SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING

By

REV. A. H. COLLINS

THE WORTH GF A MAN. ••Bow much., then, is a man better than a sheep.” Matt. 12 : 12. | This is not a question. It Is a. comment—ono of those swift Hashes of moral insight which set old truth in a new light, and invest it with a strange, new power. In this single, illuminous saying of the .Master Ho lifts the crown of sovereignty on man's brow and proclaims the inherent ftnd iudestrnctable dignity of man’s nature.. And 1 it is of that I wish to speak. One of the most arresting and gladdening features -of modern life is the increased and ever-increasing estimate that; is. everywhere set,.on man. Timo was wheii. manhood was held cheap.". The toiling millions were the : wretched drudges, the helpless, hopeless -.slaves of a privikigej and pamjaired-few.; Their ; lives were made'-bitt®? >hy! hard and. c<r,uel ' I bonds. They’ hardly dared'-call their isouls their.,p.rvp; ;Rome'.in the hour of I;

her imperial splendour was peopled by ■ slaves, whose bodies .tyrants whipped at i’wii). then fimi-g tiiem into their pleasure J ponds to. the fishes. The .survival lof rthekold title ‘‘Freedom of the city” i points backwards to feudal times, when }in ’-.‘Meriio England” he only was “a i man” whose long hair floated over ] shoulders that had never stooped to a i lord,, and’ fill .besidp were bondmen and ’serfs. Since then we have climbed by j painful s'teps and slow to a/broader. > worthier conception of our common mani hood. Little by little the essential I worth of man’s nature • asserted it-

Christ taught us to -..lift ; our'rnyes and cry, "Our Father,” and by degrees we are coming to see that he who does j,that jßiitist, to be consistent,. tarn. his I and say bMy brother”; for j tho ; . doctrine of the; common IfathcrJhootl of God involves the- doctrine- of man’s universal brotherhood. Little by little, I say, this is getting recognised, and its recognition is ending many an I age-long-woe. It is but . as yesterday ■in the life of the nations that the Britj ish Government paid down ' £25,000,000 jin hard cash to emancipate the slaves ! held in bondage by British subjects. ! The great Republic of the West has j only recently recovered from the storm of fire and blood through ■ which she I elected to pass rather than continue ! the traffic in human. flesh and blood. ’ These were doughty blows struck for : the defence of freedom and the proper ! i ecognition of the honour due to man ! nw.de in the imago of God; that they have not been struck in vain ina.y be seeii in tins,' that the serf has become a citizen, that the word “people” is coming io be written with a capital "P,” and that look where you will, there are signs of awakening among the manhood of the ■ world.

A -LIVING FORCE. Nor should it be forgotten that we owe ail iltis to the “carpenter’s son” of Nazareth. The “enthusiasm of humanity” is no idle dream of religious charlatans; it is a living force begotten in our hearts by our faith in the Son of. God. When Jesus said, “How much better is a man than a sheep,” He sowed the seeds of social revolution. The \ Gospel alone explains the great and beneficent changes that are passing so silently over. the face of society. The Bible has all along ben the Magna Charta c£ human liberty. Its voice . lias ever. been on the side of freedom, ■ the redress of wrongs and the lifting and greatening.of that nature Christ assumed in ,the incarnation and dignified by wearing Believe me, men and brethren, we lly ■ in the face of our truest friend when ; wc despise the message and reject the ' law •. of .• that Book, which all along the Uino..ofihistpry has demanded of kings, i statesmen and rulers, that they ’’honour i all men,” that they respect manhood , wherever they find it, that they-, treat ■ men as' meii,'and not as food for gunpowder or tools for self-aggrandise-ment. ■' : ’ ’j i I DIVINITY OF MAN. Speaking, as I wish to do, of the Divmity of Man,; the inalienable worth of man,' I do not forget that preachers and : theologians have generally assumed a J dillercn-t!';attitude, and used another form of speech. They seemed to have , proceeded on the assumption that in order ! to. glorify God you must vilify

