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1 nm r ±hE A'JLANTA tiiiOfvGlAK, UNBELIEF TRIED BY THE TESTOF SCIENCeI I By REV. JAMES W. LEE, PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH We were speaking In the lam chapter 3.he consequences of unbelief begin - I “ nr with the publication of the doc- I nines «f Spencer and Darwin down to 1 near the close of the nineteenth cen r HE art, literature, philosophy, as well as the social and polltleut life of the period were permeated I(hr unbelief of the time. George ■ Blot’s closing years were spent be- „,!h clouds back of which she felt no "J n was shining. The spiritual as- E Stations of the noblest men, it was 1 thought, were nothing more than the Semeral exhalations sent up from .L f souls and having no more slgnlti- : Jti.ce than the vapor rising up front the surface of the river, f jisthew Arnold uses his poetlogen- t„ portray the conditions of sad- K ,< and loneliness which seemed to bsve settled down on the heart and I topes of the world. . I The atheistic theory failed because § when assumed to. be true It did not I (sswer to act In the practical life os I though It were true. It failed because It did not conform to the order of the ! universe. It failed because It was not wuntllic. It’was not In line with na ture when properly interpreted, nor with the human whole of life. In the (.teem of those who hastily accepted : n it did seem to be In line with cer- Aml clouds that sink and rest on hill. .... , to P® n *Kn, Wisdom and power A,e ceSsandy-“ bbl "" t forth ’ un8 * en - •»' Whan ^ v 1,1 niec nanic o * h ® fresh breeze Is blowing . the ,tron K current flowing Klght onward to the eternal shore. and 1 'Prfn?i ll ! <e , D /- James Martineau and Principal John Calrd and Pro- fessor Thomas Hill Green met the materialists op the fields of thought and defeated them. Quiet students of Btew»;, ,UCh u R °- T «". Balfour Jnr.ies Clerk Maxwell, maintained their faith throughout the mm l 'n 11 !' assured that the doml- TheyfeU ‘ ef C ° U d " 0t endure lon »f- "° n for*. they W,U re,urn ln shining These fair ambassadors of the Infinite, And when they come, the rosy fingered dawn Will show the nothingness of curlish science Feigning void heavens abov world." The masses of the people nev'er read books devoted to the subject of phi losophy. but they are influenced, by them as completely as If they did. Every period of unbelief has its phllo- lawless _ tain abstract logical processes but the | sophlca! basis by the aid of which It [ abstract logical processes with which l seeks to Justify Itself. Herbert 8nen- [ ft seemed to i orn }, fln £ alliance were, cer was the philosopher who developed 1 ...fnpliinfilhlV for tllO iheorv. nnt Coinn in hid ci'nikMi.. ....... ... . . . * unfortunately for the theory, not going ' tnjtrftere. while the great and pulsat- I :P g heart of humanity was traveling 1 as fast as the wheels of time could move. Hence, by the close of the nlne- teenth century the almost universal cry [was heard: Away, haunt thou not me, J Th,*i. vain philosophy, I Link hast thou bestead gave to perplex the head J And leave the spirit dead. K Into thy broken cisterns wherefore go, 1 While from the secret treaure-depth* l-flo I Fed by sky ley shower In his synthetic system, the principles underlying the materialistic movement of the last half century. The few who did read ‘ The Principles of Psycholo gy," published by Mr. Spencer In 185&, translated them, through newspapers, magazines and popular treatises, into the vernacular of the people, Just as the few who read "The Origin of Spe cies." and "The Descent of Man." by Mr. Darwin, took pains to make all the people acquainted with them. Even ministers of the gospel vied with the periodicals in publishing the new so- called scientific doctrines to the multi tudes. It was not long after the pub lication of theJr books before all the people had heard of Mr. Spencer's un knowable and Mr. Darwin’s progeni tor of the human species, called the ape. But the most Influential factor In the creation of the period of unbelief through which we have just passed and, happily, are over and done with, wa* Herbert Spencer, the philosopher. Darwin, Tyndall. Huxley, Romanes. DuBols-Raymond, Wundt, and Vir chow by their patient investigations furnished Mr. Spencer the material tor his vast philosophical structure, the pathetic ruins of which we may h6w contemplate. , I. Let us go back to the eighteenth cen tury for further