The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-24
TOO WET FOR Them.
Small Attendance at
Sterling Meetings
Yesterday.
REV. G. S. CHADBOURNE.
The Consciousness of
Mans True Great
ness"
REV. G. S. CHADBOURNE.

( oughly laid the dust and cooled the air,
( but has also had the effect of keeping
away good many visitors who would
otherwise have been present. The meet
/ ings today were largely attended, how
ever and much spirit shown. Almost
100 went out to the o'clock prayer
meeting and good audiences were pres
ent at Rev. Mr.. Sanderson's 8 o'clock
service. At the same hour Rev. DR..
James Nudge spoke in the Waltham
church house on THE spirit-fIIed life"
The 10 O'clock service was well at
tended, Presiding Elder Eaton being in
charge, and Rev. Dr. George S. Chad
bourne Of Medford delivering the ad-
dress. DR.. Chadbourne is an old attend
ant on the camp meetings, but has not
been here for s years until today. He
spoke feelingly of the veneratiQn ne held
for Sterling camp grounds and the SER
vices here
Rev. Mr.. Chadbourne took for his
text the eighth Psalm, verses and a.
When 1 consider thy heavens; the
work Of thy fingers, the moon and the
stars which thou hast ordained;
What is man that Thou art mindful
or him? and the son Of man that thou
visiteth him? ?"
1t is not difficult to imagine the
probable circumstances under which
these words were spoken. The psalmist
was perhaps sitting in his grounds in
dulging himself in silent contemplation
OF the armament above him. Turning
his eyes and thoughts above him, he
very naturally falls into the thought ex-
pressed in the words Of the text AS he
| gezes there comes over him a sense Of
his own insignificance What is man in
his frailty, in his littleness, in his sin,
compared with the One VINO places the
stars in the armament?
Then there came rebound of
| thought and the consciousness of mans
true greatness, in nature almost di-
vine; man seems to tower in his
thoughts above all created matter. The
thought of the text Is not mans little
ness, but his greatness, his superiority
| that makes him but little less than the
angels. There is<something attractive
in the contrast between man and the
| universe. On one side does it present
| humiliating view of man, but on the
| other side it is great and inspiring.
Imagine us sitting with the psalmist,
| how much more would we be i'm
| pressed with the grandeur of the uni
verse, with our knowledge we have,
great enough to appall us. If we could
grasp how much greater we are than
all created matter, we should have
better regard for ourselves. We are
| staggered by the immensely of the sun,
its greatness and activity; we are APP
palled by the infinitude of the universe,
and when we take our simple lives and
| set them beside all this, we can sym
pathize with David. Surely from such
a point man seems an insignificant be-
| ing, and if it were not for the other
| side, we might raise the question of
the sensnalist, the agnostic, rs life
| worth living?" What is man, that the
| being who originated and rules this
| universe should be mindful of him?
But let us note the psalmist's an
| swer to his own question. David sees
in man something that sets him above
all. On man God has lavished more of
| his infinite resources than he ever ex-
orbs. Small as he may be, he is at the
head Of all the work of God Why is
he at the head? First, he is higher up
| in the scale of being, he outranks all
| created matter except Gods angels. He
was made in the image of God, and
when you come to realize what that
means you see in a degree how man
rises above all the universe. In the
universe we see only the attributes Of
we see being who is like God. With
his human soul and its endowments
man bears the image of God. To be
| created with g. soul is to be created
| better than anything else, except the
angels. The stars and suns speak of
| his handiwork, but they are not in his
| image. The soul of man with all it's
powers. that knows itself and knows
| God; that has control over all matter
| without If ran he nothing laee +haY thu
| offspring of God.
| There is another point in which mans
| superiority reveals itself, and that is
| mans destiny to Immortality 1t Is one
| of those thoughts we struggle after, but
| only grasp the edges. 1t is true that
| the sun and moon and stars began their
1 cycles long before man, but what they
| gained by this long start, man will re-
cover in the long life after they have
| passed away. 1t is not according to the
most reliable scientists that the plan
etary systems shall last forever. Much
| Of this may be conjecture, but we know
| that sometime, somewhere they will
cease to exist OF mans destiny we
! have more positive knowledge. The,
| image Of God can never be changed.
| Even though the orbs of heaven last
forever, they cannot be different than
| they are Not so with man. He can
| rise up in the scale OF being. Now he
| is a god-lke being, yet there is moth
ing to prevent him going higher.
| A final superiority of man is found
| in his redemption
We can understand why God should
| be mindful of man when in his orig
inal purity. Then he reflected God. But
when he had fallen from that original
state, it is not so easy to understand
why God should be mindful of him.
| Man must have retained something of
| that image of God, and God set about
at once the stupendous work of re-
demption. God was so mindful of him
| that he could not leave him in dark
ness. To redeem him God drew on all