The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-27
"MAN'S VALUE TO G0D."
THIS TOPIC INTER ESTINGLY DIS-
 GUESSED BY DE. PHILLIPS.

Resuits-Rtghteousue and Useful ness Arc tbe Great Chnracteristtcs-- I Other Stgnificanr Points Evolved.
 Rev. Dr. Phillips preached very 'nter- esting and impressive sermon in the Church of the Redeemer, Sunday morning. Tie service was largely attended, An abstract of he sermon which was on the, subject, "A Mans Value to God" follows:
 Job 22:2: Gan n man he profitable unto , God? Surely he that is wise is profitable unto himself"
 How is this question to be answered What Is the divine profit in a man? Ger tainly it is not in what may be called his material results--his wealth and prosperity | derived in any way from the development and use of natural resources-for in his mes. | sage God has declared that all material things are his and that he only comedies to 1 man temporary authority and use. It can- not be in the results of mans intellectual activity, for man can find out nothing which God did not know before. Nor yet can it
 be In mans honors and fame, except pos l sibly as these come from the exercise of | those qualities which make him Godlike and are made to minister to the advancement l of righteousness.
 But what was the position of this Eli phaz? His question is based on the old theory that God is outside his world, look ing on or only intervening to punish wick edness and reward righteousness in tenn 1 poral ways. He had not yet brought God into the world and made him an immaneng worker for man and with man. The doc Urine that nothing man can do affects God is partly true and partly false. It is true in that it assumes that God is self-sutiicient
 and irresponsible except to the law of his own being. It is false in that it leaves out the freedom of man and the emotions of l God. It is doubtless true that Gods gov ernment of mankind is entirely disinterest- ed, that his judicial retributions are not af- fected by considerations of personal benefit or hurt arising from mans conduct He is not moved by the expectation of advantage; nor is he affected in his judgments by fear of damage. Men cannot confer favOrs on God that will lay him under obligation to
 them; he cannot be deterred from punish ing through fear of losing their favor, nor induced to bless them because they have put him in their debt. Eliphaz thought that righteous that God ought to have continued him in prosperity and could not afford to punish him. This erroneous motion he cor rectly meets then, falling back on the old
 
 sin, he begins to search Jobs record to make out case against him.
 But there still is profit to the Almighty in men like Job The increase of good in the world as the result of mans choices and conduct does bring satisfaction to him. You must think of God as having emotions lou cannot think of Him as impassive as geometrical axiom, simply working on and on in accordance with the laws He has ordained, assuming no emotional attitude toward the creatures He has made. If He has the emotions of love, aversion. indicua- tion, He is affected by the choices and con. duct of men.
 What then is the divine profit in man? It is first, in his righteousness, second. in his usefulness. That God Is righteous and is working to establish righteousness on the earth is q statement which only needs to be made to be accepted among thought full men. If he is making for righteous ness' then he must be interested in what ever else is making for righteousness. A man cannot be righteous without coming into differnt relation to q righteous God from that sustained by an unrigtheous man. We must accept the full consequences of our much-bOaSted doctrine of the Father hood of God. He cannot be a Father with out a heart-a Fathers heart Whatever goes with our best conception of paternal interest and of filial obligation goes with this doctrine and must be accepted The father does not exist simply for the benefit of his son, the son must be profitable to the father, especially in the matter of those joys and satisfactions which arise from his nobility of character and beauty of life.
 There is also divine profit in mans use i fitness, that is. in the dedication of his whole being to the working out of noble purpose. But this takes us immediately back to the motive with which man doas his work in the world--his common tasks as well as the special things which he may do at raer intervals with the express and declared purpose of serving God. Can a man glorify God without definitely detre- mining. on beginning his task, now I will glorify God? Assuredly. if his purpose is to do his hest and to do good; there Is when 1t represents lofty aims, manhood, and fidelity. There has been question raised concerning the personal creed of some of the worlds best workers: it has been proved that they made no Christian profession. Does that change the quality of