The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-06-02
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
:"LieE'5 ASSETS"

"LlFE'5 ASSETS"
TIE Rev. DIR. Arthur 81. Gocaenoush
Talks Instruc;ively on the Infinite
Possibilities That Are in Man-Hhat
We Need to Know.
BRISTOL, CoSS.-The Rev. Dr.. Arthur
r. Goodenough preached Sunday morning
on "Life's Assets" The text was from
Corinthians iii:2l, o. %: For all things
are yours; whether Paul, o. Apolos, or
Cephas, or the world. or life, or death. o.
things present, or things to come; all are
yours, and ye are Christ and SArist IS
Gods" Dr.. Goodcnough said:
Man aspires. His eye IS on the sky.
Man was made to walk erect. His Impulse
is to climb. This fact indicates his ceS:
tiny. The earth beneath Us and the word
about Us contribute TO our fight, bat they
offer Us no home. The word, so near to
Us and SO essential to our present life, has
its limitations and feSters. Man is impa-
tient OF limitations; he aspires to tine IN
finite ard the infinite is always above US.
TIE no5ler mans nature the more rest
less and determined is he to ascend. No
philosophy of life is true that fails 70 rec
ognize' this instinct Of the soul. Man oe,
sires more room, more room Is above, ana
above is sonethin: that attracts and
draws. That fact is mans salvation.
1t is generally believed that man had his
which all men have sprung. It Is equally
true that God is the complement OF man
and his goal How noble IS man. What
Infinite possibilities are in him. Man is not
a waif, aimiessly wandering through
trackless wilderness, nor an orphan minus
a parents gui ling hand and tender voice.
Mans origin and destiny are one. It is
God. If your 6ve-year-oid boy is in need
he instinctiveiy cries, My father If he is
in trouble he as naturally cries, My
mother" Instantly the complement OF hls
needy nature is at hand. Father and
mother are to him all that he reeds. we
arc only larger children, with larger and
more imperative needs. Is there any. help
for US? We have outgrown the ability
of our earthly parents to help us. What
the babbiing brook, we turn our eyes to
the heavens and say, ''My Father-God,
help me-" And quicker than thought the
help comes. Here we have the philosophy
of happiness and the secret of success. AS
witnesses to this fact we call to the stand
Augustine, Bernard, John Howe, Isaac
Watts and Charles Wesley. The upward
look wins. The man who 'aspires to God.
and holiness, ano immortality is the one
to whom this text IS spoken. "All things
are yours; for We arc Christs and Christ
is Gods
The thing that wise men are thinking
about is life. Bread and acres and dollars
are only Incidental. God made the acres.
Gods sunshine and showers grew the grain
from which the bread is made. God fur
nished the material to make the dollar.
Therefore, acres and bread and dollars are
with producing them. These are valuable
contributions to life, some Of our life
values. Life itself is worth more than all
of them put together. The man who cul-
tivates your farm is worth more than the
farm. The maa who builds your home is
worth more than the house. We are not
paupers. No maE, woman or child IN this
word need be poor. There are other values
beside dollars. We are heirs to untold
riches Our heavenly Father, the. unseen
capitalist, has invested largely in US, and
He is no spendthrift. He has put the
value where it may multiply. Life. is a
feeble thing at the beginning: SO is the
acorn, but in the acorn is the massive
oak; so is the bulb, but the bulb contains
the tint and perfume of the lily. So lie
as we see it i'll the babe, IL contains a
Kepler, a Newton, 9 Gladstone, Nc
Kin,ey.
Chsracte. is result, product. Charac-
ter tells the story o. our conduct and in
6ustry. Character is the iruitage OF our
thinking, OFT willing, our loving, our dong.
And character is the nan. Character de-
termines ones value to himself and to So
eiety. This is what makes biography the
popular literature CT our day: People in
tefest people. Biography is dea:h to pes
simism. Thousands OF men and women
have succeeded in liic. They have feasted
on tie universe and enjoyed the infinite,
and the books tell rs how they did it.
Ny young friends, the ore thing in this
example. You may. Character is no ready
made thing; 1t is made to orocr. It means
plan and purpose and persistence. You
do not have to make the machinery nor
the material; these are furnished. The Sc
lection Of the web, the feeding Of the loom,
the weaving OF the cloth is ours. The re-
suit is character, and character is destiny.
This is the work OF life. Human chances
are not equal. Circumstances favor some
more than others. No doabt of it. But
then every man has & chance, aye, more,
every man has a probability OF success.
There are possibilities o. failure, and many
SSSlu " lttll. Wv tilS-S - iiO S-NSSSS AVA
failure. Oh. horrible, hcartb-eakirG word
IS failure May none CT You ever know
what it meals. There is (. way OF escape
from it. Make 9 right, not to say, best,
use OF what is in you. wisely appropriate
what IS about YOU, give reason the ZEN:
Entnroae conscience. Re religious. And
every step will be an ascent, every act the
advance of the soul, and the enrichment
Q: being. AL things are yours to do with.
1t was never easier to be good tEan
COW. Perhaps it is never easy to be good.
What makes it easier to be good to-day
than it was yesterday: The multiplicity of
helps g: hand. To read some newspapers
and to hear some speakers, one would
suppose that nobody was sood. The fact is.
the word is full O. good people. What is
goodness? Not the murtering of creed
nor the repeating. of Z prayer; not the
reading Of the Bible nor going to church.
Good peop,e do these things, bu. these
things are not essentially goodness. Bad
people may do them, 100. Goodness is
consideration for the other fellow, sweet
ness Of temper, gentleness OF conduct, nob,e-
ness OF purpose, love to God and man. 1t
is to live kindly ard truly and well. 1t is
ike the Christ doing good every day and
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