The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

find tbedifferent crimes classified IN
the orderof their Nervousness. For M
stance if steal loaf of bread coulu
not be haeed for the crime. If l shouia
go down ne street tonight and get drums
/ could lot be sent to the penitentiary hor
life. AL probability [ should be seut
out on he chain gang to expiate my mis-
demeana by working on the roads Tor -
or 30 or 50 days But II you should Shoot
a man q poison your companion or uetai
a railrad train for plumber or H. as au
incendRry. you should burn up MOTEL
then ysu could be hanged by the neck
until Spu are dead or you could be sent
10 the penitentiary to serve out ali tue
days GSd has given you to ave upon
earth4 Crimes III the criminal coue ol
the United States are classified in REFER
ence to their euipabilty, as they are also
classified in the divine code. Now, WneIe
do we find this crime Of Islander in Goa
eode2 Is II a petty misdemeanor? is IL
a little Elm that God will in time over
lcok? Nay. Among the worst Of an sPil-
itual criminals il Gods sight is the sian
deper David tells us In his Hundred anu
First Psalm the awful doom which is u
be melted out to the slanderer w hoso
privily slandereth his neighbor MIN VIII
/ cut of Beware, o man, how you al
low your friends TO Islander their neigh
bors in your presence! Beware how you
poison your own life by recountng the
evil reports Of your friends HE conf
pahion of fools shall he destroyed. The
slanderet is a fool
But we are not 10 find the companions
whom We are to shun entirely among
the atheists and tie scandal mongers. we
are not to find them only in the quiet
corners, where friend talks TO friend, but
we can also lind these evil companions
at the banquet table and in the ball room
and at the card parties, and in the billiard
halls and at the baseball games, and on
the fishing and boating trips, and at the
race tracks. We can find them In every
place where pleasure seekers congregate.
We can ind them at the theatre and in
the concert halls as well as by the fam
lily tireside. 1.-The heart of fools is the
house Of mirtha What does that mean?
Why, It means, interpreted in the broad
sense that the man and the woman VINO
give thelr Whole lives up to never end
ing round Of perpetual pleasure seeking
are fools Life has another object than
that of fun. great ocean steamer was
not built for the purpose of taking few
fishermen down the bay on sunshiny
day TO catch a few founders Its Keel
was laid that it might carry heavy car
goes from harbor to harbor. 1t was
built to defy the storms and to withstand
the poundings of the heavy pillows and
not to turn It's decks into ballroom
floor. where the moving feet of the young
people can keep step to the strains of
music.
Work and Pleasure.
I make no war upon recreation or pleas
ure trips or vacation outings when they
come in their proper places. Paul says,
For when we were with you, this we
commanded you-that If any would not
work neither should he eat But no
man ever learned to work Alright unless
he learned how TO play Alright. The best
pleasure seekers have often been the best
workers. There is an old Persian legend
which says that one day a friend put
into the hand of the philosopher Saadi
beautiful piece of scented clay. Saadi
said: 4 took it into my hand and said
Art thou musk or ambergr1s, for am
charmed with thy perfume? The clay an
swered, ! was once despicabe piece Of
clay, but | was some time in the company
OF the rose, and the sweet quality OF my
companion was communicated to me-
otherwise | should be a piece of clay, as
| appear to be- = Like the clay we are
When we are a little while among the
wild roses, when we seek for a little while
our joy In the gardens of pleasure, then
go back to our work. with the sweet scent
upon us, and we can do our work better
and sWifter than we have ever done it be-
fore. | say, again, the man never lived
who can work to the best advantage II
ne does not KNOW now 10 pay well.
1t makes a great deal of difference
whether we cat to live or live to eat. IL
makes a great difference whether we play
to quicken the mind and rest the body
for the daily task of life which God has
given us to do or whether we prostitute
the workings of our minds and hearts in
mere pleasure seeking. We have no pa
tience with the epitaph which the dying
wag wrote and which is today found
chisecd upon his tombstone in one of our
eastern cemeteries:
Life is a joke, and all things show it;
| thought SO once and now l know 1t.
Life is no joke. Life is not a playground.
Life is great campaign which God COM
mands us 10 work out. And whenever you
find men and women living for mere
pleasure you find men and women whom
God classes among fools. o man, what
are your associates trying TO accomplish
with their opportunities? Are they Win
ming you away from the great purposes
for which you were born? Are they say
ing to you, Come, come, eat, drink and
be merry, for tomorrow we die?' For Il
they are they are companions who are
already dead to the higher principles of
life. Furthermore, they are companions
who are leading you to your own tempo
raj and eternal destruction. "A compan-
ion of fools shall be destroyed In Gods
sight the perpetual pleasure seeker is
fool.
Another Kind of Fool
But, turning from the mere fun lover,
we enter into the busy, crowded marts Of
trade. There among the Woodworking
merchants and in the offices of some Of
the most noted lawyers and physicians
and in the studies of some of our great
est authors. scientists and statesmen, we
may find another kind of folly. against
which King Solomon warns us in the
words Of my text. The man who lives
merely for what he can accomplish ia
the world is a fool. The same biting, cut
= ting, whitening Technology OF four let
tiers, fool, which is applied to the one
is also applied to the other.
Here we have the characterization from
the lips of the Lord Himself Turn to
the parable which Christ spake to His
disciples in Luke xii 1920. There in His
wonderful word painting Christ takes US
to the home of a great eastern landowner
This wealthy man takes US out upon the
an 81 !, lie hon nd tn