data, by which to test [he practical bearings of unbelief, And here, too, we find our philosopher un consciously preparing the way for It. John Locke was born In 1932 and pub lished his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" In 1894. sixteen years before Hume was born and thirty years before Kant was born. It Is remarkable that Locke’s phllo sophical Ideas, while In a different form, were the same as those fouhd In "The Principles or Psychology" by Mr. Spencer. All our knowledge, ac cording to Locke, was due to Impres sions made upon the mind by the world of sense. The mind itself was like a piece of blank paper, upon which the world of color, sound, hardness, etc., through eyes and ears and touch man aged to make Its impressions. The aggregate of these separate Impres sions constituted knowledge. The mind was not a contributor, It was only a receiver of the knowledge brought Into It by the outside whole of matter. The mind was like the camera of a pho tographer receiving the Image of .the object before It. It was like a river which mirrored the trees on Its banks. This made matter the cause of knowl edge. This view of the mind made It Impossible for It to know anything ex cept the separate impressions of sen sation and reflections upon # thepi. Knowledge was no longer a spiritual something. It was merely a physical product. God and soul and cause and every universal Idea could not possibly the Englishman was born, amt one hundred and sixteen years before the publication of "The First Principles of Psychology." Locke’s philosophy came to Hume by way of Bishop Berkeley, who pub lished his "Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge" In 1710. In order to escape the material ism of Locke, Berkeley, while accept ing Ills .psychology, placed God and His permanent constitutive action where Locke had placed matter and its primary qualities. To Berkeley there was no matter; It was all Ideas and spirits. They were perceived and had their being In being perceived, and they were perceived by man because of their permanent existence In God and God’s Permanent action. Inasmuch as Berke ley had accepted Locke’s psychology, he was under the necessity of subltl- tutlng God. tof matter In order to re- REV. JAMES W. LEE. be known even If they existed, because the mind being shut up to sense Im pressions, could receive no Intimation of their reality. Locke’s philosophy gave to David Hume the principles which he developed In his "Treatise of Human Nature." He published It Jn 1739, Just forty-five years after the publication of Locke’s epoch-making book on the "Human Understanding.’’ The Treatise of Human Nature" was but a Scotch version of the remarka ble philosophy of Herbert Spencer, put Into circulation eighty-one years before •.uiiiis uiiu. mr iiiiiut-r in uiun iu re- main spiritual and thelstlc, lie said Juat as Locke had that aenzatlon la the eource of knowledge, but that God was the cauie of It and not matter. Thun, with Locke's principles, by • which knowledge was reduced to a mental form of matter, and with Berkeley’s, by which knowledge waa reduced to a subtle form of God, Hume began hts work. He accepted Locke’s psychology and then dissolved hla outer world of matter into separate sensations, and then proceeded by the tame psycholo gy to dissolve Berkeley’s Inner world of spirit. Locke had said or Implied that there Is nothing but matter to get Ideas from; Berkeley had said there get Ideas from. Hume closes the dis cussion and settles the question In ac cordance with the psychology accepted by both Locke and Berkeley, by show ing that there Is neither matter nor God, but only Impressions In continual flow and flux. The outer world, said Hume, Is only a fleeting succession of sensations, and the Inner world of self and spirit is only another fleeting succession of sensations. By the use of psychology, accepted by Locke and Berkeley. Hume demol ished the outer and the Inner worlds of both. He obliterated the universe and man by grinding them In the mill of sensational psychology Into the flne passing dust of Hying Impressions. It ivas the most complete and brilliant achievement in the history of modern philosophy. Hume’s philosophy cre ated as profound nn Impression in the middle of the eighteenth century as Spencer’s did In the middle of the nineteenth, and It may be added, with ’results Just aa disastrous. Hume’s Ideas, soon after they were published, were In the literary, political, social and