Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-11-15

all the inhabitants or 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
make them his servantsH Franklin
went forth as 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 a 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 ruler in a material
sense; he Is also king in personal
sense. He has absolute control over
his own actions. lie is a free agent.
God endowed him with this freedom.
warning him OF the consequences of
using it to do wrong. Yet how have
| men abused il! 1t Is as when a boy
| l,i Fut ~
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 tempta ton. 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
do as you will. have made thee rul-
er over the beasts of the fields and
over the birds of the air and the fish
of the sea and also over your own
actions. You are made after my
image. You are an independent being
in your own domain or sphere. You
are Independent as long as you live on
earth, but do not forget that there Is
a day of judgment"
Free Agent.
| Oh, Il Ia an awful fact for man
| to be free agent 1t is an awful re-
sponsibility for man to be able to do
as he would and that the higher power
/ ,nf int rfn To CT i'm
doing wrong The other day I was
talking to one Of the ministers of the
west. During our conversation he told
me that years ago he had broken down
with nervous prostration. For nearly
! five years he had suffered the fortunes
of an inferno. All night long he would
have strange apparitions come to him.
"And one evening"" he said, II was 60
ing home. 1t was winter. The river,
along the banks of which I was walk
ing. was full Of ice. And l remember
how looked at those flowing waters
and said: There Is peace in that wa
ter; there is peace from these trou-
bling dreams" Then he said; mo
sooner did l say this than my very
hair stood up in horror My Cod
said. am l going to he untrue to my
better self? Am l going to drown my
self in yonder river and leave my wife
and children to battle with the world
alone" I knew that only one step
more and I would have been helpless
amid yonder merciless ice and flowing
waters" As that man had the power
to throw himself into that river. so we
have the power to destroy ourselves
morally, physically and spiritually II
we will God made us all free agents
In our own domain we are kings. We
can leap of the precipice of sin if we
will. God has made us in his own
image We are born free agents and
can do as we choose, but for what we
do we must give account to God.
Not without Guidance.
But, though God has made us free
agents, he has not left US without guild
ance. He has put within each one OF
US Il moral and spiritual compass
This moral aud spiritual compass Is
called conscience. 1t tells us what we
ought to do. 1t distinguishes for us
the difference between wrong anG
right. And, like every other compass
1t would keep US off the rocks Of evi
and guide US into channels Of justice
and purity and truth. God puts within
each one of us moral and spirtua
compass which shows US when we dc
wrong, for we are made after Gods
Image. Therefore God has given t
US the means to be just and true anC
good, as he Is just and pure and trut
and good.
But. alas. alas. Instead Of followin,
the leadings Of our conscience we hav,
wandered off into the paths Of sin. WI
have done what our conscience ha
warned us not to do. Today our con
science is pleading with us to do right
as a loving mother would plead witt
hayward child. 1t is taking us b,
the hand and saying: Wont you giv'
, up your sins? Won't you try to undo
the wrongs you have done others
Won't you follow the leadings Of jesus
. Christi That conscience of ours viii
never stop its pleadings with us to d.
right. 1t has, TOO, the power to punish
, 1t is said that when Professor Web
ster of Harvard college was awaiting
his trial for killing a brother professo
Z he called into his cell one day the ward
en- of the jail and said: Cannot 70,
ston the other prisoners from insultin,