The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-09
BISHOP BECKW|TH CONFIRMS CLASSES Breaches Sermons at St. An-
 dreW's and Advent  CHARACTER OF BALAAM Compromised With Right Which Bishop Points Out Is Cause of Fall
 of Men Occupying High
 Position.
CHARACTER OF BALAAM


 diocese of Alabama, paid official visits to two churches in Birmingham yester- day-St. Andrews in the morning. and the Church of the Advent at night. At St. Andrews church, of which the Rev. Raimundo de Ovies is rector he con firmed a class of five candidates and preached a sermon on the Bible as the lamp of truth, his theme being sug- gested by the collect appointed for the day-the second Sunday of Advent.
 At the Church of the Advent, the Rev. pr. w. E. Evans presented II candidates for confirmation. A class of l6 had been prepared but four of the candidates were unable to be present.
 The bishop delivered an impressive and edifying discourse on the charac- ter of Balaam, in which he showed that Balaam's fall was due to the fact that he compromised. He made a prac- tfcal application to modern society and pointed out that where men occupying high position fell. their fall was the result of compromise with the right
 Bishop Beckwith opened his discourse with reading from the 22d chapter of Numbers, which tells of Balaam and his dealing with Balak.
 These characters are put in the Old and New Testaments." said the bishop for special purpose. They are hu- man characters and are put there that you and I. little by little, may real ize the divine truth. They were what character was in their day, and they are our examples, and their strength may become our strength.
 "Balaam was known throughout the country in his time as man with some strange power. The children of Israel had set forward and pitch ed their tent. in the plains of Boab, and Balak, the son Of Zippor, was the king of the Moabites at that time. He saw all that lsreal had done and was afraid, so he sent messengers to Balaam to ask him to come and curse the children of Israel, for they were too mighty for him. And the messengers went to Balaam and delivered their message. Balaam told them he would have to take the message to the Lord and that night he did, and the Lord said unto him, Thou shalt not go with them thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed
 "fhe next morning Balaam went to Balak's princes, the messengers, and told them thatthe Lord refused to give him leave to go With them, and he dis missed them. The messengers went back to Balak and told him what Ba laam had said, and Balak sent them back with the message to Balaam, Let nothing hinder thee from coming, for will promote thee to very great honor, and l will do whatever thou sayest to me. I pray thee curse me this people.
 NBalaam answered them saying, 1 cannot go beyond the word of the Lord. and that night God came unto Balaam and told him to go with the messen- gers yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do'
 And Balaam compromised with the right and went back with Balak's prinees, and the angel of the Lord intercepted him on the way. And afterwards Balaam's fall came, and he was killed. From the highest to the lowest he fell
 ''In the study of Balaam's character let me ask you if there is fault He took the message of Balak to the Lord What more could he do? But, my friends. what was it that caused him to fall from the highest to the lowest? Was there not compromise somewhere?
 f Not since God put man on this earth has there ever been an instance where a man fell from the height of the high est to the depth of the lowest instantly, nor since God put man on this earth has there ever been an instance where man rose from the depth of the lowest to tha height of the highest instantly. There is and always has been gradual growth of character or gradual decline of eharac- ter. The growth of character has always been just as the growth of boy to a youth and then to manhood-gradually.
 "Balaam's fall was caused primarily and directly by his compromise with the right, but that fall did not come in an instant It came just as in every instance little by little, In this day and time there are a great many things, things that are such small mistakes that they are overlooked, and then they grow big ger and increase in number until bye and bye thy sin shall find thee out
 ''You and 1 stand out distinctvely for a certain amount of knowledge for God, and that is where Balaam stood. The temptations that come to you and came to Baaam. When Balax tempted Balaam with high position and money he yielded little bit and took the message to the Lord second time. Friends, 1 want you to mark that in every work of the devil Caesars coin figures somewhere. Even Christ was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver
 In conclusion Bishop Beckwith made a very impressive appeal to his audience to build character. Seek the difference between honor and dishonor," he said, ''and cast your lot on Gods side. Let us live as we would like to die. and all will be we'll"
 Notwithstanding the indictment weather the congregation last night was large.
 Bishop Beckwith will return to his home in Anniston today. He will resume his visitations in the Birmingham dis trict next Sunday. and will confirm at Bessemcr, Avondale and Woodlawn.
 
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