The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-10
NEEDS OF PRESENT ONLY ARE ALLOWED Strong Sermon by Former Pas
 tor of This City PRINCIPLE OF GODS LAW The Rev. James c. Morris Preached Yesterday from the Pulpit of the
 South Highlands Presby-
 terian Church.
PRINCIPLE OF GODS LAW


 terday morning from the pulpit of the South Highlands Presby church. | Dr. Morris is visiting his two daugh- ters in Birmingham, Mrs. A. W. Nelson and Mrs. T. II. Benners, and at the re- quest of the Rev.lDr. Sterling J. Foster, | pastor of the South Highlands Presbyter- ian church. preached at that church yes terday morning. The church was crowded with the many admirers of Dr. Morris here, and by his eloquent manner and clear phraseology, the speaker held the close attention of every one present.
 His text was chosen from the seven teenth chapter of the l Kings, sixteenth verge: And the barrel of meal wasted not neither did the cruse of oil fail, &C., cording to the word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah"
 Dr. Morris said in substance:
 These were troubous times in the king dom of Israel. Ahab, the most wicked of kings, sat on the throne and defied the laws of God and man. Elijah, the man of God seeking to awaken the king and the nation to some sense of their oh- ligation. phophesied a great famine in the land, and for his honesty and loyalty to the truth, was forced to flee for his life.
 After wandering from place to place, he came to an obscure village and there at the gate he met widow gathering sticks, that she might prepare the last morsel of food in her house, and then with her children die of hunger. It was to her that the promise was given and so generously fulfilled, as recorded in the text
 Though many might object to the mira cuous In the supply of a barrel of meal each day, nevertheless the lesson con tains in it the great underlying prin- cipe of Gods government of the world In the homely phraseology of the every day life, the world leads, as this widow did, hand to mouth existence.
 Possibilities of Famine.
 There is alway. the possibility of great gamine in this world. Never do the supplies of the earth increase so great ly that another season may not find us luce tO 1dtt WilH StdiNdAtou ANotAA' AiiN most perfect illustration of this principle was found in the daily miracle of the mamma, by which the Israelites were fed during their journey through the wilder ness. when each day it had to be gather ca afresh, save the seventh.
 if more was gathered than was nec- essary for the days supply, it bred worms and became stench in the nostrils of the people and so the same principle was fought by Christ when he sad Take no thought for the morrow, no anxious, cor radng care, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself" There is 10 evidence that God has changed his mode of operation and today man can only live the hand to mouth existence
 It is quite true that the amounts vary with the individual and one gathers mil lions but his desire grows larger and the millions gathered yesterday are not enough for today nor tomorrow.
 Supplies Immediate Needs.
 Again this is the principle by which Gods grace is supplied to us enough for all our immediate Leeds, for all the daily duties and temptations, but no supplies are given today fo- use next year "As thy day may demand shall thy strength ever be-" Is the promise. How pitiaDly weak is 1t then for men to go through life with long faces with fear eating out their hearts, that they will not have "dy- ing grace" that when the last crucial hour shall arrive, they will be wanting In this supreme necessity
 This much is assured, if thus you go through life, it is positive that you will be lacking this dying grace If you have been supplied with living grace every day and have used 1t each day, should you be anxious concerning the grace necessary to die with fortitude and peaceY NO, throughout the whole scheme of life runs this principle, Gods supplies are given each day for our needs, this much and no more. We may legitimately ask did God adopt this principle in his alwise plans? This question we may not be able to fully answer, but 1t seems to me that the principle was to stimulate our activities. If man could have looked down the long vista of coming years and seen all wants supplied from the great stores piled highr, waiting to be used, the race would have long since degenerated into an idle, lazy and thriftless people and Gods plans would have been mis- carried.
 Work Necessary to Progress. | Work is the first essential In the pro- gress of the race and the words: "lf man work not neither shall he eat con tain the very essence of successful life. Another reason for the adoption of this principle was for the cultivation of faith | in the human soul. Faith could not be developeyd under any other conditions. l The future cannot be demonstrated, neith- CT can the unseen. The man of science | can make demonstration If allowed to rim in A straight line, bu. ne cannot find | the clements that will enter into his prob lem tomorrow or the day after For example, the child is three feet high at thre yea and the man Of science can l make plain mathematical demonstra- | tion that at forty years he must necessa- rily be forty feet high, but it is not true and he never reaches that height. There arc curves and tangents and broken lines 1 In the government of God, that defy the puny mind of man to follow them, ana thus there is room and necessity for faith. ..rhomas." said Christ because thou hast seen me thou hast believed. blessed arc they .nat have not seen and yet have believed"
 | There are few heights loftier to which fa ohl fl