J. It dethrones God, for it makes Him like ourselves. What improvements has it undergone? It is true, as the Psalmist reminds us, that man is like a thing of naught, that his time passeth away as a shade. He must have understood that man finds his true and proper life, his human heritage — even as God does — in the thoughts which visit his mind, in the choices which proceed from his will, in the feelings which glow within his heart, in moral activities and spiritual enjoyment. In God's moral universe His higher glories are displayed, because there He manifests His moral attributes. So the longer we listen to the voices of nature, they become the more full and rich in their expression of Divine truth. Who are we, then, to judge of it as some do? "Visit him." There is absolutely nothing besides.5. Life is not chance; nor is the hereafter. The Bible takes the truth for granted. Me told us He came that He might bind up the broken-hearted; that He might give liberty to the captives; that He might give sight to the blind; that He might seek and save that which was lost, and to strengthen the weak. Therefore man holds a place of so great importance in the universe of God. But whatever else the words may mean, they clearly assure us that there is in every man something that is akin to God, something which separates him from all other creatures on the face of the earth, something which makes it possible for him to think of God, to know God, and to love God. The Divine care of man exhibits His goodness; but even Divine goodness is not without a purpose, for it is a form of the Divine wisdom. Now, this consciousness is not the result of our physical constitution. "Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers." But when death comes near us this reply will not serve. God is revealed in relation to man as He is revealed in relation to no other of His visible creatures — the personal God of His personal creatures. Genesis 1 - Setting The Stage Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Nov 9, 2018 | 1,945 views. Men need such a view. It is the possession of this princely power to think that places him on the very throne of material beings, in his hand the sceptre of dominion and on his brow the crown of a possible and glorious destiny. Thus there are two views of life, the detranquillising view and the all-tranquillising view. One spirit reigns in both. From it our actions radiate, and for our actions we are justly held responsible.III. In the Bible all the possibilities of man's being are foreseen, and all his wants and actualities are fully provided for.(W. This reflective self-conscious faculty is wanting in the beast. But though it can soar to heaven, it brings down no certain news. )God's care of menThomas Sherlock, D. D.When we consider the care of Providence over the children of men, whether manifested in the works of nature or of grace, we naturally fall into the reflection of the text, and wonder to see so much done for men, who seem to have no merit or desert equal thereto. Sovereignty, supreme and absolute, is in the case of Jesus of Nazareth the goal and climax of all moral effort. One is that of evolution; the other is that of creation. Therefore, on the whole, the creative theory is to be preferred. In nature, first, God shows us His estimate of man. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? But if the flying straw and gnat display His wonderful works, what will He not have done in and for man? Thou madest him a little less than God. A. Look on to the eternal future. The Church opposed it, for it has no basis in Scripture; it contradicts the doctrine of original sin, which tells that its consequences devolve on those who had not sinned as Adam had. By the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. MAN'S DIGNITY IS FURTHER MANIFESTED FROM A SURVEY OF HIS PHYSICAL NATURE. I. II. Such is the doctrine of mind reason. The microscope discovers to us miniature worlds, crowding under our eyes, countless in number, and each thronged with a dense population of its own. Thou madest him a little lower — or a little less — than God. RELIGION IS BASED ON THE SENSE OF IMMORTALITY. Font Size. Are we to suppose that God would enact in heaven what our sense of justice and charity will not allow on earth — that the superior can be unmindful of the inferior? Check out these helpful resources Biblical Commentary Sermons Children’s Sermons Hymn Lists. But if reason be corrupted, there follows Superstition, as in the East; or Atheism, as amongst modern scientific men. He transposes into mental images the things perceived by the senses: he passes beyond the limits of sensuous impressions into the world of rational thought, and thus grasps the eternal truth underlying the perishable. A. But there is a certain intellectual and moral vulgarity in attaching such importance to mere material magnitude.2. WHY.1. Still, man feels his littleness as he never felt it before in the vastness, the inconceivable vastness, of the system of nature. 2. The power of any language to suggest ideas and excite emotions is mysterious. If, on the one hand, nature is our irresponsible tyrant, on the other, we are masters of nature. That is found in the sacrifice that God has made to restore man to the high place from which he has fallen. So in regard to this earth. Verse 4. While the unbeliever declares that a being so insignificant can never be the subject of Divine care, still less of Divine love; that man is no more to the Supreme than are the insects of a summer's day. The first — that man can perfect himself. GOD HAS REVEALED THAT MAN IS A SPIRITUAL BEING. The rainbow has nothing in its structure adapted to reveal a Divine promise respecting another flood; but the Author of it gave it a meaning, and made it, as it were, an epistle printed on the clouds and recording a Divine purpose. Now all this should lead men to adore and give thanks to God for His grace and favour. It is in connection with human morality alone that what I may call the moral indifference of nature receives some measure of explanation. 