Year: 1870

The emphatic point OF this injunction lies in the
word all. There is little need OF express command
to secure the giving of honor to some Among
every people there are individuals to whom admira-
ton and reverence are freely rendered. Military
successes are everywhere rewarded with popular
honor. The more cultivated communities pay
teen also those Who eminent iuart literature
science, or works of philanthropy. Every nation
has its heroes,-men whose brilliant qualities val
uahe services have caused their be enrolled
in the temple of national fame Hero. worship is
not confined to any people or historic period
Universally, there is a disposition to render honor
to particular individuals, the choice and master
spirits of present and past times But the direction
to "honor all men" looks 10 something very differ
from that which is instinctively praeticed the
world. The reverence paid to particular individuals
is paid because they excel in some valued qualities
They distinguished by talent, proves, learning,
or virtue. But the rendering OF honor to a few on
such grounds, is not Inconsistent with contemptu-
Gus feeling toward the mass of men. 1t is, in fact,
often seen that those who most enthusiastic in
their estimation of certain individuals, at the same
time despise most heartily the bulk Of mankind. They
prustrate themselves with almost idoatrous re,er.
enee before the special objects Of regard, then turn
aud trample ON the undistingushed multitude. At





ideas and principles very different from those
which men commonly form their estimate of human
worth. Ifhonor is due to all men, it must be upon
the ground of qualities and characteristics that be
long 10 all the members of our race. There must
be certain value and dignity pertaining to men
simply by virtue of their humanity. What the
grounds of the honor required for ALL irres pecive
of race or condition, of intellectual qualities or
! l,l,o he uirv
lead to thoughts useful and appropriate to the
sion which brings us together to-day.


The idea that there is worth inherent in man as
man, disinctiyey Christian idea. The origin
of it is that divine revelation which makes known
with clearess and certainty human character, the
relations of man to his Creator, and his destiny
an immortal creature. Heather nations have always
regarded the multitude with contempt. The com
mon people We're regarded by the eminent few
mass of rude material, valuable only it was
seryceable to their convenience or ambition. They
who could might use and in the using ruthlessy
destroy it. But Christianity introduced different.
sentiment 1t declares the essential equality of men,
since they are all the offspring of Father who
a. hath made of one blood all nations and who is
mo fespecter OF persons" The points oi likeness
betwf ben men are shown to be far numerous





learn that every man has certain qualities and
pacies that demand for him honorable regard. A
sscredness invests him on the OF his member
ship in the race. Whether be be white black,
learned or ignorant, whether he be the exempar of
viriudsbr he saye of vice, he is entitled to be held
in value, simply because he is a man Let US note
some of the facts that constitute this title


One claim to honor for all men is grounded upon
| the facts of human origin. Man is not merely the
handiwork OF God, as the brutes aud all sense
| less things bat he made in the image OF the
Creator There certain likeness to the divine
Author of his being that crowned him with
passing glory. Some of our modern philosophers
are ready strip human OF this glory. They
would have believe that man is only the last d.,
velopment from successive orders OF animals, each
of which led by natural evolution 10 the next grade;
| in other words, that men are only higher species
OF apes But will still hold fast to the ennoblirs
truths which the Scriptures make known 10 US r.
| spcctiug our creation. BY special act of the AL
mighty man made,-made little lower than
the angels, made with capacities OF knowledge and
of love- by which lie might be united to his Creator
| in a near communion and fellowship. He may be
come even Il pariaker of the divine nature. These
original honcrs have been sadly impaired by the es
! arrangement OF man from his Maker. But the divine
| image stamped upon him at the beginning has not
been efIacrd. Humanity is a ruin, but there is a
| grandeur even in the ruin which bespeaks the mag
! nifcence Of the original structure The traveller
| visiting the spot where the old Egyptian city OF
Thebes once stood finds scattered remnants of the
| former splcndor Of the hundred gated city. AT one
place there may be a stately column, all that remains
OF a grand temples; at another spot vast blocks
of carved stone half covered by the drifting sands
and in the midst Of the plain may be gigantic
statue. seeming 10 keep through the slowly passing
centuries watch and ward the desOlation
ThoughecantY AID delaced how suggestive are such
ruins. Their majestic proportions and the wide
spaces that separate different parts tell OF the great
ness Of the city of which they the sad memo
rails So there traces of the original dignity OF
man to be even in the lowest debaseDeut to
which any portion of the has fallen. Even the
violence and Ingenuity of his wickedness show what
noble end0wments have been perverted Although
the present condition OF man is far below what it
was intended to be, yet there is that in him now
hich marks him the child of God


The honor derived from his high origin belongs
to every human being. There is not one so low in
| capacity, undeveoped so vile, that he may
not, if he will, look up and claim kinship with the
majesty of Heaven. The members Of the have
| one lineage. A certain hOuhll ls thelT
for they are The children of the King. He aeknow
edges their claim and encourages the weakest and
meanest TO look up to Him and say, :" Our FaIber"
Another consideration showing the essential
worth Of all men, is the fact that every human being
has the capacity Of development without limit. and
at the same time is endowed with Immortality
/ This is a prominent point of difference between
man and all lower creatures. However rude and ig
norani he may be, there are latent powers and ca
pacities that may be drawn forth and cultivated to
any conceivable extent. Take the race that stapds
foremost for intelligence, virtue, and power; trace
back little way its history. and it will be found
isting in rude and low condition The individuals
who the glory Of our humanity, the grandeur of
whose souls renews faith in the God like nature
of man, are The bright consummate flower evolved
from rude stock by the culture of successive gen
erations. Every human soul contains the germs Of
whatever has appeared greatest and brightest in any
one of the The universal sympsthies of
Shakespeare, the profound thought Of Plato, the
energy of Napoleon, all exist In rudiment in the
dull dark mind Of the Hottentot. For there even
/ here some elements of thought and affection, and
power OF will. and these by their nature
pansive; they might, under fling circumstances,
and with sufficient range of q pment, reach any
/ height TO whrh man has asceaLsd.


nher NOW in connef.ion zrffb this fact