The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-06
BEGINS
 REVIVAL SERIES Breaches Sermon At First Gum berIand Presbyterian Church TEXT FROM NEHEMIAH Evangelist Tells How Hard It Is For Man to Confess His Sins.
 Example of the
 lsraelites.

The series of revival meetings to be held at the First Cumberland Presby- terian church, U. s. A., was begun yes~ terday morning when Dr. P. M. Fitz- gerald, the Texas evangelist, preached the first of his sermons. Large congre- gations were present both at the morn ing and evening services and Dr. Fftz- gera1d's sermons were pronounced ex- cellent by all.
 Services will be held at the church every morning this week at 10s0 o'clock except this morning. Evening services, however will be held every night in the week, including tonight, at o'clock. After the service this even ing a general reception will be held in the Sunday school room, when eevry member of the church and every yisi- tor will be given an opportunity to meet Dr. Fitzgerald personally. To- morrow night a special reception for children will be given, the young peo- pie of the congregation being especially invited to attend and meet the evan 2enSI. Weu0eSudy dlttinooh dl o'clock children's service will be con- ducted by Dr. Fitzgerald, the preaching being of special interest for the young people,
 The Evening Service.
 At the D. m. service yesterday pr. Fitzgerald preached sermon which was greatly enjoyed by all his hearers. r-I.. 2. 3. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one-fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God"
 pr. Fitzgerald spoke in part as fol- lows:
 "The scripture passage from which l have chosen my text tells of how the children of Israel confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers It is an indisputable fact that to~con- fess one's sins is hard thing to do, but to acknowledge one's father to be in the wrong as well as to admit that one is not right ones self is far more difficult act. Four things are enumerated which the Israelties did. ! First they confessed their own sin second, they stood and confessed the iniquities of their fathers; third, they read the word of God during one- 1 fourth of the day, and fourth, they worshipped the Lord after having done l these things.
 "The difference between a good man l and one who Is at heart really bad it l not hard to discover. If man who | is by nature good is shown wherein he is in the wrong, he will readily con- fess that he was wrong, and, seeing the error of his ways. will seek to re- | form. On the other hand, man whose spirit is truly evil will resent admoni- | tion, and show anger at the adviser. Mans Petty Sins.
 "The church of today will not toler- ate many small irregularities with which it was formerly not loath to put LID with. There are many commonplace l things. however, which are not gen orally considered harmful, but which, if allowed to exist, are harmful and destructive to morality and righteous ness. Jealousy, bitterness, anger and kindred passions are sins that are com mon to all. Most men nourish bitter ness and hatred toward some of their fellow men. In the bosom of every man is cherished some old grudge, soc desire to get even with some other man. But that grudge, that bit terness, that hatred-all must come out if man seeks favor in the eyes of the Lord. As Christ Is found to say in many parts of the Bible, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, the heav enly father will forgive ye yours But if forgiveness is not in your nature 1t is idle to expect forgiveness.
 "Each man must give up all these petty sins In order to be right with God. It is the place of every man to do as the Israelites did-to stand in the eyes of the heavenly father and honestly confess that he Is in the wrong and to confess that his father before him were in the wrong. It is his duty to read the word of God and to worship the redeemer even as they did.
 "The manhood of a man Is brought to it's sorest test when he Is called upon to approach his fellow with the admission that he is in the wrong and wishes to do right in the future. But such is the duty of every man. No man can expected to be right with God until he is on the prop CT footing with his fellow men. Many a person has failed to find grace in the eyes of his Maker because he has failed to get right with his neighbors. One great reason that there are today so many unsaved souls is because these secret sins are allowed to exist. Many a soul has been doomed because its possessor has lacked the will and the willingness to come forward with clean breast and straighten out the misunderstanding he has had with his fellows.
 According to our text the Israelites worshipped the Heavenly Father during one-fourth of the day. So it is the place of each man to worship God. but no man can worship the Redeemer when some hidden sin Is nourished within his bosom, when malice or unforgiveness is cherished within his soul. Only when he is ready to conform with the teachings of Cod ran he exDeCt to find favor in His