religious atmosphere of England. If Hume’s Ideas could hove been con flned to the minds of a few philosoph ical thinkers, skeptical, though they were, we could not now test their ef fects In the practical life. But men must act rs well as think, and the eighteenth century 1s a living, open book. Into which Hume's Ideas were translated. We see them In the fle lion of Fielding and Smollett, so un clean that it can never be read with out a sense of nmasement at the moral conditions which made It possible. Wo see Home'll Ideas reflected In the rounded periods of Edward Gibbon, the skeptical historian of the century; In Pope’s poetry, who converted a shal low, optimistic deism Into graceful verse which nn one reads any more; In the lives of Horace Walpole, and Lord Bollnbroke, mainly known now for their ridicule of John Wesley and the plain local preachers who wero trying to Improve the conditions of the poor. The subtle, undermining and demor alising Influence of Hume’s skepticism may be read In the picture given of the state of religion In England In the eighteenth century by Lecky. He says; "AJthough a brilliant school of di vines maintained the orthodox doc trines with extraordinary ability, and with a fearless confidence that science and . severe reasoning were on their side, .yet a latent skepticism and o widespread Indifference might be everywhere traced among the educated classes. There was a common opinion that Christianity was untrue, but es sential to society, and that on this ground It should be retained. * • • Butler, in his preface to hla Analogy, declared that 'It had come to be taken for granted that Christianity Is not so much a subject for Inquiry, but that It Is now at length discovered to be ficti tious.' • • • Addison pronounced It an unquestionable truth that there was less ‘appearance of religion In England than In any neighboring state or king dom,’ whether It be Protestant or Catholic; Sir John Bernard complained that *ct really seems to be the fashion for a man to declare himself of no re ligion:’ and Montesquieu summed up his observations on English life by de- clo.ilng, no doubt with exaggeration, ’that there was no religion In Eng land, that the subject, If mentioned in society, excited nothing but laughter, and that not more than four or five members of the house of commons were regular attendants at church.’ "The utter depravity of human na ture, the lost condition of every man who Is born Into the world, the vicar ious atonement of Christ, the necessi ty to salvation of a new birth, of faith, of the constant and sustaining action of the Divine Spirit In the believer's soul, are doctrines which. In the eyes of the modern evangelical, constitute at once the most vital and the most In fluential portions of Christianity, but they are doctrines which, during the greater part of the eighteenth cen tury, were seldom heard from a Church of England pulpit.” It Is not at all surprising that there waa total Indifference among the clergy as to the moral conditions of the pco- Jde. If there Is no God we can know, amt no law, and no soul In man, why should the pleasures of the fox-hunting preachers not constitute their chief aim In life? But the Impractical and disastrous results of Hume's Ideas are not only apparent In the England of the eigh teenth century; they may be seen at work in the minds or the revolutionists In France, who made the reign of terror possible. Voltaire and Rouaeau trans lated them Into the language of the common people. The Infidelity cher ished by many of the leading men In this country during the later half of the eighteenth century was due to the sensational and skeptical philosophy of John Locke and Davlde Hume. “IN THE SWEET NOW AND NOW” "Now wi» through n glass dnrkl.v. hut • S IIipii fnro to face. Jn’ow I know In part, but S • then shall I know eveu aa also I nm • : ki»owi».’’-l»t Cor. xlli:12. J 5 By REV. JOHN E. WHITE, PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH iHtMOHHMMMOMHMiS • •••• •• ee see • e eeieeeMMeeeeeteeeeeei T HIS is a tempting text, rarely doe# J Even of those thing* with which we la nobler creature, because to realize the reader or the preacher resist »» ,no *' familiar, the least complex h t pu t s him In his right attitude toward J * Ve to take "’ ln d s \Vh 1 A*\vs\ssert r wa*do r know’wlll’nro^.’ i himself, toward others unglfted like ■ Immediately and fly away. The ,em n- I a bl.v be set aside day after tomorrow, J himself, toward God and toward the 1 tatiun l* urged by the two pictures It there be knowledge It shall vanish future world. " paint* on one canvas—the contrast of away.” "Nov.’ and "Then." Now we see That Is the history of human knowl through a glass darkly, but "Then" face ‘ Wha < has become of the knowl- I to fate; "Now" T know In part, but ! t edge of the ancients, of the science that , | was in the books or the great library of s.iaff I know even as also I am j Alexandria, which was burned? It has | kmmn. " i vanished. We dig up from the ruins It suggest* Raphael’s great picture of of Fg.vpt or Italy some dissertation of "The Transfiguration.” Wretchedness j nm lent learning—and value It for Its anil weakness and dismay Is the scon** quaint error. Its revelation of strange In the valley, while above Is the glor- ; lore which the world now has no use the Transfiguration, for. "Xow," heie, in-tills .Jlfe. Paul assert have dimness, Incompleteness, Im perfection. But "then" there In that Ilf** to he we will have clearness f vision, completeness of knowledge perfection of experience. ifrange that Peter preferred to stay on the mountain top where he could [ ** M»*ws and Ellas and the glory of ! hi* Lord, and It would be strange if reader or the preacher who ap- J pro;:rhex Paul’s picture In this passage ■ ihouhl not likewise be tempted to ■ magnify and .enjoy the heavenly per- ■fertions and satisfactions that are a*. 1 fared and leave the thought of our I present limited life with Its mists ami EUndows a* quickly as possible. But duty for Peter lay In the valley [•ml duty for us lies In this "now." this I Imperfect life, this Incomplete and un- liatlsfylng world, about us. So, my J Blunge will not take us to the inoun- | [»In top today. We will find our flow- | I*** in I'm* crushed track* in the valivv. jut the bruised flower we may And will [ m flagrant. The Fact It lx asserted as u fact requiring no I that here In this world we Ilimited by knowledge that Is par- | jkl. transitory and unreliable. Now, !*ant to say that we are not suffering I *° turn h mi account of this fact as we n account of our disposition to disregard it. It Is a fact—R fact uni- '* r *al, that our human knowledge Is ,i moft fragmentary, superficial and un- ;~> |e thing. We have informa- Men were just as dogmatic two Ihou and >«ars before Paul ns they were In Is time. Hut Paul was witness to the tc{ that their knowledge was out of jj'jj j dole. Men were as cocksure about I ,j tmiiA. »»c iltlir i in >*i mu - | nil| I "pinion. In abundance, but tk?." n, ‘ knowledge—the heart of f 1? , e * " r man, of God and the real of life, the fixed and Anal truth, I. 1,01 In our poaaeairion. What we to IS* ■* “kin deep. Here I* a glass i f -t a drop. What do you know what they thought they knew In Paul's days as they are now. The gnosticism or (he knnw-atl-lsm of the first cen tury was famously dogmatic. But we know that It has passed away. Two thousand years from now a conceited generation on this very street, per haps on thfs very spot, will be saying of us; "They thought they knew things and understood things." The librarian of one of our universities consulted the biology professor about replacing the books of Ills department. He received these Instructions; "Burn up every bAnk that wns published more than ten years ago." In the realm of theology also us everywhere else, how true It Is that we through a glass darkly.. The qual ity of some things we think about God may be genuine, but Its extent Is nar row and Imperfect and Inaccurate. We think of God ns a being very similar to ourselves; we picture Him as a kind of Father Time, only grand and colossal, and If we break away reso lutely from the anthropomorphic con ception we are at once lost In a misty Impossibility of thought. What little It ts that we know about death or about the future! Something, yes; but how dim Is our knowledge when we dare to try to set It down! Do you not see the strength of fact in Paul's statement, "We know In part and we prophesy In part now.” We wish we knew more. It Is not alto gether or chiefly our fault that we are so limited. But It Is a fact. We are environed with Imperfection—an Im perfect world. Imperfect physical bod- [ *h>Ut it I Animalcules; chemical I : na| vsis 1120—Two parts hydrogen, one oxygen? Bah! What are anl- I Kn “i und hydrogen and oxygen* [ «j»ku!es "ledge skin' deep! That Is all. les. Imperfect Intellects and Imperfect moral faculties. The Ennobling Fact Wh.v Is It necessary