The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-04-29
GREAT SERMON
On Nan By BEARD
SCHOLARLY, LOGICAL ADDRESS
ON ONE or GREATEST CUES
TONS EVER PRESENTED TO
WORLD AT FIRST coNGREeA.
TloNAL CHURCH YESTERDAY.

Or. r. A. Beard preached a grea,
sermon yesterday morning at the
First Congregational church. He took
as his text, Pisa. vii, 4. What is man:
The poet has we'll said, THE proper
study of mankind is man."
What is MANI The answer of the
dictionary is, Man Is an Individual
of the human race" the answer OF
science is, Man is a MAMMAL" the
answer of philosophy is, Man lis ra-
tionality with a body"
With the open Bible before me ]
wish to affirm hat all these state
ments come infinitely short of the
facts. God created man in His own
image. God gave man dominion of
the fowl of the air, and the fish of
the sea, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the face of the
earth.
Here DR.. Beard related an instance
of a visit to the celebrated menagerie
Of Mr.. Bostock, in which the famous
Bonavita. a very small man with only
a small whip, made all manner of
wild beasts, turned into an arena to-
gether, perform a variety of evolu-
tons at his will.
In accordance with the promise of
God man has been getting dominion
over the seen and the unseeR forces
of nature. Man makes gravStation
drive the piles for his bridges; makes
electricity carry his messages, warm
his house and cook his food, and do
a thousand other services; he makes
the sunlight come down and paint his
face Upon the photographers plate.
Man has constructed a telescope
which enables him to see a star so
distant that a ray of light, travelling
at the rate Of 1873, 900 miles a second,
would require $50, 900 years to reach
the earth.
Man is not only reaching out for
the vast but he is delving for the
minute. He is now able to measure
and weigh an electron. An electron
is so small hat it requires 100000 to
equal one molecule, and a molecule is
so small that it takes 1000 of them
to make a point large enough to be
seen with the most powerful micro
scope.
Man is the only being in this world
that can make a fire or fashion a
tool.
He is the only being whose capaci-
ties and powers are capable of in
finite extension and enlargement. For
example a mans memory nay be so
trained that he can commit to memory
whole volumes.
Professor Duxbury, OF England, can
rs.yN INa~.n4F- naazAznAszn IS ThA
book of Job, in which the whole forty
two chapters Of the book are recited
verbatim,
A boy with a talent for music never
reaches a point where with more APP
plication and study he cannot become
more proficient.
Man is the only being in this world
that has been given freedom in the
full sense of that word. Swallows build
their nests as they nave always built
them. Bees build their cells as they
have always built them. The birds
and the bees are held in a groove by
instinct. Outside of this groove they
have no freedom. Man builds his
house as he will and where he will.
Man is the only being on this earth
that has been given a conscience and
who in~tentiveIy knows he ought to
do right and not do wrong.
Man is the only being whose moral
nature is so vast and complex that
only God can know his true character.
He may garb himself as an angel
of light and yet be in fact a demon
Of darkness. On the other hand a
man may be very much better than
he appears to be.
whittier's lines must never be for
gotten:
Not by the page, word painted
Let life be banned or sainted
Deeper than written scroll
The colors Of the soul.
"Sweeter than n sung,
My Song that found no tongue,
Nobler than any fact
My wish that failed of act"
Finally, man is the only being in
this world to whom has been given
the promise of life ever more.
What a piece of work is man. How
noble in reason, how infinite faculty,
in form and moving how express and
admirable. In action how like an
angle, in apprehension how like a God,
the beauty of the world, the paragon
of animals" said Shakespeare.
A great structure, however, makes
a great ruin, when the elements that
destroy are given free play. Man in
sin is man in ruin. Only by Gods
help can man in the ruin Of sin be
restored to man as he may be and
ought to be. God, at infinite cost of
sacrifcial love, is trying to save man
because he is worth saving.