The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-01-25
THE POSSIBLE MAN.

For we are also his offspring.-Acts.
xvii:2S.
If an electric current is passed
Transformation takes place. The steel
is no longer it's simple self, but itself
plus something which the electric cur
rent has left as an endowment. From
that instant it has a power OF attrac-
ton never before possessed, a new life,
and is conscious of a close relation with
that great body of electricity which fills
the universe. The bit of metal which
in istless Indifference is suddenly ca
ger to attach itself to the bar, and the
steel is drawn by sympathy to every
scrap of iron on the planet In our boy
esting experiment and been surprised
and delighted at the result.
Something of the same sort happened
to the human soul when it came from
the hand of God. The infinite finger
tips no sooner touched the raw ma
terial out of which we were fashioned,
the breath of our Maker no sooner en-
tered our nostrils, than there was es-
tablished an intimacy between the soul
and its God, for when God had finished
the task there was something left in
the man which will forever draw him
toward everything that is high and
holy and will not let him rest until he
has reached his ideal. A certain ap-
preciat ton of the heroic and noble thus
became an irresistible element of our
nature, and it asserts itself not only
in those who have striven for right
eousness, but also in those who have
buried their best selves under the de-
bris of passion and dissolute pleasure.
The saint cries My God" in the mo-
ment of peril, but not more eagerly
than the poor creature who denies His
existence. The atheist is as apt to do
it as the Christian, for it is the voice
of the natural man. There is enough
of the divine in the most Wretched
wrecks among men to force this ap-
peal from the lips in dire extremity.
There is a moiety of creative energy
in us all. Though we seldom put it to
use, we are conscious of it's presence.
Heaven and God are both in the heart
of man. and reverence for the one and
hope of the other can no more be eX-
tinguished than you can put out a con-
fiagration with a bucket of water. God
is the Creator of the world; man is the
crea tor of his own character. The an
gels will help him in his task and the
Father will surround him with the d.
H., r,t
ambition, but the work must be begun
and continued by himself.
The animal is limited by the circum-
ference of merely animal life, and notn-
ing beyond that circumference can be
expected. The perfect animal has full
filed his mission. But the circumfer-
ence of human nature is far beyond
this. The soul works in a domain
which includes the throne of the eter-
nal and no man can achieve his full
destiny until he become godlike. mo
blesse oblige" is an old phrase, which
means that a mans origin decides his
duties. Born to the throne, the Kings
son must be imperial In his conduct and
allow no blot on his escutcheon. Born
of the King of Righteousness, with the
doors of heaven always open for the
free access of his prayers, with hosts
successes, the soul of man, endowed
with the creative faculty, must keep it's
eyes fastened on everlasting truth and
labor to make itself ready to enter the
Presence without a blemish. That is
the ideal. not to be realized perhaps in
this lower sphere, but certainly to be
realized sometime and somewhere.
Man the arbiter of his own destiny.
Not able to exceed the limits of his
natural capacity, but able to make
himself perfect within those limits-a
very king within his sphere, and held
responsible by the Almighty for the
honest use of his powers. He needs
only to appreciate himself, the Creator
behind him, the Throne far ahead of
him, to be filled with that sublime am
bition which achieves self-respect as
well as success. His incoming into this
world, his outgoing from this world at
death, present such inspiring motives
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