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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN.
THE OMNIPOTENT RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
SATURDAY. AUGUST lh. 13>
| j By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD,!
PASTOR UNIVERSAUST CHURCH
T HERE Is no more reliable Index
of • the Intellectual status and
the progress In civilisation of
any people than may be revealed by
a study of the conception of Deity
constituting the basis of Its system of
religion.
Even as we believe that,the habits
of a man's mind may be determined
by. an Inspection of his library, so may
we read his soul's estimate of God In
ths attitude which he preserves toward
the visible social order of which he Is
temporarily a part.
Ths World's Freedom In the Knowl
edge of God.
The world is happily coming con
atantly to a more complete realisation
of the great significance of the words
of Jesus, “And this Is life eternal, that
they should know Thee, the only true
God.” Through the growing knowledge
of the true character of the "one true
God” must come the world’s spiritual,
political and economic salvation. And
the value of the “eternal life” so
eagerly sought and longingly waited
for by religious souls the world over,
since man became a conscious being,
shall be greatly enhanced by the dis
covery of its possibility as a present
attainment. The most serious draw
back to religion, according to Its crit
ics, Is that It deals entirely too much
with futurities.
If these premises be true—and they
Will scarcely be disputed—then It
would appear that the supreme busi
ness of leaders of religious thought
everywhere Is to endeavor by all means
to be brought to their aid, to spread
abroad in the hearts of men the knowl
edge of the truo character of Him In
whom our souls have believed.'
In this educational effort let it al
ways be remembered that truth alone
Is to be served, regardless of grievous
damage or even demolition resultant to
the time-honored credal products of
patient. If bigoted, scholars, and to tra
ditions hoary with age and venerated,
If not venerable.
“Ye shall know the truth and the
truth shall make you free," was the
promise of the founder of Christian
ity, but freedom for the human race,
whether It be political, industrial or
spiritual, has ever been purchased at
the cost of sacrifice. Even as scien
tific truth knows no halting place, but
must ever stand ready to forsake the
precious holdings of yesterday for the
more valuable revelation of today, so
shall that spiritual truth for which our
hearts strive be won to us, not by our
tenacious grasp of the picture of God
caught by the theological camera of a
by-gone age, but It shall come to us
gradually, through those varied expe
riences of life, wherein, like the pa
triarch of old, we meet God face to
face. And whenever the clamor of the
heart thus taught of God shall demand
the forsaking of the teachings of the
schools and the philosophy of the
creeds, the eager pursuit of spiritual
truth shall make this sacrifice a Joy.
Ths Soul'* Demand for Righteoutneaa.
However much of Justification for
his philosophy the pessimist may find
In the world’s halting progress toward their God.
perfection, yet we can not fall to re
joice in the universal yearning of the
normal soul after righteousness.
Man may Indeed be' “prone to evil
as the sparks lly upward,” but he does
.not Instinctively' deslrfe it. Buffeted
'and beaten to the earth by the power
of temptation, momentarily triumphant
over the weakness of his undeveloped
spiritual self, and groaning In despair
for the frequency of his sins, he Is yet
able to cry out, with St. Paul, “that
which I would not, that I do. O,
retched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this
death!”
We believe, with rejoicing, that we
have come forth from God; therefore,
“original sln“ can not be a fact unless
W’e are willing to declare that evil was
pre-exlstent In the heart of the Eter
nal. Total depravity of the human
soul may be a theological fact;,it can
never be a spiritual truth.
If then we recognize with constant
encouragement the universal longing
of the human soul after righteousness,
the constant desire for spiritual ex
cellence and wholesome ethics, surely
the simplest reasoning from premise
to conclusion must Justify us in a be
lief In the essential righteousness of
a God able to Inspire In Hls creatures
such Instincts of moral and spiritual
perfection. And even as the righteous
ness of God Is proven by the righteous
Instincts of ^Ils creatures, so shall the
righteous Instincts of Hls creatures
be constantly nourished to full fruition
by an Increasing confidence In the es
sential and unfailing righteousness of
REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD.
The Soul's Quest of Power.
