The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-05
BEARD TALKS ON
A MANS MEASURE.
REV. DR.. BEARD OF FIRST CON-
EDUCATIONAL CHURCH DE-
LIVERED ZINE SERMON LAST
NIGHT-FlRST OF SERIES OF
STRAIGHT TALKS.

Rev. r. A. Beard, D. D., pastor Of
the First Congregational church, de-
livered the first of his series of
straight talks to young men last night
on the subject of The Measure of a
Man. He had a large audience and
said in part:
This is the Bible view Of man.
1t is not the scientific but the
religious view Of man. l do not mean
by this hat the scientific and the rcli-
gious view of man are contrary, but
that they are different. One looks at
man from the outside, the other from
the inside. Science deals with man as
a material being, religion deals with
him as a moral being. The Bible
represents man as the son Of God.
In the third chapter of the Gospel
of Luke there is given the pedigree Of
Jesus Christ, and it is traced back to
Adam, which was the son of Cod
If Adam was a son Of God all his
descendants are sons of God by ma
tural generation.
The sinful man and the sanity man
are both sons of God; but n is a
prodigal son, and the other Is a dutiful
son, one is a disobedient son and the
other is an obedient son-both are
sons.
If the prodigal son in the parable
had never returned to the fathers
house he would have been lost, but his
lost condition would nave been the
result of his going on wasting his
substance in riotous living and not
because the father shut the door
against him.
Gods appeal to men to turn from
sin to righteousness IS the appeal Of
a father to his children, the appeal of
a father who loves with infinite love
and knows what is best for his
children.
The most interesting truth of the
text. however, is not the fact that we
now are the sons of God, but that "lt
is not yet made manifest what we
shall be-" What infinite possibilities
lie wrapped up in the future Of every
moral being!
What each son of God realizes, of
all these possibilities, depends entire
ly upon the use he makes of the OPP
portunities which God gives every soul
for it's own growth and development.
Further on in the chapter from
which our text is taken we read, eve
know that if He (Christ) shall be
manifested we shall be like him: for
we shall see him as He is. And every
one that hath his hope set on him
purifeth himself, ever as he is pure
In the book of Genesis we have 1.-The
measure of a man" as God made him;
in the Gospel Of John we have 'the
Of a man" as he is yet to be
when he comes into such fellowship
with Jesus Christ that he sees him
as he is, and finally becomes like him.
For a prelude DR.. Beard spoke on
The New Civic Spirit.
He spoke of this as illustrated by
three recent occurrences. The first
was the municipal Christmas tree
services held in more than a score of
prominent cities Of the country. The
second occurrence was the dedication
of municipal buildings in Springfield
Mass, costing So, 900, in which
service a prominent feature was the
preaching of a dedication ermo by
one of the ministers Of the city. The
third item mentioned to illustrate the
civic spirit abroad in the land was
the work now being done by the Post
err Advertising association. Just be-
fore the holidays this yes this as
sociation caused large beautifully
printed color posters of The Nativity
to be placed in cities OF over 5000
inhabitants all over the country.
These posters were ten feet in height
and twenty feet long, and were most
artistically done. They advertised
nothing to sell, they simply announced
in picture form the greatest gift the
world ever received. At the bottom of
the posters were simply these words,
Ask your Sunday school teacher to
tell you the story.