The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-19
JUDGE THOMAS SPEAKS
 10 METHODIST LAYMEN

odist church last night and held an im-
 portant session. It was a banquet affair,
 a delightful spread being served in the
 basement of the church. There were a
 number of talks along the line of the
 work of the laymen and the progress
 which had been made since the laymen
 were organized a year or two ago.
 Judge William H. Thomas of Mont gomery taking as his subject; "He that Looseth His Life and Finds It." spoke in part as follows:
 When the Master Teacher in that far away eastern land taught those high
 born and tender truths of human life and destiny" and closed His charge to His going disciples with, He that | fndeth his life shall loose it; and he
 that looseth his life for my sake shall
 find It." 1Matt. 10-S9l. He put all the world for these 20 centuries seeking it's full meaning. Yet the answer is
 ever coming from an individual eXper- fence that walks the world to bless
 it, by telling others and helping oth- CTS. and never from envy. malice or selhshness Did the world ever erect a monument to a miser? He may have
 tried to build them, but time will level Did the worl dever celebrate the anni-
 versary of a thoroughly selfish man?
 Is it not constantly looking back for
 the tomb of some simple spirit, who had not sought fame in doing good, possibly misunderstood by his time, yet
 who gave his great life for the bene-
 fit of others. And the unexpected came,
 if not in his day, in an enduring fame after death. Loosng his own life, found it in immortality.
 It Is truly said that what all the worlds a-seeking" may be thus form
 ulated: There is no such thing as finding true happiness by searching for it directly. It must come. if 1t comes at all indirectly, or by the service, the love and the happiness We give others. So there is no such thing as finding true greatness by searching for 1t directly. It always. without a single exception, has come indirectly in the same way"
 So, thinking great thoughts, having a great purpose, being a preacher or tea cher caring more for his lesson 10 mankind than for the formula to which he happened to be born or happened to subscribe, writing a message to man kind and not for show of selfish erudl- tion, doing a service that is for man. kind and not alone for self, or ones town or sect or race or nation. These are the royal paths to happiness ana to fame. Indeed, I believe the unpar- donable sin is an unceasing selhshness' Doing the needful now with an honest simplicity and fidelity Is the way to make mankind know that you care not for self more than for mankind, and thus putting yourself Ion the side or the universal" mankind will love, bless and honor in exact proportion as you may be able to rise to these helshls of duty and of self sacrifice,
 We may with profit spend while in viewing some opportunities in Whlcn some laymen have lost their lives ana found them, by showing the way oi service to millions of their brothers and which now comes to us as duties that we must do, if we be happy or even find contentment.
 I may remark in passing that the Wofla has ever heard the man with messase and followed the man with Vlslon' httle counting the rank from whence he came Of this Hebrew prophecy bears witness Notwithstanding the restrictions or prlest- ly functions, when the propnet came to interpret the Soul of the Crowd ana to put into words deepest desires, Amos the herdsman and gatherer of wild hss, was heard as he delivered the appear
 to his fellow-men;" Elisha, while plough- inc his oxen, was invited to become a
 follower and disciple as was Ezekiel the captive priest, to prophetic instructioh- The history of the Lollardsi that senii-
 monastic society that originated at Ant
 werr about 1900 for the care or the SICK and the burial of the dead, and 70 years later the English followers of John wy cIiffe were examples of laymen at re- upious work Wycliffe, learned theo-
 logian. sought to encourage the tendency toward religious freedom that ne sa" manifest among the masses, ana aii'ioi- hating Professionalism and Puritanisih III the fourteenth and fifteenth centurles' or
 ganized bands from those of humble rank end Yneaeer education, to go through Eng land reading and commenting upon the scriptures and teaching the simple truths of morality and religion
 The unparalled opportunity or the ,o1,roan for religious service in America has been, and I think properly, accounted for in 'the hospitality of our fathers anu of ourselves fin all that makes for moral culture and religious convictlon, anu .ieN confidence and ours in the unfettereo eA- ..assions of ones deepest and noblest ideals" .,.s.,ou os Of the two notable religious actlvities ol +ba last century, originating as lay mans movement in England, were quich- lv transplanted to American conoiuohs where each has come to it's oroaoes' anu fullest development the Sunday schooi hecoming the department of religious eau cation of the church, and the young Mems Christian association representa- five educational organization, taxing anu holding an indispensable place In socie.y and expanding to meet varying conui- +iops and needs. Of the two IL must pe noted that the denominationai enterprlse came first, and for the time spread las.- est. and when society became coilpieA and a fuller sympathy had come the non. denominatonal movement round us piaee in o,,r social conditions. and Is fast pur- suing it's horizon from hiii top lo mn top. o,,+,roy+h
 The Sunday school was the ou's o, Inc efforts of Robert Raikes, an editor
 n7so) to teach and help the cniiurei oi inc noor: and there can be no contro- versy that the Sunday school owes its ,ncention to the laity and It's develop ment to the guidance and encouragement of the clergy and laity alike, yet with o,t inc effort of the latter it would fail
 The author of the Teachers Life of Christ says the Sunday school has accom- nIished three great ends: Tt has intro duced multitudes of the laity to their lifelong careers of usefulness and often constructive service; 1t has devel- oped an army, huge in dimensions, of loyal disciples of Jesus; 1t has created and fostered a widespread interest in the study of the Bbe,' and not until if ministers to the religious education of the old as well as young, and to each In the way which his special needs re- quire, will it fulfill its mission. To ac ----------------- ------------------------------