Milford chronicle., 1906-11-16


can do right or do wrong. He can gov
ern well or govern badly. He can
tbuild or he can destroy. In figuratiye
sense, no one can say him nay. Let
me try to illustrate my thought by
some Of the ordinary happenings OF
everyday life.
Man is ruler in a material sense.
You cannot think of king without a
material kingdom. Man, the ruler, has
his material throne. God gave him do
minion over the fish of the sea, over
the fowls of the air and over every liY-
ing thing Literally, has not. this con-
ception been fulfilled? Has not man
become master of all that flies in the
mir. and swims in the sea, and walks
upon the land? Aye, has not man
learned how to make the very elements
fulfill his purposes? The mammal Is
stronger, but man is his king. The
tiger is swifter, the fox shrewder, the
hawk keener eyed; the eagle, with flap
of wing, mounts and disappears into
| the blue abyss above, but man is king.
| The mighty limbed African lion, with
wild roar, makes the forest echo and
all the inhabitants of the jungle crouch
and tremble But the lion retreats be-
fore the advance of man, for man is
king.
Not only is man a ruler of the beasts
of the fields and the fowls of the air
and the fish of the seas, but man has
learned how to tame the elements and
corsxrnnfG Franklin
went forth as a cowboy upon the west
ern prairie and, sending his steel wire
into the heavens, lassoed electricity,
which Morse trained for a message
carrier George Stephenson harnessed
steam into block traces and made the
iron locomotive take the bit. Daguerre
has made the sun print our pictures.
Robert Fulton pointed the ships PROV
into the teeth of the northeast wind.
Thomas Edison has turned midnight
into midnoon Yes, man, in material
sense, is king. As the psalmist sang OF
the great Jehovah: HE cOvereth him
self with light as with a garment. He
layeth the beams of his chambers In
the waters. He maketh the clouds his
chariots. He walketh upon the wings
of the wind"
Not only is man a ruler in material
sense; he is also a king in a personal
sense. He has absolute control over
his own actions. He is a free agent.
God endowed him with this freedom.
warning him of the consequences of !
using it to do wrong. Yet how have
oh t. rrrlnn how
leaves his fathers house and goes out |
into the world. His father might keep |
him at home under parental restraint, |
but that would not be the way to |
make a man of him. He must go out |
and learn to resist temptation. Some
times he learns only by bitter expert
ence what are the consequences of
yielding. So God left man free. and
the first use he made of his freedom
was to disObey. God says to him:
Man, you are a free agent You can
10 as you will. 1 have made thee rul-
Pr over the beasts of the fields and
over the birds of the air and the fish
If the sea and also over your own
lotions. You are made after my
mage. You are an independent being
n your own domain or sphere. You
ire Independent as long as-yOu live on
,arth, but do not forget that there is
day of judgment"
A Free Agent.
oh, it is an awful fact for a man
o be free agent. 1t is an awful re-
for man to be able to do
S he would and that the higher power
Oes not interfere to stop him from
DING wrong The other day 1 was
alking to one of the ministers of the
rest. During our conversation he told
le that years ago he had broken down
Nth nervous prOstratiOn. For nearly
We years he had suffered the fortunes
f an inferno. All night long he would
ave strange apparitions come to him.
And one evening"" he said, Il was 60
lg home. 1t was winter. The river, S
long the banks of which l was walk
~, was full of ice. And remember ho
Ow l looked at those flowing waters L
nd said There is peace in that wa t
n; there is peace from these trou- b
ling Dreams Then he said: mo c
)Oner did L say this than my very II
air stood up in horror My God a
i'd am l going to be untrue to my 4
etter self? Am I going to drown my e
If in yOnder river and leave my wife A
Id children to battle with the world t,
oneY l knew that only one step W
ore and l would have been helpless b
mid yonder merciless ice and flowing 81
aters." As that man had the power 81
throw himself into that river, so we al
I've the power to destroy ourselves h
orally, physically and spiritually if y
? will God made us all free agents. 81
our own domain we are kings. We h,
Il leap off the precipice of sin If we in
IL. God has made US in his own el
age. We are born free agents and in
Il Do as we choose, but for what we st
we must give account to God.
Not without Guidance. d.
But, though God has made us free m