The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-11-17
MAN---DUTY.
An Address by Prof. J. E. 7. Massey,
Before an Alamance Sunday
School Recently.

SChOOl KeCenLIy.
: Long ago was weary of voices
Whose music my heart could not win;
Long ago was | weary of noises
That fretted my soul with their din;
Long ago was l weary of places
Where | met but the human ana SIN.
Do you ask how l live in the valley?
| weep and dream and | pray;
And my tears are as sweet as the dew drops
That fall on the roses in May;
And my prayers, like a perfume from CenSOrS
Ascendeth to God night and day.
Do you ask me the place of the valley,
We souls that are haraSSed with care:
It lieth affair between mountains,
And God and his angels are there;
And enc is the dark mount of sorrow,
And one the sweet mountain of prayer"
So sang Father Ryan, and so say L.
Let us this morning catch the burden
of the 0 u and lift our hearts to God
in PRAYER while the minds eye CHANCES
at Man-Duty.
Alone in a narrow valley sits the
soul of man. He looks down and feels
himself unfit to mingle with the dust
he spurns. He looks up and catches
glimpses of inspiring themes from the
dim twinkling of the distant stars.
The painting soul yearns to mingle
with the purer essence of q hOller sphere.
His baser nature holds him blackjack
by a single hair which will not break,
and thus ethereal flight is clOgged and
man is chained to earth. Perchance
when all his weary dreaming has found
an end in nOthingness, and world on
world, and star on star still wheel their
flight in space beyond the EXTREMIST
reach of mind, and asks, and wisely
too: "WhenCe am l? What am |?
Whittier do | tend?"
Who can tell man his origin? He is
not selfmade, for had he the power to
create, he would have the power to re-
tain that which he had created. Had
man the power to. endue with life these
bodies, there had been no tOmbs; earth
would be eternal and our home would
be forever with the dust, and Heavens
streets be trod by only angel feet.
Again, were man himself the secret
springs that feed the river of his being,
he would be master of his fate, and
might determine the flow of all his
ways. The tempests of old age would
never come to ruffle the surface of the
waters fed and freShened by perennial
springs. The leaves which fall in
autumn, when winter passes, are re
placed, and Once more deck with living
green the verdant wales and wooded
glens where jaded pilgrims pause to
rest their weary limbs. IT'S here, in
deed, the fable of the phoenix finds it's
counterpart; but man, alas! must die,
nor bears within himself the germ to
re-create the fading leaf of life.
Man is not self made, for the power
to make includes the power to unmake.
The power argues the act; the act pre-
suppOses the right; the right involves
the responsibility the responsibility of
origin includes the responsibility of
end and 50 excludes all foreign agency
in our being. If we are responsible
only to ourselves, we can forgive Our-
selves, we can determine what is right
and what is wrOng-a conclusion, the
quintessence of all a~bsurdlties, the
climax of supreme folly.
Man is not self-made; for then no
then no failure would beset his way.
The creature never can SurpaSs the
creator; the effect Is never greater than
the cause, We could not sOar beyond
the bounds Of what curse YES (Our
maker) know and are. The clipped
wing of fancy would forever drOOp;
imagination would unfold her banner
on the mountain heights no more; en-
deavOr would be shackled to material
things. for the nObler aspirations are
the gift Of hi~gherpOwers. Man dreams
of things beyOnd-abOve him-he has
no power to reach them; he tries; he
fails; he is disappOinted-it proves his
origin to be some higher power than
himself.
ManisnOt self-made; else there would
be no mystery. His life would be an
open book where all might read at will.
There would be no darkness in his life,
no unfathOmable depths in his nature,
no unscalable Nights in his being-no
mystery anywhere. Alas, how dark
the path we tread! How clothed in
mystery the past and present; the
future also is gloom!
"How little do we know that which we areI
How less what we shall be!'
Man is not self made; for nothing
ever yet was maker of itself. To make
ones self, one must exist before exist
ence in order to originate existence
aself- contradictory imp disability These
and other reasons, aside from Revela-
tion-the firm foundation of our faith
and the true test of orthOdOxy-lead us
to conclude that mans existence is due
to some e~XtranGOuS cause.
To what then is man indebted for
existence? He must have had an origin.
Or else can have 10 end. There was a
time, however distant, when no human
eye looked upon the beauty of the
world-when lovely fishes sported in
their native crystal flood with nohuman
eye to mark their beauty-when birds
of gorgeous cOlOrs rested on balanced
wing in the invisible air with no human
eye to admire and praise-when flowers
burst their p, isOn bars and came forth
to beautify the earth with no human
eye to feast upon their freshness, when
nature seemed to CLEAN, to shine, to
bloom in vain.
The dolphin spOrtfd in his sea calm
depths amid the coral gardens of the
under world, but thought not of their
beauty; the eagle spread his wings and