The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-11
BURDEN OF CARE
 IS FOE ID PRAISE Dr. J. A Duncan Breaches At
 First Methodist PRAISE Is THE CHILD 0F JOY The Praise to God that Is Most Worth While Is the Life that Yields
 eodlikeness Daily.
PRAISE IS THE CHILD OF JOY

morning at the II o'clock services on the subject, Praise" taking his text from the seventh verse of the fifty-seventh Psalm, as follows:
 My heart is fixed, o, God, my heart $ fixed; I will sing and give praise"
 pr. Duncan spoke in part as follows;
 Why is it that we pray so much and praise so little? l think that it would be very interesting to turn this service into an experience meeting this morning, and see what answers we would get to this question. The psalmist says that praise Is born of & heart that is prepared. It is the man whose heart is fixed upon God who sings and gives praise.
 We cannot praise a man whom we are iniuring, nor an institution in which we do not genuinely believe The first step, then, in a life of praise must be an et- fort to get rid of the burden of sin, to get right with God. The man who is con- stantIy shining against God may feel the need of prayer, but he certainly will not have the spirit of praise. It is not until with genuine humility and honest penf- tence that he says: God be merciful to me a sinner" puts evil thoughts and evil passions, and evil purposes definitely, and for all time, behind him. and accepts the pardon that the Father so gladly ex- tends to the penitent that he is in any frame of mind to sing praises.
 The Burden of Care.
 The burden of care is also a foe to praise. There is a great deal more com planning than there Is rejoicing among men. Have you ever watched the faces Of crowds on the streets for any length of time? If you have, you must have no- ticed more of everything in them than or joy And yet you may have been watch- ing a very well-to-do crowd. They are well dressed. well fed. The world about them is d beautiful world. What is the matter? The matter is simply that in most lives there is perhaps more fear than hope, and fear breeds anything but joy We know not what a day may bring forth but fear that it will bring something not quite as good as we de- sire.
 It is only by fixing the heart on God that one can get rid of this, and substi- ute for it a genuine peace. Cast all your care on Him, for He careth for you," is the apostles injunction. While man, so long as he is man, must think of the future, plan for it, work for it. yet is it possible not to let it hang like q shadow over him? If God is real; If a man can say, "He is my God, and l am His child" and say it with the same sort of confidence that child can speak of the relation between himself and his pa rents, then and only then can he be free from the burden of care.
 There is no possibility of a praiseful life until this relief comes. Otherwise "hosan- mas languish on our tongues and our de- votion dies" But when the life is wholly surrendered to God, a God who is real to us. and whom we believe both can and will take care of us; a God whose law of life we have accepted, and whose precepts we mean to obey; when we have so sur rendered, then there comes to us a cop- sciousness of divine protection and divine care that casts out fear and leaves us to rejoice.
 Surrendering of Life.
 Such a surrenderlng of the life, such an adoption of better things, such ad- justment of the life to God is for the in- dividual triumph, and praise is the off spring of victory. What contrast there is between the Israelites on the banks of the Red sea, sarcastically asking Moses; "Were there no graves in Egypt that thou ,,,,I,t fA in bn wilderness?" And these same people, after they have escaped from their enemies, singing that wonderful song of praise to God, 'I will sing unto the Lord because He hath triumphed hath triumphed.' The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Praise becomes natural when victory has been achieved.
 Praise is the child of joy, and he who knows his sins forgiven, and has cast himself for all time upon the mercy of God rejoices. When the apostles were per secuted for their allegiance to Jesus, they reioiced. St. Paul says: 'I joy in trib- ulation" Even out of suffering came praise, because no suffering could rob these men of the consciousness of their own integrity, ana the nearneSS to thei of the God they served.
 It is not the lip song of praise merely that grows out of the heart fixed upon God but it is the life of praise. If had piece of ground that yielded bale and a half of cotton to the acre, there is noth- ing that l could say that would praise the ground as much as the fact of its fer tiity praised it. l might go out and talk about it's beauty, it's location, its health full situation, but for farming purposes it's greatest praise would be it's yield The praise to God that is worth while Is the life that yields God-likeness daily.
 The Practical Question.
 The practical question, then, for us, is not so much whether it is our custom to sing, or to utter words of praise, but are our lives so in harmony with the divine life that our acts praise Him? We claim to be followers of Him whose life was one long symphony of praise and whose death was the divinest doxology ever con ceived Can we to ourselves, not to others, but to ourselves. say this morning that we are indeed followers of Him? Can we say with the psalmist My heart Is fixed, O God, my heart Is fixed; I will sing and give praise" If we can say these things, then we are blessed indeed. Ir we cannot then let us see where the trouble is. get rid of it. and go out into Gods world to make it brighter and happier by filling it with the gracious praise-sing of loving service.