Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-03-31
JOURNALS
SATURDAY
SERMON

that great question OF DAVID winch ne au-
dressed TO God Himself: What is man,
that Thou art mindful Of him. and son
Of man that Thou visitest him2'- And the
same question has been ringing down the
ages since, and even today is drawing
! from scientists and philosophers many
and widely varying answers.
What IS MANI" Chemistry says: Gas
water, lime. potassium. chloride of So
dunn. albumen. carbonates and phos-
pilates. His tissues, bones and nuids nave
been subjected TO the action OF acids ana
alkalies. They have been subjected 70
evaporation and moderation and hand-
ful OF ashes was all the residue. Man is
compound OF crystallizable substances. He
can be chemically manipulated out OF ex-
istence.''
what is mann" Biology says: MAN Is
a developed beast. His ancestors went on
all fours. They padded in the waters.
They were mere jelly-specks Human ma
lures carries the witness of this In itselI.
Behold In Il the variety OF the peacock
the cunning Of the fox. the ferocity OF the
tiger. the venom OF the adder, the greed
OF the swine, the obstinacy OF the MULE
the bestiality of the most voraeious brute.
Low animal instincts are continually re-
appearing as temptations or as crimes.
In old eye there is often the reversion 10
the practices of the quadruped."
What is man?'' Philology says: Man
Is a thinking animal. His faculty of artic-
ulate speech differentiates him from all
other members of the animal kingdom.
The lowest savage can be taught Ian
guaRe. The highest orang Is a mute. Lam
guage pre-sJpposes self-consciousness and
reflection. IL IS the expression and index
OF thought. The dog barks; he under
stands. Could he also attend to the fact
or phenomena of consciousness. he would
speak. The parrots talk is purely mechan-
ical. Its vocabulary is no more product
a. 81 a
are a growth" "Articulate language Is
peculiar TO man" That was the conclusion
of the famous Darwin. Man is a self-con-
scious anfmalf conscious OF mental acts
and states. No other animal has htera-
ture.
Man is an Infinite abyss. A whole uni
verse Is afiOat within him, mysteries, mar
wells, prodigies-Unfathomab illimitable.
| He is a world in himself, the outcome Of
every vanished civilization, the product
OF all time and space, systems and constel-
lations live within him, eternity and infin-
\ ity. He never has so much that he does
1 not long for more. Answer his question,
and you merely start a thousand others.
/ The instinct OF the Wandering Jew pos
sesses him. Forward Is his ever echo
| ing cry. Attach yourself to nothing. Stop
4 nowhere" His thoughts are lightning
4 flashes, glimpses of the unseen, reveal
l His vision sweeps creation, his eye looks
/ in upon the Great Potter seated at His
| work. He sees His processes, he thinks
His thoughts after Him."
There IS also a self in man untouched
/ by any human intimacy. The center of
his being is as impenetrable as the cen
/ ter OF the sun. Friends know only its
| circumference. The soul has its secrets,
uncommunicated. incommunicable. The
i solitude OF the crowd is more oppressive
than the desolation OF the desert. You
can tell the wind the griefs and joys OF
which you are just half conscious. But
what an unknown. nebulous world of
thought and feeling revolves inside the self
which is exposed to view! There is a
nucleus to the. chromosphere.i and no mat
ter where or what the rift, you could not
disclose the elements. no. not even If you
would. We dream alone; we live our
deepest life alone. Man Is a person. He
has a self. This self expands in the in
finite, the infinite is latent IN IL. 1t is
capable Of any vision. 1t has tracts which
defy the explorer. A whole cosmos is
cooled up in him-forces. elements. germs,
/ processes, laws, that have never been Ia
beled or discovered. We are not what
our friends imagine. we are not what we
think ourselves. when all is said we
remain outside our own mystery. The
| center OF our own consciousness is uncon-
sciousness, as the kernel of the sun is
| dark" Deep down below that which goes
/ by the name OF self is 'the abyss of the
unrevealed." The prOfoundest metaphysi-
clan has never penetrated this inner, OBJ
scure world. and II is unfamiliar to the
thought OF bosom friends. Thousands of
years ago a Hindu recognized this and
said: 81 am not this body, nor the senses,
nor this perishable. fickie mind. not even
the understanding. I am the witness only,
the perceiving inner self" .a.
What is man?' Christianity says:
Man is the image OF God" Evidently
Il he is a being designated for dominion.
Everything that went before him was pro-
/ phetic OF him. All things led up to him.
/ All life eliminated in his organism. He
Is not stronger than the mammoth, he is
| not as swift as the bird, he has duller
senses than the hound. But mammoth.
bird. and hound acknowledge his supre-
macy; and in the struggle for existence
/ he is always the survivor. By virtue of
his inherent power he remains seated at
the apex OF the pyramid OF dependent life.
and lord Of the ascending series. That
poet might have been a scientist who
sang: Thou hast put all things under
his feet: Thou madest him to have do
minion over the works OF Thy hands. |"
1t is even true that he finds himself at
! certain crises in possession of strength
on which he had not counted. and the
waking OF powers usually dormant makes
him competent to defy and transmute the
i elements.
Intellectually. too. man is a reflection
OF God. Gods vision is deeper than mans,
His horizon Is infinity. All things are
naked and open before Him. But two and
two must make four in Divine thought as
In the human. The same premises, too,
must issue in the same conclusion in
heaven as in earth. Logic Is logic, in
God as in man. The ocean is not differ
ent from the drop we have taken from IT;
It Is only larger. fuller. Intellect every
| where Is of the same order of existence
| After a deal OF experiment a mechanical
continuance Is evolved. One day the dis
covery is made that some living organism
| has been using that continuance for mill
| leniums and epochs. The primitive boat
had no rudder. Some one observed that
the FISH steered himself by his tail. That
/ thought OF God made navigation possible
| Art is simply the attempt of the finite to
catch the harmonies OF the Infinite. Com
bine lines and tints in the most effective
way. and you will find that you have
been anticipated by God. You have only
| reproduced on a small scale, a combina-
ton that has existed forever in nature
The mind of man is the reflection of the
mind OF God.
Man is also a reflection of the character
Of God. Look within. IL you would know
what God is. Fatherhood,. motherhood,
brotherhood, patriotism. self-sacrIfce