The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1898-06-06


All this teaching as 10 the dignity
lof man, modern doubt iii extreme
form would throw into the waste
basket In science It says: The
lstory of Adam is nonsense. Man has
come up through infinite orders by a
process we do not know and cannot
know. There is no personal being il
it. Man is d combination Of carbon
compounds. He has no life apart
from the body. His end is like that
OF any other animal. Z Lii phil osophy
it says: tsMan knows nothing. He
knows that he does not know. He
knows that he knows that he does not
know. Chaos is on either sideof him;
chaos behind him, and chaos in front.
Man is a waif. = In poetry, art and
literature the realism of doubt has
only one teaching. "All is hard,
cold fate. Life is but a leap into
the dark. !" This extreme doubt by no
means represents the spirit Of our
age. 1t does represent certain tend
encies of our time. 1t is. worth our
while, therefore, to reassure ourselves
as to what manhood means, and to
settle for ourselves what shall be the
standard by which manhood may be
brought to its perfection. The teach
ing Of Christianity is clear and expli-
cit, Man is q creation of God. He
is Gods image. He is born unto inn
mortality. This teaching stands
forth in the Bible and in all Christian
literature in the majestic form OF
some lofty mountain. No one can
look upon it without feeling that man
belongs to the Divine, It is plain
that an individual belonging to this
Divine species ought ever to keep
before him the purpose to seek for
himself the best development possible
to his kind. His holy ambition ought
to be and must be to- attain ftUnto a
perfect man; unto the. measure of the
stature tof the fullness of Christ. "
This teaching / desire to hold up this
morning as a better ideal for life than
anything which can be found in the
anarchy of modern doubt. In the
"Matehless Man" is to- be found the
true and best standard for manhood.
Man must have some standard for
conduct. This grows out,of the fact
that he is never satisfied. He lis for:
ever reaching out after something
better, This in turn grows out of
the nature of his being In the ma
tional museum at Washington there
is cabinet with label having on it
these words: 'The body of a man
weighing 154 pounds" III the cabf-
net are arranged an old assemblage
of heterogeneous articles. Among
them are two large jars of water;
also jars containing different kinds of
fats; other jars in which are phos-
plate Of lime, carbonate Of lime, a
few ounces each of sugar. potassium,
sodium, gelatine and other chemicals.
Another section holds row Of clear
glass lars tiIled with gasses ydrogen..
nitrogen ana oxygen; 1 SOU lump
of coal and more bottles separately
LABELED phosphorus, calcium, mag
nesium and potassium. In a little
jar is "a fraction Of an ounce Of iron,
and nearby a lump of ill=smelling
birthstone. The materials ip this
cabinet are given in exact proportion
as combined in an ordinary man.
Three young men were standing re-
Gently before this cabinet and one
said: "It is very curious and inter
esting as far as it goes, but where are
the retorts and tubes and the fire and
the chemist?" There was no answer
They were all silent, staring with
certain awe and disgust at what
seemed I'd them. a gfuesome assort-
'ment of carbon and sugar and gas and
iron. Sand this is what lam made
Of" said one OF the young men, 'that
is all that goes to make me?" "That
is ALI" said. a bystanders smiling and
walked on. The Young men did not
smile. The cabinet had set before
each of them the awful problem Of
his own being. They stood a few
moments longer, then passed on in:
silence. To each of them his own
soul and his God had suddenly become
real before this cabinet-filled with
all the essentials for the making of:
man-but one. With this one want
ing, man was wanting. Chemicals
doNnot make man. They are only the
materials which compose the body.
The one essential not seen in the cab
met is the one added by the UNSEEN
Power who is the author of what we
call life. Tits because man is a 'liv-
ing being that he is forever looking
for. something better. Life means
growth, Development There can be
no life without growth. Growth in
man means development IN the per-
lection of his being. 1t is a racial
instinct to expect Development and
hope for better things. Whatever
may be ones theory as to mans orr
gin, whether he came from the Gar
den Of Eden or from Darwin's baboon,
whether he has lived on this planet
four thousand years OF four million
4 -