GLEANIKGS IK BEE CULTUEE. 



423 



0ai^ }l0MEg. 



And God said, Let us make man after our image, 

 after our likeness.— Gen. 1: 26. 



HAVE l)efore spoken of a little book 

 recently published, entitled " The Man- 

 r liness (if Christ.'' The book has had a 

 very extensive sale all over the world, 

 and has called forth nnich attention and 

 thonght. I i>resnine a uootl many have read 

 it, simply from the cpieer title coupling the 

 Avord " manliness " with that of Christ onr 

 Savior. It gave ns a new view of the bean- 

 tifnl character of the Savior, becanse the 

 reader's attention was directed to Jesus 

 from a new standpoint. Jt was taking a 

 glimpse of his life from another and unusual 

 direction. ^V^lo ever thought of Christ beiug 

 manly f Of course, we know lu^ was manly, 

 and, come to think of it, really the most per- 

 fect type of true manhood tliis world ever 

 saw, without question ; but yet, it strikes 

 one as singular, if not wanting in reverence, 

 to speak in that way. And yet, Jesus was a 

 man, and the thought is strikingly empha- 

 sized all through the gospels. He himself 

 seemed to feel a sort of pleasure in styling 

 himself the Son of man ; in fact, he uses 

 this term far more than the term the Son of 

 God, if, indeed, he ever used the latter at all. 

 Now, since we have had so much to say 

 about this word manliness, let us examine it 

 a little. What is it to be manly ? What 

 did God create us for, and what is the high- 

 est end of our being V How often we hear 

 the term, '' Be a man." Sometimes we hear 

 the additional injunction put to it, '' and 

 don't cry." What does the word man mean 

 there ? I often hear Mrs. Root speak to 

 Iluber in tones of endearment, " He is mam- 

 ma's little man." When he falls and bumps 

 his nose, papa says, as he lifts him up with 

 his poor little face twisted in anguish, all 

 ready to burst into tears, " There, be a man, 

 and do not cry." And even one-year-old 

 Huber catches the inspiration from that sin- 

 gle word man, and liraccs \\\) and tries to 

 laugh. What sort of (U'luiitiou lias he in his 

 little mind of the wtnd man V A\'liat sort of a 

 definition have his mamma and jtapa in their 

 minds ? and. in fact, wliat does all the world 

 mean when they use the term man as 1 have 

 used it y Somebody is under discussion, or 

 some public act is witnessed, and some one 

 breaks forth, '' He is a man.'''' 



At the noon services a few days ago I spoke 

 about the quality of manliness, and asked 

 what it meant. One suggested that it means 

 to be brave ; another, true; anotliei', self-sac- 

 rificing ; and another, wise. Mr. (Jray said 

 that it means mature ; and in a little "while 

 we had a pretty good definition of what tlie 

 world expects of a man. Is it not true, dear 

 fi-iends, that, when summed up, it means, 

 also, God-like, or in Ids own image, as in our 

 openhig text? It also means having a love for 

 one's fellow-men. Christ was maidy because 

 lie was beyond all men in this quality of 

 having a love for the human race ; in fact, 

 it was because God so loved the world that 

 he sent this only begotton Son of his into 

 the world ; and when Jesus came he began 

 to look at once out upon the world witli that 



wonderful love and devotion. No mother 

 ever loved or yearned over an only child as 

 Christ loved humanity. He did not single 

 out people here and there, but his love was 

 great and broad and general. He had no 

 thought of self, and no anxiety for self. A 

 mother's love may picture faintly to us what 

 Ills love was for humanity, for she would 

 give her life for her child in a minute. He 

 loved humanity because the image of God 

 the Father was shadowed forth in them— 

 faintly, perhaps, but it was there still ; and 

 it is this image of (iod that we term manli- 

 ness. 



A few Sabbaths ago our jiastor dwelt on 

 the word righteousness, and sliowed plainly 

 that the definition of the word is not simply 

 right doing, but that it embodied also the 

 promise of futurity and immortality. 

 '• lilessed are they which do hunger and 

 tliirst after righteonsness, for thev shall be 

 filled." Is it not plain in this little text, that 

 the word rigliteousness has a l)roader mean- 

 ing tlian sinii)lv not doing anything wrong V 

 Now, is it not so with the word manliness? 

 Does not manliness include also godliness, 

 and tlie thought of immortality V We speak 

 of humanity, especially the young over the 

 land, and express the hope that they may 

 not be lost by intemperance and crime. 

 When one forsakes all thought of being 

 manly, we speak of him as lost. Lost how V 

 When a young man dies by sickness he is 

 lost, is he not V at least we never hear of him 

 more. Why do we not say he is lost, like the 

 one who has gone to the penitentiary 'i* Be- 

 cause, dear friends, we all of ns feel in- 

 stinctively that there are tilings a thousand 

 times worse that may happen to a young 

 man than simply death. Those who have 

 had experience iii great trials and afflictions 

 know that it is almost a joyous tiling to have 

 a friend die the death of a Christian, com- 

 pared with beiug obliged to see him go down 

 in the path of crime and wrong. To see a 

 friend die the death of the righteous is not a 

 hard thing, especially wliereliis dying words 

 are full of faith and hope in ( "hrist. To see 

 one go down gradually, and finally be lost in 

 sin, is one of the hardest trials this world 

 can give. Why t' Because God created man 

 in his own image and likeness, and we ex- 

 pected the man to show God's likeness. We 

 expect him to be manlike. We expect him 

 to be steady and true, not easily upset or de- 

 moralized, "even though things go awry, in 

 fact, we measure man a good deal by his 

 ability to control himself, and the thought 

 includes the ability to control others. Did 

 you ever see the "yonng schoolmaster (or 

 schoolmistress, if you choose) when he takes 

 his first school V llow much of this quality 

 of manliness has lie ? Perhaps you knew 

 him intimately during his boyhood ; and 

 when somebody startled you witli the an- 

 nouncement that he is to teach school this 

 term, your first thought was, '' AVliy, how 

 ridiculous! That fellow (or that girl) has 

 not sense enough to teach a bat." If you 

 have the quality of nianliness yourself, how- 

 ever, you do not say it aloud, but keep it to 

 yourself, and may ai'teiwanl feel even asham- 

 ed of the uncharitable thoughts; for, dear 

 friends, we ought to feel ashamed of them, 



