The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-04-20
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. E. +: SHANNON.
. Subject: The Thousandfold Man.


Grace NJ. E. Church, the pastor, the
Rev. Frederick F. Shannon, had for
his subject 1.-The Thousandfoid Man"
The text was from Joshua xxiii:10:
"One man Of you shall chase thou
sand: for the Lord your God, He it is
that fghteth for you, as BE spake unto
you" Mr.. Shannon said:
World building is not so interesting
as man building. Some philosophers
held that tasks are interesting in pro-
portion as they are difficult to perform.
If this be good logic, then swinging
worlds into space must take secondary
rank to building a man. in time. We
have no intimation that God had any
trouble stringing planets along the
path Of His power. Yet the centuries
unite in the verdict that God has had
much trouble in producing the divine
style Of manhood. Therefore, it is
safe to conclude that God never un-
dertook vaster plan than to build q
man. Worlds play out His purposes
in the harmony Of gravitation. They
spell out His plans in the law Of obe-
dience. But man ofttimes thwarts
those purposes and destroys those
plans by setting his own will over
against the will Of God. Thus he
wanders, a kind Of lost human pleiad,
through the space called time, always
and ever coming to himself, but never
wholly arrived.
Yet man is Gods human world
greater than any star-world twinkling
in space, because he thinks, loves,
feels and wills. Now, some men ex-
ercise these functions more largely
than their fellows. Then we label
them with that ancient degree called
greatness. After comforting the de-
gree, we spend the rest Of our lives
musing over what such men did when,
they got together. They may have
been great thinkers, great fighters,
great takers, great writer's, or great
friends. But in the last analysis, the
greatness men adore is the alteration
great men have given to God. This is
why we never tire Of studying the
friendship Of Moses and Joshua. They
are two links in the golden chain
which moors this old world to the
throne Of God. Napoleon said that his
tory is q fable about which men are
agreed. Rather say history is stream
flowing out from the Eternal Heart.
Sitting along its shores, like deathless
sentinels, are the men GOD raised up
for handing His name and truth down
the ages.
Our text asks for q consideration of
the thousandfold man, and the reason
for his multiplied power. Zone man OF
you shall chase a thousandp' More
startling words could hardly knock at
the door of the human intellect. They
are too vast in their outranging mean
ing to be easily comprehended. Nat
urally enough, the mind asks for a
second consideration Of them. But
second reading fails to rob them Of
their significance. Really big things
don't grow less on second sight. Like
st. Peters, their bigness only helps
the mind expand to q more capable
appreciation Of their true dimensions.
It is so with men, and it is SO with
the great objects in nature. Just so
q great sentence like this, pregnant
with large thought, is not stripped Of
its treasure by q second or third read
ing. It is a thought centre round
which the mind may revolve with in
creasing profit. -.
Strictly speaking, then, what IS
meant by one man chasing thousand?
Does it mean that one man, by his
physical prowess, can drive a thou
sand men before him? You wonder
at the folly Of such question. Still
some people ,re so fond Of measuring
life and men by the yardstick Of physi-
cal bulk that its absurdity may mock
them into a better view. Physical
things never. did run smoothly on a
spiritual track; and they never will,
because 1t is impossible. The thou
sandfold man, according to Joshua, is
the man in league with God, housing
Gods purposes and cooperating with
Gods plans awaiting Gods signals
and answering Gods voices, watching
Gods strides In history and hearing
Gods truth, dropped in golden num-
bers, from ''the harp of Gods eternal
years" BE is the man with his feet
on he earth, his head among the stars,
and his heart located in heaven, be-
cause heaven is located in his heart.
ne 1S luS SOA VI ScSlc1udy, tAC AoA
of to-day, the heif Of fto-morrow-grate-
full for yesterdays goodness, inspired
by to-day's blessings, and rejoicing in
to-morrow's hopes. And he is all this
because he is in league with God, and
knows it; because he is in love with
God, and feels it; because he is living
In obedience to God. and wills It.
Moreover, the thousandfold man is
the man God waits for. It has ever
been zone man of you' who has opened
the largest doors of opportunity and
achievement in the history Of the
world. One man and God-they are
absolutely unconquerable. Grasping
the tangled threads Of history, they
have tied them into one solid knot Of
divine purpose. And that purpose for
ever stands the pledge Of better
world and q nobler race. Do you
wonder that even God can afford to
wait for such a man? Then let your
wonder give away before this mighty
fact: God has to wait, so long as the
world remains constituted as it is, for
q man to come forward and say, "Here
am I-use me-" God answers back,