The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-01-26
Brief Account Of Sermons
 Preached at Local Churches

at his real value because he was so | completely overshadowed by the su- | perfor genius of the apostle Paul" said l Dr. MacSporran. 1t frequently happens l Many men have suffered the injustice of never being rated al their true value because father or brothers loomed up
 so large in the public eye. Many men with no mean ability and worth are totally eclipsed by their more brilliant wives, and conversely many good wom- l en suffer living death through long ! years because it was their lot to marry great men.
 This is what happened to Barnabas II was out t-distanced and outshown by his greater colleague. Nevertheless he l is worthy of our notice. He was not a genius, but he was a truly great soul a noble character a Christian gentle ! men of the first class, and one who by ! no means suffers in this matter by com. | parison with his friend and companion Paul He showed the extraordinary generosity of the man in his plea sfor Faul and it was owing to this in a long | measure the great apostle was saved for the Christian church. Have we ever paused to consider how many gifted, in- fluential people have been lost to tha church of Christ because when the op- portunity came to extend to them the
 right hand of fellowship ard welcome
 them to the service of the Lord there | was no Barnabas present? How often the need arises for the words and ac- | tions of the truly generous man who | will have faith in the best and give the wonderful grace of the Savior a chance l to prove its efficacy! How many a ons
 would have been saved to our church if some son or daughter of Barnabas had
 been present on the job at the critical hour.
 q know of prominent banker of Baltimore, respected and honored in all circles of the city and a loyal Christian who was saved in this way. He held a position of trust which he violated under the temptations of drink and
 gambling. It was penitentiary of fense. An elder in the Presbyterian | church of which this young man was a member became convinced that his pen itence was genuine and stood by him
 He said t9his friends, Give the boy a chance. Tbelieve in him. I will an- swer for him, flor we must save him. And he did. It was another case of a Barnabas taking young man out of his past and throwing the mantle of love over him until he had his feet lplanted firmly on the kings highway. Contrast this with another I heard of recently There is prisoner in one of our penitentiaries today serving a 20- year term, who said After my first offense as a boy I never had another chance
 Let us learn this. Pauls past made him one of the bitterest pills and worst doses a Christian church was ever asked to swallow. It required great faith to believe that the bloodthirsty persecutor could become q new man. And it is precisely in such faith and generosity we Christians are weakest today. That is chiefly what is the mat ter with us. Our suspicious, our mar row exclusiveness, our mean spirited memories. our inhospitable, unclanish. too much of one type. We demand a too rigid informality. We need to learn that there are diversities of gifts. diff ferences of training and Experience. but none of these things should separate us into little groops and cliques. The church of Jesus Christ is big enough to make a home for all, to employ all gifts, comfort all hearts. Barnabas
 come forth again; we need new blood !"