to remind any one of these things? It Is necessary because the man who can realise his estate .if Inperfectlon becomes at once Paul mastered the fact of hts own imperfoctlon. He had realised, though a university graduate, that human knowledge was not the thing on which an intelligent man could place reliance and that tij boast of learning was no evidence of real culture. He waa a zealous student, loved his books, lived the Intellectual life and thought Impe. rlally. But whether ln a Roman dun geon Just before his execution writing to Timothy to bring him his books, or at Athens engaged so with the philoso phers that his brain gava out sparks to light the feet of Grecian skeptics to the foot of (!hrlst’s cross—not despising learning or logic or art of speech, yet always a child of humility. This Is possible only to him who knows and feels the poverty of his knowledge. Paul could not count himself to have attained, ln this his Intelectual no bility Is msnlfest. Now that has been the case with the greatest minds. Sir Isaac Newton said he felt that he had picked up only a few golden grains nn the shore of the great ocean of knowledge. Agassiz, the scientist whose “fore- 1 head high and round” was “as calm which every science helped to build" realised that lie saw through a glass darkly nnd knew only ln part. In the presence of the unknown—the Immense unknown—he was as humble as a mourner at the grave of Death’s si lence and mystery. Hts portrait re mains In one of the charming poems of our literature—the picture of a teach er lending the band of Harvard stu dents out of a ship to the Island which they are about to explore for knowl edge. He halts the company and ex plains their expedition; then gathering • hem about him he said, "Let us pray." and Mark Twain driven by business disasters to..amazing Intellectual cre ation, of Charles Lamb weighed down by a mad sister, and Nathaniel Haw thorne by the loss of his position, per mitted to be Ihe moral Instructors of mankind. So much depends on the way one looks at things. "Tun mc*n Innlttwl Ihrniiifl Two men looked through prlxon bar®, One iaw mud and the other taw stars." And the leaves by s.>ft airs .stirred Lapse of wave and cry of blid Left the solemn hush unbroken Of that wordless prayer unspoken. "Said the master to the youth. We have come in search »f Truth, Trying with uncertain key Door by door of mystery; We are reaching thro’ His laws To the garment hem of cause, Him the endless, unbegun^ The unnanmble, the One Light of all our light the source. Life of life and force of force, By past efforts unavailing. Doubt and erior, lots ami falling Of our weakness made aware. On the threshold of our task. Let us light and guidance ask; Let us pause In :llent prayer. Then the master In his place Bowed his head a little space While its wish on earth unsaid Rose to heaven, Interpreted." "Tha Length of Our Cable-tow. 1 There ore two ways of realizing the limitation put upon us by our Imper fect knowledge. To some it Ih a source of overpowering discouragement. I have read of a scientist who commit ted suicide because of baffling failures In a chemical Investigation. But the other and nobler way Is to he recon ciled to the limitation nnd to muke the best of such powers nnd such op portunities as we have within our lim itation*. It turns out. In fact, that our lives nt.ed these channels of lim itation to run in. The engine free to go where It pleases Is generally off the track and helpless to go at all. Most men need narrowing doy/n to the unavoidable nnd the inevitable lines of destiny. What they regard in han dicaps are the man making experi ences of their lives. I think of Ben Jonson, natural! indolent, forced by poverty to write, of Sir Walter Scott That happens out of Jail as well as In It; I have known, of men who sur rendered to depression and bent against the bars with naked fists. But I have seen and been thrilled by the heroism of that finer philosophy of life that accepts loss and limitation and inck os life’s true definition and sings bravely onward on the track Provl donee has marked out. Now what Is true of Individuals is true of tho race. The Incompleteness of knowledge, the Imperfection of capacity which ore the chmmon lot of man, arc yet the safe guards of real achievement, the In spiration of true progress. The vine thnt runs freely without check or hin drance runs wildly on the ground hnd Is trodden under foot of man; the vine that Is barred and bnffled and re