The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-04
BRILLIANT SERMON
BY DIR. JOHNSON ON
LEANNESS OF SOUL
Continued From Page Five,

terial success, when it is the focal de-
sire OF the soul, always brings iean-
ness of soul. 1t does to the individual;
and it does to the nation.
There is another prayer America prays
that is second in insistence only TO the
prayer for prosperity. 1t is the prayer
for pleasure. little boy stepped off
the roller coaster at Coney Island some
time ago, and between gasps, as has
jumping heart settled back from his
throat to Its normal place, he said:
Mother. I'd like to live on a giant
thriller He looked back longingly at the
great serpentine curves over which hs
mad just Travelled with tingling sensa
lions from toes to finger tips, and voiced
one OF the dominant passions Of the
American people. Life to many is Just
that--a giant thriller. 1t holds Just So
much possibility of sensation, and its
possibilities must be realized Its final
end is not so much the destination it
reaches as the number and degree Of the
thrills which the ups and downs of tnt
journey may be made to yield. A well
dressed man said to me in Chicago re-
Gently: This is a dead town. l have
just been to Los Angeles. You can
have a good time there. They have
wide open town l said: Man, you co
not call this closed town, do you Why.
it looks about as wide open as any
town 1 ever saw But he insisted that
you could no longer have good time
in Chicago. He had reached the point
where it took the king of giant thrilets
to give him a thrill. A gentleman
marked to me last week that Birming-
ham was dull, even dead The only
bright spot in it was the Sunday movies,
and now the cranks were trying to wipe
49, -
thrill! My kingdom for a thrill!
GUEST OF THRILLS
Mr. Galsworthy, in his brilliant book.
The Little Man., has drawn the portrait
Of a woman who spent her life in 'luest
of thrills. He points out with exquisite
satire the mental vacuum which she re-
garded as living her life to the full
She had flung open the doors of life
and was so continuously going out and
coming in, that life had considerable diff
ficulty in catching glimpse of her at
ALL She swan on the deep river of
sensations, nibbling each others tails. To
say that she had her favorite books.
plays, men, dogs colors, was to do her
but momentary justice. A deeper equity
assigned her only one favorite, the next.
Life, she thought, must be very dull for
the poor creatures doing only one thing
at a time and that for so long. For
her life was so full that the moment 1t
stood STILL and was simply old life. it
seemed to be no life at all There is ore
sentence as full of insight as it is of de-
lightful satire: Once in new book she
came across the tale of man who lived
in Persia, of all heavenly places, fran
tically pursuing sensations. Entering, one
day. the courtyard of his house, he head
sigh behind him, and looking around
say his own spirit, apparently in the act
of breathing it's last The little thing,
dry and white, was opening and shutting
it's mouth for all the world like an oys-
ter trying to get it's breath What is
the matter?' he said. You don't seem
we'll" And his spirit answered: Its
all right, it's all right. Don't distress
yourself It's nothing. I've been crowd
ed out, that's ALL And with a wheeze,
the little thing fell flat The spiritual
insight of the passage is, that the soul
may be utterly starved by life of pleas
ure seeking The exquisite satire 1T the
passage is, that she was reading the MIS-
tory of her own poor starving dying
soul.
..It is a fearful thing when some OF
our PRAYERS are answered. Are these pray
ers for prosperity and pleasure being an
swered? Who can doubt 1t? He gave
them their request: but sent leanness into
their souls might be written OF many
of today. DOuDtleSS our real prayer
are always answered; for our real prayers
are the real choices and desires OF our
hearts We may not always put them
irto speech. but we pray them neverthe-
less And the answer may not be ac-
cording to the letter of our prayers, but
the answer surely comes. The answer
may not be what God desires for us; 1t
NAV be what we desire for ourselves. God
desires the best for us; we often choose
some temporal good We are left free
to choose. Our choice may break the
heart of God, but we have the power
to make it. nevertheless. The prodigals
prayer for the far country was answered.;
but so was his prayer for place In
his fathers house when he returned home.
When we choose and insist on our choice;
when we pray Give me this. 1t Is my
will My will be done!' the answer al
ways brings leanness of soul. But when
we choose, and yet defer to the Divine
wisdom; when we pray, Il ask this, o
Lord, and yet not my will, but thine ne
done the answer. whether according
to the letter of our prayer or not, will
always bring riches to the SOUL