The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-11
Kansas City Pastor Heard
 at Highland Church
PROPERTIES OF SALT
Former Birmingham Man Explains Christ's Figure of Speech as Applied to Church's Work
 Among Men

the First Methodist church of this city, | delivered the morning sermon from the pulpit of the Highlands Methodist church at the Il o'clock services yesterday The commodious auditorium of the edifice was thronged with friends of the visiting min ister, who is most pleasantly remembered by hosts of Birmingham citizens worship ping at the First church during his pas | torate. 4 Dr. Morris is the guest of his daughters, Mrs. T. H. Benners and Mrs. A. w. Nell son, while visiting in this city, and is being most cordially welcomed during ais stay here. The text of the discourse was taken from the fifth chapaer of Matthew and Dr. Morris spoke In part as follows:
 Jesus in this sermon on the Mount de- clares the nature of His kingdom and de- fines it's work-tells who are its citizens and what is His purpose in them. In character the church must be poor in I spirit, meek, pure in heart. And by such l as these the world is to be saved. 'Ye are I the salt of the earth. Salt is an anti I septic-a preservative against decay. It is scattered everywhere-in the sea- in the l soil, In the air. Without salt all vegetapie and animal life would become extinct l When the people of Jericho complained to Elisha that the waters of the place were | brackish he called for a vessel of salt and cast 1t into the springs, and they 1 became sweet. So God has put His church I in the world to countervail it's wickedness and preserve 1t from death.
 1 This relation is not recognized. The world knows full well that its life is lt- terly wrong, and it has invented many fetiches to correct it. Many say that a 1 system of civil government organized upon different principles and administered in different methods would cure the ills. Others say that a larger and more thos- ough education of the people would make them what they should be. And others still vigorously preach moral reform for the regeneration of society. But all of these have signally failed.
 And Christian people themselves have not appreciated the truth declared by 1 Jesus in the text. The common conception ] is that the church exists for its own sal- vation, and they have connected them- selves with 1t that they as individuals may be saved. Very few comparatively have any other or larger view of this. kingdom of God; the salvation of the world is the very last and least of their thoughts. Against all these misconceptions of the 1 world and the church stands this plain declaration of the great head of The church, 'Ye are the salt of the earth which simply means that men and women are saved by His grace that they in turn I should become. saviours of others
 This figure of the salt has two striking lessons.
 "The method by which salt saves. It. imparts itself to that which 1t Is to preserve. The sea is impregnated with salt and the meat has the savor of 1t through all it's tissues into the mar row within the bones. There are many ways In which the church may be said to save the world.
 q. By it's mere presence. Jehovah said to Abraham that if he could find 10 righteous persons in Sodom he would spare the whole city. And Jesus plain fly taught that the presence of the wheat in the field protected the tares which were growing there. The shame less, violent, immoral world is kept in life by the faithful remnant of saint ly ones who are living among them.
 Tn the record of Lots deliverance from the destruction which wasted the cities of the plain it is said, God re- membered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow Many a godly father and mother by their lprayers have rescued a wicked and Unworthy child from death by disease. And the church is ever offering inn portunate prayers for the world in it's sin.
 .'As by salt imparting It's savor of godliness. You have scsn a holy moth- CT hugging her child 10 her heart and by never failing example and low ing precept patiently trying to make 1t what she herself is with God. Many a wife by years of saintly devotion to God and religion has at last succeed : ed in winning an irreligious husband for Christ. ss4
 This is Gods way. This Is what the Savior meant: The church is intended and expected to save those about them by imparting the sayor of their own Hives.
 "Tde power of salt is in it's grains. In the mass it cannot do its work; it lparticles. Organized energy is essen- :, tial. and it is mighty. but there is a point beyond which it cannot work. The railroad carries passengers and freight but at the termini it must. be supplemented by many distributing agencies. Our postal service carries the mail to a central office but there 1t requires the offices of individual car rers to complete its work. So the church gathered in a body does much but if it go no further there will be fatal failure so far as the world is concerned. The great majority cannot be reached there. If every church b6ilding were filled every Sabbath there would still be multitudes wh0 would be without the gospel. These can only be reached by individual Christians go- ing to them outside the church--in the . homes in their places of business, or the streets. If this were done the gos- pei would reach every stratum of so- . ciety.
 "This pertinent oratorical lesson lcomes to us from the text: To be our selves saved is hardly one-half of the problem of being Christians. Upon ev- eryone who has learned the law oi God in Jesus devolves the duty ane the responsibility of making Hir known to others. We may save others If we are ourselves salted with the df-
 vine flavor, and our Lord expects us te do it. 'Ye are the salt of the earth.
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 Electrical Engineers
 The Birmingham Association of Electri
 cal Engineers will hold It's regular month ly meeting this evening at S:15 o'clock T +1,a 5;rootorcf roo,x, of tho Pfrni Q "a r,