The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-24
Christian Ideal Stands for
 Growth of Individual
MAN MUST LOOK ABOVE HIM
Any Organization That Tends To Make Man a Machine Will In Time Work To His Great
 Detriment.

l gregations that has attended the ehurct l this year on the subject: The Product of an Ideal" taking as his text the second verse of the third chapter oi 1 Colossians:
 Set your mind on things that are above. not on things that are upon the earth"
 | pr. Moore spoke in part as follows
 We sometimes hear men condemned for being idealists. It is said that they are not practical. They are always fol- lowing some ideal that can never be reached. Of course, it is important thai man be practical if he would sue ceed. but we forget that it is the idea that makes development possible. He who lives by no ideal will develop int nothing good
 Man the Product.
 In his creation. man himself, was ths product of an ideal God said. Let u; make man in our own image God did not work without pattern. In the hlgh- est creative act. He took himself a' the model by which to make man. This is a lofty ideal, so exalted indeed that man. to his own loss, has departed from it. What would the world be today il man had not fallen? We can only ask the question and wonder, for it Is inn possible to conceive of that glorious es- tate that might have existed.
 But. man has not been cut off in his sin. While he has departed from the ideal. God is patient with him and has come to his rescue, providing means by which to escape from the eonse- ouences of his transgression.
 Development By Ideals. Our growth and development are along the line of certain ideals. This seems to be the instinct of our being. It is seen in the ambitions of the boy. He wants to be like his father. Father Is his ideal. his hero When he gets grown he is going to be as big as his father and he is going to talk and act just like father.
 As a people we have certain ideals in | education, government and religion We have set before us the ideals of free- dom and equality. Freedom in the pur- suit of life, wealth and happiness, and equal rights for all in law. This is a noble ideal We may not always reach | it. but failure to reach it does not justify l us in abandoning the ideal. Reforma- tions are needed to bring us back to ouI | ideal, and these will surely come unless we sink into the depths of mental degra dation and despair.
 If proof were needed for the proposi- ton that a people develop according te their ideals, it could be had in the great est abundance by the study of nations Japan is much in the eyes of the world today. What is the ideal of the Japan csc people? It Is nationalism. The in dividual is nothing except part of 2 great body. He lives and dies for tha body. The Emperor is the head, ant is honored as a descendant of Deity By his illustrious glory the people ac complish whatever is done in peace oi war They do nothing; he, as the heat of the nation does all, and all is for him and his government.
 This is the basis of Japanese patriot ism, and it is virtually their religion. II this ideal they gain fame and immor tality
 The Chinese ideal is very different They are Confucianists, and owe theil present condition to that religion. Th' heart of Confucianism is ancestor wor ship. A father wants son to perpet uate his name His future happines. depends upon that. And a son must ren der this homage and worship to his deat father if he does nothing else. Failini the dead would be unhappy and demons would torment the living. In this wa, the Chinese are tied to the past. The. live in the past and for the past. The literature Is not of the present, but O the past Their golden age is in tn past China can never be developed ma terially until this wall is broken down and are winning converts, but the worl is slow. They are confronted by a grea wall, this thing of living in and for tn past. That wall must be broken dow before China can be saved. For thou sands of years China has withstood tn influence of outside nations and gone ol in her devotion to the past. She ha been true to her ideal but it has i'm poverished and degraded her. Christianit is the only hope of China.
 Christian Ideal the Best.
 The Christian ideal is the best ever of fered to man. That ideal is not national nor ancestral, but individual. Christiani ty stands for the development and growtl of the individual. It does not propos to save men by nations and states, bu just one man at time. But when tn individuals are saved the state an country are saved. Each man must b taught Each must be converted, an lead a life acceptable to the Lord. T this end God has done everything fo man. Man was not made for the Sab bath but the Sabbath for man" Tn church was made for man. The Bibl was made for man. All things are ours and we are Christ's and Christ Is Gods government that does not tend t elevate and improve It's citizens is a ba government. Any organization, whethe of capital or of labor, that tends t make man machine, that destroys hi initiative, that robs him of his sense o ability and responsibility is harmful t, man and will in time work to his grea detriment. Of course the evil must b restrained and the good must De stimulat ed, but every man must have that sens | Ea