THE FALL OF MAN (4 OF 15)
Scripture: ISAIAH 14:12, LUKE 3:38
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The Faith Once Delievered (4 of 15)
The Fall of Man
Clarence E. Macartney
Luke 3:38
Isaiah 14:12
The famous novel by Blasco Ibanez, Blood and Sand,
comes to an end with a striking sentence about the
fall of man. The noted toreador, fatally gored by the
bull, has just expired in one of the chambers back of
the bull ring. His servant and attendant, standing by
his master's dead body, hears the roar of the crowd in
the amphitheater, greeting the next bull and the next
victim. Then the book comes to an end with this
sentence: "It was the roaring of the wild beast, the
true and only one."
On yonder promontory, washed by the sea, stands an
ancient ruin. Let us climb the hill and visit it. Only
a few of the front columns are standing, and these
support the central stone over what was once a noble
gateway to the building, perhaps a palace, perhaps a
temple. The walls have long since fallen; the roof has
collapsed, and the stones of the temple lie about in
disarray, half sunk in the sand and weeds, amid which
the lizard darts and flashes. On the stone at the
archway is a half-obliterated inscription; but by
careful study, and supplying a letter here and there,
we are able to restore the inscription, which is this:
"Which was the son of God."
That dismantled and ruined temple is the symbol and
parable of man's nature. The very ruins of the temple
proclaim its original splendor. So the ruins of man's
nature proclaim his original greatness. To survey him
is like visiting a palace or temple in its ruin. You
walk over mosaic pavements now overgrown with weeds,
and between crumbling walls where serpents crawl. Here
is a fountain that once threw its silver spray toward
the sky, but now is filled with rubbish; here lie
fluted columns, broken and prostrate; here are busts
and statues, defaced and fallen from their pedestals;
here are richly carved casements through which the
wind now howls; and here is a ...
The Fall of Man
Clarence E. Macartney
Luke 3:38
Isaiah 14:12
The famous novel by Blasco Ibanez, Blood and Sand,
comes to an end with a striking sentence about the
fall of man. The noted toreador, fatally gored by the
bull, has just expired in one of the chambers back of
the bull ring. His servant and attendant, standing by
his master's dead body, hears the roar of the crowd in
the amphitheater, greeting the next bull and the next
victim. Then the book comes to an end with this
sentence: "It was the roaring of the wild beast, the
true and only one."
On yonder promontory, washed by the sea, stands an
ancient ruin. Let us climb the hill and visit it. Only
a few of the front columns are standing, and these
support the central stone over what was once a noble
gateway to the building, perhaps a palace, perhaps a
temple. The walls have long since fallen; the roof has
collapsed, and the stones of the temple lie about in
disarray, half sunk in the sand and weeds, amid which
the lizard darts and flashes. On the stone at the
archway is a half-obliterated inscription; but by
careful study, and supplying a letter here and there,
we are able to restore the inscription, which is this:
"Which was the son of God."
That dismantled and ruined temple is the symbol and
parable of man's nature. The very ruins of the temple
proclaim its original splendor. So the ruins of man's
nature proclaim his original greatness. To survey him
is like visiting a palace or temple in its ruin. You
walk over mosaic pavements now overgrown with weeds,
and between crumbling walls where serpents crawl. Here
is a fountain that once threw its silver spray toward
the sky, but now is filled with rubbish; here lie
fluted columns, broken and prostrate; here are busts
and statues, defaced and fallen from their pedestals;
here are richly carved casements through which the
wind now howls; and here is a ...
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