The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-04
STRONG SERMON
BY DR. THACKER
Norfolk Divine Filled Presby-
terrain Pulpit.
MAN GODS WORK MANSHlP
Easier to Believe Than Not to Be-
Iieve-Easier to Be Saved
Than to FaII--Brief of
Sermon.


The Rev. DIR. ]. e. Thacker of Nor
folk, Va, preached at the morning and
evening services yesterday at the First
Presbyterian church. DR.. Thacker's SER
mons at both services were eloquent and
impressive and were well received by the
large congregations that hearde him
At the evening service the text of DIR.
Thacker's sermon was taken from Ephe-
slams, lilo: For we are His workman
ship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them" DIR
! Thacker spoke in part as follows:
'As the text says, we are the work.
manship of Christ Jesus, even as all
earthly things are the creations of the
Heavenly Father BY the will and power
of Christ and by His alone are all things
held together and given unity. When
man was given life at the beginning he
was created into good works, into good
ness, holiness, meekness humility and
all the other Christ-like attributes. Man
was made in the dawn of the world to
live as the teachings of God dictated;
to live in lines of conduct parallel with
the workings of the Divine mind. He
was given, however, the awful faculty
of choosing ways of life not ordained
by the father: that is why we should
listen to the call of the Word of God.
Man is fundamentally religious crea-
ture. He comes into the world with the
faculty of righteous living as completely
developed as any of the intellectual or
physical faculties with which he is en-
dowed. For manSto be religious is SUI
premely natural. The natural bent of the
mind of man toward the worship of some
supreme being is fully illustrated in the
inhabitants of all nations. II we con-
slider the heather we have ample proof
that such is the case. The savage looks
up instinctively to some higher power
than his own; he worships his imaginary
beings and gods in the form of his idols;
he feels at an times a dependence upon
some unknown power to which he is sub
ject and infiicts his cody with torture
in order to appease the wrath of his cher
ished gods.
1.-THE fact may be illustrated among
! ourselves. In all processes of thought
! and action we find ourselves seeking
! after the unknown and infinite, after
! God. In the course of every day we see
, the manifestation of the divine power.
We cannot study the marvellous works
/ of nature without entertaining the idea
/ of a great Creator by whose hand these
! marvels have been brought about Try
/ as he may. man must believe in the
| eternal mind.
Sense of Dependence.
another proof is the inevitable sense
| of dependence that every man feels in
! the power of the unseen and unknown. 1t
is feeling from which we are never
! free: which a man instinctively feels
when the winds of winter rave and howl
| about his frail abode. 1t is sense which
he cannot dispel in the hour of his need
and when his heart is torn with grief;
in those times when he feels in all his
| helplessness the vanity of human SYM
pathy. In the grim presence of death
| we cannot but feel how vain and tran
| silent are the sympathy and coincidence
| of our fellow mortals, mad we long for the
! loving sympathy of the Infinite.
"And so we might carry the matter into
the realm of the conscience and the will
and the judgment Every process of
/ thought and action shows the same be-
lief ir the presence of Goa.
Each human is born with the priv
ilege of living along lines ofs1ife parallel
: with the nature Of the Divine. And so it
| is the duty of every human to live along
such lines; he must obey the great laws
and rules laid down by the Creator in the
I Ten Commandments. All of ts have need
! OF wealth and all are given the power to
accumulate wealth. All of us require Gull
/ tlre and education, ard al, have the pow
! err to improve ourselves for the further
! gloriication of God. But the greatest
need which man may have is the need of
/ the help of God.
I announcements for Righteousness.
"The enrouragements fcl righteous lv-
| ing are manifold primarily, it is easier
| to believe in Gcd than not to believe;
| 1t is easier to go to heaven than to hell.
/ Natural forces move along the line of
! least resistance; and su the tendency of
! man is to move toward his heavenly re-
| ward. the way OF God icing the line of
least resistance. 1t Is not true to say
+ that it is easy to live righteous life,
! but is easier to believe in God than to
| combat the higher faculties of the reason
and the conscience in persistence in nom
belief
"'Come unto Me- saith the Lord, all
| We that are weary and heavy-laden, and
| I will give thee rest With this assur-
ance man oarnot but be led to feel that
| HIS burdens will be the lighter with the
| help of God.
1.-THE reason for all the trials that oeset
| the ways OF men is that man does no+
walk in harmony with God; all the sin and
| suffering and misery and sorro- are the
! result of alienation of the Fathers affec-
! lions Jesus is ever knocking at the great
! door of humanity, pleading for admittance
! into the lives of men. Shall we be deaf
to that cry and fail to open for Him:
The death of Jesus Christ for the saliva
ton of the wUriC is our only hope for
eternity. the only satisfying potion for the
soul CT man. There is no peace for the
great heart hunger of the nations save
in the grace of Goa. Through His AID
they only shai' We reach the eternal city,
where The weary are at rest. Man is
naturally and iii. damentally religious.
Try as lie may re cannot but see The
supplicating firuie 0, Christ as He stands
with outstreeche6 arms on the further
bank of the great river that separates
life from eternity. Try as he may he
cannot out hear the voice of the Saviour,
Come urto 1Ie all we that are weary and
heavy-laden, ARD Will give thee, rest =
Nedroee Rreak Iail