The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-11-17

| innings o 0drGn; OuG G10y IdIu
down no premises and reached no con
illusions nor did they follow the devious
winding ways that lead through ma
archangels, seraphs and cherubims
might spread their glittering pinions,
sweeping from the gates celestial, and
stand upon the ~loftiest s~nOw-capped
peaks of earth, and gaze upon the most
enhancing things of earth and sky. and
sea. but still might a lone flower
of Heaven OutblOOms them ALP
The earth everywhere shows, by the
nice adjustment Of it's parts, and the
harmonious workings of it's intricate,
| complex machinery, that it is the con
| ceptiOn of an infinite mind-grand in
| design. complete in execution, perfect
in adaptation Man is but a single
| wheel in the clock of the universe; he
| frs in his appointed place as nicely as
the planets in their spheres. Without
| man, earth'S sweetest music CRATES and
Jars, and discords shiver through the
! cIashing parts. The origin of one IS the
| origin of all.
We then conclude that man owes
his origin to that power that planned a
universe. He is part and parcel Of
| that mighty thought, which thrObbed
in the great heart Of the Infinite First
| Cause, while the earth was without
form and void, and darkness was upon
the face of the deep" What is that
First Cause? Each flower and leaf and
bursting bud: each beast and fish and
singing bird; each rock and spar and
mountain crag; earth and sea and sky,
in sweetest concord of orchestral
melody, Join with the soul within, and
answer God; and echo rolling back
from earth and Heaven, and hell, still
answers God. The hand that made
shall rule; shall punish or reward.
What is man, that thou art mind
full of him? or the son of Nan that thou
spiteth him" Who has an answer to
that query2 The difficulty Of giving q
satisfactory answer to such q question
may not present itself at first view, but
to the more thoughtful the subject Is
not without it's complications.
1t is often said by the wise and the
thOughtlesS. that man is q wonderful
animal. The preacher has repeated it
from the sanctum Of the sacred desk
until it has become trite; the doctor
has declared it until it has become
! mixed with cOrn-bred pills, and panacea
drugs; the lawyer hos framed it in
moving phrases and clothed it in
| rhetorical tlOurishes, until juries have
lost the diamond in the brilliance of its
own sparkling reflections; the St tes-
man has proclaimed it on the hustings
| till the world has grown weary and
| ceased to listen. The learned and the
| illiterate; the grave and the gay; the
| naughty and the humble; the civilized
and the enlighted; one, all have ac-
cepted it without question, and adopted
| - o., - %o,,f CG +hniu unN1Orior1 o,,OI
Man is, indeed. q strange and won
derful animal. He has no y~Oke-fellow
in a universe that teens with organ
isms. His being does not run parallel
with that of the worm he brushes be
Meath his foot; nor yet with that of
those spiritual essences that ride upon
the sunbeam's chariot, and dance with
in the sparkle of a dewdrOp to the
| music of the spheres. One is of the
| earth, earthly; the other is of the spirit,
spiritual. But man is both, and more.
He stands forth the representative of
| three worlds. and bears within his be
ing the essence of earth, and Heaven,
and hell. God formed him of the dust
| of the grOund-the essence of earth:
he breathed into his nOStrils the breath
| Of llfe-the cssence of Heaven; and the
devil introduced sin into his system
| the essence of hell. Thus he starts
upon his mission, a wonder to angels.
an envy to demons, a dishOnOr to his
Maker, and an enigma to himself.
Man IS a trifOld being, compounded
of matter soul and spirit, with a skill
beyond the ken of earthly chemists.
Like the lgnuuS fdtuu8 the longer we
follow, the deeper we are led into the
mist and fog. He is clothed in mystery
mystery deep, unfathOmable; mys-
terry lofty. unscalable; mystery broad.
impenetrable. Composed. as he is. of
opposing elements, he becomes the
battlefield of the ages, and the conflicts
| of earth, add to the history of the world
are only the chronicles of the Individual
men who engage in the great struggle
of right and wrong.
This being, man. who is engaged in
the great struggle Of right and wrong.
is, perhaps, the only parsonage in the
universe to whom the word duty can
be applied; and certain we are that no
other being has duties like our own.
These duties are such that angels can
not understand them. Man, through
his composite nature, stands isolated
from all other orders of beings in their
unmiXed essences.
Let us lOoka at few of mans duties:
He owes a duty to his God. Thou
shalt have none orher gods before me. "
We owe him love and reverence. It
is u duty to take him as our only and
all sufficient God; to study what his
will is concerning us; to offer him u
service and prayers; and to praise
him in the midst of the people.
Man owes a duty to himself.
Blessed IS the man that walketh not
in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
stitch in the seat of the scornful."
God stands pledged, through His word.
and through physiological and.material