2. But it is not so. "Visit him." And mind is immortal. Satisfying his mental aspirations. He is so always, from the earliest hour of our infancy.2. Man is the occasion and object of an attribute whose blessing the fallen angel never enjoyed, and which the holy angel had never before beheld exhibited, the Divine mercy. There is nothing more great, nothing more noble, nothing more beautiful within the reach of humanity than to know with a personal affection the Being to whom we owe our existence, to be able to understand something of the working of His Divine power and love, to sympathise with the holiness and purity of His nature, still more to make efforts after attaining to some measures of that purity and that holiness in ourselves. But science itself contains the reply to this argument. To the lowly it is much to enjoy the notice of the strong and high. Sidus means star; it is the root of siderial heavens, the starry heavens, the stellar universe, and the like. The starry sky says to us —1. How should we be consecrated to thee above all others, since thou hast bestowed more cost on us than other! Among great men there is no one to whom the sense of man's littleness has presented itself with such overwhelming force as to Pascal. and the son of man, which is … So also it is with periods of time. Traces of grandeur in fallen man. And as He has infinite power, who are we that we should say that He has spent too much?II. EACH NEW DISCOVERY HAS DEPRESSED THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF MAN IN THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE.1. The glory of the astronomer who can measure the courses of the heavenly bodies and calculate the forces of the universe is really only another witness to the glory of the Creator, for He who framed the heavens framed also the understanding of the philosophic man, by which he was enabled to ascertain the laws regulating their motions. And the angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest," etc. Man is an immortal intelligence, and therefore great. It is a necessity of man's nature to divide the whole vast sum of things into two marvellously unequal parts — himself, and all that is not himself. His thought has ever vibrated between two opposite conceptions of himself Today, in the fulness of his energy, he fancies himself the noblest of beings and the measure of all things. A creature who sins always makes himself of importance. Of the East, which tell of the transmigration of souls.2. And then the second objection — that we are too insignificant for God to notice. The Jew, recognising man's moral freedom and spiritual obligation, saw dearly and felt keenly the character of his low estate; he knew the touch and smarted under the sting of sin. As we look upon this great world in which we live, upon the heavens robed in majesty and glory, we cannot but recognise man's superior excellence and importance. There is another and very different form of visitation that is quite as truly of God. His eyes dismount the highest starre: He is in little all the sphere. )LinksPsalm 8:4 NIVPsalm 8:4 NLTPsalm 8:4 ESVPsalm 8:4 NASBPsalm 8:4 KJVPsalm 8:4 Bible AppsPsalm 8:4 ParallelPsalm 8:4 Biblia ParalelaPsalm 8:4 Chinese BiblePsalm 8:4 French BiblePsalm 8:4 German BiblePsalm 8:4 CommentariesBible Hub, (4)Tranquillise the impatience and fretfulness incident to an incomplete life. INSIGNIFICANCE OF MAN WHEN COMPARED WITH THE STUPENDOUS UNIVERSE. There are intelligent beings peopling other worlds than this. "What is man?" We may well wonder why. Article Images Copyright © 2021 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. The motives by which man acts are, after all, only influences, not compulsions. What is man when compared with immensity? Buchner, that "Mental activity is a function of the cerebral substance. Beard, B. A.It is possible to measure man against the universe on more than one scale, and the result will be strikingly different according to the scale which we use.1. We can wander from the Father's house. How grateful should we be for this distinguishing grace of God. What, then, does he mean?1. More servants wait on man, Than he will take notice of: in every path He treads down that which doth befriend him, When sicknesse makes him pale and wan, Oh, mightie love! Then be absorbed in devotion, in adoration, O man, when thou contemplatest this theatre of the marvels of thy God.2. All nations before Him are nothing. In both nature and grace, the works of God are indeed wonderful, and we unworthy of the least of them. P. Liddon, D. D.Religion is the maintenance of a real bond between God and the individual man. Why shall He not be honest in revealing it? He, therefore, is far more than mere power — infinite in goodness and in truth. It is impossible without it. Have a proper sense of thy dignity, and learn to think generously and nobly. What right have I to claim a different rank? In judging of a house you do not think merely of the man who is to live in it, but of the power, station, wealth, and so on of the builder, and then you judge whether or no too much has been lavished upon it. THE DEALINGS OF GOD TOWARDS MAN. The life of man is too brief and momentary compared with the ages during which the universe has existed. Ages ago David felt the insignificance of man when compared with the greatness of God's material works, and expressed it in the words of our text. And this conscience forces us to believe, that there is a moral purpose in this world, which must at last be vindicated as supreme. He did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Therefore man holds a place of so great importance in the universe of God. Then the peculiar attribute of God is holiness. Great names are ranged on either side of the controversy. Man has a spirit which can think and soar and worship. How abominable, then, is man, who "drinketh in iniquity like water"! Beard, B. A.It is possible to measure man against the universe on more than one scale, and the result will be strikingly different according to the scale which we use.1. The folly is evident when we consider that this outward, physical life is a very fragile and temporary affair, which has no certain lease of existence, and is liable to be pulled down at any time, liable to be snuffed out like a candle, while the inner spiritual personality is to go on living forever.(L. If He exercise His mercy toward men, He must relieve the suffering; if He do give this relief, He must therein manifest the mercy which He feels. 4. If we could see deep enough, we should recognise that "Whatever is, is in its causes just." Man, in the progress of his knowledge, is ever striving after unity, ever seeking to reduce many phenomena to one general principle. 