To worship. That
power of worship, that longing to worship, that instinct that it is his
duty to worship something, is--if you will receive it--the true
distinction between men and brutes. Philosophers have tried to define
man as this sort of animal and that sort of animal. The only sound
definition is this: man is THE one animal who worships; and he worships,
just because he is NOT merely an animal, but a man, with an immortal soul
within him. Just in as far as man sinks down again to the level of the
brute--whether in some savage island of the South Seas, or in some
equally savage alley of our own great cities--God forgive us that such
human brutes should exist here in Christian England--just so far he feels
no need to worship. He thinks of no unseen God or powers above him. He
cares for nothing but what his five senses tell him of; he feels no need
to go to church and worship. Just in as far as a man rises to the true
standard of a man; just in as far as his heart and his mind are truly
cultivated, truly developed, just so far does he become more and more
aware of an unseen world about him; more and more aware that in God he
lives and moves and has his being--and so much the more he feels the
longing and the duty to worship that unseen God on whom he and the whole
universe depend.
Pages:
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288