Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-28
NEW YEAR RECALLS
LlFF'S VAST RIDDLE
DR.. LOCKE breaches ON THE
LAW OF GROWTH
Use Of Opportunities and Ministry of
Service the Secret of All Develop
ment, Gained Only Through
Mastery of Self

DR.. Charles Edward Locke at the
First Methodist Episcopal church yes
terday morning preached New Years
sermon on what Is Your Life?'' the
| text being from James A.. He SAID,
in part:
an important historical event, but it
marks an epoch in the individual life.
We look back on the past with min
gled thanksgiving and regret; we look
forward to the future with hope and
fear.
Life is the riddle of the ages. The
ancients believed that life proceeded
from the fire, and had for their house
hold gods the Lares and Penates, who
were supposed to dwell in the ashes of
the hearthstone. Promethus is said to
have animated a figure of clay by put
ting q spark of fire in 1t.
"The materialistic scientist is in
creasingly puzzled by the riddle of life.
Since Tyndall and Pasteur have dem
onstrated the impossibility of the spon-
taneous generation of life many silly
hypothesis have been suggested to ac-
count for It, Even so distinguished a
naturalist as Lord Kelvin of England
thought that the original life germs
may have reached this earth from
some planet by means of a meteor
SlOIlSs 1dllllu anu 6ODCA AAOW-
ever, recognize the mystery of life and
publicly confess it. Men who ruth
lessly seek for a mechanical interpre-
tation of life only expose themselves
to the pity of the devout student, be-
cause all life comes from life, and
behind all life and force are life and
force, and the Bible says that this
power is God. Every scientific demon
stration today reinforces the first verse
IL the Bible: in the beginning, Cod
Life is opportunity; it is mans
chance. Life is responding to environ
ment Examine the wing of the bird
and the fin of the fish and you can
predicate atmosphere and water. Look
at mans marvellous endowments of
body, mind and heart, and you can
foretell his achievements. Created a
little lower than God, man is placed
here to subdue the earth But no
man can subdue a grain of sand until
he has learned to subdue himself.
life is an opportunity for service.
Serving is living. Giving is law of
growth. There is that which scatter
capacity for enjoying is increased.
True character is developed by SER
vice. 1t is said of Christ that he came
not to be ministered unto, but to min
lister.
"That man may last but never lives,
Who much receives but nothing gives;
Whom none can love, whom none can
thank,
Creations blot, creations blank"
life is opportunity for Christliness.
Christ is the interpreter of the riddle
of life. Christ said he was the life of
the world, and all science will be forced
in the end, by logical conclusions, to
make that acknowledgment. Man is
endowed with divine attributes and
mo- dc q holr, M his Creator IN fnUnSt
safely and develop his gifts. That man
will surely fail in his career who ac-
cepts the gifts without the giver. That
is why Goodness is profitable-it has
the promise of the life that now is and
the life that is to come
"All physical life, except man. is be
ing lived There is a power behind 1t
which operates by fixed laws, and all
nature is sustained in order. Man
reaches the highest possibility of his
creation when, by his own volition.
and humble obedience to the will of
God, he suffers himself to be lived; to
be the willing channel for the purposes
of a good God.
he 'humbly joined himself to the
weaker part, so that he could be the
nearer to Gods heart The most sa-
cred fulfillment of human life is found
when the human heart leans heavily
against the breast of the infinite and
feels the throb of eternal power and
love and purpose.
1.-THE reward for this Interpretation
of life is that when Christ, who is our
life. shall appear, we shall also appear
with him in glory. Future life is the
eloquent climax of noble human living.
Those who live faithfully will die
bravely. and can take up Robert Louis
Stevenson's tender requiem:
H. ara6 Inf
Glad did live and gladly 1 die,
And I lay me down with will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be.
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill :"