The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-15
.COWARD|CE OF SIN THEME OF SERMON BY DR. EDMONDS Despite Heavy Rains Large Congregation Was Pres
 ent at Lyric Theatre CLOSE ATTENTION
 PAID TO PREACHER Dr. Edmonds Recites Different Phases of the Sinful Life and Makes a Strong Appeal to His Hear
 CTS to Turn to God
By ELLIS c. HorIuMs


 Unmlndful of a drenching rain more than 1o00 person last night visited the Lyric theatre and heard Dr. Henry M i. Edmonds, pastor of the Independent Pres nyterian church of Birmingham, deliver q sermon which rivaIed in point of force fulness that which he delivered at the Strand theatre Sunday night a week ago.
 Had the rain not interferred the Lyirc could not have seated the people who would have come At 6:45-one hour and b minutes before the services were sched- uled to begin-a steady stream of people moved down Third avenue toward the Lyric It was an unbroken stream and the parties averaged three abreast. The crowd moved forward until few min- utes after o'clock, when the rain came It was almost deluge, according to many of those who were caught in it. The wind blew a gale. The crowd ceased it's flow with the rain, and the theatre was about half-filled at I 80 O oclock. Again the crowd started. but the stream had thinned considerably, and it was not an unbroken stream as before
 The West End quartet furnished the music for the occasion. This quartet is considered the best in Birmingham and has gained much fame here It is com posed of w. H. Maxim, J. w Holmes. Henry Naylor and E. B. Williams.
 pr. Edmonds subject for the evening was ''The Cowardice of Sin He ex- plained that he didn't like the word cow ardice, but thought, rather, that ungal- lantrv in this inStanoa would Ct ha++or He read from the 18th chapter of the Book of Judges, which tells the story of Sam sons fall at the hands of Delilah, and of the subsequent destruction of the Phil istines at the hands of Samson, when he pulled down their temple during a great festival
 Dr. Edmonds called his hearers atten- ton to the fact that We are in the habit of saying, It is no one's business what l do; my life is. my own and I can do with it what I will
 That's just where We are wrong" said Dr. Edmonds. "Of course, there are a number of aspects of sin which touch un- gallantry. The sin of the Pharisees and hypocrites is one of them. Those men who wrap about themselves a cloak of self-righteousness, saying this person or that person shall not enter their church because they are not good, is one of the most ungallant sins I know of and it is one which Jesus Christ lashed most vigorously.
 You have seen pictures of men in boats on the sea beating the fingers of others who are attempting to get into their boats and crushing their heads in with oars, beating them back from sal vation. Some of us preachers have had that attitude towards the outside world and towards the men who have been in need and have had hunger in their hearts. but did not have the proper garments, and I am one of them.
 '"Then there is the industrial sin, which is most ungallant There are men in this days life and in yesterdays life fewer of them today) who are willing to make their money no matter who suffers. There are men who are determined to reap their dividends no matter how much blood is shed for it. There are some who have said, What matters the labor ing man, so long as we get our money That is worse than sin. It is murder, which is the essence of sin. It is mur- der by proxy, industrial murder, and it is displeasing in Gods sight.
 And there is another form of ungallant sin, which is abominable. A young man is told to do a certain thing in his busi- ness and he throws himself out of the
 
 thing and he struts home and begins to live on his mother or his father or his sister, He calls that the proper thing. I call it cowardice. I haven't much pa tience with the man who is too high strung to meet the exigencies of business life, but not too high strung to live on his father.
 Young man. you say your life is your own, and you will do with it what you please, and you go on down the street with your fine feathers about you. Well, now, is your life your own? Can you fling it away in this fashion?
 "Where is your mother tonight? What Is she doing? Why. 1t is getting near your mothers bedtime now. She is now reading the Bible an old Bible, it is, with the leaves torn, and falling out, with faded flowers here and there. Then. she will close 1t up and sigh, and get ready for bed and before she lies down she prays. And do you know the burden of her prayer? It is about you. And in the morning the first thing she does is to pray that God will keep her boy the day. At the beginning of your life she went down wonder in the valley where there is a door swinging both ways. She did not know whether she would remain there or whether she with her another life
 'She has lived for you through all the years of your life, her life one of infinite willingly made. When you left your old home in the small town to come