The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-15

day he was entertaining a family friend at dinner, and he said to him: "I was raised by a pious mother-God bless her memoryi-who taught mo the Christian religion in all it's requirements. But, alas, l grew up an inidel-if not an infidel con- pletely, yet a decided skeptic But when l became a man in this as well as in po- litical and other matters l resolved to ex anime for myself and never pin my faith to any other mans sleeve. So l bought Bible. I poured over it and examined 1t carefully. l sought and procured books for and against it, and when my labors were ended 1 came to this irresistible con clusion: The Bible is true. 1t would have been as easy for an ignorant rustic to have written Sir Isaac Newton's 'Prin- cipia as for unlnspired men to have writ ten the Bible." So may we study the Bi- ble in reference to the divinity of Jesus Christ. May we read all the Messianic prophecies. May we read all Christ's mir acles. May we stand at the cradle and at the riven tomb of Christ. And in every chapter of every book may we see adj vine and omnipotent Christ as the chief hero of this book. May we find Christ the center, the circumference, the all in all of the Holy Scriptures. "Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus.'
 Why Christ Came.
 Having asserted the divinity and om- nipotent power of Christ, what next does the Bible do? It tells us the chief motives which actuated that divine life. AS the biographer of Simon Bolivar slowly and iiresistibly leads you along in the study of his hero until at last you find the great Venezuelan liberator dedicating his life to the freedom of his adopted land; as the biographer of Handel tells about the triumphs, the struggles and the defeats oI the grand old musician, clinging to the high ideals of sacred oratorio long after the fckle multitudes of London had turned their backs upon him in derision and scorn; as the biographers of King Al fred and Robert Bruce and of Napoleon and Wendell Phillips and Florence Night ingale and Catherine Booth and Frances Willard tell what were the chief principles which controlled and inspired their lives, so the Bible distinctly and clearly tells us why Christ was born, why He lived, why He was crucified and why He rose from the dead. He came to earth not to win a throne. He came to earth not, as . Moses, to lift from the necks of the He- brew people the hated and tyrannical yoke of Roman pharaoh. He came simply for one purpose-to seek and to save those that were morally and spiritually lost. H came as the friend and the Saviour of narlOtS and puDucanS ana sinners. He came not to be a physician for those were spiritually well, but for those who were immoral, degraded and debased.
 You and 1 may marvel at the noble self sacrifice of the Marquis de Lafayette. Born of an aristocratic family. heir to title and untold riches, the affianced of a beautiful young girl, yet he was willing to sacrifice all for a poor, struggling peo- pie who had no friends except the friend ship and the protection of God. At Pa risian banquet table he heard of what Washington and his noble band of patri- ots were trying to win. At once he said 'I will go and help them win their fiber ties" At his own expense he fitted out a ship and filled it with what the Ameri- can troops most needed and in a fog he ran past the British blockade which was trying to intercept his passage. He crossed the Atlantic and entered Wash ingtons headquarters and said: Here, general--here are my sword and my life. Do with them as you will. I volunteer to fight under your flag for humanity's sake" That was noble, self-sacrifcing act for the young French peer The read ing of that heroic act should arouse a feeling of gratitude in every American breast
 With quick breathing heart and flush ing cheek we have read the tragic sac rifces of 'the most important citizen of New Orleans" Margaret Haughey, whose name is known to every one in Louisiana, She was not one who could count her fortune by the millions. She was not q Joan of Arc. with a physical frame knit as with ba of steel She was simply