The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-29
BISHOP ANDERSON BREACHES ON. LOVE Discusses Love's Place In the
 Life of Man MAKES MEN UNDERSTAND All Men Love Things, But They Must Love Things Closer To God If
 Their Eyes Are To Be
 Opened.
MAKES MEN UNDERSTAN [

York preached at both services of the Simpson Methodist church yesterday. Bishop Andersons subject at the morn- ing session was, "The Place of Love in the Life of Man" This was taken from the First Epistle of John chapter four, seventh verse, Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.' In part he said:
 My brethren, in discussing this sab- ject, I believe it will be well for me to divide 1t into three heads. These gre, first, love as the environment of the life of man; second, love as the interpreter, and third, love as the endowment of the life of man.
 'When God created heaven and earth, and the various animals that nhabit the
 earth and the seas. He gave to each the environment that was most suited to it's
 existence. To the fishes He gave the seas
 and the streams. to the birds He gave the large domain of the air to the beasts
 He gave the woods and fields, and to man
 He gave the entire earth and with it that
 priceless jewel, love.
 First, let us look at the love of man
 in home and business life. This is earth
 ly love, but as God is love, it is divine.
 Home life is founded on principles of
 love. and without It, what would home
 be? In my mind there Is nothing so
 beautiful as the love of a Christian wife or Christian mother. In business it is
 the same. man loves his work or
 something connected with it, loves to be Ia,N xxrla ia absent. Rob every day life of love and
 it would be dreary indeed.
 Love In the Church.
 "Continuing the subject of love as an environment let us discuss the church side of it. Some of the greatest friend- ships that have ever seen were formed in church or in church life. Why is this the case? Is it not because the church stands for God and His work, and is not God love? How could a church be void of love when it is founded on the very principle of it and that One to whom we kneel and pray said Love one another We go to church to worship God, and | there is not Christian in the whole | world that does not love God for Chr's- | tanity is founded upon love.
 1 Let us consider the second division of my subject: Love as the interpreter of ] mans life. In all literature we find na- ture discussed and pictured. The poet | sings of beauty and understands nature | because he loves it. You will never see i a man who has a good understanding of
 man and of nature unless he loves and if
 he loves he is Christian, and it is not l the great things alone that we find men
 singing the praises of. Oh, happy is the
 man who can see with the poet the work
 of God in the smallest things because he loves them, and God Is love.
 Love Makes Us Understand. | f'Let us go farther into the subject. ! Cannot a person who loves one better understand him? Take for the example the small boy in the public school. He is
 boyish and full of mischief as all boys
 should be, and he delights to play pranks 1 upon his teacher until her patience IS exhausted. She has done her best to stop him, but could not If you ask her about this boy she will tell you that there l is no hope for him. that he will never amount to anything in this life, and the chances are he will land in the peniten- tary Suppose you go to this boys mother and question her on the same subject. She will say that her boy is
 mischievous and loves to worry people,
 but nevertheless he will some day be great man. She has been troubled by
 him a great deal more than has the teacher but she will tell you he has tender heart and will outgrow his boy
 ish spirit Why does she know this? Be- cause she loves him and in this way she has been able to interpret his character and to understand him.
 "Some tell us that love is blind. This
 Is A great mistake for love is not blind,
 but on the other hand person who loves has had his eyes opened by God and sees
 better then than at any other time. The best personalities that I have ever seen or known were men who had suffered, and had had their eyes opened by love. Finally we have the biblical quotation to guide us: He that loveth not, knoweth
 not, for God is love-
 Endowed In Life of Man. Just as love is an environment and
 an interpreter so is it an endowment in the ll1e Ol HILL fof ioiS aBSs, ohop indeed. from the beginning of time, love
 has been characteristic of the human
 race. We read of the love of David and
 Jonathan in the olden days. We know
 that Christ sacrificed His life for us out of love and in the modern time we had the great love of Tennyson and Iallam
 When God created us He endowed us
 with love.
 "Even in the lower animals we have semblance of love, although some call it instinct I once knew friend who had a dog that was very devoted to him. He left one time to sail abroad and upon his departure he gave the animal to
 neighbor' to keep until his return The dog got on all right for a time, but soon he lost interest in everything and finally died for want of h's master.
 get men to love but to get them to love the higher and nobler things in life. There was never a true man born who did not love- but that is not all that he must do; he must love tle things that are closer to God if his eyes are to pe opened.
 ''Christ said Greater love hath no man than this that he layeth down his life for his friend In saying this He spoke of the greatest love that can exist in the human breast, for did not Christ Himself lay down His life for us? Ths was the love of sacrifice and redemption.