Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1900-01-08
''D|GNITY OF MAN" SUBJECT OF REV JAS. A. ANDERSON'S SERMON
 SUNDAY.
EVOLUTION COMMITTED.
His Divine Origin and Redemp- tion Vigorously Maintained
 by the Able Pastor.


 large numbers of church goers visit ed the different churches.
 At the Main Street Methodist church, Rev. J. A. Anderson occupied his pulpit both morning and evening.
 The subject of his morning sermon was "The Dignity of Man, A Thesis of Revelation" In part he said "The Bible gives the only account of the origin of man which lends dignity to the human nature. Rather too much has been made of the scien- tific account of the origin of the hu- man race, for in the whole range of scientific literature the devine origin of man has never been specifically denied and the denial placed on logi- cal grounds. The atheistic theory of Evolution has never pretended to be anything more than hypothesis, and all scientific tbeories of the orig in of man which exclude the idea of his creation by the divine hand are merely hypctheses. But insofar as these hypotheses differ from the Bible account, they distinctly de- grade human nature. It brings eom- fort. inspries hope and exalts our conception of human nature to turn from all such speculations to the Bible and read there the direct state ment that God made man, that he made him in his own image, put the stamp of the divine nature upon him.
 'Neither history nor the present status of the race reflect credit upon human nature, if the broad view of the matter be taken. If an intelli- gent being from the planet Neptune were suddenly to drop on this earth, knowing .nothiDg about us, being left to make up his verdict as to our origin from what he might learn of the history of the race as a whole, and from what he might see on the earth at the present tin e; if such a being should behold on the one hand the great achievements of men. and behold on the other hand the rapine and murder and lust of civilized lands and the unspeakable degrada- tion of the whole heathen world he would be in oubt as to wether God or Devil made us. The works of man leave the balance against us. and we are thrown back again upon the assurance of the word of God that God made us and that God will bring us out of the ruin to which our own wiokedness has subjected us.
 "The scheme of redemption which is revealed in the Bible is the might fest certificate ever issued that God puts dignity upon human nature. It is a scheme in which all patri- archs and prophets and apostles and martyrs and saints, in which all the resources of the earth have been enlisted. 1t is a scheme in which the saints above, the angels and all the hierarchy of Heaven have been laid under contribute al
 
 scheme into which the Father has put infinite love and wisdom and power. into which the Son has pour ed his own blood, and into which the Spirit is putting omDipotent energy and infinite grace. And this redemption is not a partial and meager thing; we are to be brought home into the very family of our Father and given the place of chil- dren i'll his own household; we are exalted and made to sit together ln heav venly places in Christ Jesus; and we are told that in the ages to come we shall be made a spectacle to the principalit.es and powers in heavenly places, that the exceeding riches of His grace may be made kn own through us.
 But we should emphasize here