The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-24
Sunday Sermon.
THE PERFECT MAN.

Ih the contemplation of a command
IKE that for it certainly has the form
Oh command, the Judgment is app1ll-
Ell because it seems to involve an impos-
sapillty and even the imagination how
ever optimistic 1T may be- is staggered.
IL Is so large a task that we become
discouraged at the very start and won
def III the injunction has not drifted
tlilough the ages as a curious eXaSger-
alton.
len child who handles the brush for
the first time that he must equal the
work of Michael Angelo, or cine who
mas taste for music that he must du-
pAcate the work of Mozart or Beetho-
ven, or one who is on the threshold
OIL a scientific career that he must de
yelog the genius of Newton, and the
hrst effect on the young MIND would he
very startling, but far from inspiring.
lie would feel that you were asking too
much, that your estimate of his ability
was unwarranted. and that there was
little use i'll attempting anything at all
NJ You seriously expected so much of
him.
A second thottght, however, would
change encouragement to ambition hnd
he would see that the higher the ain
is the nobler and larger viii be the
accomplishment. One of the first con
ditions of success is to believe yourself
capable of all things. If you fix
Limit you win never go beyond Il, but
il YOU do the best You can every day
in the year it will be merely a matter Of
time that stands in the way of reaching
your ideal. And IF the factor of time
is eliminated and You have an eternity
before You, not here, but elsewhere. You
Can see that the word impossible must be
dropped from your vocabulary. and that
since your development is without bounds
your achievement viii go far beyond
what is at present conceivable. Given
all the time YOU need, and no man can
draw line and say, "Thus far and
no farther"
There is no reason why this statement
should not hold true i'm religion. also.
Fer my part / believe it does hold trlie,
and that the text contains the ultimate
result which human nature will reach
at some period I'm the endless future.
The injunction contained in the text
is as serious as amy other part of Scrip
ture. and contains cne of those God
given revelations which thrill the nerves
like current of electricity and make
the Bible the choicest book of all the
ages.
The logic of hunam progress leafs MS
to a conception of the future which
dims the eyes with tears of gratitude
and stirs the heart in its pr0foHndcst
deTths. How can there be any boundary
beyond which our feet cannot tread?
What is out of reach today will be
within reach tomorrow. All history
proves that the centuries have BEEN an
upward climb And if there are enough
tomorows, then at last all things will
be within our reach
From the first red streak of creation ;
dawn we have mot only been advancing
In a knowledge of the TRUTH, but in the
practical application thereof. Whatever
point science may fix as the starting
point of the human race, even though
that point may be a bit of prot0plasn.
it is clear tnat from generation to gen-
eratiCn we have taken onward strides.
i he world is growing wider in its ideas,
more generous in its charities, nobier
in it's aspirations, sweeter i'm its temper
with every oncoming age. There may
he backward steps which we call reac-
tons, hut on the whole the standard
OF morality is higher with every cen
fury, and the incentives to a spiritual
rather than purely physical life are
growing stronger, OF that there can he
no dollbt among thoughtful and observing
men.
That line of logic leads from barbaric
beginning to the enlightenment, the
civilization and the religion OF the
present time But the line does not
stop with the present; it goes on into
the indefinite future. We deal with the
past through memory, with the future
through imagination. What will the
ideal man resemble in those far away
ages which neither our children NOR
their children will live to enjoy?
Surely he will be. in the first place,
Physically perfect. Laws which prevent
disease are broken through ignorance,
but with perfect knowledge of the CON-
ditions of health, health will be the
rule and disease the exception. Hered-
ity, which entails adj sorts of evils, will
lose its force. A father will transmit
to his offspring ever lessening phy seal
temptations. Today we drive passions
which run away with us and dash the
carriage to distractions but then our
passions will be like we'll trained horses
which do their work and bring us
safely and speedily to our destination.
In the second place, we shall be spif-
itllaly whole. When a man sees that
fac right alone can give him what he
most needs, then the wrong will cease
to he temptation. Religious progress
will in the long run carry us to that con-
ceptiOn of Christianity in which we
shall realize the brotherhood of man,
in which caste is unknown, i'm which
mobility will be based ON honest lives,
not ON title bestowed by prince or
king. Society viii slowly take a higher
shape, and justice and truth will be OUT
only standards OF measurement.
Moreover, when the soul reaches that
degree of development the other world
win be as clear to our inquiring gaze
as this world is now. We shall have
friends there as well as here. and we
shall see those who walk the earth
unseen" and hold intercourse with them.
This is what Jesus did, and when we
become Christ-like the same privilege
win be enjoyed by all His followers.
1t was nothing unusual for Hmm 10 CON
verse with angels, amid in that blessed
future we shall do it also.