The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-03-04
Is ANGELES. Cal. February 25.-

4
An uplifting sermon, profuse in IL
L. Illustrative incident and suited to the
needs of the times, was given by the
preacher today. who took for his text
Matthew tx, %. According to your faith
be 1t unto YOU
Rev. John Watson. better known to
Americans by his literary sobriquet of
Ian Maclaren, wrote a powerful para
graph in a retrospect of his lies min
istry. This is his message to the preach
ers of the present day: "The review of
the past has convinced me that while
preaching has various ends the chief
ought 10 be comfort. 1t is useful in its
way to explain the construction of the
book Of Isaiah and to give the history
of Hebrew literature, but it is better
to minister the consolation of Isaiahs
ffty-thlrd chapter to the weary heart.
No one can blame preacher for ex-
pounding Christian dogma but his words
will be more useful when they declare
the Christ himself, of whom dogma at
its best is but the garments. The preach
err is justified in attacking sin with
righteous indignation of soul and with
burning invective of words. but perhaps
he would come more quickly to his pur-
pose II he turned the sinner from his
sin by causing him to fall in love with
goodness"
In other words, according to Dr. Wat
son, the chief work of the ministry is not
iconoclastic, but constructive. 1t is not SO
much TO WELD the dissecting Knife and
expose the awful ravages of the disease
called sin as it is to lead his congrega-
ton out into the flower gardens of Gods
love and to show his people what Is pos.
sible for them to attain If they are only
willing to drink the water Of life. of
which, IL a man once drinks, he shall new
er thirst again. ] always did believe that
the sight of a good man being honored for
his virtues had more benefcent infiu-
ence upon a community than the sight
of a grewsome gallows upon which a
murderer had been strangled to expate
his crime, and ! always did believe that
Murillo's Ascension" and William
Struts "A Little Child Shall Lead
Them have had more power to eradicate
evil than Michael Angeles horrible ago
MES of lost souls, depicted in his gerat
masterpiece of the LAST Judgment"
Thus we turn to my text today with
feelings of infinite joy. When we study
the assurance Jesus Christ gave to the
two blind men of the east who came to
him crying, Thou son of David, have
mercy on u.s. we do not have to explore
with Dante the dark caverns and the
lakes of fire of an awful inferno or have
John Milton echo for us the despairful
calls of his Paradise LOST or climb
with Ignatius Donnelly the funeral pyre.
of his Caesars Column" But we can
walk with Sir Thomas More amid the in
cense laden avenues of his Utopia. We
can watch men by the power of faith lift
ing mountains; we can see Christians, as
mighty reforming chieftians, going forth
to conquest. as David, the shepherd boy,
went forth to overthrow the gigantic
Philistlne; we can see men assailed by
the hosts of temptations raising high the
golden shield of faith so that the fiery
darts of satanic attack fall to the ground
with a harmless ring o faith thou art
not a mere gospel theory! Thou art a
mighty workman, able to graft all the
powersof the supernatural into our being
Thouar the messenger ready to lift man
to Cod and to bring God down to man.
According to your faith be it unto you"
spake Christ to the blind men of old.
According to your faith be 1t unto you"
| says Christ to the men and the women
of the present day
Physical Stamina.
In order to make our subject a little
more ineligible let me remind you of
the blessings of faith from a worldly
or temporal standpoint. Let us, in
the first place, try to see what a mighty
factor faith can be in developing our
physical stamina. Archbishop Temple
once said, Faith Is the laying hold of the
future in the midst of the present of
the unseen In the midst of the seen"
And so faith can so sustain and slim
ulate the physical powers that a frame
weak and feeble and even imperfect can
achieve tasks that would tax the powers
of vigorous constitution. Let me illus
trate my thought by the scene of my
text.
There is great excitement on the out
skirts of Capernaum. Christ has just been
working a number of his miracles. The
most startling of these was the raising
from the dead of the daughter of the
ruler Jairus. OF course you can under
stand the tremendous sensation such an
act caused. The news spread like Wild
fire The people everywhere were flock
ing about Jesus. While the multitudes
were following him there were two blind
men by the roadside. / believe from the
construction of this chapter they were
beggars. When the crowd surges past
them their acute ears hear the commo-
ton
what is the matter?' they ask. "Oh,"
some one says. Jesus, the worker of mir
acles, is passing by" do you believe
he can open my eyes?" TREMENDOUSLY asks
one of the blind men. II do not know
is the reply. You were born blind. were
you not? No one that is born blind has
ever been known to see.' Yes" says
the blind man, but did not Christ raise
the dead daughter of Jalrus? 1 feel,
know he can give sight Then the
blind men, who could not get hear to
Christ on account of the crowds, began to
shout at the top of their voices, Thou
son Of David, have mercy on usl" BE
quiet" says some one. There is no good
of your shouting. Your eyeballs are use
less. Christ can do nothing for you."
But still 1.-The blind men cry more vocif-
erously, Thou son of David have mercy
on usr Christ hears their supplant
voices above the cheers of the multitude.
He stops and says to them practically
this: Blind men. do you believe I am
able to open your eyes?" They answer,
YEA Lord" Thus Christ says, Accord
ing to your faith be it unto you" At
first, / think the blind men could not
realize the full imprint of the sentence;
then a smile irradiated their features and
then the curtains of the eyeds parted
and the men say. That was the reward
of their faith. The blessing was limited
only by the measure of their belief. "Ac-
cording to their faith" and as they be-
lieved for the opening Of their eyes that
boon was granted to them.
Supported BY Faith.
"Well." says some one to me, II do
not see any connection between the blind
men of my text and faith in God giving
to a man physical powers to do what God