Then, as we find that the longing
for power, the desire for unconquer
able strength, the Insatiable yearning
for triumph unending, are instinct In
the human heart, shall we not most
naturally conclude that the God, from
whose heart came these germs of vic
tory, Is one against whom even the
gates of hell shall not be able to pre
vail? We shall learn also that the
conscious power of the spiritual man
Is limited only by the reach of hls con
fidence In the absolute omnipotence of
hls God. /
“All things are possible to him that
belfeveth,” crystalizes from an ideal
Into a triumphant reality In the life of
man whose faith and whose theology
set no bounds to the abllty of the Al
mighty. His watchword Is the splen
did declaration qf St. Pau,l “I can do
all things through Him that strength-
eneth me.”
The world’s need of faith In a God
of omnipotent righteousness.
The supreme need of the world today
Is for men and women who are abso
lutely convinced of the all-conquering
righteousness of God. No individual
less capably endowed may hope to
successfully cope with the conditions
which are presented by our complex
civilization. From men and women In
spired and sustained by the splendid
courage of this faith must we look with
confidence for the solution of those per
plexing social and economic problems
which are the legacy of the present
generation.
Shall we not, therefore, with that
Justice born of the primal instinct of
self-preservation, reject as an Influ
ence positively , baneful to the social
order, any system of theology which
would teach men to believe In a God
indifferent In beneficence and Impotent
In righteousness, a God whose “arm Is
shortened that He cannot save?"
A God of absolute and unqualified
righteousness must surely desire that
righteousness shall prevail throughout
the whole of Hls physical and moral
universe. A God of unllmted ability
to execute the demands of His right
eousness which shall surely bring to
complete realization in Hls universe
the ideals of Hls own. Inherent per
fection. This Is surely a logical con
clusion to be grasped by even the sim
plest mind. It Is the philosophy taught
by the human conscience, the only Bi
ble of whose Infallibility and divine In
spiration we may be absolutely cer
tain.
The Final Harmony of All 8oult With
God.
There can be but one satisfactory
answer to this line of reasoning, viz.:
“The final harmony of all soqls with
God,” the ultimate triumph of good
over evil In every human life and
throughout the universe.
Herein Is no loss of human Identity,
no merging of the Individual will Into
the unit consciousness of the “over
soul,” no surrender of that precious
conceit of "man as a free moral agent.”
Rather Is there In this belief the
strengthening of the Idea of Individ
uality, the making of the puerile hu
man will omnipotent through Its en
dowment of the divine will, the change
of "man as a free moral agent” from
Ideal to a glorious reality, by
crowning him with that priceless fr
dom from sin which shall enable m
eternally, to choose the good and «’
stlnctively to reject the evil. n ‘
“Our wills are ours, we know not hn»
Our wills are ours tp make
thine*.” uern
The human will Is not lost to it s P0JI
sessor when It Is persyaded into L!'
mony with the divine will. ar *
A Safe and 8ane Theology.
Surely this Is a safe and sane the.
ology. It vindicates the honor of God*
It maintains the Inherent Integrity 0 f
His offspring. It throws a gleaming
ray of hope across the darkest prob-
lems of human weakness and human
error, while the echo of a strain of
eternal harmony gives promise n f a
triumphant and all-pervading melodv
whose diapason shall one day drown
the discordant clamor of earth’s self.
Ishness and greed. It enables us to sav
with Job, “I know that my redeemer
liveth,” and It make* It natural for ua
to believe that
“Not one soul shall be destroyed
Or cast as rubbish to the v>ld,
When God hath made the pile complete
l
It defrauds death of hls most poign.
ant sting and snatches from the grave
Its victory, and, for the hour that now
Is, It gives' a dignity, a sanity, and an
Irresistible Impetus to every normal
activity of life.
>••••••••••••••<
MtHIHMIMIHtMMHIINII
HtHlltHHIHHIHHI
.............I
THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD
By REV. JAMES W. LEE, '
PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH
A TERMINAL railway station cov
ering 20 acres of ground In the
most populous part of New York
city, may be put down ns the eighth
wonder of the world. The station Is
bounded by Seventh avenue on the
east. Tenth avenue on the west, Thir
ty-first street on the south and Thir
ty-third street on the north. Over this
territory there stood residences, stores,
hospitals, churches and every conceiva
ble kind of establishment to be found
In such a center of a great city.
