Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-04-27
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. +. f: SHANNON.
Subject: The Thousandfold Man.

Subject: The Thousandfold Man.
Brooklyn, N. Y.-Sunday morning, in
Grace NJ E. Church, the pastor, the
Rev. Frederick F. Shannon. had for
his subject "The Thousandfo;d Man"
The text was from Joshua xXiii:1O:
zone man of you shall chase a thou
sand: for the Lord your God, He it is
that fghteth for you, as He 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 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 hes 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 a
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
Sanders, 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
III space, because he thinks, loves,
ieeS and wills. Now, some men ex-
etcse these functions more largely
@an their fellows. Then we label
neln with that ancient degree called
seathess. After comforting the de-
gree. we spend the rest of our lives
Masing .has over what such men did when
lucy got together. They may have
~ ~sen great thinkers, great fighters,
s.tal talkers, great writer's, or great
mields' nsI But in the last analysis, the
s.eatness men adore is the alteration
Ste s,eat men have given to God. This is
f,.s fhs we never tire of studying the
,na .elashlp OF Moses and Joshua. They
e ms, Two links in the golden chain
au0 Hnicn moors this old world TO the
to,v to,ule : OF God. Napoleon said that his
,a.,,s u table about which men are
ser;e ersu Rather say history is stream
S.sl S.%ins out from the Eternal Heart.
sau4i hs along its shores, like deathless
for frt,neiS. hn. are the men God raised up
theages. A"'ne ano 'rutn oo"n
sbo Uui text asks for a consideration Of
f0r hin huiousandfold man, and the reason
yOu J shnm multiplied power. lone man Of
aart,;l sndl chase a thousandw More
thu dons words could hardly knock at
srs toor NY OF the human intellect. They
ipp w. ~ vast III their outranging mean
ur9,u w. oe easily comprehepded. Nat
secona enough, the mind asks for a
nu ssnoa consideration of them. But
the. hS.olid reading fails to rob them of
don't sron. Sn,neance. Sce. Really big things
st. peto pstow less on second sight. Like
the min5 T,ess their bigness only helps
appraaiat. illu expand to a more capable
It is s,@'oil &c OF their true dimensions.
The eroo WIN men, and it is so with
a croot oo' OBJECTS in nature. Just so
With C lou sentence like this. pregnant
its traosssse se thought, is not stripped OF
ns. t'!e "a ny second or third read
Which ~ thought centre round
ereasinmoA We d mind may revolve with in
nesnt nnlf{ly dy speaking, then, what IS
Does # ~ no one man chasing thousand:
physica, n1eah that one man. by his
sand Vrl mo prowess, can drive thou
At Tho i1en zen before him? You vonde,
sone g naol; loly of such a question I "0nl Still
cal SuIi SuH men l by the yardstich ef of nhysi
them 'lh jnta that its absurdity NAV a, pns moel e
things INTO no, a better view. Physica'
spiriffpuoil never " did run Smoothly on 1n1a :
beesursaal t track: and they 1s neveI. w will
srdfo1Ed soE It I'll, is impossible. The The thou h1,I
tie nau Hlu man, m according to Joshua 81 lnoi is
Gods unra IN league with God. 0i1si housins =
Co.'s Co. pqapsses paps and cooperating witt
odss ss'ss,wre5rng Gods yoiees eoa sshals tehims
ss front r4{h dropped in golden gold nsnalns nnm
ssars.' Eo uie harp of Gods eterna
, Ine man with his foo