark
 for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus then will this year
 be indeed our hest year. Such Is my | wish for church and for city" pr. Patterson preached last night to
 the congregation of the First Baptist
 Church.