This entire stretch of land with all
above It and below* It, was bought out
by the Pennsylvania Railroad Compa
ny three or four years ago. St. Mi
chael’s church, convent and school
stood In this region, and the authori
ties were loth to part with their place
of worship and school. There was de
lay In the negotiations but finally the
church people consented to give up
their land and belongings, upon condi
tion that they be permitted to worship
In the church and use the convent und
school property until the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company could build them a
church, convent and school on another
site covering Just as much space as the
old ones and equally adapted to their
use.
Ho on West Thirty-fourth street the
railroad company has built a new and
magnificent church, convent and school
to* house the 8t. Michael congregation.
It |ls now about ready for occupuncy
mid so at last the workmen are taking
down the top part of the old church.
The pastor of this hitherto historic
ctyurch Is Rev. John A. Gleeson, who
succeeded Rev. Arthur Donnolly, call
ed to ^succeed Rev. Father McGItnn
when he resigned on account of the
Hfnry George labor controversy.
The excavations for the. Immense
railway station now* go dow*n as deep
ns from 45 to 60 feet. One can stand
on the street above and see the men
below* drilling, blasting, loading cars
with dirt and rock, building retaining
wul^s to Inclose the space, and per
forming all sorts of feats with a view
to clearing out and leveling this hole
In the ground for the vast superstruct
ure to rise above It. The retaining wall
around this site Is built of concrete and
anchored to bed rock. The problem
the engineers faced In opening this lo
cation was not taking down the houses
thi\t stood upon It—that was easy—but
the proposition of carrying three
streets, two bearing trolley car lines
and having sewer and water pipes un
derneath, the third carrying trolley
lines and an elevated road, across a
cut GOO feet In breadth and ranging
from 45 to 60 feet In depth, so ns not to
disturb traffic and the running of the
cars. •
On Eighth avenue a 6-foot brick
sewer crosses the territory. In order
to cross this cut It was necessary to
put u new Iron sewer pipe Into the
place of the new* brick one, making of
It a sort of round bridge, supported
from beneath. Think of the people liv
ing nt the first tin this ground with
blasting going on down under their
hearthstones, but all so quietly and ac
curately ns not to disturb the Inmates
of the dwelling places. In order to give
the denizens above opportunity to sleep
it was ordered that no blasting should
be done In the night time.
It Is estimated that from the ter
minal station proper, and from the
power house to be built on the south
side of lL-it-will.be necessary to take
out two million cubic yards of dirt and
rock. This Is enough to furnish foun
dation for a city of moderate size. This
enormous amount of eurth and stone Is
taken away on cars and used to drive
back the sea and bog elsewhere, thus
securing more land now covered by
water and marsh.
Above this deep 20-acre hole In the
ground Is to be erected the most com
modious and beautiful terminal rail
way station on the face of the earth.
The area of Solomon’s Temple In Je
rusnlein was only 12 acres; that of the
pyramids ■ nt Cairo, Egypt, Is only
about 11 ncres; the terminal station
In St. Louis covers 10 acres; but here
we are to have a railroad central house
covering twice ns much ground.
Through this, arcades will be built for
surface and elevated cars to pass Just
as they did before the Pennsylvania
rnlhvny people ever had such a dream
ns they are here transmuting Into hard
staggering fact.
Hut the station Is only the center of
this twentieth century dream. A great
car house In the midst of New* York
city would do the Pennsylvania rail
road no good with arms of the sea cut
ting It off from connection with the
wide stretching lines of Iron reaching
out to all parts of the American Union.
Something else must be done on the
part of the* modern masters of power,
to make this center of delirium com
plete. Ferries could not reach this un
derground mansion. In order, there
fore, to bring the rolling passenger
coaches loaded with human freight
from all parts of the wide, wide world,
It was necessary to open underground,
and under sen the roadways, running
out In both directions from the central
terminal station. The main rnlhvny
station is only the hub of a series of
spokes In the shape of tunnels, which
to connect the Island of Manhattan
DR. J. W. LEE.
with tho outlying land of the country.
