The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-04-21
THE PULPIT.
BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
Or. WILLIAM T. PATcHELL.
Theme: Testimony of a Man.

san Jose, Cal.-Sunday the Rev
DR.. William T. Patchell, pastor OF the
First Congregational Church here,
preached on "The Testimony Of
Man" The text was from Isaiah
40:9-11. DR.. Patchell said:
So far as man Is concerned. the
master problem is tho question of
his place or standing in the universe.
He wants to know whether he is a
machine or n god Is he cuhningly
contrived piece OF mechanism assem-
b!ed by the four winds and organized
by tho sun. or Is he free creative
personality? His conquest of the
soil his control Of the great nature
forces, his adaptation and dust
melts, his analysis and synthesis, wit
ness his oneness with tho physical
universe; but he handles it rather as
creator, rs god. and his very sue
cess sets him apart from that he con-
trolg. So, too, when lie investigates
and classihos the forms of life, he
discovers that he is, and is not, one
with that he reveals.
We read: And the man gave
names to all cattle. and to the birds
OF TIE heavens. and to every beast
of tho field; but for man there was
not found q helpmeet for him" To
have such lightning utterance blaze
out OF the dim past and take its place
at the head of our proud modern sci
enco is significant and tremendously
interesting, for it states as a fact
that which our science is rapidly veri-
flying. that By way of knowledge man
does but Isolate himself. lie tells the
stars. but himself he cannot tell.
He classifies all forms of being except
himself. He generalizes everything
but that which generalizes. The
greater his knowledge, the darker
the problem he himself becomes, for
at is evident that he Is excepted who
did subject all things unto him" He
isolates himself. He Is dark with ex-
cess of light He is escaped from a
universe TO which he is organically
and vitally related, for to his confu-
sion he learns that in all the wide
ranges of creation there is mot found
Eelpmeet fer him; that this uni
verse of life and matter duplicates
4 deeper undiscovered universe TO
which something within himself re-
acts; that except he discover and re-
late this unknown within himself to
this unknown without himself. he
must surely die. And hencefocth his
that which shall be "bone of his bone,
flesh of his flesh" He must find an
other being like himself II ever lie is
to discover himself for he must de-
termine and dc1ce himself in terms
of another
The challenge is irnperious and so
terrible that he can 6nd no rest He
must go forth! 70 It he will sacri-
flee every interest and subordinate
every desire. His own body he
pierce5; his first born he slays. In
darkness, In cold, in pain, in wild 10Y,
he seeks to liberate this awful pas
sion which smolders in his bones 1ike
fire--he must find another being like
unto himself--one compacted OF his
Cwn un:evealed being-and his lone
ly cry. What am II" LEAPS across
the abv=s. He searches the spaces
far God.
This need he call spiritual. He
declares that within himself lie GER
tain imperious qualities and energies;
love, Joy, truth, peace; that these
must discover and relate to another
spirit, else life shall turn to ashes.
SO We witness in the long process OF
development that man. every man in
some measure, tries to interpret the
secret of his spiritual being. The
philosopher the artist, the statesman,
the roet. tho scientist, the theologian
these are the outstanding ones who
have given themselves to the utter
most in this mad quest.
Out from these many strivings and
Gropings eEc"ges one unique and sig
nifcant figure, which by its persist.
ency witnesses above all others to
the golidity and strength of the spir-
it's need. It is the speaking-prophet,
whose conventional expression IN
modern life is the man In the pulpit
When we 80 to church Sunday
morning we accept the pulpit as we
accept most things-without much
thought. IL we give It thought, We
see at once that back of the pulpit
stands the church. Were we to ques.
tion the presence OF this church and
pulpit very likely we would say that
we wanted church and then built it;
that we decided to organize, TO build
TO have choir, a janitor. perhaps a
ventilatlnS system, ushers, a Bible
school. prayer meeting. Sunday SER
vices, pulpit, preacher.
But this is not true. Back of q
church lies a long historic process.
without which no church could be
organized to-day. Out of the clash
OF irnumcrable interests the church
emerges, not as an arbitrary creation
but by way of q selectlve process.
BY selection and rejection IL bears
witness TO certain powerful and per-
sistent human meanings. II sums up
a history; 1t becomes at last a SYM
Dol.
The organized universe as man sees
n is very transitory. Like clouds in
the mir, the systems take shape and
disappear. Nothing Is stable, nothing
remains. You recall that only tho
other night we were reused from
early sleep by the house rocking on
its foundation I leaped to the floor
only 20 find It twisting horribly under
my feet. Even as | called to the dear
ones, and groped my way through tho
reeling building. had vision In the
darkness OF some vast unhuman being
OF another creation, who had strayed
this way. Her head was lost in the
sky-depths. anu as she moved across
the world toward some awful un-
known purpose her sweeping gar
ments struck the tiny building in
which we lived, and the solid earth
shook under her tread. Nothing is
stable; nothing remains. The roses
cf to-day are born OF yesterdays
death; cities crumble. nations dis