The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-19

 house of .leighbor on whom sickness or bereavement has fallen to adminis- ter comfort and to cheer him with re- I minders of Gods promises? There is something awfuly wrong with Chris tian who, while his wealth and mental power increase with the passing years, finds that his spiritual nature does not widen and ueepen like the pleading river of Gods peace.
 Not Like a River.
 Indeed. I sometimes think that our so-called peace is not like river at all It is more like braclSsh, stag nant pool or as a dried up we'll that | gives forth no water There was a very good well here once" said an old farmer in reference to a certain drink ing trough. Indeed" answered a preacher on his vacation Ifs that so? I wonder what is the matter with it.. How did it ge' filled up?" Neglect. sir answered the farmer. First a little rubbish got in it, then little more and a little more and a little more. The dirt and refuse were not cleared out, and the water grew worse and worse and less and less until at last the well became choked up. wonder if there is any water at the bottom of this well?' Yes" said the preacher "I wonder If | there is any water at the bottom of the | WelI.'' IS that the ngufe or our peace | Is it well and not a river?
 As the Mississippi river is fed by the Missouri, the Ohio the Tennessee and the Red rivers and indirectly by the AL legheny the Monongahelia, the Yellow stone and the Platte. from many sources might the river of our peace re- ceive the waters of blessing. but in- stead we allow the dirt and refuse of this world to choke the passages by l...l.s. s.I. -l.k .t.. dwindles into a stagnant pool. Have we become dried up spiritual wells? As the tourists dropping pebbles into Jacobs well have choked it up some of us have choked up our Gospel wells. Years ago we dropped the pebble of Sab bath dissertation into 1t Years ago In went another pebbie-absence from Sun day school and church worship. Sunday newspapers instead of the Bible. No wonder that our peace. which should pass all understanding and be like a river, widening and deepening each year. Is like bracl<ish. stagnant pool or dried up like Jacobs well. If it be not like a river, the fault is ours and not God s. God Is pouring down upon us everywhere his showers of spiritual blessing. which we should gather. freshet-like, into the river beds of our hearts.
 But the pleading river not only teaches our relationship to God, but also our practical spiritual relationship to our fellow men, It clearly and em- phatically and distinctly says, Gospel peace must be eyes to the blind, food for the hungry, clothing for the naked and happy fresides for the homeless i" It teaches man that the first great com mandment is to love the Lord our God with all our soul and strength and mind. And the second is like unto 1t; we must love our neighbors as our selves. It Is a law of our nature thet peace and happiness come to us through service to others. No man is so happy as he who has made another happy. No pillow is so restful as that of him who has relieved the anxiety of his brother The peace that passeth understanding never fills the heart that cherishes self ish desires or turns away from another s misery.
 Secret of Happiness.
 How is it with America? q would like to see America, but the people are not as great as you think" said Thom- as Carlyle to an American visitor. 'You may boast of your democracy or any other 'cracy or any other kind of politi- cal rubbish. but the reason why your laboring folks are so happy Is that you have a vast deal of land for a very few people, True, Thomas Carlyle. true But what would our lands be worth If | we did not have our mighty rivers to water them? Whence could our cattle find water to drink and grass to eat but for the rivers? How could our grain lift It's golden cheek to be kissed of the sun unless it's roots once waded knee deep in the mud? What makes the Atlantic coast, especially New Eng land, have the most fertile valleys? The rivers. What makes Sahara great sea of sand? The absence of the rivers. Yes, as the Egyptians for centuries worshiped the river Nile because It's rise or fall meant to them food or fam inc, clothing or nakedness. prosperity or poverty health or disease. the rivers of our land are the source of fertility to the soil and prosperity to our people If the peace of our hearts is to be like river 1t must give help temporal and spiritual to all around us.
 Are we temporal and spiritual 'riv- CTS of life" to our fellow men7 Some of us are truly rivers of death" or rivers of seclusion." Our lives are like the stygian stream In the great Mann moth cave of Kentucky. We are sur rounded by grandeurs and beauties on 1 every side, but we have walled our selves in by solid rock where we can | do no good to others and where others cannot do any good to us.
 Like Iuray Cave.
 Or our lives. if they are not like the | Styx of a Mammoth cave. supporting 1 only few blind fish swimming hun | dreds of feet below the surface of the l earth, may be like the wonderfully suggestive beauties of a Luray cave of l old Virginia, which likewise are doing | no good to any one. That Luray cave 1 Is marvellous place. Though its beau | ties were buried for centuries. yet under | the flash of light It looks as though | It's walls had been erected only yester- l day and. like the Tai Mahal of India. l are a glittering mass of dead precious l stones. Wonder stand the columns of | stalagmite as statuary in vestal gar ments of purest white. Here are the 1 drippings of a cataract, as though the l mad rush of Niagara had been in- stantly halted and. like an open mouth- ] ed lion, dared not utter one grown, al- l though even now we seem to hear the I echo of it last wild, mad roar. Wonder l is the ballroom" where our imaglna- i tion tells us the nymphs and the fairies I used to sport and dance and make mer- | ry. Near to this ball hall'' is the "cem- l etery ridge" where those nymphs and 1 fairies were buried ages on ages ago. l Here are the Hanging veils of the god l desses," so thin that through them | flashes the light of our guides lamps, 1 so red that they seem to have been ] dipped in the blood of the soldiers who l over this very mountain once followed l StonewalI Jackson In his last raid or l into the blood of those soldiers who re- | coiled before the cavalry sharge of Lightning orse" hil Sheridan. From