Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1913-08-14

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go hardly be seen
with the naked
eye. Theamost OF
US drop out of life. and not ripple Of
interest is created on-the surface of
society On the other hand as we
look at man as he is seen in his real
being, as he is represented to us in
the scriptures, how great does he ap-
pear! Only a little lower than the
angels, crowned with honor and glory,
and given dominion over the creatures.
An old poet has very well expressed
our thought in this way:
An heir of glory! frail child of dust!
Helpless. immortal! insect infinite!
A worm! a god! I tremble at myself.
And in myself am lest"
We must keep in mind that the
question is, What Is man that thou
art mindful of him? 1t Is God that
is in mind here, his estimate of man.
In the first place man is mortal, that
is. he Is like all beings composed of
flesh, bones and blood; he is born, he
lives, he dies. Now if that were all
COuld We Bay thai 0OO& Has " IL
mind upon him? What has God done
for man as an animal? If man would
obey Gods laws would he not be
stronger, more comely in person,
would he not be better housed, have
more beautiful and pleasant surround
ings?
But man is a moral being, and here
we are approaching the image of God.
Here We may include in the likeness
of God the intellect also. AS a moral
being nan is accountable to God.
Here is also the realm Circumstance,
the capacity of distinguishing between
right and wrong. And here we may
find that the thoughtfulness of God
Heeeisea emphasis. Every provision
is made Tor mans moral perfection.
II a conflict arises between the mere
ly physical and the moral, the moral
is preferred, and rightly so, because it
is in this that the relationship be-
tween God and man is more clearly
shown. Every man has a conscience
unless indeed he may have put it to
death by his own neglect or abuse OF
It. And God does not leave mar with
the capacity Of distinguishing between
right and wrong without a criterion
of right, and we have the Bible. We
have, too, the advantages that come
from association with men and women
Of high. moral character, and We have
the Immaculate life of Jesus Christ
which a late writer has spoken OF In
fho tar~ 1S<ho roo~o1 o10rv re 1acr1c
Christ" ~
There is no use denying that mar
thinks very highly Of himself, and il
is the spontaneous disposition of man
when asked as to his moral or spir
itual state, to say that he is perfectl,
right. The redemptive work of Jesus
Christ throws the s~earchlight on man
and he sees himself as God sees him
and gets the correct answer to thu
question, What is man that God shoult
think upon him and visit him? In tn.
first place he is not right. He is no
just slightly wrong. Taking the teach
ing of the only book that has eve
fairly depicted a we must conced'
that the picture is grueseme and sad
, AJ- OO61AA1I6 O4=IAO az
when man had o gotten far from
the state of perfect innocence, it wa
: said that every Imagination of tn
thoughts Of his heart was only evi
continually. Job said that if he a
tempted to justify himself his mout]
+, would condemn him. David said tina
all men are zone astray, that they ha
altogether become filthy, that Their
! was not one that did good, no nc
me. Isaiah saw that all of man Pre-
fessed righteousness was as filth
rags, and that his iniquities like tn
. wind lac taken him away. Jesu
Christ spoke of some men as a gel
Grafton of vipers, and QUESTION:
: whether out Of them, being evil, an
good thing could come. The pictur
that Paul gives in his letters to tn
Romans and Galatians is one ths
makes us shudder. Thus is man
> God thinks on him, and there is mott
ing less that God could do for hi
J. but to redeem him out Of his wretcl
e edness and misery and death. AS &c
= thus saw. him he saw in him the mo-
It glowing possibilities of future grea
n ness and glory. The glory of tt
h Christian religion is that it makes pr
e vision for mans regeneration, no sir
n ply his spiritual inward regeneratio
e but the regeneration of man in h
It whole being. Twice-born men can |
numbered this minute by the tens
IS thousands, men whose present is
different from the past as day is fro
a. night. God sees in every man, ho'
t. ever low, an angel that is more bea
Is tiful than the angel that the sculpt'
sees in the block Of marble.