But, if man only, of all the varied creations of earth, may fall from
his high estate, so to him only is given the power to rise again, and
feebly, yet with faith, advance towards the Divine Excellence. This,
then, is the great thought of the occasion, to be accepted by the hearts
and illustrated in the lives of all. The fallen may be raised up, the
exposed may be shielded, the wanderers may be called home, or else this
house is built upon the sand, and doomed to fall when the rains shall
descend, the floods come, and the winds blow. The returning autumn, with
its harvest of sustenance and wealth, bids us contemplate again the
mystery and harmony of the natural world. The tree and the herb produce
seed, and the seed again produces the tree and the herb, each after its
kind. There is a continued production and reproduction; but of
responsibility there is none. As there is no intelligent violation of
law, there is no accountability. Man, however, is an intelligent,
dependent, fallible, and, of course, responsible being. He is
responsible for himself, responsible in some degree for his fellow-man.
There is not a chapter in the history of the human race, nor a day of
its experience, which does not show that the individual members are
dependent upon, and responsible to, each other. This great fact, of six
thousand years' duration, at once presents to us the necessity for
government, and defines the limits of its powers and duties.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79