The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-15
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY
By WAKEFIELD CREATE RICHARDSON

remains to consider human responsibility as connected with the scheme of divine government Tine worlds conception of this obligation is admittedly lax, and though l cannot expect to enforce It. I yet hope to direct attention to its divine sanctions. You mistake me if you suppose that I am wholly bent on metaphysical distinctions. I am filing plea for virtue. 1 am filing plea for manhood.
 'fIn the beginning was God-in the be- ginning. He experienced no birth, no growth, no evolution. When He first looked forth from the Armament therc was no sun, no stars no low-lying earth. He had no habitationi no throne. He looked out upon a measureless void. He winged His way eastward, but there was no east: westward but there was no west He scared toward the zenith, but there was no zenith. He dropped a plum met, but there was no bottom. His lead swung idly back and forth-to and fro a billion miles at each oscillation. but it touched nothing; there were no side walls. The void was full of darkness that He did not make and of shadows that He had not summoned. Then God resting his head in anguish against cloud, where no cloud was, wept. He shuddered with lone uUGSSs lie SilOOh Nlln loOldllOu-
 God was pining for companionship, for brotherhood for recognition, for sympa- thy. In all the vast expanse of earth there was no knee to bow, no tongue to lisp his praise. He had essayed to mako man-He had failed. There was nothing left except to change the model.
 God said: "A wise god should profit by his experience. I once made false man; I'll now make a real one. I cannot make |. |. ,RrT,tr This leaves him free, and acquits mo Of evil. Lest he lean on me I will cut his leading strings. I'll push him out of the nest. I'll fling him on his own resources Naked, he shall clothe himself; hungry he shall feed himself. He shall have nothing without cost, not even air and water. I'll put a bellows in his breast. and he shall inhale 90 gallons of air per hour to se- cure the necessary amount of oxygen. He shall draw water, pump water, distil wa ter, filter water. Even the pearly drop of dew shall he contaminate. He shall earn his food by the sweat of his brow He shall have an empty head and stomach to begin with. I'll send him out betmes without purse or scrip. He shall learn to walk he shall learn to talk I'll give him no chart or compass except what he shall devise for himself. He shall have no experience except what he buys of oIy IOths ILNtn HIS ONIl sdlNd dllOil lle olltii work out with fear and trembling.' I'll give him identity; I'll tag him. I'll keep his picture in my gallery. I'll take the impress of his thumb in wax, so that I can keep tab on his misdoings. I'll give him a career: he shall run it. His path shall be thornY, rugged-how else can he grow strong? I'll multiply limits and con- ditions, I'll interpose obstacles: how else can he become resourceful? Who said T Id, T%-. .1 will hide my face by distance, by ininity. will make him reproductive, automatic, for I want man like pillar, who can stand alone, who can be independent who can be responsible"
 God said My scheme is simple; it can be written in a single line. Four links only four. Break one-the rest fall apart Right and wrong-free choice, merit or de- merit, reward or punishment
 This scheme is not adopted-it is necessi- tated. Man is responsible, or he is not responsible. If he be not responsible there is no scheme. If he be responsible, Gods scheme is before you
 You admit a part of that which is .n- separable, and you reject part. You ad- init the conclusion; you deny the premise. If accountability. exists, if that awful word can anywhere be spelled out in hll- man characters-somebody is responsible CitAAti iiIdAs TOu UT utNtl. GOQ IS HOL OIl probation, He is not under law, He is not responsible. If you say the devil is re- sponsible, you have found a good Sama- ritan, who relieves you of all your disapl- ities. The Bible represents the devil as going about like roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," and vet without a virtue under heaven, by becoming a scapegoat, he accomp1ishes your salva- tion. I had known him before as de- ne htr,
 savior.
 God said: "I cannot make a good being; cannot make a bad being. If I make a good being, I am good, not he. If l make a bad being, I am bad, not he. If I im- part myself, l rob the creature of free choice. If l rob him of free choice I rob him of character. If rob him of char acter I rob him of responsibility. If rob him of responsibility the whole scheme collapses."
 God said: TT cannot make man devoid of merit without making him ethically indifferent, but to make him ethically in different is to make him beast of the field Could l impart to him good? l could not impart to him merit" Good is Gods is mans product. A man can only be held responsible for lis own product. Good and evil acts leave out the animus, leave out the motive If the acts of the world were good in them- selves or in effect, bad motives might vitiate them all. and annu moral govern ment Good and bad are both ethically worthless Neither conforms to reason nor to Gods requirement..
 The Bible tells us, that Heaven is more pleased over one sinner that re- penteth than over ninety and nine just persons" single act of sin condemne. tion. of sin repudiation, of sin abandon ment causes more joy than ninety and nine acts of perfunctory duty, even mean? It means that effort. that exertion. that self abnegation in behalf of good, enhances its value a hundred fold. Nay, it lifts it out of the inventory of good and posits it in higher class. No won der that God founded His plan of le- demption on right and wrong, on merit and demerit. Good is not qualitatively the equivalent of right. nor evil of wrong They have a different import, different dimension. Good and evil are equivocal and this equivocation impairs their signf- icance, if 1t does not render them nuga- tory.
 Choice precedes every word and deed You can pick up a sea shell where only one giltters on the shore, but on life's shore they are always in pairs-a good one, a bad one; a perfect, a broken--a nautilus of exquisite symmetry, an oys- ter of rough and rugged exterior. To speak, to act is always to select. Right and wrong confront us at every turn. Which shall it be?
 This freedom, this power of selection begins in the physical organism. I can extend my arm at a hundred angles. can propel my fist with a hundred degrees of force. can walk or talk or be silent. I can see, can hear, can smell. I can