The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-18
BISHOP ATKINS IS l HEARD BY CAPACITY HOUSE YESTERDAY. "Art Thou He That Should Come, or Do We Look for Another?" the Topic SERMON MADE A DECIDED IMPRESSION Christ's Part in War Touched Upon. Rich and Poor Placed on Same
 Basis in Eloquent
 Discourse

takes cognizanee of the poor, said Fish op James Atkins, here presiding over the sessions of the North Alabama confer ence, preaching from the text, "Art Thou He that should come or do we look for another?' at the First Methodist church yesterday morning. "Other religions cater to the rich, the high; the religion of Christ lifts the poor and lowfy up. Other religions knew nothing but to cruelty the thief, but Christ saved the thief from the cross of crucifixion. Though Chris tianitv looks after the need of the poor there are more people going to hell for the neglect of the poor than for any other sin.
 There are two interpretations of John the Baptist's reason for sending two of his disciples to Christ with the question
 of my text: namely, that he wanted the
 disciples to come into contact with the
 Savior or that 1t was because he was
 suffering from nervousness. A book has
 been published in which John the Sap
 tist is represented as having fits. l have
 no patience with either one of these in-
 terpretations. I think the reason that
 John queried the Savior in such a way
 was because his vision was not broad
 enough; he was looking at Christ through
 
 Jew; he was expecting Christ to estab- fish a worldly kingdom and when he busted himself healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and championing so earnestly the cause of the poor he could not under
 stand it. as that had not been the policy of former rulers. The case of John was the continuation of an old order of things
 and the beginning of a new.
 JOHN THE BAPTIST Though Christ himself said that of all men that have been born of woman none have risen among you greater than John the Baptist he had his faults, and this was one of them-this narrow con- ception of Christ's kingship,
 Some of us still have a narrow vision of Christ; when we are first born into the kinadom we see Him only as a redeemer, but when trouble comes into our lfves-when we lose some of our loved ones-then we recognize him as a comfortet So it is with physical objects;
 men first thought that all the sun was good for was to furnish light for them
 to see how to attack their enemies. Now
 science has discovered that all vegetable life is dependent upon the sun; that it
 possesses healing power, as demonstrated
 by the X-ray. Still more is to be learned
 about this great, luminous body. Christ
 is the sun of righteousness.
 "I am not a believer in the adage
 Nothing Is stronger than its weakest point when you attempt to apply 1t to
 man. It is true that no chain is stronger
 than its weakest link, but this is not
 true of man; some men have weaknesses
 but in other respects they are excellent
 men. There is some good in everybody, doubt that if any would accept life if
 they really believed this
 NO GLASSES RECOGNIZED
 The foundation of Christ's kingdom
 is based apon humanity; there are no classes In 1t. Rich and poor are all on
 the same footing. His kingdom is grow ing stronger; it is becoming greater from a worldly standpoint than any other king dom that has ever existed. The great
 war which is just about at an end was fought upon the principles of this king
 dom. He was propagating the principles of it in the execution of the war. Are we grateful for the blessings of the war? 1t was our belief in Christ that made us fight for the good of humanity If John could have had such vision of Christ as we have he would not have asked the question of my text. The war Is an illustration of Christs power to rule the world.
 When the war first began was start Ing upon tour or the east l met With people who wanted to know what thought would be the outcome of the war. People and nations were confused. said, Be patient and waitl'
 GREATER MOVEMENTS 'eThe end of the war has come. There shall be wars and rumors of wars. but the end is not yet With the dawn of peace there are greater movements in the future. Christ Is rapidly becoming Lord of lords and King of kings Christ showed that he espoused the cause of the poor not only by sympa- thizing with them, but His antipathy was that way also; He rebuked the Scribes and Pharlsees by calling them hypocrtes. He did not mean to criticize the rich simply because they were rich, but He wanted to show the world that they were no better than the poor' At the close of his discourse Bishop Atkins. assisted by Bishop Mccoy, or dained the seven young men as deacons who were admitted into the conference Saturday This solemn service was very beautiful, indeed. The auditorium and gallery seats were all occupied and many stood throughout the service
 aid in fighting the great battle. but they are for mother father, sisters and
 brothers who are at home. They listen lattentively to every sermon within their reach. They are hungry for love. sym |