The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-08-05
SATURDAY NIGHT
SERMONS
,W-A@ BY
q AEVSAMUEL
WpURVIS.DD
THE ANIMAL in US.

Text, Il was as a beast before thee
Ps. lxXiii, 20.
Here science and religion agree. OF
all the animals man came last. OF
course when you run back over his
genealogical line you are likely to find
some mighty poor strains. For all
know In the list somewhere you may
strike the wolf, the tiger or the ape.
But earlier than wolf, tiger or ape,
earlier than fire, mist or protoplasmlc
jelly, you'll find the first ancestor of
the race-God. Man is not degraded
animal, but a degraded spirit. He is
not body born of beast, but soul
sprung of spirit. He has body; he is
soul. Between him and the animal
there's an immeasurable space. Be-
tween animal instinct and human in
telligence, with its written language,
science, art and invention, there's an
impossible gulf. Nevertheless the
Psalmist says, 81 was as a beast be-
fore thee" Compared to God, right
that many human beings have animal
like traits. 1t will not do to say that
animals have human-like traits. be-
cause animals were created first. You
wouldn't say a father had a sons
traits. The priority would be wrong.
Each of the twelve passions seems to
have its prototype in some animal.
Remember the puzzle pictures Of child
hood? The head of cat could be
placed on the shoulders of woman,
the head of a monkey on a boy How
we shrieked with delight! Our grand
fathers nodded their wise heads. Queer
monstrosities resulted. But there you
have us-the man and the animal.
The Likeness of a Beast.
The medical journals tell of strange
prenatal impressions stamping animal
resemblance on human face. Fortu-
nately it's rare. But think of the pos
sibillty it suggests. What if our ami
mal-like sins could work out on us
such actual grotesque and monstrous
transformations? How do we de-
scribe each other? Sly as fox. eats
like pig, treacherous as a snake,
=
mischevous as monkey. When n
wolf falls wounded he is pOunced upon
and rended to pieces by his fellows.
I've known when woman fell
through weakness those Of her own
sex to turn and tear her to pieces.
Ever read Hawthornes Frederick FL
liston.' carrying in his bosom an enor-
nous green reptile? Doesn't Steven
sons CDR. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and
Poe's William Wilson" seem star
tlingly familiar? You almost exclaim
like the disciples, Lord. 1t is IT,
Character and habit do leave their
lines on the face. I've seen pugilist
resemble a bulldog, certain barrister
a fox. Gluttony and drunkenness will
leave a swinish face. passion and idle
ness a brazen. feline face, guile and
malice the serpent's features-the like
ness of God giving way to the likeness
Of the brute.
Feed or Fight the Animal7
In America we see the humiliating
spectacle of great cultured, bright
witted people spending many times
more to feed the animal than the in
tellectual and spiritual. Cost of liv-
ing high? Ask the digestive tablet
and patent medicine man about it.
"They stuff like pigs" That's fat
tering. Have you any Idea of the
volume of traffic in the Tenderloin
districts? Ever hear the national
drink bill? They're something fierce!
We're feeding the animal. And the
animal responds, as animals always
do when fed on human fesh-becomes
a man eater, But the problems also
Individual Within us is devourer and
devoured, destroyer and destroyed
Man is a tanner of wild beasts To
trim claws. muZzle jowls. tame. con
fine, domesticate, is his task II keep
my body under" says Paul. Why not
destroy the animal, preacher? Men
have tried that Monastery walls
could tell the story of faithful souls
starving, whipping. torturing, cutting
themselves, trying to kill out the ami
NAL. Cutting off the sore spotted hand
removes only the symptom. The poi
sons still running in the blood Re
demption. not destruction, of erring
faculties is best. Scripture tells that
1.-THE wolf shall dwell with the lamb
the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; the calf and the young lion and
the failing together" May not human
animal faculties be also harmonized
bringing every wild thought into
captivity. Unto obedience of Christ"