The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-21

Christ was never planted anywhere sue cessfully unless it was first planted there in blood soaked soal. The planters or the church of the Lord Jesus Christ were the heroes who were always looking Tor the harvest of the future and never llV- ing for their own personal benefit and reward.
 Great Sacrifices.
 Where did the American church come from? Did the first great explorers who came across the seas find tie llttie white meeting house in the center or every Indian village and planted upon every hilltop and dotted here and there over the broad prairies of the westY on, no!' you say. Tt was only by the great est sacrifices of Marquette and Eliot and Roger Williams and missionaries of such ilk that the church of Jesus Christ Waa ever planted upon American shores. Then after the churches were established in the east and backwoods preachers like Peter Cartwright and Havens and the daring missionaries like Bishop Whipple led on i, their cohorts of evangelists. Farther and farther west they carried the cross, and farther and farther west they went until at last that cross reached the Pacific coast. The Moravians penetrated into the snow and ice of the arctic with the news, and by and by Sheldon Jackson lifted the cross and carried it far north dlillu lne AlaSka SHOWS. Soi step Dy Stept the brave missionaries have struggled and starved and in many places have died consecrating with their bodies the land they had won." Yes, the American church came as the result of the hum- ble sacrifice of thousands of obscure min isters of whom the world knows noth- ing.
 Paul once asserted that in his work he was surrounded by q great cloud of witnesses. As we gather about our church altars today cannot we see the faces of the noble self sacrificing missionaries who have made such a church service as this a possibility? Are they not standing above this pulpit today? An eyewitness once declared that the most beautiful part of all Father Taylor's ministry was his intense realization of Christs pres ence The things he would say and do might have been irreverent in another, but in Taylor they seemed only evidence of Chrst's reality. Sitting one Sunday at the Lords table to administer the communion, he concealed the cup. Then in deeply solemn tone he said. "Children, l bring you gift from Jesus, something to remind you of him" Then, his voice breaking, he said, Ut is the wine of the covenant, his own blood shed for you, and he bids me say, Drink ye all of it. /" And he brought forward the cup, and, looking at it, he wept. Yes; all the good we enjoy has come to us as that wine by sacrifice. They lived their lives of sacrifice to give us this gospel sanctuary. We are today gathering in their ripened harvests. "One man soweth, and an- other reapeth.'
 Humble Sewers.
 But we do not have to go alone into the past centuries to find the sewers. All those who have planted harvests for ha alone in the damp, dark cells of Savon- arola or a Huss. You remember well a seed planter who never wore a monks cowl. Her face was wrnkled and her hair was white and her hands very thin when you last saw her. Her throne room was the nursery and the kitchen Her realm was the old home of your boyhood. The world at large never thought that she amounted to much She never had a large harvest, She was always sowing. She was sowing her life in the heart and brain of this child and that child and the other child She had a good sec- ond in her sowing. That other sower was the husband who stood by her side. Indeed. they had so little that they all ways lived in plain house and dressed in very plain clothes and ate very sim pie food and never went anywhere out side of their own little town. One day some years ago you began to be ashamed of their shabby clothes. The neighbors seemed to have so much better than they. You sharply said Mother, why don't you get better dress? Why does not father move into a better house?" You remember just how she looked as she said: Well, son, this dress is warm enough, and I guess the old house will do for pa and me. We cannot afford much better clothes and give you chil- dren all the education you ought to have. children h. CT the harvests of our life's work We do not care so much what becomes of us If you boys only turn out we'll We are sewers, just humble sewers. You my son, can reap, but your father and 1 will just keep on our sowing"
 And can you not say those two old folks sowed well? Is not the result of their seed planting being reaped today In rich harvests by you and your broth CTS and sisters? All you are and have are the fruit of that home husbandry. Why did all your sisters and brothers turn out well? Shall these brothers and sisters get all the credit for the harvests they have reaped? No, mo-" you answer. We are nothing. We arc merely the result of the seed planting of the two gospel sewers who lived and labored for us children back in the old farmhouse" In heaven today they are getting the re- wards for the harvests you and your brothers ana SlSlerS are GdfHeTlHS. 1Our parents were sewers, glorious and tri- umphant sewers. You are gathering in their harvests. One man soweth, and another reapeth."
 Now. my friends, as others have sowed for you. are you also sowing for your children? As the glorious men and wo- men of the past have been seed planters that you might gather their harvests, are you willing to be seed planters that your friends and your loved ones and your children may gather the fruit? In other words. are you willing to so sub merge your life in Chrlst's that you will