The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-22
ANNUAL SERMON BY
DR. BLACKWELDER.
Was Preached at TaIIadega
Last Thursday
ON THE CARE FOR SOULS
1t Is Regarded as One of the Features
of the Annual Convention
of Alabama Bap-
fists.


persons, who need no repentance. Luke
15:4-7
In many hearts there Is an intense long
ing, which amounts to an expectation,
for deep spiritual awakening among the
church. We may discount the prophets
of this awakening, and we may discredit
the self-appointed apostles who come to
us with detailed plans and methods for
its realization, but we cannot dispute the
fact that the heart of the devout every
where is throbbing with yearnings for a
genuine revival. Not a temporary and
sentimental arousing, but the call for a
stirring and girding of the Holy Spirit
that shall take in and subsidze in the in
| terest of Christ's kindom, all the mem
berS and energies and resources of the
churches, and shall keep this up right on
through the days and months and years
till the whole world shall have the gospel
message. Every member of every church
full of the Holy Spirit, consecrated, a
perpetual worker for Christ. Every pro-
fessed Follower of Christ, an apostle
going out with the weight of responsible
ity for the lost world upon him; and
this persisted in with unhagging zeal
and energy to the end, and prosecuting
the only business in this world that IS
worthy the brightest attention of a soul
redeemed by the blood of Christ.
The parable before us dlscloses in mar
velous tenderness and beauty the glorious
truth, that of Christs passion for souls.
Can anything be more important than
a vision of Him clear and pronounced;
so consciously in touch with Him that
His spirit shall pervade and possess us?
In the progress of His last journey to-
ward Jerusalem, Jesus had shown the
same kindly interest in the outcast classes
which had always characterized Him, and
His love was beginning to tell Publcans
t,,,1
to hear His saving, tender words. At
same time the reputable Pharlsees and
Scribes eyed Him from a distance with
self-righteous suspicion. Their murmurs,
however inaudible to mere man, were au-
dible to Him to whom all things are
naked and open, and Jesus exposes their
criticism by trinity of parallels which
stand without parallel in all literature.
The parable suggests:
l. A distressful sense of loss.
The ninety and nine do NIT concern the
shepherd so much now as than one lost
sheep. He is mastered by a sense Of its
loss There is no rest. The shepherd
thinks of it's heplessness. OF all animals
none is more defenceless than a sheep. 1t
falls an easy prey to its enemies. 1t Is,
too, a senseless creature. Once lost It
wanders on and on in endless mazes. 1t
is also so shiftless, knows so little about
providing for itself. The shepherd thinks
of it weary and worn, may be fainting
afar from green pastures, ready to perish
with hunger in the desert.
So has Jesus great compassion for lost
souls. Their wanderings cause Him deep
sorrow The thought of their perishing
He cannot bear He takes no rest as long
as a soul for whom He died still abdes
under the dominion of satan. His SYM
pathy goes out toward each stray heart.
He knows the sorrow sin brings, the ter
rble wounds that come of transgresslons.
What infinite emotions move His soul
for one whom He loves, who Is engraven
on the palms of His hands, whom He
looked upon in the glass of His fore
knowledge when He was bleeding His
life away upon the tree. Jesus has COM
passion like a God. o. the compassion of
an infinite heart trimming over with an
ocean of Lowell
The old time phrase, 1.-THE burden Of
souls is easily understood by those who
view their fellow man from the moral
elevation of the cross, and In the light
of the judgment, fires, who are close
enough to their Lord to feel His heart
beat. Possessed by this heaven-born i'm
pulse mon think of but little else than
this burden for the souls of men.
Not content with a general reorganiza-
ton of responsibility they give themselves
peculiarly to the seeking and rescuing of
definite individuals from the power of
sin.
Burden for souls" is uninteligible to
him to whom Christianity speaks only as
a religion of general liberation. 1t pro-
ceeds from a love rooted in the depths of
personal Christianity. He who will save
souls must know the value of the soul,
and this can be known only from the
fear for the salvation of ones own soul
Only he who has trembled and struggled
for 1t, who has perceived in the error
of his own ways the deeps of destruction
in which he stood, and has experienced in
himself that God has begotten him by the
word of truth, can save others. Examine
the membership roll. how few will be
found who labor and pray directly and
sincerely for the conversion of sinners,
such as believe the non-Christian to be
in actual danger of moral and spiritual
ruin and death, from which they must
be rescued by a definite effort If they
are ever to share the life of the kingdom.
1t is with a sinking of heart akin to de-
spair that the conscientious pastor some-
times perceiyes that the soul has gone
out of the words his people speak and out
OF the songs they sing; that men and
women before Him comfortable In the as
surance of their own salvation, are will
ing to leave to chance or to unknown
spiritual forces the saving of their chill
dren. their neghbors and their business
associates.
We witness today n very considerable
interest in what may be called crudely
enough 'social salvation" for the spread
of interest in spiritual things; for the
quckening of unselfish impulses; the
awakening of high moral ideals; for the
abatement of political and social evils.
Many good people are enthusiastic for
ideals and methods of social progress that
are inherently Christian, but they want
to leave Christ out The personal sur
render of individuals to the Saviour of
the world is ignored. OF course, In such
circles there can be no burden for souls. .
Soul travail Is sadly obscured In the
present period of submerged Individual
ism and the demand is urgent for its res
toration.
We should seek above all else to be nut
in a condition of soul-harmony with our
Lord and Savior; to stand before Him in
unity of life and love and in oneness OF
purpose and desire. So vibrant and SO
resonant is the mood of good old vlons
that they murmur and sing and echo in
answer to any sound where number of
them hang on the wall, as II rehearslng
the music which once they knew. This
musical power In the wood OF these old
violns reminds us that our Savior's
great ear can hear music in human souls
even when they have been battered and
miStronfe6 by sin. even when all the