The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-14


 
 Der that the Creeks for generations had been slaveholding people. You remem- her how that matchess orator of Massa= chusetts Wendell Phillips, tried to make the Haitian martyr, Toussaint fouVef- ture, the acme of all virtues and human l perfections. In his peroration ne use' these words: T would call him Napoleoh' but Napoleon made his way to the ena- pire over broken oaths and through sea of blood, I would call him Croih- well, but Cromwell was only a solule. and the commonwealth he founded wen. down with him into his grave Woulu call him Washington, but the great vl,- ginian held slaves" Oh, Wendell FhI- lips, is that right? is that honest. ID that fair? Had Toussaint TouVertuie grown up on the banks of the Potoh1ae with a white skin, would he have done any differently from our Washington or our Jefferson both of whom helo slaves2 For centuries the law or coh- quest in olden times meant ensiaVe- ment You should judge the Greeks py the standard of their time, but not py ours. God has declared that we nave another duty to our brothers than to put the yoke of bitterness about thelr necks and make them sweat blood Tn the factory or upon the plantation. Hear
 
 l 1t, ye capitalists. Ye are your brotheIs keepers. Blood money can stick to your hands as we'll as to those of Judas A l mark of Gods condemnation for hnancidi sins can be upon your brow as well as upon Gains for killing his brother with club.
 Not only are we our brothers keeper In a; financial or in a mercenary sense' but also in physical sense and Tn | mental Aye, we walk In wondermeht among the beautiful columns of Athens. We can think of the charioteers drlVlhs their flashing eyed chargers over those 1 hillsides. We can see the runners With the speed of the winds coming back To that capital telling of victories won. We can picture the altars of gold and silver. We can see the palaces filled with the richest art treasures and see the vast l amounts of moneys squandered Tor the worship of th> god of wine called Dony- sus. But right under the shadow of the prison in which Socrates was compelled to quaff the poisonous hemloek ignorance and filth were everywhere. And when the poor became sick they were not cared for as we care for our sick; but they 1 were left alone to starve and die. Or they were driven out upon the mountain sides as the Hebrews drove their lepers to the tombs of the dead, crying: "The leper, the leperl Room for the leperl Rooml l A sense had a duty toward their poor fel- low men. Have We not as great If not greater duty? Thou art thy brothers keeper" Thou art his keeper In a finan- cial way-you must give him work; In mental way-you must build for him schools in a physical way-you must care for him when he Is sick and helpless. Are you doing 1t? And the times of this igno- rance God wnked at. but not com- l mandeth all men everywhere to repent"
 But God has borne with our past mis- | sionary ignorance as well as our past | social ignorance. We have a duty to full All in reference to the kind of homes in which our brethren sleep and eat. We | must see that they have the right kind of schools in which to be taught. But above all we must see that they are made l acquainted with the gospel of Christ and the mercy of the true God. And yet some people who are members of Christian churches profess to believe that they are | not responsible for the kind of God their heathen brethren worship. By their ae- tions they practically say: Christ did not mean anything when He said: Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost But He does mean for us simply to go and teach our friends and our own families and our own kith and kin"
 An my brother, when man Is indif- ferent to the missionary effort to preach Christ unto all men and send Christ's missionaries into the father-most parts of the earth he resembles in his religious selfishness the Sultanyof Turkey. Tourists who have been to Constantinople tell us | that the sick man of Europe" Is living in daily terror of his life. His bloody | hand has been against all his eremies. | Murder and rapine have gone wherever his rule has gone. He dethroned his elder | hrof nd aH at 1T in l many years. He is said to have slain two of his nearest relatives. either one of whom would have become Sultan had he died He has killed scores and hundreds and thousands of his subjects in the hope that their deaths might make his life more assured, and yet there he trembles in his palace, year In and year out afraid | of his foreign foes and fearful of his enc mics. skulking within his own capital.
 The Sultan's Fears.
 But once a week the sultan, even in | spite of his own fears, goes regularly 1 to the mosque to prayer He goes there | with one motive-to insure his own sal vation. It is of himself, his eternal safe ty, that he thinks and not of the welfare of his people. Can 1t be possible that any Christian resembles him in this7 Are there Christians whose sole desire in worship | is their own salvation and who care noth- | ing for others7
 The broader conceptions of the gospel never seem to enter their lives. That because Christ Is their Savior they should try to present him to those who know him not, ah, this indeed has never been | the purpose of their hearts Now, all this l narrow conception of Christianity must | stop We must be eyes to the blind and ears to the deaf and crutches to the lame and food for the hungry. But we 1 must be more than that-we must be the | means through the missionaries. of bring ing Christ to a dying world
 Thus in closing I would point you to | Mars hill, the most glorious pulpie in the | world with the exception of Calvary. And then I would point out for your ex- | emplar the mightiest gospel preacher of all times with the exception of Jesus | Christ Himself. And would tell you that Paul did not go to- Athens to preach l Christ. He was worn out with work. He was resting there for silas and Timothcus I to come to him. But while he rested he saw the Athenians In sin. Then he could not rest any longer. The Bible says, His spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." There fore he went forthNto tell the Athenians about his Christ. An, my friends. in our | modern Athens of America will your l hearts burn within you as Paul's burned | within him when he saw the wickedness of mankind? Will you here and now prom ise not to rest this side of the grave until you have told as many people as l you can about the Jesus who alone can save them from their sins? May every | hour of every day of the coming year find l you proclaiming the gospel tidings from some Mars hill until at last you stand