The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-27

fist Church. of which he was pastor a good many years ago. The meme Q. his sermon was, Seeing the Unseen, the text being Second Corinthians. fourth chapter and eighteenth verse: The things which are seen are tenn poral but the things which are not | seen are eternal.
 ! Tn the congregation which heard Dr. Hawthorne yesterday were no few per l sons who were members of the First 1 Baptist Church twenty-five years ago when he was the pastor. These per | sons upon leaving the church ventureo | the opinion that although the sermons 1 of his primal days were regarded as almost incomparable he Is equally as great today and his power as speaker seems to have grown even in his physi- l cal weakness.
 Dr. Hawthorne is now enjoying vacation forced upon him by his phy- sician on account of his falling health His age has made apparent inroads upon his face and form since he lived | in Montgomery. He hopes to recover his former good health, however. and be able to return to his charge as pastor of the Grove Avenue Baptist Church in Richmond with renewed strength. He goes to Mobile Wednes- day where he will likely preach next Sunday.
 | In the course of his sermon yester- day morning, pr. Hawthorne drew some cogent contrasts between the | secular and the spiritual world
 Here is philosophy as we'll as reli- gion," said he after repeating his text We see things which are not seen. l hold in my hand an American coin. | On one side is the image Of an eagle | and on the other that of a human face. | T.. al that I see in that coin? It is all that my material eye takes in, hut the minds eye sees vastly more. It sees purchasing power. exchangea- ble value and gratified desires.
 over the mantel in my study hangs a miniature picture of my mother | When I look at it, do I see anything more than the image of an aged wo- mans face? Yes. beyond what my physical eye beholds in that picture see my mothers beautiful life. see the sweet home over which she pre- sided. I see her many acts of devo- 1 tion to her children. I see her lowing at the family altar invoking on her | loved ones the benediction of Gods keeping and his guiding care. l see her turning the leaves of the old family 1 Bible in search of the sweet promise of Cad to the afflicted. I see her as l she was wont to sing of that serene I rest.
 T go out to the capitol on wonder hill and see floating from its pinnacle piece of bunting on which are so many stripes and so many stars. But | is that all that I see? No. when I look on those stars and stripes I see my country; see long chains of events which make up the history of our 1 country. I see d system of free gov | hal 1 the shores of this Western world. I | see her institutions, her literature, her l works of art, great monuments, her military and naval powers and her proud and commanding position at the | council board of the nations. It Is what my material eyes do not see that makes that old flag so dear to my | American heart.
 Now all this is true in religious life. We look beyond the material to the immaterial. We see back of the visible panorama of the world the hid l den power which made and moves 1t. We see behind all fading wealth and fnery of life something more substan- tial and lasting. We see on earth scenes that suggest things which abide We see beyond the grave that over which the grave has no power 1 We believe that in everything there Is something that we do not see and that faiths world Is infinitely larger than the world of vision.
 The truth of our text is written on everything. Everything in the air. the earth and the sea reminds us that what we see with our material eyes Is short lived; that 1t Is only a bit of the stage scenery and that 1t Is perishable and perishing. At the same time. if we are thoughtful, If we have mental | vii will recnOniZe thasa something which outlasts time, some- thing which speaks of immortality something which bears the heraldry and insignia of a changeless and eternal God.
 If should say that everything dies and in my next breath declare that nothing dies. would not contradict myself. This is one of Gods great rid dies and if you do not understand 1t you have made but little progress in the study of divine economy. There is decay and death in all things and in all things there is imperishable life. This great truth God has inscribed every where. On the face of nature, where Is the beautiful foliage that adorned the trees in your parks and along your streets six months ago? Where the flowers that bedecked your gardens tEen? Withered, decayed and dead and as you trample over their remains you are reminded that the things which you see are temporal. You seem to hear the melancholy voice of the old prophet saying. All flesh Is as grass and all the glory of man is as the flow CTS of the field
 But if we are spiritual. as we look on all these remains of decay and death We shall hear another voice saying: The things which are unseen are eter- nal The decay which we behold is only on the surface The leaves decay and wither and fall and rot, but the tree lives on. There Is life within 1t which in the springtime will break out into Joyous beauty again. Believing this, am not made sad by the fall ing of the autumn leaves. They tell me that nature is only casting off her gay garments for a period of sleep and after it has slumbered for a season in the embrace of winter 1t will come forth again and be herself in vernal loveliness and beauty.
 'If 1t be true that everything breaches to us of death 1t is equally true that everything breaches to us of immortality. If everything tells us we must die. everything tells us we shall live again. and that all mortality shall be swallowed up of life. Tn all that is temporal and seen there are sug- gestions of the unseen and eternal.
 Tn looking at the pictures of my children taken when they were infants, fail to see anything which bears resemblance to them as they are now