The rnuln spokes In this wheel, pro
jected out of that Intelligence of the
engineers ns If from Fulryland, have
been named 1 the North River division,
the Terminal division, and the East
River division. Together with the sta
tion huh under the city of New York,
the various tunnel spokes connect the
continental nmlnlund of America, and
the metropolis. As far as this side of
the Atlantic Is concerned, It Is proper
to say of the Pennsylvania railroad
that there Is no more sea. One of the
engineers of this dafing movement re
marked that Hudson discovered the
river that bears hls name, but that he
was the first man who had ever stood
under It. There Is nothing In the wild
est romance, or In Anderson’s Fairy
Tales, or In the Arabian Nights Enter
tainment half so marvelous ns the
methods devised by the engineers to
tunnel beneath the Hudson and under
the East river.
Four tunnels run from the main ter
minals from Seventh avenue, eastw*ard
under the East river In pairs. Two of
these enter the East river nt tho foot
of Thirty-fourth street, two others nt
the foot of Thirty-third street. Each
tunnel under the river Is Just large
enough for one train to pass. These
East river tunnels are being made
through fine quicksand. Thus It has
been necessary to devise some method
to keep the water from filtering down
from above, and also to keep the 34
pounds of air pressure, necessary to
keep the water out, from going Into
bubbles through the top. This diffi
culty has been met by (lumping clay
on to the bottom of the East river. Tho
clay furnishes a blanket to hold the wa
ter up, and keep the enormous air
pressure from the 250 horsepower com
pressors back.
The tunnel is mnde by forcing w*hat
Is culled the shield, somewhat larger
in diameter than that of the tunnel,
through the quicksand. These shields
are gradually advanced to the unln-
vnded territory at the bottom of the
river by hydraulic rams, supplying a
pressure of 6,000 pounds to the square
Inch. As this* shield advances the:
sand and raw .material Is thrown back
into tho tunnel and carted away, while
the bed of the river Is held up at the
opening of the shield by the tremen
dous pressure of the air. The men
here actually work in the center of an
air bubble equal to 34 pounds pressure
to the square inch.
Shifts are frequently made, so that
It Is Impossible for a long while to
stand it. But, strange to say, the
workers, while In the realm of this
highly compressed air are stimulated
to the point of enthusiastic activity. Thr
only danger from working in'such en
vironment Is that when the - pressure .Is
relieved too suddenly the laborers are
seized with a new kind of disease
called ’’the bends.” It Is a sort of
paralysis. Physicians are in constant
attendance and are giving careful at
tention to methods of relieving this
new* ailment. One remedy Impressed
me as very interesting. As soon ns
the laborer, emerging from this place
of toll, Is seen to be affected by the
bends, he Is taken at once Into a small
Iron house with two compartments, one
of which Is for air pressure of as much
per square Inch as that In which he
worked. When he Is placed In this
iron compartment for a while he Is re
lieved. After this, the pressure Is
taken off so gradually that he suffers
no further trouble.
Our modern poets no longer w*ork
with words, they work with mechuni-
cal devices Invented for conquering
nature. The poets of New York are
longer the Bryants and the Sted-
mans. Our American poets are no
longer Longfellow, Whittier and
Holmes. They are the men like Satn-
uel Rea, C. M. Jacobs, Alfred Noble
and E, W. Molr, the masters of the
situation, who have this vast enter,
prise of the Pennsylvania Railroad in
charge.
Back of all this one should picture
a quiet room In a corner of the Broid
street station of the Pennsylvanki Ra.1-
road Company In Philadelphia. There
sits a man of retiring disposition aid
very few* words, Alexander J. Cassat
by name. When he became presldett
of the Pennsylvania Railroad less that
ten years ago, hls imagination bega
to work along channels hitherto un
surveyed by man. Hls dream Is being,
realized. He is planting the Pennsyl
vania Railroad In the heart of New
York, and hls plans.* before long, will
result In the possibility of a man who
takes a passenger train In Atlantn. Ga.,:
being able to go right through thp
subterranean regions of New York to
Boston and Portland, Maine, without
change.
Mr. Cassatt found that passenger
trains were being delayed by freights;
he has, therefore, built an entirely new
railroad from New York to Pittsburg.
