Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-08

Then He comes to each one of us and
declares that through obedience we
enter this new order, call it fellow
Pythians, the fourth degree-the test
is obedience Its motto I'VE are my
friends if we do whatsoever | command
you" To obey the Christ is to come
under the sway of divine Illuminating
power.
This obedience of test demands three
things. l. Manhood. II. Great man.
hood III. Manhood great as our OPP
portunities. Man is today beyond
value, the nineteenth century has lift
ed manhood into Importance.
In the world of politics not the re-
form bill and German unity but Bis
marck and Gladstone. In the world of
science the great values are not gen.
erative and natural selection but New
ton and Darwin. In the world of let
tcrs not the Had and Hamlet but
Homer and Shakespeare.
If all things were offered for sale.
Temples of Jerusalem, marbles of
Greece, paintings of Rome, symphonies
of Germany, literature of England, cul-
ture of France and harnessed Niagaras
of America, the soul of man would be
worth them all. These all are in the
brain and heart of man. The surpass-
ing value of man leads to imitation.
limitations in editors chair, at authors
table, in pulpit and pew, in office and
workshop. Give the church a man and
a reformation is born. Give the nation
man and the union is saved. Give the
,.lI t1,n &c Aff II
redeeming friendship. Beyond art gal
leries and libraries, colleges ana COM
mericial success stands man.
Christ's friendship leads us to be
great men. 1t is mistake to think
higness greatness, Carlyle tells us of d
Frenchman who, during the revolution,
was great enough to control the mob,
then he adds: 80 years of holy living
We're his" Said Emerson: Il count
him great who inhabits a sphere of
noble thought, moral power, and
spiritual power" these then make the
dust beneath our feet supremacy
great The moral man transforms all
he touches into light, truth and life.
There are those who possess the Midas
hand, all they touch becomes a force
for evil.
The great man is intellectual, not
trained possibly in the schools, but
learned, nevertheless. God places about
every life a great host of teachers.
Socrate ties, the prince of teachers, went
about asking questions. In this way
God teaches. Stars, rocks birds and
flowers are all Interrogation points.
the questions you pass into
the palace of wisdom, you become a
member of the immortals.
The great man must be spiritual.
Moses saw God. Plato walked with
God. Dante looked through inferno in
to paradise. Luther and Wesley had
each a vision. Jean Vale Jean took
the prisoners place and the judges
saw the shining of a great light. This
communion with God fits the life for
it's testing hours.
The friendship of Christ leads us to be
great rs our opportunities We are the
nhcrtors of noble past, we stand upon
he high places won by our fathers. We
nave entered upon rich possessions. All
hese impose obligations There are those
who think the present cannot produce
men great as those of the past, but until
Tod has His way with the human soul no
nan can assert that. We live in an age
# splendid achievements-new doors are
opening before us every day. Opportuni-
les are boundcsS. Stand ready to use
hose opportunities and greatness is yours.
immortality is yours. Let PlatoS Morals
i'll and control your life and you will
write. Let Angeles sympathy be in your
;haracter and you will carve. Let
Raphaers beauty fill your soul and you
vi int fn wifi
The reason Christ imposes the test of
obedience is to create this possible grea
nan. this ideal son of God. The world
waits his coming, because this man will
Use his power for others.
The relationships of life involve obliga-
ions, the power that comes to us through
hese relations imposes obligations. In
lucnce is the voice of God calling to
treat things. 1t is the imperative demand
# the community that we go forth to the
'attle of life for others. You have wealth.
'Ou have so much knowledge of materia
nedica, of the classics, you can carve. or
'alnt or compose, you are a power in the
ocial. political or the commercial world |
because of this are you to withdraw from
Helping others shall you say Soul thou
last much goods laid up for many years, !
axe my case No, no, a thousand times |
10, these achievements and gifts summon
gu to go forth in the spirit of the knights
# old to the conflict in defence OF the |
ruth.
He who lives for self is suicide 70
i've and let live is not enough. Live and |
ct live is making life a curse. existence |
ntolerable. This machaevadian policy |
must go, the Christ ideal must take it's |
'lace. This becomes yours by being |
Initiated into the society of which Christ |
vas the founder. Christ wins humanity |
~ being born into humanity. Humanity |
must be born into Christ You cannot |
e9iSlate or educate humanity into good /
ess. Only by being born again. only by |
Hing the soul with eternal love. Pyth- |
ans, Christ is on his knees begging us to |
'ecomc Christians to become Knights of |
he Cross. The truth Christ spoke is true
orever: Man cannot live by bread |
lone. When men are satisfied with food !
nd companionShip, self love and social |
Owe, they are going backward.
Bread alone whether in art, science, ed !
cation or commerce. cannot give the in |
ividual. the city, the state, the nation or
h" world. life.
God wrote the sentence of death for
2abYlon as she Toasted at the midnight
banquet, Greece gave all for bread, and
men of genius ceased to be born. Rome
aid self is all. Then manhood grows
heap and womanhood worthless. child |
rood curse, ard civil liberty only a name
selfish nation digs the grave of human
IT, The sorrows of humanity you must
comfort; its suffering you must relieve;
is hunger YOU must satisfy: its thirst you
must quench All your possessions. wheth-
r in money Of influence. in art or learn |
nS, are a trust for others The worlds
elfiShnesS cannot be removed without
treat cost and sacrifice. knights of the
ross must stand at the altar and offer
themselves for the rplemptiop of hIrrpa,