The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-13
FATAL BLUNDER
 OF THE COVETOUS This the Subject of pr. Fosters Able Sermon WORSHIP OF THE CREATURE coVetousness Is Idoatry-Lesson From
 Interesting Chapter In the Life of the Great Teacher Is Given.
WORSHIP OF THE CREATURE

'The Fatal Blunder of the Covetouss was the subject of sermon yesterday morning by the Rev. Dr. Sterling J. Fos- ter, pastor of the South Highlands Press byterian church. The text was taken from the fifth chapter of St. Mark, sev- enteenth verse, reading: And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts'
 His sermon was as follows:
 After long day, spent in teaching the multitude by the seaside, Jesus crossed over and landed on the opposite shore. Here He found Himself in the land of the Gadarenea, and the first per- son to meet Him was a poor demonlac. who had his dwelling among the tombs.s His wretched condition made a swift ap- peal to the sympathetic heart of Christ, and He forthwith drove the evil spirits out of him, and ere long this man, so long held in the bondage of their dread possession, was sitting clothed in his right mind, at the feet of Jesus. Thus did the men from the village nearby ind him, and it was a sight to have moved the heart of stone. Here, indeed, was ev- idenee sufficient to convince the most confirmed skeptic that new power a mighty force, had visited their shores. and that 1t meant relief for all who were in need. One would have imagined these men, running also and falling at the feet of Him who so promptly and effectively drove out the evil from one whose case was so notorious; not so with these men: they began immediately to pray Him to depart out of their coasts And why? Coupled with the restored maniac they found the loss of herd of swine, and this loss evidently overbalaneed all other considerations and they desired Christ no further and requested Him to de- part Promptly on their request, it would seem, Jesus took His departure, and so far as we are informed never visited those shores again. Often have I won- dered that this request should have met with so ready a response and why 1t was that Jesus should have abandoned th1se people after so short visit I can find but one explanation-He found them so gross, so wanting in that spirit that He came to show, that He felt that they were impervious to any appeal that He could make. And with this the full teach ing of scriptures agree. It is 'covetous- ness that is idolatry,' the worship of the creature more than the Creator He who values things. possessions more than the relief of human suffering and the salva- ton of the soul, has closed the channel through which the Divine Spirit enters the human soul. And when this Is ciear- ly evident, even in the presence of one who has been restored and has been saved, the heart of even the compass sionate Christ is grieved, and He turns away in sorrow and pity.
 Have we escaped this? Is our age be- yond this danger? It is difficult to cons ceive of an age subjected to severer strain and temptation along this line. The fur- mace seems to be heated seven times hot- ter and the voice of self-indulgence, and the whisper of ambition ever suggests that the wretched and helpless, the de. prayed and hopeless are unworthy our care or attention, compared with the glit-s tering prizes allurlngly near us But over against these the voice of Jesus How much is a man better than a sheep and I was sick and in prison and ye visited me- Between these conflicting voices. between these contending forces. between these mighty issues We must chose, and the choice is final'' a@