The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-02
M|NDOF THE MASTER
SUBJECT OF SERMON
Rev. EdmOnds Says Man
Has Ambition Bug
CHRIST LOYAL TO GOD
Jesus Could Have Gained Fame and
Riches and Lived in Luxury,
But Chose Other
Way

"The Mind of the Master was the
topic of the sermon delivered yesterday
morning at the South Highland Presby-
terian church by the Rev. Henry M.
Edmonds Let This Mind be in You
Which was Also in Christ Jesus" was
| the theme of his sermon, and through
| out his entire address he applied it TO
the course modern humanity is inclined
| to take.
Man has been variously described"
he said, las the animal that laughs.
the animal that weeps the animal that
talks, the animal that organizes But
for our purpose today, suppose we call
| him the animal that aspires.
Ambition of Man
| Man has been bitten by the ambi
| tion bug. He has been universally and
fatally infected with the microbe of
divine discomfort. He stands on the
| banks of the stream of time, a pale,
rather thin, pathetic sort of creature,
reared up on two legs instead of four.
| with a domelike head balanced on
slender neck, and with a dream in his
soul. Pathetic, 1 say, by reason of the
devouring ambition that possesses his
heart, and yet majestic, even terrible,
by reason of the wonders he has
wrought
Nothing has been able to gainsay
his insistent desire.
"In the morning of life he stood on
| the bank of a stream and watched a
fish. Now through the years l see him
|
kneeling in a followed out log with
pole as propeller; next, scudding more
swiftly with a birch bark boat; next,
hosting a kind of a sail and claiming
the wind for his labor. And the end
is not yet He has seen the speed and
the power of the fish and he desires
even that Today the ocean greyhound
is in New York on Monday, in Liverpool
on Saturday. kind of screw propeller
fish tail of mans devising has done the
work.
| Again he stood and saw the animals
| speed across the plains; and he was
| discomfort with his own poor travel.
| The camel was trained to bear him. Too
| slow. The horse was harnessed to his
| will. Too slow. He sprang into the
| cab of an engine and laid iron rails
across the world. Steam, gasoline, cleo
tricity. And he still dreams of madder
speed. He stood at midnight and thrilled
as the lightning illuminated the temple
dome of heaven. There follows the tai
low dip candle. kerosene, gas, but he
was not satisfied until he had captured
for his store, and his house, and his
street. the lightning itself.
Conquering the Air
| "Once more. the little, pale, pathetic
creature stood by the stream of time.
with dome for head and a dream
in his soul. lie saw bird wing his
free flight. Thenceforth he shall be
discomfort until the air is his also.
You saw man speeding across
country with a message. Why were
! you not satisfied? Why did you train a
carrier pigeon? Why did you stretch
wires and make them carry your worusg
Why did you tear the wires away and
make the yiewless air vehicle for
| your thoughts? All, you have been BIT
ten by the ambition bug. You cannot
escape it for the virus is in your veins.
Get little money and you want all
money. Get little knowledge and
you want all knowledge. Get little
power and you want all power!
/ And II 1t is SO in these realms, it is
| likewise so in the moral and spiritual.
I'm the sphere of character and con-
| duct, man has also seen a vision, and
had dream In the sea of moral val
| ues he has seen a form, more subtle
than the fish. In the ether of spiritual
attainment, he has espied a creature
more swift than the bird. In that world
which lies over our world, he has caught
throbs of a power more imperial than
steam or gasoline or electricity. In
| the armament of the universe. he has
viewed a light more resplendent than
| any that ever illumined our little dark
ness
He has stood by the stream of time.
pale and pathetic-but with the dream
and has said as he scanned the hea
vens Thou too, oh Christ, art Mine.
"A curious sort of unbelievable thing.
that into our ken, should have swung
| this new. planet of supernal beauty,
And more curious and unbelievable still
that within our hearts should have
sprung into full life, an answering de-
sire and demand to own it. What won
der is here that God should reoutro
the infinite of us and that our natures
should say: Amen and Amen!
Christ Was Perfect
Christ was the perfect man. Renan,
a French skeptic, at the close of his
Life of Jesus says: There remains
then Jesus, the fullest most satisfying.
most glorious revelation of God-7od
| in man. forever to be the height of our
desire, the supernal goal of our ambi
tion.'
What was the mind which was in
Christ Jesus? 1t may be stated thus:
He had such loyalty to God and such
love for man that He was willing to
give up all to please the One and serve
the other. Gods mind was bis mind