The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-24

evil environments as these 1 think the
centurion of my text indicted in
Rome when he was very young man.
| think the boy came from a pure re-
fined home like that in which most Of us
were Graded. 1t was also a home which
was not blessed with either riches or
poverty The old homestead stood In
the midst of a vineyard. The farm also
had ITS green pastures for the cattle and
its fields for raising corn and wheat. The
father had plenty of money to support
the family, but he had very little to
spare. But as this boy seemed to be
especially bright [ think the parents did
everything in their power to send him to
one of the great universities at Rome
for an education. One night after the
children are in bed / think L hear tho
father and the mother talking. "Hus-
band" 1 hear the wife say, I'VE ought
TO make something out of our boy julius
/ besides a common farmer. OF all our
children he seems to love his books the
best. Night after night he is pouring
over Cicero's Phi.lippics' and 'Catilines
Arrangement He has read and reread
every line which the later poets like Vir-
gil and Horace, have written. Why can
We not send him up to one of the Roman
schools and have him educated to be
great orator and a statesman" well,
mother" l hear the husband say, per
haps we can do it. Julius ought to be
educated. Perhaps we can economic a
little closer at this end that the boy
can spend our money at the other end
for an education"
Thus / see the centurion. then a very
young man, enter one OF the great Roman
schools 1 see him caught there in the
maelstrom of sin. I see him. like the
prodlgal of Chrlsts parable, become the
victim of all kinds of evil associations.
r T flxa
! thousands of young students today. who
come from pure, true, consecrated Chris
tan homes In this country. enter the
large universities of some Of our great
cities and then plunge headlong into all
kinds OF sinfulness. Then | see the
young man. besotted with drink and evil
excuses of all kinds, return to his old
home and say: Here 7 am mother. Here
| | am with health gone and character
gone and noble spiritual ideals all gone.
Here I am. You sent me from the pure
associations of my sisters and my rural
home. Here l am moral and spiritual
| degenerate
Starts Life Anew.
! Again the scene changes. l believe this
young man, disgraced and socially ostra-
cizcd at home, makes up his mind to
start life anew in one of the distant
Roman provinces This has been the
natural course for thousands of young
men of all centuries who have disgraced
I themselves at home. Then they try to
make a new start in a new world among
strangers. You who have seen western
miners In the old seventies know what
] mean. There in those western mining
camps 1t was the well recognized law
that no man should pry into the history
of his neighbors.
When Sam Houston, the brilliant young
governor OF Tennessee. married to one of
the famous beauties of his state. sudden
~ felt that he was disgraced, what did
he do? Though only thrty-three years
of age, he at once resigned the guberna-
torial chair and plunged into the Wild
erness of the far west. There, In the
wild, UNEMPLOYED regions of Texas, he be-
gan life anew When we read again OF
Sam Houston, It is not as Sam Houston.
the governor of Tennessee, but OF Sam
Houston, the president OF the Texas re-
public. Thus as we imaginatively study
the life of this Roman centurion. l sec
him in disgrace leaving his fathers
home. Then ! see him next in the far
Off province of Judaea. There. in the
Roman camp of Governor PLATE, / hear
him say: The gods helping me, l will
yet make somthng good out of my life
Yes; / have broken mothers heart and
made her hair white as the driven snow
and killed her with grief, but L will yet
make her. If she is alive In another
world, proud of her hayward SON." This
centurion of my text may have come
from one of the purest and most refined
, homes of all rural Italy. Then, by the
student life of llcentious Rome, we see
his moral and spiritual life completely
wrecked. In this far-off Roman province
of Judaea he Is earnestly and prayfully
trying in the Roman army to make
man out of himself.
Again the scene changes. 1t Is now
about the year 80 A. D. This is the time
when all the Jewish world is perplexed
and in doubt about n NaZarene named
Jesus. We are now In the Roman bar
racks of Jerusalem. This Is the officers
quarters. Before us sits the well devel-
oped figure of an officer about thirty
years of age. This is the former youth
of whom we have been speaking. now
broad Roman centurion. He
turns TO one of his brother officers and
asks ''Tiberius, why are they making
such "a fuss about this man Jesus? Who
is he? Is he a thief or an Instruction
list? Has he murdered anybody? Why
does old Caiaphas, the high priest hate
him so? Tell me something about him."
Then L think L see Tiberius turn and
sharply look about him. begin to sur
mise that this Tiberius is a Christian.
Perhaps he was the Roman centurion
who was once stationed in Capernaum
about whom Matthew wrote. who had a
beloved servant dying from an appar-
emily incurable disease. This servant
Christ healed. You know the story.
Then I think l hear that Christian CEN
turion tell Julius. his brother officer, all
about this Jesus. Julius. says he, |
Christ never did any one any harm. All /
he does is to heal the sick and open the !
eyes of the blind and brush away the |
leper's scales. Yes, Julius, his mission ,
is to heal the broken bodies and to |
cleanse us from all sim.
,, t,,t-s l "a fain I1t1f ali