The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-27
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
CONVINCING REASONS WHY EVERY
MAN Is WORTHY OF HONOR.
Sermon ny the Rev. w. c. sheppa I'd,
of st. Pau1s reformed EpiscopaD
Church, PUTIN Bay, Ohio.
'Honor all men, Peter. ii. IL.


They honorable men" For all men
are honorable. in the sense, at least. that
all are in some respect worthy of honor.
What! All mem" you ask; 1.-THE bad as
well as the good, the poor as well as the
| rich, the obscure well as the famed, the
savage as well as the cultured, the slave
as well as the king?''
Yes, honor them all. says our text.
st. Peter does not go on to explain why
all men worthy, but there are reasons
| most weighty why such is the case. From
| this journalistic pulpit let me try to set
forth some of them.
1. Honor all men because of the grand
race to which man belongs.
| To begin with God created man I'm his
own image"-which in itself should inspire
honor-and in all ages there have been
godlike men. Think of Moses and his laws.
of Isaiah and his prophecies, of Plato and
his philosophy, of Demosthenes and his ell
oquence, OF Shakespeare and his dramas
| of Mendelssohn and his wordless songs of
Columbus and Americas discovery. of
Morse and the telegraph of Edison and the
monograph. Think of all these men MEM
bers of the human race and how glorious
the race appears in having such men within
its ranks. Too much do we ignore the
TACT that humanity is an entirety Some
great man stands before us-some general.
statesman, poet-and we look upon him as
an individual apart by himself, some one
human being, a unit. But we are wrong.
He is not a unit. He is only a fraction.
fragment. He is only a part of a mighty
race of which every man is part. The
thoughts of Plato are the thoughts of the
human race.
1t was humanity that invented the teIe-
graph, Samuel f. b. Morse merely acting
as humanity's representative Mankind.
through Mendelssohn, composed those
marvellous melodies which bear the name OF
the great musician. The worlds great men
the human race has produced, and through
them as her representatives, has thought
and wrought so nobly as to make the race
a glorious race indeed
Turn from humanity's heroes TO human-
itys history. The race has built such cities
as Babylon, Alexandria, London and New
York. 1t has founded such states as Ath-
ems, Rome, Great Britain and our own
Republic. 1t has weighed stars and ex-
plored the sun. 1t has covered continents
with network of railways, and bridged
the seas with steamboats,. 1t has said:
Let there be light" and schools. Libraries
and hospitals have sent their radiance far
and wide. We study our own national his
tory, and how marvellous how miraculous
seems the way in which the seed planted at
Plymouth not quite three centuries ago has
expanded into a tree whose branches extend
to-day from ocean to ocean and from lake
to gulf But we look abroad over the world.
studying the history of the race at large
regardless of national lines. and how much
more splendid is the record! How much
more marvellous and even more miraculous
the development and the achievements OF
humanity
Grand indeed is this human race. And
every man is part thereof. Is he not,
therefore, worthy Of honor?
:. Honor all men, because there is some
god in every man. Not a man in all the
world is wholly bad. Every man is a tenn
pie in which there stands an altar ablaze
with some degrees of virtue Some good
quality or trait is every mans possession.
The coal is dark. but look at the light that
is locked within. Is yonder mountain hard
and bare? 1t has a heart of shining gold.
A man may be wicked indeed, and yet
loving toward child parent loyal to
friends. square in business transactions.
The drunkard may be generous to fault.
The outcast may have tender a heart as
ever beat in human breast. / verify be-
lieve that If the viest criminal were before
ne. and if with the sword of truth could
lay open his soul, just the surgeon with
his knife dissects the physical organism, I
would find enough real goodness there to
fill nv heart with alteration. Behold Dives
in his place of torment! Even he amid
those dire surroundings, is not absolutely
selfish. after all. notwithstanding his con-
duct toward Lazarus here upon earth For
he is praying for his brethren.
Il pray thee so he cries to Abraham
that thou wouldst send him e.. e.. Laz-
arus) to my five brethren. that he may
testify unto them, lest they also come into
this place of torment"
Am / apologizing for wickedness? Am I
defending sin? God forbid l am simply
seeking to show that every man is entitled
to our esteem, because of some inherent
goodness. For goodness is beautiful wher-
ever it may be found and in whomsoever
found worthy of respect and honor Hence.
as we cannot separate man from what
ever virtue he may possess, il is the man
himself who is worthy OF honor ac-
count of the inherent goodness.
9. Honor all men, because Jesus Christ
was
I offer no theories about the son of Mary.
l merely state what is generally admitted,
that in Jesus Christ we have a perfect
moral being, an ideal character one who
never sinned, one all spotless in act and
word and thought; that in Jesus Christ we
find one who, with no armed warriors or
plumed knights at his command, with no
material resources whatever, established q
kingdom which, in it's very infancy proud
Rome, then mistress of the world. strove
in vain to conquer and which. through
all these nineteen centuries in spite OF
varied opposition. has been growing
stronger; that IN Jesus Christ we find one
whom millions of mortal men have loved
and trusted as the Savior of their souls,
and have worshipped God of God, OF
one substance with the father. and the
| very creator of the universe.
n glorious being, surely And this glori-
! Gus being, as those who worship him as
God admit, was man just like ourselves.
| He looked through human eyes. spoke with
human tongue. worked with human hands.
walked with human feet. was tempted
| like we are. yet without sim" He was
not an angel, not a seraph; no shining
| wings were His. but He was found In
/, fashion a man.
! But what of it all? Why is IL not q
| glorious thing TO be man, because that il
| 10 be what Jesus was? Here Is some fell
| lOW-rnan OF yours whom YOU deSpise. How