He found that the four tracks cULthla
main line were so close together nbat
when a train was wrecked on one yf
them It delayed the trains seeking tV
move along the parallel lines. He
separating the tracks now*, so that pas- “
senger trains may proceed without ob
struction. Hls vision saw* the necessity
for these improvements. Hls practical
mind saw* the possibilities of working
them out promptly and economically,
and hls personal tact and diplomacy
made It possible for him to go to Paris
and accomplish the hitherto Impossi
ble and unimaginable feat of borrow-
Ing $60,000,000 upon exceedingly fa
vorable terms from the conservative
bankers of France, with which hls gi
gantic schemes might be carried out.
THE CHOICE OF THE HIGHEST
"Our God whom we serve? is able to
deliver us from the burning flery fur-
nnce and He will deliver us • - * Hut
If not—” Daniel III, 18.
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH
L ET us stop Just there. Let us
leave the tent thus. unfinished
*nd with a glaring hiatus, for
the Hebrew children have come down
in their minds through this brave tent
arid have looked squarely Into a gulf
of awful possibility. ”Our God whom
we serve Is able to deliver us and ho
will deliver us. • • • But if not.”
• “But If not." That Is awful. “But If
not." That means a horrible death.
I do not care this morning If I do
not eay one word about the great de
liverance that did come to these men
In the fiery furnace. That was grand.
Nebuchadnezzar appreciated that, for
you know how w*hen he saw* them
walking unburned In the flames he Was
astonished and rose up In huste and
spake and said unto hls counsellors:
"Did we not cast three men bound Into
the midst of the fire.” He appreciated
that. But that was not the grandest
thing. There Is something here he did
not appreciate. There Is something
here finer and more wonderful If you
will permit me to say thut, than the
faithfulness of God. It la the fatthful-
nesi of these men who said: "Our
God w*iom we serve la able to deliver
us from the burning, fiery furnace, and
he will deliver us. But if not” •
They.walked right up to the fire and
confessed the posslbll|Ly that God
might not 'deliver them und were un-'
dismayed. This Is the really great
thing about this story. Their deliv
erance has Its lesson, but It’s no such
lesson as this. Here Is the highest cast
of faith. In the Bible and In human
history we can find very many sorts
and kinds of faith. Thla is the highest
sort and kind. There are degrees in
the-quality of faith Just as In any oth
er of the cardinal graces. I say here Is
the highest degree. I want you to look
at It.
The Highsst Faith.
If we recount the degrees of faith I
suppose we would have to start with
that very common faith among men
that very common faith among men.
Is professional, formal, creedal. A set
of fair weather conceits, which we call
our faith. It Is ornamental and quite
useless except for ornament. It glit
ters In modern ritualistic nnd worldly
minded Protestantism like the broad
ened phylacteries used to glitter about
the shoulders of the Pharisees. In a
strain, at a test. It turns out to be no
faith at all. It Is like the faith of the
hoy during a protracted meeting tn
Virginia who declared that he had
faith enough to do what Peter failed
at, faith enough to walk on the wa
ter. The challenge accepted, they went
down to the river to test It. The
youttg faithful took a look at the wa
ter and then sat down and rolled hls
pants up above hls knees before bo
would venture. It was no faith nt all.
There Is an example of faith given
us by Mark In the story of the woman
ship the golden Imago thout bast set
up.” I say this Is the highest faith
nnd I say It on tho unchallengeable
authority of Jesus t’hrlst. He Is “the
author and finisher of faith.” And
this was hls faith. In the garden of
Gethsemane he finished, he perfected
faith when he said: “Fnther, let this
cup pnss,” but If not—If not—I will,
drink It. I will not falter; I will not
(all.,
The record of thp passion of Christ
from that moment till he cried, “My
God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me?” Is the record of a moral heroism
meant for every one of us who comes
to the brink of disappointed prayer
when God leaves us to stand alone,
leaves us to receive the full shock of
failure, leaves us to the
Just had faith enough to touch : fuge of our faith only, without support,
the hem of Christ’* garment In the I without proofs, and without anything
crowd and Matthew* tells us of the j to fal^ back on except our own moral
lm Just bad faith enough | heroism. •
Humble Heroes,
life Is full of fiery furnaces be-
poor man who Just lmd fal
to cry, “Lord. I believe, help thou mine!
unbelief.” 1 suppose we may call this l
“llttlf faith.” But It Is by tp> means
to be despised. In 1st Kings we hav
the record of a great faith. Elijah fac
ed the hosts of Baal on Carmel nnd
challenged their god to meet hls Je
hovah In a great trial of fire. They
tried nnd but no fire came to but
up the sacrifice. Then this man of
faith set hls face toward God and
wrestled passionately in prayer, not a
doubt In hls heart, not n fear and no
thought of the possibility of failure.
