282 Mtisings by Camp-Fire and Wayside 



change of expression is noticeable because it brings 

 the statement of the origin of man into harmony with 

 many and all other references made in the Scrip- 

 ture to the source of spiritual life. It is spoken of 

 as an impartation, not as a creation. The divine 

 man sprang from the loins of God, and is as endur- 

 ing as he — was planted, not as a finished statue is set 

 up, but as the potentiality of manhood imparted to 

 material forms, where it began the process of "be- 

 coming" stated by Moses; began to unfold, and 

 continued, and now continues, and will until the 

 divine creative ideal is perfected. Adam attained 

 the divine image because his life was thenceforth of 

 the divine essence. He possessed to the full meas- 

 ure of his capacity all the attributes of his Father. 

 There appeared One upon the earth of such spiritual 

 receptivity that he possessed in himself "the full- 

 ness of the godhead bodily." There is no differ- 

 ence between the divinity of man and of God but 

 this of degree, and in this consists the relation of 

 fatherhood, and sonship, which is the essential and 

 elemental fact of the Christian religion. The denial 

 of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of 

 man is a more specific and destructive atheism than 

 that which refuses to recognize the divine existence. 

 In addition to the denial of the one essential predi- 

 cate of monotheistic religion, it is necessarily and 

 equally a denial of the one essential predicate of 

 character and morals. It is a proposition to return 

 to the ethical status of the solitary saurians, upon 



