The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-31
DR. HENDRIX ON
 SELF-APPR0VAL
Pastor of Highlands Church Talks on Value of Judg-
 ing Oneself

At the Highlands Methodist church the pastor Dr. W. R. Hendricks, preached to full house yesterday morning on Self Approval" using as a text, T have fought good fight; have finished my course; I have kept tho faith"
 Judging others Is a hazardous un- dertaking if we believe the Holy Scriptures. When it becomes neces- sary for us to sit in judgment upon our fellowmap in our civil courts, 12 picked men are chosen and the as- invoked to reach a just judgment.
 But this need not be true when the individual comes to sit in judg- ment upon his own life. Honest men are frequently wrong in their judg- ment of others, but seldom If ever wrong in their Judgment of them selves. What a world of meaning there is in the little considered text, If we judged ourselves, we should not be judged
 When we come to stand on the threshold of eternity every one of us inevitably becomes a judge of his own earthly life. While we are en- crossed with the present life we are constantly engaged in judging men and movements about us; but when we know that our pilgrimage Is at an end and that we must take our place in that procession moving on to the great beyond, our own life and character are summoned to stand be- fora tha nf ind a,f for approval or censure.
 The text Is peculiarly interesting to us as individuals because 1t Is the judicial decision of It's author upon his own earthly life and conduct. ITO Paul life had been a battle, as 1t must be to every man in every | age. Mental development and | spiritual conquest had come to him as 1t comes to all of us through struggle. Only the Son of God could 1 give us the details of that long drawn-out struggle indicated in the brief confessions I fight not as one that beateth the air. but I keep under my body lest after having preached to others I myself should become a | castaway. All his religious tradi- tions and racial inheritances had been kept in subjection to new | Master.
 'All the human aspirations after a 1 pleasant and honorable career which was so easily within his grasp as a young man, he had driven as ene- mics from his programme of self l sacrifice. Against the accumulated l ignorance and depravity of sinful world he had hurled himself, never | retiring for even a season of rest and refreshment Yes. to him life had meant warfare to the last breath But it was "a good fight he had waged and as he fronts eternity he | has no regrets that he had chosen such career.
 Each one of us is born to strug- 1 gle. or live life and die a death worse than having never lived. The ! tragedy of life is not its conflicts but to endure a life of conflict and suffering that does not bring us re- | turns with which we are satisfied Is not this the failure of life to stand at its end displeased and disappoint- ed with ourselves? eff we can only believe 1t life is also education. I have finished my course. Paul had experienced the comforts of home and the hardships of the tramp. His heart had thrilled | to the loyal affection of friends, and ached from the dagger in the hands of traitors.
 'TIe knew the victory of faith ir God. and had learned the patience oi unanswered prayers Life had only one more sensation for him that oi feeling the fog in' his throat He had so mastered the meaning of life as education, he could write the for mula in one sentence: 'Tribulatior worketh patience, and patience expe- ] rience; and experience worketh hope that needeth not to be ashamed of. God grant us that attitude toward ! life here that when we come to thu end we may say. too, I have learned its lesson; I have grasped it's mean ling: I have finished my course.
 Finally. life Is loyalty to a trust I have kept faith with Him who pu me into this ministry. counting m, faithful Paul had in his public min listry and his private life nevel sought anything for himself. but ev' lerything for His Lord. He had liter ally swept his mind of every pre- conceived opinion and prejudice. tha the doctrine of Christ might be hi sole intellectual capital. He ha, opened his heart to the sacrificia truly say, I remain to fill up the suf ferings of Christ for the church.
 Angels can never know just tn satisfaction which filled the heart o this servant of God, as he locke, over his own career and pronounce, the sentence on himself embodied il the text. No matter how stormy tn, way has been, if self-approval lik this shall come to us as we are en terihg eternity, wrshail be truly abl
 to sing, Well. this is the end of 1 dovss