The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-04

the most part they eoihe iA0AAA NAio 4t'4''Ns
of the common people, not few OF them
being the sons and grandsons of those
| hardy itinerants who .blazed the track
| of the Methodist advance IN Alabama.
And be It said to the glory of Christ,
while Methodlsm us commanding the So
| cial heights" high steeples and high mo-
tions have not been suffered to break
the sympathetic touch OF our ministry
| with the men and women who live on
| lowly levels, wrlngng livelihood out OF
field and shop In the sweat of thelr
faces. Ours ssstill the church of the peo-
ple-n the city, In the village and in the
| backwoods.
| Our preachers would doubt the accuracy
| of the multiplication table about as quick
| ly as they would call in question the
| wisdom of our itinerant system. The aver
| age Methodist preacher in Alabama would
| wear hurt ncredulous look, If any
| one were to suggest to him that a Meth
| odist bishop Is not the biggest thing that
ever came his way. In these parallels,
even the elders still obtain a good re-
port! We believe that God presides over
| the cabinet; and in this faith our laborers
go forth, year after year. to their ardu-
| Gus fields, carrying Jubilant hearts and
! wearing shining faces while enduring
hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
LdyInCu 0hdiL 1oOo VIZ ~
Within the past FIVE years two Ala
bama Methodist laymen by their initiative
in the matter Of providing more ade-
quately for our superannuates, have put
their names permanently upon the pages
of Methodist history. TO Mr.. w. f. VAN
diver of Montgomery belongs the honor
of having inaugurated, at the last gen
eral conference, the movement to raise a
correctional endowment fund for the sup
port of the worn-out preachers of the
church. Five years ago, Mr.. John e. Nor
riss of Birmingham conceived and pro-
ceeded to carry out at his own expense,
a plan for providing a parsonage for ev-
cry superannuate and the widow of every
deceased preacher in the North Alabama
conference. Mr.. Morriss built the first
home and then asked the conference TO
adopt his idea, agreeing to pay the sal
airy of an agent to carry it into effect.
Never did undertaking meet with more
enthusiastic response. Up to date, twenty
one homes have been decided, and half
as many more have been pledged; the
total value of moneys and properties now
in hand amounting to, about $4,000. A
number of other annual conferences have
taken up the Morriss plan, so that it
looks as If the time will come, as it
should come, when every veteran of our
noble itinerant army will be sheltered
by the church during the evening of his
life.
Vandiver and Morriss, Mr.. President,
are a type of the laymen Methodism is
beginning to develop in Alabama-men big
Of heart and broad of vision who are
coming to the kingdom for the great times
ahead of us.
Two years from this time, we will be
celebrating the centennial of Alabama
Mafhodicf,, tha eli of into fhiC
fertile soil ninety-eight years ago by the
faith of Francis Asbury has multiplied
into a noble harvest. When John Wes-
ley laid the foundation of City Road
chapel, in the gratitude of his heart for
the multiplication of his spiritual family,
he preached from the text, What Hath
God Wrought! And yet there are three
times as many members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, south, in Alabama to-
day as there We're Methodsts in the whole
world at that time. If Matthew p. Sturdi-
want could come back and look upon the
stately churches, the militant hosts and
the compact organization for Christian
propagandism that in less than one hum
dred years. have grown out of his la
bors on the Tomblgbee, we'll might he
cry, What hath God wrought"
Face Future With Optimism.
the past we face the future with the OPP
timism of the prophets. BY every provi-
dental token this commonwealth is to
be one of the great eenters of Metho-
dist resource and prestige. We read the
guaranty of this hope In the unrivalled
material environment God has given us.
and in the unquestonable ability of our
people to take care of their heritage.
With the completion of the Panama canal
this great country of ours will face
southwark. Then, indeed the natural re-
sources OF Alabama will come into their
own. The black belt whose soil is as fer
tile as that of the valley of the Nile, will
support within few years a teeming
agricultural population. Almost a gener-
alton ago Col. A. X. Mcclure. looking
with the eye of prophet upon the lean
hills of north Alabama, predicted that
the day would come when the iron and
coal and dolomite under these hills would
enable this district to fix the price of iron
and steel for the world. That day al
ready Is easily within sight. Henry Clay,
with his ear to the ground on the crest
of the Rocky mountains no more clearly
heard the tramp of the feet of the mill
lions coming to possess the great west,
than we hear today the rumble of that
vast industrial army that moves from
every quarter toward the light of our
furnace fires. We are not unmindful Of
the fact that the new order of things
that we are facing. means the develop
ment of the multform problems of the
city, of industrialism, of capital and la
Dor, of society in general. The spirit of
our Christianity and our denominational
efficiency will be brought to new test
ing In the great days near at hand. Yet
we have no fear that as the stately
procession moves toward the fulfiment
OF the destiny of the new south. Metho-
dism will ever fall to the rear. Her place
will be- as it has ever been, at the
head of the column. Her growth will be
pari passu with that of commerce and
population. We believe that our people
are alert enough to discern the signs of
the times and brave enough to assume
all the responsibilities the future may
impose upon them. Methodism has never
met an environment to which she was not
able to adjust herself, and in the midst
of which she was not able to assert a
commanding influence. If our population
is to shift largely in the near future from
rural to urban character; II the sim
plcity of the life of former days is to
give place to the hewildering complexity
of social and economic problemo; by
keeping close to God and the people. We
shall solve our problems as we meet
them, and thus keep this great common
wealth leavened with the life of evangeli-
cal religion.
Pleasure in Social Delights.
We have thought with keenest pleasure
of the social delights of this occasion. Our
people are warm-hearted folk. given
always and largely to hospitality They
delight in the fellowship of the saints.
and know no sweeter pleasure than that
of minglng with the shepherds of their
souls about their own boards and fire.
sides. We have been expecting, too, a