River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-03-25

I@A > lives, the street in
which he resides,
the money he
owns, the position
he occupies. are mere incidenta1s The
man himself is worth a thousand
times more than anything he has, or
knows, or does. These eXternals are
simply the setting of the jewel of the
soul, and, though the jewel may be in
the mud and filth, it is still a jewel
The raggedest beggar on the street,
the greatest drunkard that staggers
along our sidewalks, the most de-
graded woman that plies her trade on
the street, the most insigr ificant boot
black or newsboy, is worth more in
the eyes of God than all the wealth
and honor and position that this world
can give.
Marvellous Faculties.
To appreciate the value of man
we need look only at his faculties.
Take memory, which is the power of
receiving and recording Impressions,
and then reproducing them. 1t is an
ocean that never gets full and can
never be emptied 'Son, remember"
was said to the rich man in hades.
Memory Is immortal 1t will carry
those Impressions throughout eternity
If man was only memory, he would be
worth saving. Add to his memory, rea-
son, the faculty by which he classi-
fies facts stored in memory, draws
deductions from them and utilizes
them. 1t takes the lumber the brick
and stone, that memory has gathered.
and out Of it builds a palace of knowl-
edge
If man were only a threefold being
with memory, reason and conscience,
he would be worth stupendous efforts
to save. But to these faculties add
imagination, which pictures facts, ap-
preciates reason, and gives to con-
science a larger sphere of action.
Imagination makes the poet, the sculp4
tor, the musician, the painter, the ora
tor, the statesman, the general. Ma
poleon was right when he said: "Imag
ination rules the world" Without
imagination there could be no setting
spond to the other. And imagination
means capacity for highest joy or
deepest misery. An evil imagination
may vitiate conscience, distort reason
and inflame memory. Imagination,
when it runs riot, sends it's victim to
the asylum for the insane. 1t can lift
us to the mountain top Of delight, or
hurl us down into the abyss Of de-
Spair.
Power Of Love and Hate.
If man were only a fourfoldl being
with memory, reason, conscience, and
imagination, he would be mighty for
good or evil, for pleasure or pain. Add
to this the fact that he loves and
hates, that he can hope or despair,
that he laughs and weeps. Indeed, take
the whole man, physical, mental, NOR
al and spiritual, and you have a being
a little lower than God
Another consideration which in
creases his value is that he is capable
of such infinite growth in good or evil
A man is valuable for what he is and
for what he may become And in the
work of saving men we should never
weigh a man in the balance, of the
present so much as of the future.
Worth Saving? Yes!
A young man who had served his
term in the penitentiary because he
was a thief and a river pirate, was
won to Christ. Before his, conversion
there was little prospect of his ever
being or doing anything great, and yet
he became one of the most successful
soul-winners New York city ever
knew. He was an angel of ministry to
the souls of the outcast. They crowded
BIG Water street to hear his testi
mony, and when he died his. body lay
in state for hours, that the, multitude
who loved him might pass by and cast
a tear or a flower upon his coffin. Jer-
ry MacAulay was worth saving.
There was an awkward country boy
in a Boston shoe store, not considered
as of very great value to the COM
munity and the country, but his Sun
day school teacher loved his soul and
urged him one day to give his heart to
God When he appeared before the
church asking admission, he was re-
fused. Wise men advised him to wait
until he gave better evidence of con-
version. That green country boy in
Boston was worth campaign in
which every Christian in Massachu-
sets might have taken part, for he be-
came D. L. Moody, the worlds great
est evangelist.
1t was a common everyday sort of
Young man who entered the primitive
Methodist chapel on rainy day in
London, and heard an illiterate Metho-
dist preacher speak on the text:
Look unto me and be saved all the
ends of the EARTH" and when the
preacher looked this young man in the
face and with stentorian voice said:
Look to Jesus, young man, and be
saved he was simply trying to do his
duty in impressing young heart for
Christ. Little did he think that he was
writing the truth upon soul that was
to become Charles H. Sturgeon, the
greatest preacher of the century.