; man. Yet what father would cove, 'honour gained at such a price? We have ben so long accustomed to m2 : cointemptuous terms of man that we are in some danger of forgetting that such Jarjgnage can be justified by an appeal Co. the Holy. Book. If man is nothing, ; :>hy all this fuss about his : min ..and wjhy all this anxiety about his Christ thinks man worth saving,, and this, makes his ruin tragical amt. his redemption glorious, klan is God'sj P great price. Jesus utter, d no word that cheapened man. He calls and commands to humility but humility is only another form of greatness. I’ride of name and place is one thing; a sense of human worth is quite ■ another. Fride dwells on-what it has that is different ‘from other jnen; worth thinks of ■ What it is in common with other men, Pride separates, worth unites. Wherever there is the largest measure of -seif-respect there will always be the fullest and tenderest respect for the rights and claims of others. You cannot disparage man without dishonouring God, and reducing the Cross to an exaggeration of remedial measures. No, I am pot afraid of making too much of man; bur peril is in. the other direction. Man ,is , the. 'Scandal and glory of the universe., ...Man is no less a mystery than God. His nature is a union of ex-treines-rrdnst. and Deity. His heart is a reservoir i intQ which all kinds of joy and. niayJtow. As an animal he reaps enjoyment from the senses; as a spirit he-'draw.s fruition from the skies, and holds fellowship with God and the .■Hffiy .... ... . . .. , .i “An aiapnal, an iangel he, . Combining seraphs’’ ecstaey With: &fns'dOuS delights;' .:■■■ AH-'gwd'-'above, all‘ill below; ' •. i Thiou’gli his mysterious being flow, • ■ He heaven and earth unites.” PROFOUND, MYSTERIOUS MAN. ■ And 'kit’irio’reinind you that sin, 'whicli l and' our shalrie, has • iLii’ei’ffiblilbfc'-'’ts?ffi‘i6ihirig'' ! abo/it' . iiU’sug-’ j

tgesti've of man’s inherent moral worth. |ft is better to be a man who can sin than an ox that cannot. It is better to be a man fallen, tempted and redeemed, than an angel that never felt I he force of temptation, but never knew the bliss of redemption. “Cloistered and untried virtues are valueless.” zk man’s power to sin points to the greatness of his nature no less than his power to’be holy; just as a wealth of poisonous weeds in a garden proclaim the richness and potency of the soil no less than a crop of ripe and luscious fruit. :Our moral ficedom is our glory, but you cannot be free without having the power and liability to sin. The strength of a spring can bo as accurately measured by the distance the pendulum swings to the loft as io the right. It is a law of optics that the blackness of the shadow must always be in proportion to the. brightness of. the-.light, and there are no shadows so deep and cold as those flung fjcan ft pure white rav of, light. . ; A man can only actually be as Satanic as ho has poner to bp saintly. The brighter the surface the deeper the tarnish. It is the host of rhinoj thnr iio-

i iiisii. ,i.v is me w.wb ol viungs rnat oe- > I come the most offensive if they corrupt, I Iso t'h-it. there i» a, bright side to human sin. and all’ that the Bible says so e.m--i pha.tica.lly about man’s fallen condition . is, when, rightly interpreted, a testimony io hrs native worth. JJ’ho exceeding si:i- ■ I fulness of sin .is an .index to the sinner's worth, awl we can rightly appreciate t’ne saving gospel of ’Christ only by rer.icmboring the sublime height from which man has fallen, as well as the i | abyssmai- depth of his descent. | / TVifAT TS : ; , W'c may x reach the sauie; conclusion •’ by an entirety- different; '.road. Fvery ’ soul has . what may be called its grand { moments—-times when .our better, self asserts its presence and wo have i glimpses, of what it if* possible for -ns - jby the grace of God to become. Our i spirit chafes under the restraints and | limitations of the body.’ We have a I sense of something outside us that is ■larger and nobler. We have a. faculty for the infinite. “Sink deep enough in the human and yon come to the divine.” Alan is like a caged bird living behind gilded bars, yet in continuous contact with the light and air outside, and he has longings for, that ampler space and that nobler freedom; He knows that he is greater than; the world that lies about, him. Mind can master matter; soul may rise above sense. “Man is a feeble reed trembling in the midst of the creation; - but he is endowed with thougnt. ■ It does not ’ require the universe to arm for his destruction; a

breath of wind, a drop of water will

suffice to kill him. But though the | universe should fall on man and grind i him to powder, ho would he greater jin his death than it would be in its | triumph, for ho would be conscious of i defeat and it would not be- sensible of jits victory.” Wo can play off the forces of nature one against another, and set the raoun--taiu torrent boring a roadway, through tho heart of the mountain itself. We can tame and harness tho forces of wind and wave *wd compel them to do our bidding. Wo can talk through tho air, tie our mesages to tho lightning and post them under tho sea. Here in this body pent “cribbed, cabined and confined,” our thought, is free, and we can wander from pole to .pole in far less time than |it takes me to describe the fact. Uon- | sider, too, what is implied in- this, that man is capable of receiving a revelation from heaven, capable of holding fellowship with his Maker, capable of desiring to be like God. “So nigh to grandeur is our dust, So nigh to God is man. When duty whispers, Lu, you'mu.-t, Tho soul responds, ’I can.’ ” Oh! surely cur soul must bo akin to God or it could not do all this. "Now arc we.the sons of God,, and it doth not yet appear what we shall -be” when in the enjiess cycles of God's eternity.'fle shall give to-our spirit that last touch of imperishable heatityi

THE FULLEST REVEL.uriON. . . . ■' ■ I But it is in the Cross of Christ that, we get the fullest revelation of man’s greatness and worth. The central object of all scriptures is the Cross, and. the dross demonstrates at least two things, God’s eternal hatred of sin and God’s eternal love of the sinner. Whoever cheapens man belittles the Cross, and .educes the atonement to a waste of sacrificial, blood. The Cross explains man’s worth as nothing else can do.” Calvary is man’s eulogy written by the finger of God in characters of his own life’s crimson.”

