The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-06
lcWRERPEp5 OPEN REsefhER SERIES Tent Revival Promises to Be
 Big Success THREE SERVICES HELD Will Jackson Is Drowned While Swim ming In Valley creek-PersonaI
 and General News of
 Bessemer.
THREE SERVICES HE

Bessemer, September 5.-(Special.)- Gods Meeting of the Methodist church, under the leadership of the Rev. J. B. Culpepper and Rev. O. B. Culpepper was fairly started this morn ing by the sermon of Rev. Burk Gull pepper to the young men of the congre- gation. The meeting was held under the large tent erected on Fourth ave- nue near Rebie hall and the entire seat ing capacity was taken up by the au- dence The singing is especially good and the large choir of trained singers is lead by the Rev. o. B. Culpepper' who Is himself a singer of note The music today was an enjoyable feature and promises to be better as the leader has not had time to fully organize the singers.
 Rev. J. B. Culpepper was introduced by Rev. Sturdivant and made short talk referring to the different meet ings which he had conducted in the district, at Pratt City, at Elyton and at the First Methodist church. Birming- ham. He expressed his pleasure at be- ing here and appealed for the prayers of the congregation, saying: Pray; things in this meeting which are not fixed on prayer will not remain, those which are, will be permanent" Rev. Culpepper closed by introducing his son Burk, who preached the morning ser mon. His sons sermon was power ful appeal to the young men of the congregation to give their hearts to Jesus. His text was Proverbs 2S atxvi: '.My son. give to me thine heart" MT. Culpepper spoke in part as follows:
 There are two competitors in the human heart for the possession of the soul. They are good and evil. God and the devil. These two are univer- sally recognized. They were recog- nized by Paul, and by all mankind. How often we do wrong when we mean to do good. How often are our good intentions suddenly perverted to evil. There are three reasons why we should 2 give our heart to God. First, He de- mands it. It is His by right, the devil is usurper. God begs our heart, hear me- My son, give to me thine heart I believe, and say it reverently, that God is omnipotent in all things-except redemption. If we give our hearts to Him we do it voluntarily, if we sur render cur souls into sf1is keeping 1t is our doing. We are not forced to do it. no other can do it for us. The choice lies irrevocably with us. Christ asks of us our heart and will accept noth- ing less than ourselves. This has been from Cain until now. God demands the best and will accept nothing inferior Suppose some of the elders of Israel bod 4AIr -Ix tt.- or maimed in any other manner and said. will offer this to God as sac- rifce. Do you think He would have accepted it? No, He demands all. Yet some people will say to me, Do l not got to church every Sunday? Hear me- one hour of your time every Sunday is not enough. Think, God is with you S65A days every year and you think to satisfy Him with one paltry hour once a week. And you say, Do I not give when you pass the collection? Hear me, you are not giving until you have contributed ,one-tenth. That is the Lords and until you have given one-' tenth you are not giving but paying All things are Gods, the land and the trees and the ore and the gold so He says away with silver and gold and Give Me your heart No, God de- mands the best and will accept nothing less, and until you have given Him your heart you have given Him abso- lutely nothing for it Is the only thing which He cannot take.
 Secondly, because the law of spir- 1tual reciprocity demands that you give something to him who gives you some thing. Aod does not give stingily. Look atthe rain how it comes in sheets until the descending moisture meets the ascending. And the flowers are they given meanly and nggardly? No, they HA ar.fh h tlr Iw. things God gives literally; shall not we?" Rev. Culpepper paused here to pay a glowing tribute to God for dis goodness in giving him such parents, and especially for his mother.
 " Thirdly, because giving our heart to God is a safe investment. In this day of money grabbing every cue is looking for an investment, and upon finding 1t questions immediately what is there in it for me? How much money will I get from 1t? In this world noth- ing is stable-an illustration-Suppose one of you were today given s1O,CO0; what would you do with it? I hear ole say: Buy diamonds, rubies pearls another rich raiment, another homes, another an automobile. another buy land. Hear me, nothing Is stable ex- cept the love of God. All things can be swept away. None will ever lose by making this investment. Men, women, children-hear me, My son. give to Me thine heart. i"
 Rev. J. B. Culpepper preached to- night to all the congregations in the city. The congregation was large. the seating capacity of the tent being taxed to hold them. The song service at 80 was enjoyable. the choir being organ fzed. The meetings will continue through the week and will attract large crowds There will be services at 10 o'clock a. m., 3:3O p. m. and at 7:30 p. m. each day.
 Personal and General.
 Mrs. J. O. Parsons died this morning at o'clock at the family residence