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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1907. A Cure For Cold Hearts: 5HS*"’ ,oin mind be in you it alioin Chris* Philippian* II. By REV. JOHN E. WHITE, Pastor Second Baptist Church •MUMMUOtMIHMIHIMHINMMUMMIHUUHII T HERE Is a story that once In a village in Scotland winter broke upon the people linexpeeliHlly and It was found that by a strange co incidence the tires on every hearth through carelessness hod been allowed to go oat It was.before the day of matches and the only way the people could recover their tires was to And some hearth that was yet aglow. From one house to another they hur. rled until the crowd had become, a multitude and their anxiety hail be come almost a panic, for not a spark could they find. But at last they came to n house way up on the hill. There the Are was burning and there was a great shout. The canny Scotchman of that house gave them fire, but rebuked the people for neglecting their hearth-stones, and said: "Why so foolish to come so far? Why did ye not take your flints In the old way and get the Are from the rocks?" The Christian's Touch-stone. There Is a great running about among Christians In n kind of panic os If all the fires of enthusiasm for humanity were about to perish forever. No! No! my friends, there Is an altar of qunch- less Ore and It Is availably near for every man. . It Is the altar whose flame never ceoseth—the altar of Calvary, the fires of the grace of God that blaze In the cross of Christ. Touch the cross and your lamp will flame. •T know a bush that Are does not de stroy: I know a flower that heat can but . expand: I know a sacrifice whose root Is joy: I know, an altar that unbinds the hand. “Love Is that altar; In its cleansing Ares The tree of zeal grows green with youth again. And In the fervor that Its flame In spires The captive heart forgets Its former pain. “Put on Its fetters and thou shall be free, Embrace this attar and thy cords shall fall; Become love's captive and thy soul shall be Lord of Itself and master over, all." It Is the great altar of the great love of God! But what do we know of Ood's love for the souls of men? The answer is simply this, and npthlng is to be added to It: We know Jesus Christ. if that question hod been asked thou sands of years ago, how feeble must thd answer have been. Ask that question of the scientists, who tell us of the pre- Adamites. "What do you know about God's love for the souls of men?” And you will get only the snarling of halrv denizens of caves for an answer. Ask It even of the age before Noah, or of the ages before Abraham or of the ages before Moses and David and the proph ets. There Is light from God. but men call It the light of law, not the light of love. A few great souls comprehend God's mercy: a few broken hearts know God's gentle mending. But for the world, for the hosts that rise up In the morning and lie down In the evening, religion Is charged with shadow. 8ucn love of God as they know Is chiefly concerned with what we call Provi dence Types and symbols, the round of temple offerings absorb religion In the thought that God Is estranged from man and that He Is to be placated In some way. That Ood was behind thnt dimness loving and yearning, that He could be willing to take the fallen wom an to His heart or clasp one of their little babes to His bosom, was not a thought that men could think then. Let me tell you what I regard as the most Irrational and unsclentlflc proposition ever put out for men to believe. It Is that Jesus Christ was just a natural man, coming on In the natural way— the product of a world and an age, that could not even think of Ood as In any sort of passionate seeking for human souls. But what do we know of the love of God for men now? I say we know Jesus Christ. We know that He came, that there was a day when the clouds were swept from Ood's face and that In Him an almighty power of love began to hunt high nnd low through this world to find souls that were lost. Hunting Is the mark of the religion wc call Christ's religion and so marked It Is that the average man of our dav knows very well that every one of those modern institutions of religion that has no passion for souls In It Is a pseudo- Christianity. , , The Passion of Jesus. Bring your minds right down to 'realize what was the heart of the mission of Jesus Christ. We can speak of the slgnlflcance of Christ and never tonch the heart of It. There are .a hundred flno and truthful things wc can say about Christ without hinting at His true glory. His slgnlflcance Is translatable Into almost unlimited prac tical applications to morals. But strip all that off, lay asldo His garments of glory, make base the soul of Je*us Christ, come down to the simplicity of the facts that were the main and per fectly patent meaning of His life. There you will find the Are to rekindle your zeal. What is It? Jesus Christ was Just God hunting for man’s sotil. It Is possible that we may make mis takes In our interpretations of Christ's career, especially when we go far ofleld in merely theological expositions. But there can be no mistake here. