The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-26

1 encoura ged by seeing the results of l their labors. The word has never re- l turned void Wherever and whenever l it has been sown men have listened and have turned from the husks of the word to seek eternal life Sowing and reaping have gone on simultaneously. ] The work Is still ready for the worker, l and we in our day have the additional stimulus of seeing what our predeces- sors have accomplished by the very means we have at command. Let us consider this morning what those | means are that have been effective in the past and will prove effective in the future.
 The Meaning of the Sacrifice. First there are the facts of the gospel Christ himself was born in a manager. He suffered and died and rose again and ascended from Mount Olivet for our atonement, our redemption and our coro- ration. By his shed blood he has paid all the price for our emancipation from sin. By his shed blood he has made it possible for us to be pure as he is pure, perfect as he is perfect, and to sit upon throne at the right hand of God His redeemed saints are at this hour singing his praises in never ending hosannas amid |Hhe eternal joys of heavenly reunlon, where there is no sickness, no pain no partings. sin, no death. Though We should have the silver tongue of the most eloquent preacher that ever lived and all the mental grasp of Paul himself, yet today we would give the chief praise for this glorious expectation to the atonlns sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is the blood the divine blood-of our Saviour shed for the remission of sins that has made all this harvest of the gospel fields posslpie.
 And this truth is the more emphauc De- cause if Is just here at the atoning cross that the orthodox gospel minister and all other teachers separate. The cruclai question is not as some suppose, as eo the garden of Eden or the DOCK or Jop or the experience of Jonah, Ihe one great issue which every Christian has 10 l decide is not whether Moses wrote the Penteteuch. It is not who was the au. l ,bor of the Psalms or of the DOOR or 1 troclesia stes It is not whether the Bible itself is verbally inspired. It IS hol as l to the mea ming of the Messanic propne | cies It is not whether God created .ne world in six days or Tn ooV years ,lin, ! qreat ouestion at issue is still that WHICH was nut to the apostles, What think ye l af christ2" DO you believe that ne IS | ob,e to give eternal life to those who r,,+ their trust in him2 Are you wiling 1 to make him the guide of your hie, soui king who shall control your thoughts anu 1 actionsp That is the main point al ls- | and do believe that and put your trust III l him YOU have the essentials or Chrls'ial. | faitb and the other questions are oi minor importance
 The Essentials of Faith.
 | 0o won belieye that Jesus was In | xorv truth the only begotton son ol God and that he came into thls Woiiu n save us by his life and shameful | death from our sins? This IS the Vi'aI place where all true Christians anu | false believers separate. l am not lo- dav asking you one of the interesting hut unessential questions l might ash. | I am trying to find out where you are in the great foundation tfutns Ahe | center right the circumference or your sniritual faith. will be right. What Is your answer in reference 10 'he oioou
 the divine blood--shed for the remis- s,op of sins? Can you not perceive +hat if is this doctrine of the cross that has been the basis of the triumphs or Christianity? The harvest of souls that has come in every generation as re- ward to the faithful preacher mas been won by that doctrine and no other' and we therefore go forth to preach the same doctrine. assured that we shall have the same success.
 But there is another cause which has been the means of making the spiritual hnrvests white for the reapers, and that is separation of the church rom the state There has been ever since
 Iesus came to the earth an incurable tendency to build up an earthly king dom on his divine name rather than spiritual one They attempted 1t even in his life, trying to take him by force and make him king. Time and again in succeeding ages the attempt to unite the power of the state with that of the church was renewed. Consantine and
 church was renewed. Constantine and church a civil power. But Christs words proved true, My Kingdom is not of this world" Whenever the church has accepted alliance with the state it has become feeble and corrupt and has failed of it's spiritual purpose. Her strength now, as in former ages, comes as God declared, mot by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord"
 The Crusaders.
 Take for instance, the movement of the crusades. Do you believe that the men who followed Godfrey of Bouilon pr
 Frederick Rnrbarossa or Richard the Lion Hearted or Count Baldwin of Flan-
 ders cared a picayune about Christ? Do you believe they were sincere, earnest,
 noble. self f-sacrifcing Christians. or do you believe that for the most the crusad- CTS of old were freebooters and rene gades and children of the fortunes of war who cared not whom they were fighting as long as they could live by conquest
 and fatten upon the spells of their swords? When the Pope sent forth his emissaries to peddle around his ''indul- gences," do you think that he cared any thing about the sins of the people? Was At.s .~.. to levy a tax upon the whole world to support the outrageous extravagances of his ecclesiastical hierarchy? Do you be- lieve Henry VIII was concerned about the purity of the church when he separated l from the Pope and established the Church