The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-20
SPIRITUAL OVERL|ES
 THE NATURAL, SAYS ! DR. H. M. EDM0NDS
Pastor Independent Church Delivers Two Inspiring SermOns-Mrs. Haley
 Stirs Audience

l At the morning services at Temple
 Emanu-El, Dr. H. M. Edmonds, of the h. dependent Presbyterian church, preached
 an inspiring sermon, his subject being ! .'The Natural and the Spiritual" He pictured the natural man, from birth, needing care and feeding and clothing, to make a fit house in which the spiritual
 shall live and have it's sway.
 l "Let us not put too much stress upon | the natural nor give it first place. said
 Dr. Edmonds, for the natural body shall not inherit immortality, though in it is carried the seeds of immortal life, our | real selves, which shall know deathless
 eternity.
 l We cannot ignore or despise our nat ural bodies or our natural relationships, but remember that the spiritual overlies
 the natural, nor grow too important or
 too esthetic for the everyday work of the world; if you think that your life
 and activities are commonplace and be-
 meath you. raise them. put them upon a
 spiritual basis. glorify your life with spirituality, so that it shall shine out in your face and live itself out in your | life All of the usages of life become attractive through the spiritual as, for instance, our eating; that is an ordinary,
 rather unattractive function until one
 makes of it sacrament; with our fam | fly about the board the meal is hal
 lowed event of each day, and where we l invite our friends to eat with us We have cemented our friendship by the breaking of bread together. thus a spiritual sig
 nificance is attached to homely thing. MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP | "So also in the marriage relationship. without spirituality is a coarse, raw
 thing in itself, but give it spirituality and | you have the holiest relationship con ceivable. Love, unselfishness, mutual elf-sacrfice- Christ even likened his re- lationship to his church as marriage Take our flag; cloth of three colors hung upon a pole; not much of anything, and yet the spiritual significance of that
 flag is full of hopes and dreams. and
 sacrifice. and you and I will die rather
 than see it torn down; the natural over laid with spirituality makes it differ ent thing altogether. The spiritual finds expression through the natural, it must be so; the sculptor expresses his beauty. living soul. in cold hard marble, with chisel and nallet, common natural things yet with what results.
 "The master nterprets the music' in his soul in terms of beautiful sounds coming forth from his instrument. ln- terpret your commonplace. busy life in terms of spiritual beauty and loveliness,
 bring it up to new high level. for we go either up or We go down. there is neither top story or cellar in life-no stop, always going either up or down.
 Let not the natural body be the dominat- ing force. but make it subservient to the spiritual; that is. the real and the last ing
 RED CROSS APPEAL Mrs. Haley made four-minute talk for the Red Cross drive now on. Dressed in the Red Cross uniform, she made her arpeal in concise, well-chosen words, that
 stirred the congregation, who gave her
 the most rapi attention
 T