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Jesus hod a passion for men. and especially for bad men. That is the blazing altar of Christianity, for the church to re kindle by. 1-et us not get too quickly away from It. As the blacksmith holds the red dened Iron In the seething blaze till It whitens, hold your zeal to this altar. Refresh your memories, my friends, with the real object of Christ's mission In this world; recall the unalterable principle that whatever was the main thing of His mission Is the main thing of the mission of any church bearing His name. Draw the principle to Its finest point at our own hearts—that whatever was the passion of His life must be Ideally at least and really to some true extent the passion of every one of us who bear Hid name. If you would make no mistake open the New Testament and say I am going to find out exactly what was Christ's own en thusiasm. Did He come to found an Institution, to build up a religious de nomination, to introduce piety Into so ciety or to formulate a system of mor als? These results were accomplished. It Is true. But they were brought about absolutely. through a primordial pur pose, an antecedent zeal for something that was nearer to His heart than these things. Christ Himself did not lay hand to a single one of them. He was absorbed with one thought, devoted to one sub lime, unselfish mission. It was to go after lost men. It was high time aomc- !' sic >||,.|||,| Cl ill'll'!- I lllMIl. Before Christ came, who cared for the lost man?* The righteous had friends, but where was the sinner's friend In all the world? Men were esteemed, but who cared for man? Who cares for the bones In the path? It may be a dog's or the bone of nn ox or even the bone of a man servant. It's a bone and nothing more. It bos no rela tion with our happiness, no connection with our success. Who cares' for the shell on the beach? The ocean has east It up, the sands have ground It: tram ple it deeper In Its grave nnd pass on. V Ask Jesus Christ. So little man cared for man !>eforc Christ came. But He came, that Is the glory of your life and my life. And we are not nfrald to go to Him any where and ask Him what He came for. Ask Him ns He rises from the blood- wet leaves of the Garden and the heavy darkness falls over His soul. "Jesus, here In Atlanta, we want to know what God means and what Tou are for?" “I and the Father are one." He savs. "I am come to seek and to save that which Is lost In your city." Ask Him ns He hangs on the cross Itself, and He will give your heart an answer that will drive you either fur ther from His presence or send you back home today retaught, reconse crated and resolved that you are much too hopeful when this little space of years Is traversed of seeing Him face to face, not now today, to share His passion for lost men. A True Incident. On the veranda of a hotel at one of the summer resorts far up In the mountains of Switzerland one after noon sat a woman with a mountaineer's telescope In her hands. It was turned upon the Jungfrau and she was in tensely watching something there. She was looking at four black figures against the snow, 12 miles and more away. Suddenly the glass dropped from ber hands and she fell to ths floor In a dead faint. One of the men at her side seized the glass and turned it upon the distant scene. Those fig ures were men. They were fastened together with ropes. A desperate ef fort had evidently been made to reach the summit, but one of the men had slipped and was dragging the others toward the edge of the precipice. While he looked the man at the top of the line seemed to make a final attempt to get a foothold and then the rope broke ami three oLthem werq hurled to their death. The next morning tho mangled bodies V’ere brought In and toward evening the man who had saved himself appeared. As he cams up to the steps of the hotel several people whom he numbered among his friends turned and walked hurriedly away. He went on Into the hotel, but everybody shunned him. He came to a group of men in the oflice and tried to engage them In conversation. They had not a word to say. At lost he drew some of them aside and said: ‘T insist that you tell me what Is the mat ter. ‘ Have I merited your III will? Why do you treat me so?” After a little hesitation, one of them spoke frankly and said: ‘if you must know. It is simply this. When they brought in the dead bodies of your comrades title morning It was plain that the rope hod been cut." I will not Judge that man. I leave It for you. But my message today comes to this at last. The safety now and the Anal salvation. of some souls are In the keeping of every Christian who looks upon me. it Is no difficult thing In such a way that men's eyes will never Judge, to cut the ropes of Influence one of you has over a soul so far os your ability to turn It to Christ Is concerned. They will slip—you with a security of feeling I am not here questioning— you with a hope of eternal life which I pray may not be an awful conceit- will let them slip. Oh. Lord! when we turn our feet up the altar stairs that from the grave slope and ascend to the many roomed house, meet us not coldly for that we have been cowards In thy faith and passion, but greet us gladly, for that we have tried to win some to Thee and when we foiled we had tears like Thine at Jerusalem oVer our failures. Amen. Polishing the Pole. From Harper's Weekly. In the railway station at Wllkesbarrc, which has a large Slavic population. Is a sign over the bootblack stand bearing the legend: "Shine, 5 cents. Polish, 10 cents." An Irishman stood In front of It ths other day apparently plunged in pro found thought. At length he pulled his pipe from his mouth and spat vig orously. , i'alth, and they’d be doin’ well to cha-r-rge double for dagoes, too," was his emphatic comment. The Busy Man's DrinK In Every WaIR of Life Delicious to the taste—Refreshing to the mind and body. Containing all the essentials of the “IDEAL BEVER AGE.” RELIEVES FATIGUE.