The Washington times., 1894-08-13
MANS LIFE HIS PORTRAIT
Good and Evil Tendencies the Product
Of Social Conditions.
CRIME DEVELOPED IN YOUTH
Mans Constitutional Makeup Has Much to
Do With His Life-All Should Not Be
Judged by the Same Standard-A Plain
and Practical Discourse by Rev. Dr. Gibson.

the Waugh NJ. L. Church, corner of Third
and A streets northeast, preached an interest
ing sermon yesterday morning based upor
the following text: "A good man out of the
good treasure OF his heart bringeth forth thai
which is good, and an evil man out of the evi
treasure Of his heart bringeth forth thai
which is evil. for of the abundance OF hi.
heart his mouth speaketh."
''The only just predicate" said Mr.. Gibson
upon which to Judge man is his daily life
That rule is established by the Scriptures and
finds expression in the text. That a mans
life is the portraiture of himself is beyond
and approved; evil is condemned and guarded
against
Mr.. Gibson argued that it was practical
question under consideration. and proceeded
to discuss it from practical standpoint.
The first principle laid down is that mans
work is a reproduction Of himself. The work
OF mechanic is the expression Of his
thought-his sign manual, and what he pro-
| duces lives long after he returns to earth.
The pyramids of Egypt stand as the unrivaled
manifestation of human power. They did not
| exemplify much wisdom. perhaps, but those
| by whom they were produced doubtless did
more than they knew and builded wiser than
they meant. These wonderful products re-
| main as the evidence OF the skill and as
marvels of the genius OF ages that are past.
| Man did not make himself. God gave him
| the form and expression of His mind. and
| what that may be he gives expression to. 1t
| is one of the painful things in life that, des-
pite our sense OF justice, we often judge the
| internal by the external. Men do not ''gather
grapes of thorns nor figs of thistIes," and
what man sows, that shall he reap" AS
ha pEath in lie baa hot ha ic
wIcKEDSEss DEVELOPED IN YOUTH.
The development of wlckedness may be
easily traced. Watch the rising generation
from youth to maturity and you will observe
its progress. Many believe and say ''the boy
is father to the man." What a boy wants to
be is what controls him. Most of the crimi-
mails are under forty years of age. and of the
executions one-half are of men who have not
reached the meridian of life The jails, houses
of correction, and penitentiaries are not filled
by the old. but by the young in years. Those
marvelously expert III crime become so in
strangely early life.
Many are disposed to draw distinction be-
tween morality and religion. II believe"
said Mr.. Gibson, that though man is not
religious he may be a moral man and good
man, and he is obeying Gods law In observ-
ing the moral code. The Bible does not con-
the young man mentioned in Scripture asked
the Master what he should do his attention
was called to the necessity of keeping the
moral law. and il was specified what WIS
quired. All these things have | done from
my youth up was his reply. The Master ap-
proved of the purity OF that mans life and
commended him. lie had kept the law so far
as he knew it and received the commendation
of Christ. If he had laid down his riches
and followed the Saviour his life would have
been model and he would have made name
tnat would have lived with that of Peter and
Paul.
I'VE should remember that mans consti-
tutional makeup has much TO do with his life.
do not in any sense apologize for crime, but
We should be careful not TO judge all alike.
II We are honest we will not do so. He who
in youth is turned adrift TO do as he can,
should not be judged by the same rule that is
applied to the more favored.
UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES.
'That boy brought up in the midst OF crime
has not the same chance as the boy who this
morning sat in the Sabbath-school receiving
religious instruction; he cannot be judged by
the same standard as that by which the life
OF the carefully trained youth is gauged.
There is difference in the conditions that
govern the boy who kneels daily at the feet OF
pure mother for pious counsel, and the one
who Is thrown upon the world to grow up
without control in the midst OF evil associa-
tions. The principles in the two cases will
work out themselves.
I'VE hear and read often of the miracles of
grace that lift a man mp from degradation
the observed of observers. and who by that
means becomes manly man. In the con-
fusion OF terms it is called q miracle of grace.
There is no such thing. There is the power
OF grace in his conversion, but it is not u mir
acle. God who made can renew, and the |
created soul can by the Creator be made pure
There is ~sch thing as the perfection of
wickedness. We have all read lately OF a |
species Of depravity which is positively name |
less. The men who caused that recent rail- |
road wreck. heaping misery upon misery, |
blood upon blood, life upon life, perpetrated |
that which was the perfection, the culmina- |
ton of crime The act itself was fiendish.
1.-The man who wilfully drags himself and |
his family down to the depths of moral and |
social degradation has reached the point OF |
perfection in wickedness. God pity the man
who experiments in crime.
TAKE no MANS LIFE AS YOUR MODEL
"a good life is the ideal of happiness and
virtue But would have you take no mans
life as your model. Biographies OF good men
are often placed in the hands of youths as
their examples. They may do good, but |
the biography of very excellent
man was put into my hands. l read it, and |
the impression i: left upon me- 1
said to myself. If this mans life is that of a
Christian. l know nothing of it, Here was n
giant in the Christian experience who was
set up as an ideal for a mere toddler. That
man had been so near God as to almost touch
he hem of His garment, while was a mere
infant in experience.
mo one has the right TO put into your
hands or mine as a model any biography not
aiken from the Bible. Christ is the ideal of
he Christian. l cannot be God, but that
does not hinder me from being God-like.
'Christ mercifully takes the will for the
Iced. In His humanity He felt what feel.
with the difference that He was without sin
and am with sin.
II do not like standards. 1 am shy of
theological standards, and yet / must recog-
nize the m. 1 insist, however, that they should
De most carefully drawn.
''Our conception of what Christ is enlarges
and grows. As "a child ] see Christ. but as
nan / cannot be guided by the infantile faith.
am in my Christian life exemplifying what
conceive it should be.
''There are those who say they do not
,now what temptation is, but do not be-
ieve them. nor do you. 1t is contrary to the
word of God.' When the Saviour was taken