The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-12-31
(By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)

marble to the top Of a tWenty-StOry
building than it is to elevate the thlnk-
ing of some persons by even d lew ue-
gresS. Most Of us prove that We are
little folk by the way we think mostly
Of little things We have SO h~abltuat-
ed our brains to dealing in small par
cells that they can scarcely MT q
heavy load. He said,' and "she said
and she wore'-these are the phras-
eS that float into our ears as we pass
through life; and they register the cal
ibre Of peoples minds. The pettlness
of fashions and looks and play ana
gossip hold most of US in thrall. Let
US at least be big enough to own UP
that we are little folk.
Which means hat we have not
come up to specifications. God never
meant man to b. small. lie alone Of
all animals is made to walk upright.
with his face to the sky. In every hu-
man being inhereS the possibility of a
diviner measure Of life. Man was
made to think Gods thoughts after
Him. And by providence and by rev
citation the Lord has been trying to
elevate us to q truer apprehenslOn OF
our possibilities. We have a great
Creator who has set US in a great
world, and given us great capacities.
The Book that best shows His mind
is on a lofty plane, and study OF 1t pro-
duceS nOble-mindedneSS. The maJeS-
tic opening Of the inspired RECORD,
which the Sunday schools study TO-DAY.
should chaSten and eXalt the hlnklng
Of every reader. Let us study afresh
this matehleSs summary of the crea-
ton.
''In the Beginning"
Why bother to read SO old-tashlon-
ed a book as the Bible when the sport
ing page of the newspaper, and the
nve-cent magazine. of ~get-rlch-Wlth-
out-work stories, and the fiction that
we would not want our mothers to
read. lies at our hand? 1t Is not
smart" to be religious.
A sufficient reason for turning ones
thoughts to the sublime narrative Of
beginnings is that it expands ones
thought power. The effect would be
wholesome if our day, with all it's de-
VOtion to the ephemeral. could con-
template that remote period when no.
thing that now is was. Salutary re-
suits would follow an attempt to con-
slider chaos.
AS Carlyle said. "The universe is the
realized thought Of God" Amid the
silences Of the vast void, amid the
k Of the night that preceded
the sun, amid the unthinkable form
lesSness OF a universe in which all
things were without form, it is easy to
conceive Of a supernatural, eternal.
self-existing and all~-controlling Crea-
tor. AS AddisOn's noble lines testify:
The spacious armament on high,
With all the blue, ethereal sky,
And %Spangled heavens, a shining
frame,
Their great Original proclaim"
The God in a Box.
one day in rural Japan, l saw ar
idol festival wherein a ShintO ark was
carried in procession. A Japanese who
had been in Hawaii and could speak
some English volunteered to me tn
explanation, God in box" h Incl
dent recurs in connection with the ole
question, rs your God a big God or
little God?" Dc 0 worship a petit!
man-made deity, or is the Creator o
the universe your God?
Tha is the most pertinent question
as we stand in the presence of the frs
chapter Of Genesis. In an earlier day
before we could read the statelie
steppings of the Creator in the hill
and valleys, in the minerals under tn
earth, and in whole continents am
seas and stars, we held a little and lit
eral Interpretation Of this story. W
dCNcplcO bLSHOP OSlcI > OAOlOSy
which fixed the date Of creation a
400O B.. c., as being as true as the tex
Of Genesis itself We could not thin
of any other kind Of day than GU
kind; and so we mechanically com
pressed the processes Of creation
which consumed unmeasured million
Of years., into a week Of six days, sue
as our clocks measure In all our the
ology we accepted our own trivia
standards as h ultimate. Then W
called science goddess" not seem
that within the broad lines Of tn
creation story-necessarily broad fo
the centuries which knew naught {
geology or astronomy-lies space &c
all the testimony of science.
Lord Kefvin's Testimony.
In testimony to his own d~eclaratio
that scientific thought is compelled
accept the d of creative power" tt
great scientist, Lord Kelvin, sale
Forty years ago I asked Liebi
walking somewhere in the country
no h01ioy0h tho Oroc on6 flo-va