The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-04
BRILLIANT SERMON
BY DR.. JOHNSON ON
LEANNESS OF SOUL
Psalmist Sees the Good That
May Be in the Enemy
of the Best
ROCK ON WHICH JUDAS
WRECKED HIS SOUL

Even at the Expense Of Suffer-
ing-Pilgrims of Material
Glory
Members and visitors OF the First Meth
odist church yesterday morning were IA
vored with an especially strong sermon
by Rev. ]. w. Johnson, the pastor. TAX
ing for his subject, when Good Is En-
envy of the Best" Rev. Johnson preached
an able sermon, and one that will be long
remembered by those who heard it. His
text was Ps. 106-15. HE Gave Them
Their Request, But Sent Leanness Into
Their Souls" He said in part;
THE Psalmist is a devout student of
history. He discovers in it great prin-
ciples and lessons of abiding worth. The
text is an example. He sees that the
good may be the enemy of the best. He
learns that prayer for a secondary good
if answered, may prove a curse instead
of blessing. He has in mind the strange
chapter of Israels history which l have
just read in your hearing-the sending of
the quails. The people lusted for flesh
mamma They remembered the fare of
Egypt-the fish and the onions and the
garlic. They forgot Gods goodness and
the end and aim of their exodus. They
wept and prayed and lusted for flesh
till God gave them their request; but,
alas! while their bodies Toasted their
souls starved. He gave them their re-
quest; but sent leanness into their souls.
Was it because the flesh was evil?
Certainly not. Was it because the desire
for flesh to eat was a sin? That could
not be. 1t was because they put lower.
a temporal good above all higher good.
OUR GREATEST CURSES
This is ancient history, but it is also
modern. 1t is as ancient as the human
race and as modern as the present hour.
Men do not always crave the best. They
sometimes pray for a secondary good,
and continue to pray for it, till it shuts
out all higher good from the soul. In
fact. the good before the best is the
snare of the world. Goethe said Our
blessings are our greatest cures For
many perhaps for most it is not the
worst that is their greatest enemy. The
number of those who find their chief de-
light in the fragrant forms of sin and
shame is happily small. Most people
have too high ideals for that. But the
number of those who are devoted to the
secondary and temporal goods of the
world is unfortunately very large. And
they constitute one of the greatest prob
lens of the church. Men think that be-
cause they are enemies of the worst they
therefore disciples of the best, and
it is hard to convince them of their err
ror. Jesus faced this same problem when
He was in the world He insisted again
and again that the good as we'll as the
evil might stand in the way of the souls
entrance into life. Here is where TIA
rich young ruler failed This is the rock
on which Judas wrecked his soul. The
good stood in the way Of the best; the
temporal became the enemy of the eter-
nal. Money Is good, but it is not the
best. 1t Is thing to be desired, but
not above spiritual blessings. When it
is put first. nothing but leanness of soul
can result from such a scale of values
General Armstrong once said to friend:
When you see me getting rich, pray for
my SOUL 1t was not that the general
undervalued riches. Not that It was
simply that he feared lest he might over
value them. He was a disciple of the
superlative and he feared the temptation
of the positive and the comparative. He
knew that the lower loved would make
the higher impossible. He knew that
the answer with quails would bring lean
ness OF soul.
SCALE OF VALUES
1T Is common temptation for men
to make the means of living the end
Of life; to live the life of the senses
| and forget the soul. Men pray accord
ing to their scale Of values The Israel
| ties did, and so do we. And you can
judge of a peoples moral price list
by their prayers; not always by the
| prayers they speak, but by the prayers
! they pray with insistance. For a peo-
| PIES real prayer is focal and not mar
| ginal to their souls. Let us apply this
principle to ourselves as people. What
| Is Americas great prayer? Is it for
righteousness? You know 1t is not
Americas great prayer Is for pros
perity. Booth Harrington in 1.-THE Tur-
moil" have given us the prayer of the
rampant commercialism of a western
city In this FORM
"'Give me of Thyself, o Bigness;
Power to get more power;
Riches to get more riches
Give me of Thy sweat to get more
sweat
Give me Of Thy Bigness to get more
| bigness for myself,
| O Bigness for Thine is the Power
| and the Glory
And there Is no end but Bigness, for
ever and ever
| This, modified more or less, is the
great prayer of America. 1t is prayed
| in the office and in the store, in the
street and in the railway train-ev-
erywhere 1t is prayed by the rich and
| by the poor, by the trust and by the
| labor union: o Prosperity. give us
of myself; success to get more sue
cess; riches to get more riches; power
to get more power 1t is prayer for
prosperity even at the expense of suf-
fering; but it is a prayer for prosper
| ity, mayhap, because of suffering; but
! it is a prayer for prosperity. And
America has been praying it ever since
| the civil war, and it increases in vol
| ume and urgency with each passing
year. A recent article in the Survey
| saws that the seventies and the eigh-
ties are the most unworthy period OF
| our national history. Why? Because
| there was least of the sense of JUS
tice and brotherhood and social obli-
CATION. War does not always give men
Gle arer vision. doubt II 1t ever does.
| 1t did not in our case. 1t lowered our
| ideals: 1t degraded our standards. 1t
r.ade us pilgrims of the way of ma
| terial glory What will war do for
| Europe? I do not know. The nations
of Europe have been praying this
prayer for prosperity for many years
! Germany prayed it until she lost the
| finer sense of moral distinctions. She