We call that a grand faith. A faith
that would not take ”no” for an an
swer. And that Is a grand faith. But
It Is not the highest faith. Here Is
the highest faith, the faith that could
say, “Our God w hom we serve Is able
to deliver us from the burning, fiery
furnace, and he will deliver us, but If
not”—
The highest faith Is the faith that
an stand for God to full, the faith that
an risk disappointment. “Our God
can. our God will deliver us, but if
not”—
Well, wlmt If not? Well, “if not.” It
doesn’t make any difference. “If not,”
It doesn’t alter our position. “But If
not, be It known unto thee. Oh, King,
wt will not serve thy gods, nor wor-
Are You Still Paying Rent? If so, I am Surprised!
Rent Receipts Remind me of Money
’ Thrown Away.
Do you know that the Standard Real Estate Doan Company of Wash
ington. D. C.. will tell you a home-purchasing contract wicreby you
can buy or build .a home anywhere In the United States and pay for
It In monthly paymenta for less than you are now paying rent? They
will lend you from ft,000 to (6,000 at 6 per cent, simple interest, al
lowing you to pay It back in monthly Installments of $7.50 on each
thousand borrowed. For prospectus and plans of our proposition,
call on or write J. St. Jullen Yates. State Agent, 321 Austell Bldg.. At
lanta, Ga. Bell phone 2663-J. Atlanta phone 1918.
Truthful Hustling (cents Winled in Ertrj Count) in the Stott
cause It Is so full of experiences that
lead men nnd women to face Inciirn
ble griefs nnd Inevitable disappoint
inents. And I do not refer altogether
to sudden and crushing bereavements.
There are burdens that do not crush,
but lacerate our shoulders. There are
blows thnt do not blind us, nor dull,
nor deaden, nor stun our hearts by
their business, but are none the less
terrible because they do not. They are
the ever constant, ever present Inward
sorrow* we must not expect to escape.
They are a part of the environment In
which we are placed, of the chain we
have oursajvea made or of tempera
ment we have Inherited. And they
make their appeal to our moral he
roism every day.
A young man I know very intimately
has confided to me hls deepest per
sonal experience. He says that all hls
life he has felt In himself yie capacity
for heroic suffering, the capacity for
playing a noble part If the call was
ever made on him for It. When he was
a boy he used t«> sit nnd hear hls fnther
and hls comrades of the civil war tell
over again their battles and that when
he would hear them he would go out
i>f floors with his whole soul afiume and
tell God and the stars what he felt In
him, that he could be a soldier, that
ip could stand up before bullets and
annon without blinking and then he
could go to bed nnd He awake sorrow
ful that the. w ar was over, that there
’no chance for him to he the hero
he* felt-he could be.
The subject of hls reverie very often,
he says, has beVn to imagine himself
fit hard nnd heroic situations, when
upon hls coolness and courage life de-
j vended. And it was not in hls mind
that he could be nfrntd and fall the
opportunity. Now* hls life has not led
him to such opportunities, but Into
l>carcful ami quiet labors. And he says
he never reads of deeds of heroism or
REV. DR. JOHN E. WHITE.
of public men like \ President Roose
velt and Governor Folk but hls heart
flushes with the consciousness that had
the fortune of hls life made It possible
he would dare to do as these men have
done. And the man hears all the time
a suppressed and disappointed hero In
himself and does not complain, but he
says “God can do great things with
me If He would, but If not—I am go
ing on Just the same and be brave and
true and nobio In my soul and do what
I may Just the same.” *
I do not believe hls ease is unusual
nt all. There are thousands of po
tential heroes who never come to light.
