The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-15

l danger the human organism-Hs in tht | movements of the heart and lungs-th;S | freedom is withheld--they are inyolnnta- | ry, but even then man can seize "a bare | bodkin,' and cut the Gordian knot. Free
 dom therefore is more potent than life
 itself. You can not only imperil life-you l can violate conscience, you can violate | duty. you can violate human law, you 1 can violate Gods express command. Free | dom then is more potent than salvation | for without it there can be no salvation.
 Is this titantic power placed in man for
 no purpose. and like a runaway comet, is
 it to have no restraint? There is an ad- | equate restraint--one only-responsihility l Every human act will be challenged, will
 be recorded, will be rewarded or pun ished.
 l 1 have said that every word and deed | is elective, but how can it be elective | if the will be not free Not part free and part bond, but wholly free. Not free to- day and bond tomorrow, but eternally free. Not responsible today and irrespo1-
 sible tomorrow. but everlastingly respon- sible. Man may hide his head in the | sand like the ostrich-he may robe him
 self like the Pharisee in the hide of hypoc-
 risy-but accountability, like a grinntng
 Erynnis will perpetually stare him in ;he | face, and pointing his accusing finger at | the shrieking manikin will unceasingly 1 exclaim, Thou art the man
 | All order, all conduct repose on indi- | vidual responsibility. St. Peters dome does not rest as firmly on its base as re- | sponsibility on the freedom of the human | will Within it's bounds this freedom Is absolute. Man is free to commit suicide. to commit murder, to defy law, to defy conscience, to defy the divine will. Like Bonaparte, he can threaten the liberties of continent; like Alexander, he can overrun the world If this be so, free will | and responsibility must be commensurate. In the natural world reaction always equals action, else the world would rush to chaos. It is not different in the spir- itual. There is no object in the universe without a shadow, no cause without an
 effect no premise without a conclusion,
 no act without a consequence. Responsi-
 bility awaits every word and deed. Speech and action, which are electiVe-if thought less, if idle, if wrong. like Samson, pun down the temple of Dagon on their heads. From this fate there is no exemption, no escape Excuse is no refuge: subter- fuge no covert. The world is incensed at this. If man can sap the freedom of the will and make it constraint-that is his
 game. If man. can sapsindividual respon- sibility and make it immunity-that is his game. In this nefarious enterprise he pleads heredity, he pleads environment, he pleads the world, he pleads the flesh, he pleads the devil.
 When good knocked at the door and God said, Come in," there stalked be- side Him an Ethiopian brother. It could
 not be otherwise. Good and evil are twins of the Siamese type, but the ligature that binds them is of iron, not of flesh. Every entity, every thought casts a shadow good is not an exception. The shadow has its use-it proclaims a substance So
 evil is witness for good. We may inn agine that God wrung His hands ana
 wept when He saw evil enter the world,
 but We cannot say that He did not ex- pect him.
 Ere another sun should set God was to
 display His power. All night long in an ticipation of the mighty event nature vas astir Little stars, too happy to keep their spheres, shot athwart the Armament. The leaves whispered and tremb!ed and the
 mighty forest surged and shook in solemn foreboding. Unexpectedly the nghtin- gales burst forth in carol and roundelay, and as suddenly broke off in awe and ex- pectation. The snow was busy weaving for earth a mantle of white samite. The dew drops hung pearls in the ears of the son1bre mother. Northern lights-north- ern no more-loomed up from every quar- ter of the horizon. Morning came yhe rosy-fingered Aurora, snatching up her palette decked the eastern sky with tints of pearl but not till Boreas had blotched the north with smudges of darkest um- Der. Heavens artillery roared Sirius Arcturus and Canopus, overbold and strong, could not be restrained, but rushed into view at midday. The lambs skipped on the hillsides, the behemoths stood at brute gaze. The fishes leapt up from the sea, and the little comics crept down from the mountains. As God came riding past on the wings of the wind, storm un- equalled in grandeur crashed overhead The grey woman of the sky. who all day had been making pearls with which to string her mighty necklace, drawing iler skirts tightly around her, leaped bodily from the cloud. but in the din and up- roar tossed by the winds, the cord broke and the lucent pearls myriads in number were scattered over the plain. The angels desired to look into Gods holy purpose One little cherub cried out, He shall be like Lucifer." Another said ''he shall be made "a little lower than Flo him. The tallest archangels sang in chorus noble magnificat, which in after times one of the loftiest sons of earth re- produced.
 What a piece of work is man,
 How noble in reason-how infinite in fac
 ulties.
 In form and motion-how express and ad-
 mirable
 Tn action-how like an angel,
 In apprehension-how like a god,"
 God said: q do not wish to make a mixed being, but there's no alternative Evil is curse, menace. hate eyil--the wages of sin is death,' but merit cannos be born else" So in mans makeup, God placed one trait, and the spirit of evil another till the man was full Then the wicked one said: We will fight for his soul"
 It is proper to state that the. fight is now on, and that any truce with the CO., horts of evil will be disastrous to all good
 The conflict is not a tourna ment, Aot a demonstration. not bluff. It is an in ternicine war in the human heart and God will not come to the rescue. He cannot
 His slightest interference, like the sword of Brennus would turn the scale but any intervention, human or divine, means death to responsibility.
 If man be a free agent-inform him, teach him, train him. educe him, cultivate his faculties, but at your peril--preserve
 his individuality. Do not pen him where
 he can see no evil, for he has to live in
 world of evil. Do not pen him where only conventional opinions are moulded or liked beliefs are fabricated. Should I ,n- oculate my fellow with my creed, I woull feel that I had given him the measles.
 DO not shackle him; do not bind him. The
 man who pledges himself already belongs to another; the man who registers a VOW
 has already put his head into halter.
 Do not stress habit it destroys all spon-
 taneity. If man be responsible, cut his withes and let him go. Let him think for
 himself, let him act for himself Let him
 see the other side. let him hear the other fellow Warn him; do not influence him.