The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-04-05
THE DUTY OF MAN
Where There is no Wis.
ion, People Perish.
Devotion TO Comm erciaI Interests
and Self Culture Pro-
Vokes Decay.

Where There is No Vision, People
Perish, " was the subject of Rev. Doug
las p. Birnie's discourse at Central
Union Church yesterday morning. The
application Of the text was not made
to the church member only. or to the
individual The nation. as made up
of individuals whose characteristics
are shortsightedness and seIishness, is
bound TO totter and fall, unless the Wis
ion is expanded. unless the idea of liv-
ing only for today and for selfish in
terests gives place TO a care for the
future and for the welfare of man
kind. As members of society, as a
II cannot be paid by a mere desire to
benefit humanity, or by an expression
of good will only. We must look to the
future, we must enlarge our vision. If
for no other motive than the selfish one
of self-preservatiOn, the individual
owes a duty 10 his neighboT.
The general theme of the sermon
was that achievement and long life
IL.
upon something more than activity.
something more than an attention to
details. There must be at the same
time a constituencies TO eternal reali-
ties. a sublime vision of duty. to avoid
which invites retrogression and disas-
ter. oftentimes postponed, but inevita-
BILE
If history has taught one thing more
than others in the rise and fall of ma
tons. it is the workings of the sociO-
logical problem. the relation and the
duty of the individual and the nation
to the rest of the world. Vision is alb
solutely necessary for strong and ac-
tive living. Providence, translated lit
orally. means the vision ahead, the
foresight The ancient Greek limited
his range of vision, he imagined him
self entirely self-sufficient, and the
rest of the world were to him barbar-
ians. Yet these same barbarians rose
up and wiped the Greek and his civili-
zation off the face of the earth The
Socratic philosophy was know thy
self IT offered no way of overcoming
the evils which man found by this in
trospection, and the result we Know
History shows a succession of bitches
of disaster filled with the blind who
people have been their stars.
There is a distinction made between
the wilfully blind and the ignorantly
blind, vet the result is disaster. The
heavenly vision and the true relation
of man TO man is through Christ
alone. Paul declared that he was not
blind TO the heavenly vision. Man
must look within, he must know him
self. The sight which he gets of him
self by carefully and honestly look
ing at the mirror of the Gospels en-
ables him to see not only his sins, but
the way to overcome them. This ac-
curate vision is essential to. strong
life. and it keeps him from disaster.
Mans vision of his God loving, liv-
ing righteous reality is revealed in the |
word Christ as the Father. the Son
and the Holy Spirit
The individuals obligation is to his |
fellow He must ask himself. who is |
my neighbor. and what do owe him? |
My neighbor is the man who needs |
It is my duty TO give him |
TO pay him what owe him. |
The solution of race differences. of |
class feeling and of the whole soul |
problem is the spirit of the brother |
hood of man as illustrated in the self
;acrifcing life of Christ
If a man or a nation wishes to live
strong pure and helpful life it is not
~ doing specific things or thinking
certain things He must stand in the
presence of God. in whose sight all
men are equal. The man who is con-
ent with self-culture is in the path
way of retrogression which leads to
disaster.
The nation that is content TO figure
Ipon commercial basis alone. il pro-
-okeS decay If il is wrapped up in it.
elf and loses sight TO the eternal re-
atoms. internal disturbances are sure
o result. and the nation at war with
tself must in the end be overcome by
ONE powerful external force