You know Gray’s Elegy. It was written
tell just such an exi»erience as I
have related. A country boy who never
had a chance. “A youth to fortune ami
to fame unknown.” Sweet Is the mu-
of that Elegy—Its rurnl peace, “the
ing herds ‘Winding slowly o’er the
lea,” the drowsy tinkling* that lull the
distant folds.” but the heart of It and
the immortal power of It Is this boy
never had a chance, who lived
with gold in hls heart umlug, with he
roism unrevealed, n grand sould blush
ing like a flower unseen and wasting Its
sweetness on the desert air or like a
gem of purest ray serene condemned
to dark uncovered caves of the ocean.
That is the power of it that grips the
life nnd holds it. It is great because
true. It Is great because the poet
leaning over the grave of that country
lad spoke what we know ns true of
ourselves, of hundred* who never
“Perhaps In this neglected spot Is laid
A heart once pregnant with celestial
fire;
Hands which/ the rod of empire might
have swayed
Or waked to ecstacy the living lyre.
Some village Hampden that with
dauntless breast
The little tyrant of hls fields with
stood
Some mute Inglorious Milton here may
rest
Some Cromwell guiltless of hls coun
try’s blood.”
Here thousands nnd thousands come
to stand and say God could deliver me
from the burning furnace of poverty
and Isoldtlon and could make use of
me for larger things, nut If not, I will
be w’hat 1 am and do what I may
whether He does or not.
4 Moral Heroism.
Sometimes the burning fiery furnace
comes through a constitutional dis
position to doubt. The spiritual strug
gles of many people w*ould appall you
should you be let Into their secret lives.
"Would appall you!” No, I am wrong,
for you would in their struggles recog
nize your own.
I was in a company of Christian
men recently, every one of whom Is
consecrated to Christ and Hls cause.
One of the nifmber craved the coun
sel and comfort of hls friends on the
subject of hls doubt—not intellectual
doubts, but the fear and sorrow of hls
heart which came-over him at times
when he prayed. Another then con
fessed a similar grief, but more intel
lectual in Its character. We drew
close together and closer and our
hearts were full for a space. We had
every one hls flery burning furnace.
And we came to this at last: “Our
God Is.able to deliver us and He will
deliver us, but If not, w*e will be true to
our deepest selves, and not fall Him
though He may seem to fail us some
times. What better are we than our
Lord, and did He not come to that
j place and cry, 'Why hast thou for-
j saken Me?’"
I Now, I know* where this text leads
I some of you. It leads you to the bet
ter hours of your life, when, though
many friends were around you, you
were treading the wine press alone and
were actually in the burning flery fur
nace, and there was no deliverance.
Perhaps I pain you by reminding you
of the place at which your faith for a
time went to pieces, where you doflbt-
ed God, doubted prayer and religion
and everything except the undoubta-
ble presence of this heart-ache. You
do not like to reciyi it. You sometimes
feel that you have wounded your faith
and sinned against your Christian pro
fession. Will you permit me this morn
ing to stand here in the presence of the
Hebrew heroes and the suffering Christ
and say this, that If you have sinned
it is not because you have doubted and
feared, but because you have some
times failed to be brave In spite of
your eclipsed faith, or should I say you
haven't found refuge In the Inner for
tifications of your faith—your moral
heroism w*here God Is most surely en
trenched? “Our God whom we serve
Is able and He will deliver us, but If
not—”
So I am putting a plea thnt find* us
all. The one thing for us all—the sure
thing for us all—Is make much of tho
best that Is In us, and follow* the light
we have.
Our highest faith Is not taking the
Bible word for word, nor a professional
attitude toward God and Providence,
hut In being true to what w*e feel In
ourselves, to be our duty. If this seems
to be a! that Is left you and you
couldn’t gq otherwise If you tried, then
believe in.*, that is God’s will and that
Is God’s |*rth for your life.
“Our God W’hom we serve Is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery fur
nace, and He will deliver us, but If not
—well If not, we will let It make no 1
difference In our courage; we will not
turn to false gods; we will not lower
our flag; w*e will not fall the call of
our own hearts and be anything lew
good or less.noble than we think God
would have us be.
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