The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-05
Matter of Principle.

UOiE.
 Matter of Principle.
 Religion is as much matter of prin- ciple as of sentiment; it draws upon fac ulty of the soul; it demands the exercise of reason and judgments it demands the assent of conscience; 1t calls for the re- cognition of the will; it appeals to the of fections But when we seek for convic- ton from other sources we are under the necessity of deciding just what nature of emotion shall determine our place in the great plan of our Heavenly Father.
 We are more than likely to select pleasanter one as indicating rightness' and the more painful ones as indicating badness. but in a scheme as large as life, shame and sorrow, pain and joy, all have their place, just as sunshine and frost and ice have theirs in nature. The one is as friendly as the other. When we make a benign influence out of the shin ing of the sun, and an evil one out of the burning of fire; we have come to the position of the wild man in history, and have made gods good and bad. But when we recognize the operation of the laws that govern both. the one may be as friendly to life as the other. Likewise the laws of grace must be observed in their control over hearts and souls. There is no way by which emotion can measure the cool. thinking and rehecting man in precisely the same way as you would the enthusiastic and impulsive.
 The reverent student can find God in tf,r, Af flnta earth, and the reverent heart can find Him in the experiences that make life. There is a walking here by faith as truly as ever Abraham walked by faith. It is a type of faith in God that was taught in the sermon on the Mount, wherein this big world with its currents and tides that cross and recrosses, not a sparrow can fall to the ground without the knowl- edge of the Father, and where the hairs of ones head in their numbering teaches the intimate knowledge of the individual on the part of the creator; makes teach ing large enough for a general providence and particular one too
 What Christ Taught.
 For what Christ actually taught was that God is concerned with atoms as much as with worlds, and is as particular about individuals about races, and to be mneful of either must of necessity mean that he is mindful of both. To be too particular in describing the single es- cape. in time of disaster, of the individu- al at the time that there was great loss of life, on the part of many, is to give an idea of God that will not stand close scrutiny, and to give a teaching of provi- dence that is too narrow for the control of body as large as the human family or globe as big as the world
 That the world should make it's circuit from day to day with all it's mighty con cerns and life be kept as safely as it is, | is calculated to produce the feeling of security in the nearness of the all wise, better than the old Jewish idea that one nation of men should be especially re- garded by Him at the expense of all oth- CT nations. Beyond doubt He has pur- poses that belong to the life of par | ticular people and sometimes the reveal ing of these purposes appears to en- courage the idea of particular care, but in truth. the old dispensation was for the purpose of making possible the new, and the selected of the past were chosen for the electing of those in the present, for through the ages, one increasing pur- | pose runs.
 This is a world where men must live, | but also where men must work. The his- tory, not alone of individuals, but of 1 nations also, shows that work Is done better where life and it's relationships are | apprehended in God. It Is the monotony | of life that makes it burdensome to most people; there never is enough coloring to make the picture fine to those who live for today, and do not hear tomorrow call | in the now. The present moment is worth | nothing to him who does not see the next future moment in the birth throes. There l is more of Gods purpose In what we do from day to day than the irreverent sup | pose, and the experimenting of this pur- l