The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1913-10-09
WEST END CONVENT
is DEDICATED WITH
IMPRESSIVE RITES

CONTINUED from Page EighD
lcozing and listening in world of marvel
/ lous complexity.
God of Science
! He is the God of science, when science
studies reverently and humbly, and seeks,
as it should, the beautiful as well as the
! true. 1t is the arms of His infinite spirit
outstretched that hold together the all
| but boundless universe. 1t is His word
that set in motion the vast machinery
1 of cause and effect 1t is the power of
His right hand that gave the impulse
to all activity. 1t is the bosom of His
infinite greatness that gathers into it all
things that crave for peace and rest. He
holds ii ell, as we say, in the hollow of
| His hand He looks down upon it all,
as we say, in its seething, restless activ-
ity and directs It an. He sees things
comc and go. and shifts them continually
on the stage of existence, on which 10000
years are but brief interlude. He is
the harmony of it ALL
g The music of all tender, loving souls,
| Which the whole earth attnnes to sweet
accord
With their own happiness and deep de-
light.
He is the love that lives in mother S
| He is the gladness OF all frolic things
THUS is He not merely the truth, but
| the beauty of the world that He has
| made. To miss Him is to miss more than
the meaning of it. To miss God is to miss
the beauty of it all, the happiness of it
all, the joy of living, the light and
warmth of our natural destiny here be-
low.
God is the key to human history.
Behind all the great achievements of the
human race there is the inspiration of
His presence, and often the very power
of His name Time was when the sword
was never drawn but His name and His
assistance We're invoked. For God and
country was the cry which placed the
two highest human motives in the order
of their power. On the eve of battle
weapons and banners were blessed and,
when the conflict was over, captured tro-
plies were brought to His temples, while
from threats that so lately shouted hoarsa
defiance in the field there rose honestly
but roughly the disclaimer, Not to us,
o Lord, not to us. but to Thy name
give glory And still, in less picturesque
days, the name of God can move to
courage and heroism as no other can.
For greater and more beneficent than
the triumph of the sword are the con-
quests of peace in industry, in enterprise,
in sacrifice for social welfare, in GALE
full and hearty observance of the laws of
public veal. Prosperity is more difficult,
sometimes, than victory, but no less in
spired by the name and the thought of
God. He is, indeed, the God of battles
Let God arise and let His enemies be
scattered. He is the God of struggle. If
He be with u.s. who is against us? But
He is no less the God of contentment:
I have never seen the seed of the
righteous beg for bread And He is the
God of rest, in whose name little chill
dren are taught to lay them down to
sleep. The modern historian dwels with
less satisfaction on the so called great
battles of history than on the scene by
the family freside where the breadwit-
ner gathers his little ones around him and
ends the toilsome day by thanking the
Gfver of all good gifts. Indeed the world
In peace and in war has never been in
spired and restrained encouraged and
consoled by any other motive so SUCCESS
fully or so persistently as by belief in
God. Without the idea of God human
history would be medley of incoherent
happenings, without interest, without
meaning.
Other Human Experience
Turn now to another line of human ex-
periences and see if there also God is
not the greatest. | mean the line of
human feeling and human emotion. In
all the crises of our lives His name
springs unbidden to our lips. the thought
of Him surges involuntarily In our hearts.
My God is an exclamation too often
heard when due soemnity is lacking or
the occasion appears disproportionate
But may we not see in custom repre-
hensible in itself an indication of an in
stinct deeprooted in our nature? AS
the wounded or threatened beast seeks
refuge or escape each by it's own parti-
cular device, SO man, in his crisis of
feeling, turns naturally to God In grief
and in gladness, in pain and in pleasure
in disappointment and in glad surprise,
oh, Cod My God, are the words on
the lips even. of the unbeliever. Each
STRICKEN human being, in his own par
ticular mood, in childhke faith simple
and confiding or in patience mel1owed by
years and hallowed by long habits of
prayer, or in dark and turbulent rebel
lion-each, in hope in patience, or in flu
tile anger turns to God. And when sor-
row has lifted its cloud, and the storm
of feeling has passed, when danger has
been avoided and difficulty overcome.
when hope long deferred has been real
FIXED, then even he to whom PRAYER is
a practice long discontinued falls in
stinctively on his knees and breathes out
his gratitude to God. Less dramatically.
perhaps, but no less sincerely, when re-
mum of gladness is expressed by turn
ing to God
For He is the God OF joy as we'll as Of
anguish. He is the steadfast light of our
happiness, though we do not always APP
preciate that light as we do when, like
sunshine it bursts through a clouded skv.
On lips parted In silent though eloquent
hope, on lips inarticulate but expressive
of happiness attained at last as we'll
as on dips tortured with pain, parched
with hunger, writing in agony Or
blanched with fear, it is always the
sacred name of God that we read flutter-
1 ing or struggling into utterance
! The Divine Examples
but, why should / cite human in
stances when there is the one divine ex-
ample, the elimination of all human feel
! ing in the drama of Christ's passion
/ For He who was God as well as man
when the supreme moment came and all
| His divinity seemed submerged in human
suffering, then for the first and last time
on earth addressed the Father, not In the
J endearing name which He often used in
prayer, but in the agonized words: s.AIy
| God, my God, why hast thou forsaker
ine?" The soul of all human suffering il
in that cry, and convincing confession
that in the climax of emotion the nam,
of God is the only adequate expression oil
| our human need
.And now let me touch lightly and ha q
| tily one last testimony to the greatnes.
OF God. l would not profane this sacret
place nor offend your souls attuned t
reverent solemnity by more than a pass
/ ing mention Of the darker scenes o.