The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-11-05

ishness. IL Is work done upon self for
self's sake This system Is a long remove
from mere animalism, which is qualification
minus discipline, but it is not the goal of
duty and of destiny. A well ordered bodv
for selfs sake Is to be desired, and SO is a
cultured mind for self's sake. but II our
schools and churches should teach that this
Is the ultimate good. we would do we'll to
close their doors and take the chances of
being able to blunder to nobler view of
life by some unexplored route. While neg.
at've virtues are better than positive vices,
Yet the race can never be at its best while
ON that low plane. Negative virtue. to the
world, is but little better than marble
statue. The statue does no harm. Il does
no good; 1t does not hate, it does not love;
1t inflicts pain, it assuages no griefs. So
we are prepared to find that the law in its
very structure and spirit bears a manifest
incompleteness and ceases not to point men
to Christ, without whom it could work no
perfect redemption. Self against all others
Is what Is meant by the survival of the fit
test on the lowest plane of life. Self disci-
pline and conquest for self sake is what is
meant by the survival of the fittest ON the
plane OF common morality and negative vir-
tue. Self sacrifice for the sake of others is
what we mean By the survival of the fittest
on the plane of life to which Christ invites
us and on which he himself lived. Self in
diligence is animal; self conquest is human;
self sacrifice is divine. Self cruci6xion is
the standard and essence of the gospel, and
the cruclfxion 1t imposes is the going out
OF the lower self, out of the animalsm of
our being that we may become conscious of
our kinship with God. Christ was the en-
bodiment of every positive virtue, and He
has thus shown us to what human nature
should aspire, but our exaltation must be
by way of cross. We must not eliminate
from Chrsts words the meaning with which
he has charged them. 1t may make us
writhe and turn back, but it will be ever
true that to follow Christ and to reach the
highest plane of being, we must take up the
cross.
Only as self dies is the best life born;
only as the grain of wheat falls into the
ground and dies is there unfoded and ac-
tualized its latent powers of Improvement
and increase. Successive deaths and resur-
rections from lower to higher, this is the
process by which the better and the fuller
life Is finally gained. Self cruciixion must
precede Immortality. We need no argu-
ment wherewith to buttress the staten ent
that to love our enemies better than our
selves, to be willing to go unblest that 9TH
ers may be Diest, to weep the tears and suf-
fer the pains and die the deaths that but for
our sacrificial love others must have expert
enced, this involves the necessity of new
birth for the soul. A life so purified OF its
dross must seem far above the reach of man,
and so the ethical maxims of the gospel
have been declared impracticable and i'm
possible. But Christ lived such life, and
what has been lived and done cannot be i'm
possible. He gave us the law in His own
life. His life was consistent commentary
on His own doctrine and He does not COM
mand His followers to go otherwhere than
He leads. That which is impossible with man
is possible with God. The might of divine |
grace can redeem human nature from its |
baseness, as Is evidenced by the vast multi
tudes who have been made new creatures in |
Christ Jesus and are walking with Him in |
newness of life. 1t is related that at great |
meeting on Bunker Hill, at which Daniel |
Webster was to speak, the vast crowds were |
surging toward the platform and women |
and children were In danger of being tramp
eled to death. Mr.. Webster cried to the
crowd to stand back, and the people an
swered, ut is impossible, the press from the |
rear is too great" Mr.. Webster shouted,
Nothing is impossible on Bunker HILL" |
and the moving mass halted and then fell |
back. Do you say In view Of the corrup- |
tions Of the flesh that man cannot rise above |
the animal plane of living, or that a COM
mon morality and negative virtue is the |
highest good? Do you say that it is im-
possible to love our enemies, and sacrifice |
ourselves for those who hate us? Men and |
brethren, come to the cross of Jesus Christ,
on Calvary nothing is impossible. Learn
here how self may be crucifed while love
engages itself In intercesson for those who
hate us, and persecute us, and kill us. Moth
ing is impossible on Calvary.
The lecture In the evening on "TheWorth
Of a Man." was a mastery effort. As In
the morning, DR.. John started with para
dox: 'Man in the universe is insignificant;
man is of sublimest significance" "lt all
depends from what view or point you look
at him. AS he stands upon square foot
Of earth, he may seem of some Importance
within his limited horizon, but when con-
sldered as being limited by space, duration
and law, he is small indeed" In flights of
in bold ascensions of thought, in
dizzy excursions from planet to planet. and
from systems to systems OF stellar groups,
the lecturer revealed the magnitude and ex-
pansion Of the universe In such graphic
manner as TO almost weary the wings Of i'm
agination, and the man he had started out