The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-17
Or' Stagg Breaches on the Pur-
 pose of Christianity
HE RIGHT AND HE WRONG
The Prince of Peace, Says pr. staoa. Did Not Intend That Righteousness Should Compromise With Un-
 rghteousness-lllustratlons.

Nit itisheeouShess, illustrated as 1t Is hts- tory and current political events, was the
 subject of the sermon preached in the First Presbyterian church yesterday by the Rev. Dr. John w. stagg Taking as his text the words of the thlrty-fourth verse of the tenth chapter of Matthew Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I come not 10 send peace, but sword'-Dr. Stagg said:
 It is possible that Q those who have not given attention to this text before there is a strangenes5 In the words when you remember that the chief character istic, as set out in the Bible, of the pur- pose of Christ in coming to the earth, is to bring peace. He Is called the Prince of Peace. Tn the angels song he is de- scribed as bringing reace on earth and good will to men. Here, however we have in his own words that his immed- late purpose is not to send peace, but A sword
 Great numbers of people have curious thoughts of Christianity After the lapse O. so many years. 1t is firmly fixed in the minds of multtudes, that Christianity is a spineless something, with all It's sristle and bone destroyed, when 1t comes 10 dealing with issues that call for plain ness of speech and fixedness of purpose, They seem to think that being a Chris tian Is to take away ones right to stand for the right, and to disarm one who would fight for the truth. But there are no such teachings in the Bible. When to ,tt baf the English youth the best type of man, he showed them Jesus of Nazareth. There was never a man who used words so easily comprehended by the common people as did Christ. He said some things were white on the outside and rotten on the inside, and he made these remarks to men. If we understand that Jesus did not come to the world to make excuse for mems wrong but to destroy the de- difficulty in understanding this scripture.
 The Meaning of Words.
 We shall understand it more readily also if we will give to certain words the meaning that he attched to them when they were used. For words change from 'iAiic tO tiAhS. IOi AiiHiahScg tliO WOid earth" as it occurs in the text, con tains the idea simply Of existing con ditions under the theocratic and political government of the Jewish race. Religion had degenerated to a form and political usurpatlon amounted to oppression. Jesus looking upon this condition made de- claration that he had not come to send peace, but that his purpose was to de- stroy; that out of the destruction of the vicious, there might come those condi- tions where peace could abide. He was teaching the great law that righteousness can only obtain by supplanting unright- eousness, and that the establishing of the Kingdom of God must necessarily agi- tate and incur the opposition of the king dem of the world. He understood that 1t was an impossibility to establish peace in conditions that. perforce, made for strife The very effort of the peacemaker excites to such bitterness, the spirit op- rosed to peace, as to make necessary tho use of those means which the peace- maker himself dislkes to employ.
 Wars in christendom.
 For instance, 1t has been charged against Christianity that it is religion of strife and bloodshed. It may be read in history where wars have been fought for the right of conscience, and many an argument has been written in books to persuade the mind that such was true. The civil war in France, the Thirty-Years war In Germany and the civilf war in England were all concern ec with Christianity, and the charge of blood has been brought against Protest- antism. The question is: What answer shall be given it> And the reply is the same that Jesus gaze to his generations: Destruction must precede the usherlng Tn of peace Conditions of one kind must give place to conditions of another kind. One set of teachings and authority must be destroyed in order to establish df- ferent teaching and new authority. Take the history of our own republic. and the illustration becomes more force full Our forefathcrs came to these shores for the sake of peace, but 1t was not Ing before out foremost statesman de- cIared that there was no peace, nor could there be any until conditions were changed They had come to this great land to build a Kingdom wherein men might hold those views and express those opinions that indicated freedom of con science. This inheritance of belief had come to our. forefatners through blood shed and through blood-sweat in the heart of man; but when they undertook to lay the foundation of this mighty gov ernment the principle alone upon which it was to be bul1ed caused agitation, and finally led to the taking up of the sword. But free governments can be builded in no other way than this, neither can the kingdcm of God, so long as unrighteousness opposes itself to righteousness. It Is perfectly clear, how ever. that the ideas underneath this goy- ernment are those that tend to make 1t peace government; nevertheless tn find- ing of the way these ideas were to work themselves out made peace impossibl, un- til after the nation had travelled through the birth bangs of 2 great revolution. When Great Britain oeclared war on the colonies if was due to the conflict, first, s,r ideas. and afterwards, of men. It was imnossible to have q free America until first the British hand was loosed
 Aim of Jesus.
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