The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-04
BISHOP M'COY ON
 VISION OF THE CITY Delivers Strong Sermon at ,11th Avenue Church SPEAKS OF CITY LIFE Says Kingdom of God Comes When ever Conversion Occurs, and
 Draws Practical Lesson
 From the Text
SPEAKS OF CITY LIFE

taxed the seating capacity of the church auditorium, Bishop J. H. Mccoy Of tnis city delivered an inspiring sermon upon the vision of the city as the sonsum- nation of human society at the Il a clock service of the Eleventh Avenue Methodist church yesterday.
 The offertory preceding the discourse was rendered by Miss Margaret Merrill. Bishop Mccoy filled the pulpit in the absence of the pastor, pr. K. N. Mat thews, who is attending the North Ala bama. conference at Florence.
 The sermon text was taken from the last chapter of the Book of Revela- ton, And the, walls of the city had F foundations, and in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb"
 pr. Mccoy said in part:
 .'What the worker in the quarry saw in the series of prophetic visions un- folded one after another revealed the elories of the heaven to come and among them was the city with 12 foun- cations on whose fronts were inscribed the names of the F apostles of Galilee. believe that without improper spiritu- alizing the vision of this city sent as the bride arrayed for the coming of the bridegroom can be taken as a pie toral view as symbolical of society in perfection. The history of the human society tells us that life began in a gar den and the Book of Revelation fore- tells that it will be consummated in a city.
 we may try as we will to exclaim against the organization of business, and the modern tendency of people to come together in a center But this centri- pocal tendency is indicative of the trend of human life that moves towards the working out of the Divine plan of the universe, and a following of the route mapped out by the Creator. The small merchant may see danger in the tall building of the department store, the small manufacturer may become alarmed at the proportions of the trusts and the country father trembles at the imaginary dangers of the city for his som, but business and society will never go back to the individual forms of life existing hundred years ago. More and more these lines are becoming co-ordinated and the habit of collecting the population in wolves the greatest moral, economic and social peril. The inevitable city forma- tion presents the widest field for the spreading of the gospel, and let us not forget the final chapter will be spent under the walls of a great city.
 "The Kingdom of Christ comes where soever and whensoever there is con- version and an individual has bent his will to that of the Almighty. The king dom as a whole will not have come until society, with its aggregate interests is dominated by the spirit of Christ and is led by the authority of God.
 "There are some practical lessons that grow out of this text that embodies the wonderful vision of the city The life, the worker shall get and hold through eternity substantial identity of his work. The Panama canal will always be associated with the name Of the Alabama surgeon, Dr. Gorgas, and one cannot mention St. Peter without thinking of Michea1 Angelo. This is true in all things everywhere. It Is the order of God that men who lay their hands to great tasks leave their finger prints upon that which serves society. It is the constitution of moral order ana society that men put their marks upon the things that they have wrought or spoilt that identifies them through the centuries. That is true of the lowest plane of work, and even more so when we ascend to the higher living when he touches the brain of little child inn presses portion of his Individuality upon the growing cells that can never be erased. No wonder the student is a living replica of the teacher, show and gestures in talking even.
 Many, of us in this hustling city will not forget the laying of the foun- dation of the Woodward building, how we craned our necks until cricSs came | in them watching the stories mount higher and higher. One day when I lwas standing there looking at the bury wcrkmen it occurred to me that into every brick and iron detail there was going a deposit of human personality. l saw the architect make a deposit of his | intellectuatlty rom the leNel or ms per- sonality in the plans made for the transformation of the steel, mortor and brick into Birmingham's first sky scraper. I saw the personality of the work men in their honesty and loyalty in obeying the ideas of the architect. If we can see deposits in building what limits are there for these deposits in human society?
 "The second lesson that this text