The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-11-10

= can never be iordSn,D. III Is essent1a',V
stewardship. And ''to whom much is
given, of him shall much be rcGuired.' IS
the law universally here applied That IS
the principle underlying this whole matter.
Children of God. be imitators OF God. No.
biesse oblige Nobility imposes the onI;-
CATION Of nob'eness. "Bc ye therefore inn
itstors of God. As beloved children
Whence am /? 1t is the old question by
which every man is confronted as soon as
he begins to draw lines of distinction re,
tween himself and his surroundings. And
here as everywhere. no comment on ne
works of God like the word of God. In
the beginning God created the heavens ard
the earth" That sentence scatters dark
ness and doubt. The world s not, eter'
nal; it had an actual and definite begin
ming. Man is not the child OF chance: ne
has Father in God. After that God rad
spent much time and labor in fitting and
furnishing the globe to be an abode. he
said. "Let us make man in our image. at,
ter our lileness' 1t is written. $50 God
created man in His own image: formed
man OF the dust OF the ground and
breathed into his nostri!s the breath OF
life, and man became living souP'-the
masterpiece OF divine ingenuity and pow
er. in whom there is no Dremonltlon What-
soever OF any higher physical life. LET
them have dominion over the fish OF the
s a. and over the fowl Of the air. and over
the cattle, and over all the earth. and over
every creenine thing that creeneth upon
the earth" Divine,y authenticated on
heart and on brain. a being of bou3d'ess
asnirations, senarated in moral and sn'rlt'
ual nature. as by an impassah:e gull. IRON,
all other anina, orders, man is at the head
rational. responsible. immortal
How often we speak that word "lmmor'
tall" Man does not die
"There is no death What seems so is
transition:
This life of mortal breath
Is but suburb of the life eivs:an,
Whose portal we Ill death"
The good which man does lives ior-
ever. And the good man lives in it. -Ar-
gustine in his confessions. Calvin IN his
vindication. Watts and Wesley in the
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs by
which Christendom's praises are still al
timed. Robert Raikes. the publisher, and
Henry Duncan. the divine--the one stu!
gathers the children and the other stilt
guards the treasures OF the poor. Through
out all Germany. amid their restless Ives
and the many temptations OF their raraer.
hundreds of young journevmen, MECHANICS.
who know not the name. still bless the
hand of Clemens Perthes. the learned pro.
fessor of Bonn. because he laid the foun-
dations Of the homes which omen to them
their hospitable doors. Yonder at Wei.
mar. that metropolis OF the poets OF
Germany" and hard by the grave Of
Goethe, who was the prince of them all,
is the resting place of one whose fame vas
different indeed from theirs: hut on whose
tomb the epitaoh runs: Under this lin
den tree. freed from sin through Jesus
Christ, lies john Faik. Let every. strange
child who visits this peaceful place dill
gently pray for him. And because he
cared for little children. receive him, o
Lord, Thy child, unto Thysef."
"Gone forever! ever? MOTOR since cur
dying race began,
Ever, ever, and forever was the ieadiDg
light of man."
How are we to explain this? What is
the philosophy OF such power over the raw
ages of time? My dear friends, we ought
to take some things out of the region Of
speculative or ecclesiastical doctrine. where
they seem sometimes to have been con-
signed We cannot contemplate immor-
tality simply as doctrine Of the Bible. or
teaching of the church. 1t is more. 1t
is vital power in the life. Given the
Fatherhood of God and the immortality of
man is the demonstration of human life.
Do you seek the strongest and dearest
evidence of the existence of God? You
take it with YOU wherever you go. You
yourself are that evidence. "Thc argu-
ment from design" You have it in Your
own body, the most wonderfully complete
of all known organisms. "The argument
from beingw In the consciousness OF
your own dependence, You have a convic.
ton not to be- gainsayed Of Him on whom
you depend. Created as he Is in Gods I'M
age, man is an epitome of all Gods crea.
ton. He is a duodecimo universe. The
human soul is mirror which reflects God.
It is true the image is marred and Oh.
scured; there is but little Of the intuitire
knowing; the traces of the Inherent right
eousness are very feeble: the flow of the
essential holiness is torpid and inert-the
image is broken one; the picture is 4
moving picture; the lines in it are not
straight; they are vibratory-bnt the like
ness is there. To be man is to nave
some perceptible trace in God.
My dear friends, however broken and
marred the image may be in any. Christ is
able to restore it in ALL And that verify is
the whole aim of Christianity: to bring US
back to what God first intended us to be.
Believers in Christ are in Him created
anew unto good works and have renewed
in themselves the whole man after the i'm
age of God in knowledge and Righteousness
and true holiness.