If you would know how God thinks and what He feels towards mail, then consider what it denotes for God to , suffer on his account. A mother’s love cannot be fully known, though it may I be part sutmised from the sacrifice she will make on her child’s behalf, and I there are times when this assumes peculiarly impressive forms. “God only knows tho love of God,”' -but’ 1 'We gb't . hints of it in many .ways; and. never more than at the Cross. The sacrifice of God’s eternal Son is the Holy Spirit’s.: ' witness to man’s preciousness ■ in . the l-alher’s esteem.

J It is said that one of the Kings of I Prussia- one day entered a village school and questioned the children. Holding up a precious stone he asked to what kingdom that belonged, and they re- , plied “the mineral kingdom”; pointing to a rose, he asked the question again, and cneo more they answered “to the vegetable kingdom.” Then said the noble monarch, “And pray tell me to what kingdom do 1 belong?” All were silent awhile for they did not like to j say '"the animal kingdom.” But at last a- sweet-voiced little maid said, “Please, sir, you belong to the kingdom of God.” “Out of the mouths.of babes and sucklings tbou has perfected praise.” That child was right. Man belongs to the kingdom of Go.d and can only miss that glorious heritage by wilful rejection of the Son of God.. . . . .

THE MOTIVE.FORCE. I have done when I have reminded you of two principles which seem naturally to Jrow out of- this subject;’‘and first let this vford be said. 'We ought to regard ourselves as those who' have been created in the image of God, and redeemed by the blood of the Cross'; and we ought to find in this a mdilVe 'for' the conquest' bf evil.', We. are as' removed from the niost intelligent' f and

sagacious of the brute creation as midday is removed from midnight. W.e can hold .fellowship with the Most High, we can take pleasure in the works of His ■ hand, and rejoice in the rectitude and beneficence of His ways. We ate His children. His love can fill us; we may find unspeakable felicity in giving ourselves to Him in loving- obedience and unstinted service. Wickedness is therefore beneath us. Every act of sin is a violation of our highest being. If the majestic eagle which soars beyond the range of human vision, and dwells amidst the splendour of the midday sun, should descend to the habits of an ignoble owl and mope out its existence amid the dungeons and gloom of an old baronial castle; if one of heaven’s bright Seraphim, who rest not day nor night, but serve Him in His temple continually, should degrade itself to the level of brutes .that perish, even thebe' would act more worthily than do vle' : when, forgetful of our high origin arid : sublime destiny, we stoop to sin. Pity the red Indian that sells his father’s inheritance for a few gaudy glass' beads; condemn Esau who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage; but remember that theirs was wisdom itself compared with those who barter their' souls for things of time, and prostitute the noblest faculties of the spirit to services unworthy of the sons of God. Your soul was made for God. All. the kingdoms of the world cannot satisfy you apart from Him. Brothers, let us rise, and return to our Father. Born for the kingdom of God, let us seek peace by entering into it; and secondly, let us recognise this essential greatness in the souls around us, and find therein our incentive to seek their sa 1 vat ion. THE VALUE OF MAN.

s Society has different standards of ; j judgment in determining the value of t j man,' some of them false as sin. Somgr I times ~a man is estimated by his mental j or physical qualities; if ho is of good' i J physique or clever in manipulation, if > ■' he is capable of executing delicate and intricate designs, he is honoured and ’ lesp&ricd. Ju other cases it is mental ; agility that is commended. A man is • able io think clearly, and speak winsomcly and commandingly on abstruse and elevated subjects, therefore he is honoured. Thus in many instances we honour the accidents of birth, instead of honouring the nature Christ dignified by wearing. It was thus the ancient Greeks acted. “The genius that touched tho canvas . with light, or moulded j marble to forms of passion,, or shaped the quarry into architrave. or frieze, or which uttered rare thoughts in melodious numbers,” received the eager tribute of their homage, but the human soul was not esteemed for its own sake. Christ speaks otherwise. Inspiration teaches that an inherent majesty is possessed by every human, spirit. The meanest man and tho basest woman bear the impress of God’s imago and may by tho grace and goodness of God ■■ attain to more than angelic happiness. So let fis view- man, arid-whilst recognising. distinctions of gift and' talent let' us not desjt»i&4 the most pitiful of the sons of earth; .for we are of one blood, have one Father in heaven and have been redeemed by one Saviour. Men J are sadly far off from God, but men are 'dajiiiblb.'of redemption, and Christ has J ;d.eriib)istikited that' mani is Worth '■ t'fiel * ; ’pa|fis v: bf' , -dnd ; ' l sa.Vi'fig.’'' ,i J 1 . i ■ c: ■ i.h;- -.tonn.v