The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-01-02
SERMON IS FULL
OF LOCAL COLOR
Rev. Or. Stage Delivers Practl-
cal and Edifying Discourse
THE BIRMINGHAM DISTRICT
Minister'S General Theme Was Truth,
Which Changes In Form But
Not In Fact-The Ark of
the Covenant.

but his application embraced many ideas
of practical kind and a good part of the
discourse was given to a discussion Of
Blrmingham's natural advantages.
The text of the sermon was:
Behold, the Ark of the Covenant OF the
Lord Of all tho earth passeth over before
you into Jordan."-Joshua III:2.
DR.. Stage said:
The children of Israel were getting rid
of all tho rubbish of the wilderness life,
preparatory to taking up their abode in
Canaan. 1t was while they were unbur-
dening themselves of useless things that
Joshua said that the ark is one of the
things as essential In Canaan as it was
in the wilderness.
The ark was 81 chest, made in the
wilderness. 1t was a little over three feet
in length by a little more than two feet
In width and depth, and covered with
gold within and without It contained the
two tables of the law, pot of mamma and
Aaron's rod that budded. 1t Is not the
gold, nor the rod nor the literal tables of
the law, however, that makes the ark
valuable to national life. People have
49, -
hcurios. Joshua described its value when
4 he said, Hereby shall ye know that the
aAiving God Is among you" That was a
very forceful way of teaching that no
people can become great who live only
in things, and do not live by faith In the
living God.
This truth may be embodied In a hun
dred symbols, but it always remains true,
whether the symbol be an ark or some
thing else--that humanity never pro-
crosses when 1t loses faith in God and
His immanence in the affairs of the peo-
pie.
The New Year.
This is not only the first day but 1t Is
also the first Sabbath in the new year,
and as we have way of braking up time
into short stages, In order to be good a
little way at the time. I have thought II
might not be amiss for me to show the
bearing of the great essential of the text
on our time and particularly the lie OF
our city. There are some people VINO
think that God made known to Israel all
that he cared to reveal about his pur-
poses. II one will take the time to study
the conditions OF mankind and note now
those conditions have been changed, he
must see that God is still the essential OF
all truth and that progress has been
made by keeping faith in his overruling
as man has found and used the stores that
God hid away in earth and air and water
before man was created upon the earth.
When the wants of men were few they
found but little. As the race multiplied
civilization advanced, new needs contin-
ually arose. and these needs were met
with supplies from Gods treasures.
No one can study the history of the I'M
folding and disclosures of the powers OF
nature, as seen in the great discoveries
and inventions, such as the compass, the
art of printing, coal, steam, navigation,
electricity, and not be struck with the
fact that they have all been made JUST
when the interest Of the race demanded
them. These things have meant larger
life in a truer sense even than Isrsels
entering into the land of Canaan.
In This District.
We are living in section where God
has put the treasures of nature in greater
abundance and in greater proximity than
In any other spot of the world, so far as
is known. That the life of the people
who live here will be very largely af-
fected by this. goes without saying. To
those who think and observe there Is
no longer any question of the growth or
the population. Vested capital elsewhere
may, for time, make it more profitable
to finish the rough material in other
places, but capital cannot long succeed
against nature. Just how many thou
sands will come to live in this valley no
man can tell, but that many thousands
will build here is a prophesy That does
not class the prophet with the dreamer OF
dreams. 1t is all important that the larger
life of this city be not entered without
the Ark of the Covenant. If the city's
foundations pe laid In Righteousness the
generations to come Will profit thereby
A city has it's greatness in its men and
women and in its institutions. Good
changes have taken place here in the
last three or four years. You have moved
from the humble homes that marked the
humber life of the hamlet into the more
elegant ones that mark the life of the
modern city. Business has gone from
the town store house to the great build
ing, and from trading with neighbors we
have begun to trade with the world.
Is it necessary to keep life clean. that
we return to the former abodes and
methods OF trade? Not at all. 1t is only
necessary that we take along with us into
the larger life the piety and the faith,
and the altar, which we had in the old
life.
1 do not say 1t to disperage any one,
but the rapid influx of population to this
city has been a strong temptation to
leave behind the old faith and the old
habits of piety which characterized the
places of our birth. To lose these things
is to lose the finer parts of life.
Then too we are living in just such a
place as will tempt the individual to work
for the building Of city where individual
ism predominates. Wherever this Is true
the institutions that soften and guide life
always suffer. The altruistic spirit
withers and dies. The aesthetic is checked
In birth-time Streets will be unkept and
there will be no public buildings to which
the citizen may point with pride. Even
tually it comes about that people are
living in city in which they take no de-
light.
What Is Necessary.
1t is possible, from the lap Of our hills
and valleys. for city Of SURPRISING