The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1911-10-20
THE SIZE OF
THE WORLD.
By Rev. William Spiegel
OF the Old First Church.
Cincinnati.

Just as the moon appears to differ
ent people to be of various sizes, from
that OF dime to that of a washtub.
even physical qualities and quantities
OF this world and the other material
worlds of the universe vary in their
apparent dimensions with the vary.
ing capacities OF physical. mental and
imaginative eyesight.
given individuals world and all
there therein is will always vary in ac..
cordance with that individuals subiec-
tive proportions.
In very real and deep sense every
one builds his own world Some build
1t exceedingly small and others, with
a better grasp OF the meaning OF life,
build 1t big. And / would that we
might all have that broad conception
which not only means a big world for
us. but the doing of big things in 1t
by ourselves. We all delight In the
master minds that are doing the big
things in the material world, and they
are truly great; but greater than these
wonderful feats Of engineering skill
which can tunnel the Hudson or dam
the Ohio are those other deeds by mas
ter minds whe' eby this world is made
the better-the more nearly perfect
1t is this aspect Of increasing tho
size OF our world, the moral and spir-
itual. to which would draw attention.
obviously, then, our world varies in
size according to our knowledge. Any
thing that lies outside of our knowl-
edge is evidently no part of our con-
scious world. We have widened the
boundaries OF the little world Of the
ancients and have accurately meas
ured and weighed It.
We have found something Of the
magnitude OF the ether worlds of the
universe and compute distances In in
terstellar space in years Of light We
locity. And this inconceivably big
world OF ours has a vast influence
upon our thoughts and life. The great
er our knowledge the bigger our
world; and the Christian especially
should keep his mind alert and alive
to this growing world and ever strive
to build 1T on a larger scale and fill
1t with greater meaning
Then. too our world grows with our
interests. This is even n closer rela-
tion than knowledge, implying care.
concern, participation. There are nee
essarily large areas of knowledge
which lie outside of our interest, but
as interest lays hold OF us and con
trolls thought. motive and cC:duct our
world Is large or small according to
the area of cur interest. In this re-
spect people differ tremendously
The interest of a great many people
In the material things Is so great that
it absorbs their whole thought. ambi'
tion and action; and n world whose
absorbing interests are in material
things. however great its business and
however immense its wealth, is es-
sentially small and insignificant. The
man in the big world is the one who is
thoroughly interested in his business
or profession, but whose interests also
reach out into the worlds of science,
literature, art. politics, social progress.
education and religion.
Then again our world enlarges with
our sympathies. Sympathy Is closer
still than interest, as it involves our
hearts. People who lack sympathy live
in small barren world, but those
who have wide and warm sympathies
melt easily into the lives of others and
thus enlarge and enrich their own
world And in our sympathies We
ought TO be bigger than the n.re cir
Gle OF our own friends. our church or
our country. Whoever cuts another
human being out OF his sympathy by
SO much naITows and impoverishes his
own world, and by as much as we
make our sympathies broad and
IL. md oil
it rich.
Finally let us ever remember with
the psalmist, THE earth is the Lords
and tho fullness thereof" That lifts
1t into divine relations and worth.
From this point OF view we see the
world falling fresh from the creative
hand of Cod developing under his
providence, redeemed by his grace and
being rebuilt even in our day, iRo a
universal kingdom OF brotherhood
and love. We are coworkers with
him and are now building this new
and better world, however insignif-
cant or dark. in the light Of his plan
and presence. and this fills our world
with divine purpose and grace.
Our world thus widens out until 1t
is great with his greatness.
Thus our world Is little or big. ac-
cording to our knowledge, interest.
sympathy and faits, and by increas-
ing these we enlarge and enrich our
world. A big soul will build big
world One of large vision and wide
interests, or tender sympathies and
masterful faith cannot be shut up with
in the narrow confines OF personal self
interest and littieness Of spirit, but
will ever build a large and richer
world. Then, too, big world helps
tremendously = make a big soul Our
environment calls us out, as it were.
so that we stretch our powers to
match its appeals Soul and world thus
work together to widen each other out
into larger relations. We should work
at both ends of the problem. striving
to build a bigger world and grow a
| larger soul.