2. That large knowledge of the natural world, its forces and their application, to which modern science has advanced with such splendid strides. So, then, let us meditate —I. AND THIS REASONING APPLIES ALSO TO THE WORKS OF GRACE. (Edward Andrews, LL. By the image of God a "vital" likeness is intended; a likeness that has its source in a community of life. This fact of reflective consciousness would seem strange and significant enough, if it implied no more than the power of simply cutting ourselves off from the universe, and so recognising ourselves. Suicide would be reasonable, and, indeed, has been advocated as wise. Flying over the U.S. on a clear day, aware of impact of man upon this planet. Man is found to be compounded of just such substances as the brute, the tree, the stone. He has superadded arbitrary to natural language in the communication of His truth. But though it can soar to heaven, it brings down no certain news. And we may justly say of both: Lord, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Man is distinguished in the scale of being by thought. The great sentiment in his mind at the time was undoubtedly the infinite condescension of the great Creator and Proprietor of the heavens. For the heavens display the infinitude of God, and that infinitude filled with existence. There is another and very different form of visitation that is quite as truly of God. A somewhat inferior check, by which God humbles our pride, springs from man's mistakes in judgment. In all the helpless years of infancy and childhood. The song of the Psalmist falls on the ears of Christians now with a fuller cadence, swelled with the experience of nearly thirty centuries, and prolonged into the hopes of eternity. (The Evangelist. It is hardly possible for us to escape from the remembrance of our littleness and our weakness. He wrote the Psalm. The heavens, the earth, the moon, the stars: how much mere do these terms convey to us than they did to the psalmist! God has given to His human children a share in His wide rule. The greatest of our theologians have given to them very different interpretations, as they have sought to discover and to define those powers and faculties in man which appear to reveal in him the traces of the Divine image. THE WORKS OF GOD'S GRACE IN THE DEPTHS BELOW. But think of one philosopher bringing into correlation to the same law the falling apple and the revolving worlds, and another reducing to theoretic uniformity the speed at which the planets circle in their courses, and a third demonstrating, with glass of new magic, the constituents of the solar atmosphere, and you will see how there can be no comparison between that which thinks and that which simply is. The greatness of God crushes our hearts if we look only at the wonders in the heights above, and the expression of amazed and humble thanksgiving is also the language of doubt. (Delta in "Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. Whence this fulness of provision, and this unbounded wealth of beauty and of blessing?" No principles of common benevolence are sufficient to explain the gracious acts of God to man. And of all this we are conscious. Sermons by John Wesley. But sin is a defect of the soul rather than a positive quality. We may heap figure upon figure to express our physical insignificance, and we shall not find the level of our nothingness.2. But this prejudice lies as much against the works of nature as against those of grace. An offending member of a family assumes a significance he did not have before. Does His work in the starry creation ever fail? Tomorrow is the judgment. Religious Affections in Their Objective Ground, The Excellence of the Divine Name and Nature Universal, On the Condescension and Goodness of God to Man, Some Crises of Human Life and Their Moral Lessons, The Jewish and the Christian Thought of Man, Wonders of Grace in the Height and in the Depth, Wonders of grace in the height and in the depth, The Jewish and the Christian thought of man, On the condescension and goodness of God to man, Some crises of human life and their moral lessons, Delta in, Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. True, there is a sense in which science gives back to us with its left hand what it has taken away with its right. Art sets up its barriers against the threes of nature, which often assault us as a foe, or constrains her to submit to man and to accomplish his designs. D.)God mindful of manW. FINE ANIMAL ORGANISM. The consistency of the atonement with other parts of the Divine administration. and that thou shouldest visit him every morning?" It resolves itself, really, into an infirmity of our perceptive faculties. The Most High appears to take no heed of the moral qualities of men, or of their weakness and helplessness. One law governs and unites all, and each is contributive to it. Voltaire said, "The welfare of a nation often depends on the good or bad digestion of its prime minister"; and Mr. Motley avers that "The gout of Charles V may have changed the destinies of mankind." Yet is that a trifling glory — to ascribe this to Himself, and to regard all our actions as emanating from God? The truth in it David had a glimpse or: But instead of yielding to the grovelling fear, David triumphed over it, turning with exulting confidence to his assurance that, after all, God is mindful of us, that God doth visit us. Wonderful is the scene which is opened to the eye when it looks from earth to heaven. Psalms 8:4. Banks, D. D."What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Holy Scripture is one continuous record of God's effort to catch the attention of human ears, and to win the affection of human hearts. Nothing so exalted our race as the Son of God inserting himself into it by his incarnation, and so becoming the Son of man. Man had his name from thee; they had their names from man. Punshon. We are children of eternity.3. It is that of —1. That must be taken into the account. "You will not only have to pall down the church tower," said the man, "you will also have to blot out the stars, before you can destroy all that reminds us of God; they speak to us of Him."(W. Apart from man, apart from the consciousness and reason that are his attributes, the glory of the visible universe has little meaning. His inspiration, it is probable, did not extend to the realm of physical science; and his views of the wonders of the earth and of the heavens would be limited by the knowledge of his day. 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