pressed and directed by the trellis is the pride and joy of the vineyard und bearcth fruit. Lately In speaking to the 2,000 stu dents at Tuskegee, I sought to make this truth of value to the negroes of the South. To accept the limitations of their environment, their history and their race and within these limlta tlons seek for an Atro-Amerlcnn Jes- tlnv. 1 reminded them of the noble history of England’s middle classes. Not of the nobility, denied privilege and shut out from social (equality, they have not sat down to grumble or re pine. It is truth for us nil. We know In part, but the gate Is not barred. W< may forge abend. Untempered Judgments. Now some one may Incline to say that such views of our Imperfect knowledge are heroic rather than practical. I am not willing to admit that, but there Is something here yet to be said which will certainly satisfy any man’s demand for the practical. Recall what has been said ubout our partial knowledge, our real* Ignorance as the apostle asserts the fact, nnd then ask this question: "If I see through a glass darkly und know so poorly what’s what, how ought that to affect me?" Surely the answer Is plain enough. You ought to be slow to pass judgment on your fellow-men, slow to criticise any man harshly, slow to condemn where In the very neces- Ity of the ense you cannot know all the facts. Because ! have a common lot with every other person In the Jin perfection* of my knowledge, becauso I am exposed myself by the fact that other people do not know all the truth In my own case and are, therefore, liable to misjudge me, I must bo very careful In my ojvn Judgment. By our common Inability to know each other really we are bound to have charity among ourselves. So It Is that out of our weakness, out of-the deplorable Incompleteness of human Intelligence, that grand, good thing we call sympa thy, human sympathy, comes to power. O, it is so necessary In a world Uko ours, and In such an Imperfect life aa we have, that we should not be hard critics of each other, for we can pene trate so slightly Into the deep realities of each other's hearts. Is It not probable that today there Is some one whom we dislike very much, whom we would love If we could get closer to them and know them better, at least if we knew all the facts would we so harshly condemn them? "If all were known all would be for- rlven.” a very noble woman once wrote. Granted that there Is a just censure, a deserved judgment to be rendered against people, the question Is: "Am I the one to render It?" Christ did not condone or excuse the sin of the woman taken In adultsry. He simply indicated that her accusers were not the proper people to pass sentence on her. I will tell you what I think the meanest thing—the most contemptible thing that goes on or can happen on this earth. It Is for n man or woman to join In the houndtnh chorus against some sinner when they have themselves been guilty of the same or similar mls- Thu* la nn hynnrrluy nn rank as God hates or the devil approves. There Is a man In Atlanta whom I have considered a great enemy to all thut was good In this community. A few days ago thAt man, knowing my onfnfons, and knowing, ns he said, (hat I was not An unjust man, sought an interview with mo to tell me about himself. Well. I cannot tell you what he told me about his life, about his orphaned youth, his struggle as a boy against poverty, hls fight against the wolf at hls mother’s door, hls applica tion, Industry, devotedness to hls fami ly--the hard conflict up the ladder of business success to wealth, and the Ideal of honesty he hod tried to lovo always and follow, but I can say this, that 1 will hereafter always think of the man In the light of what he told me, not to excuse him or approve or cease to antagonize him perhaps, but, knowing more, I have charity as re spects him personally. I spent some white In the Tower last week. Oh! that Jail, that pent-up misery' of the poor, the Ignorant, the sinful, you cannot Imagine! The friend who w^s with me did not know the storm my text here was making In my heart. “We seo through a gloss dark ly—now I know in part’’ What did I thlnk of lt?' Well, I wondered wheth er 1 had tno right to let myself think at all. The data of my knowledge Is so meager. This one did this crime and that one did another. The law was broken, the tow must be upheld, society and great Justice have rights and they must be reverenced. That Is one thing I thought. But when I came to the wretched individuals one by one I had no judgment of moral penalty to hurl «t them. I do not know all the facts of their lives, the forces that moulded their souls awry. One simple-minded and simple-hearted fellow, for I know the mountain typo . iriium, tin a win iiiuuimuii to which he belonxz very well, ventur ed In a (rtendleaa friendly enrt of way to aay: "I wish they would let tno out and let me go home up In Hall county; I'll quit tho bualncM forever.” “Running a blockade atlll,” he *ald, wae hla trouble. "Own It?’’ "No." “Sell tho whlaky?" "No.” "Did they get the owner?" "No, Juat got nie.” I aa— the inalde of the facta enough to make me aure that If all the truth about that Ignorant mountain foy'a Ufa were competent In determining tho court'a Judgment he would probably get home Christmas nnd go rabbit hunting with the other boya. So about ua hangs this veil of mlat. We do not know each other. If we did I think we would love farh men or may be leas sometimes. But since we would not be Judged cruelly In another’s Ig norance—Christ says, “Judge not that ye be not judged." "Who of us know The heart-aches of the men we meet Each day In passing on the busy street, Tho woes snd cares that press them. Forebodings that distress them— ' Who of us know? “Who of us think Of how hot tsars have chased the smil ing cheek Of some we meet who would not dare to speak The pangs they feel, the burdens that they bear. Each hour that passea through the solemn year— Who of us think? "Who of us care To try and think and know their pain and grief. And help to bring to breaking hearts relief, To help to bear the burdens of their care By tender word and loving loo^ and prayer— Who of ua care?” AT THE END OF THE YEAR By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD, PASTOR UNIVERSALIST CHURCH • •••••••••••Ml H (J W much of our conscious thought I* occupied In anticipation! Wi I «niii , a! “ never fairly off with the old are already on with the new an- nd tnuch more time In Investl- I it.L, "PPortunltiee for Investment I r. in a careful examination of exlev- i * «.s»is and liabilities. So eager are l ' "pen the ledger for next year’s ft " 'hat we begrudge the time I l ' , ? , e ,or the drawing of a trial bal- r ,he eloaln* year. While atlll li«,l f tlm * for the full enjoyment of I s "unset we are hustled and I v f ,hr °ugh today to stand and j"<k Impatiently at the casement of I ,hi * Impulse ts after all one of I -.L. in ' tam ental elements of the euc- '..r-nllfe. No man’s case Is desper- n,,*' " n K aa hope eurvlvee end con- *o beckon. The only man who I»V P*I» needs our pity la the one Ik,:. ceased to believe that "the I d ,: ' at turn will be the best." Jesus ' kzr.T*" ,hat “No man. having put hls I h r,'he plough, and looking back, h f " r 'ft* kingdom of God." Bt. • '■xhort. ua to emulate hla exam- L ‘ forgetting the things that are : nnd pressing forward to the , -hat are before.” We rejoice n* blood-bought spirit of prog- nuantly leads us .on from |k“.’‘7 n *nt unto achievement and | ■“ I'cry unto glory, and points ever toward the fulfilment of that prayer snd prophecy which Is so frequently upon our lips and In our hearts. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done," But the wise and careful husband man does take a backward glance along hls plowshare’s track with the turning of hls team at every furrow’s end In oKter that the furrow Just beginning shall not blindly copy the Imperfections of Its most Immediate predecessor. St. Paul knew well enough that If It were actually possible for us to entirely for get the things that are^ behind we . .... s.. eanhh /rtrtVflri! With should be unable to reach forward with any assurance of success toward tha things that are before. We are what we are because of the which our lives have gratitude by affecting to loathe and despise the unsightly grub from which she came, nor would she be less un grateful did ahe Insist upon remaining forever a grub. The memory of her origin need not throttle her aspiration. It should teach her how to use her wings. We sre not leas charmed and cheered by the beauty and fragrance »f the Illy when we are made acquainted with the ill-smelling mud which makes the Illy possible. Yet we are grateful that the Illy la not ao fond of her mud aa to remain forever hidden by It. Every Invention or dlacovery In science, art or mechanics which has blazed the way to new knowledge and lifted the race farther from savagery has been the culmination of a weart- kn!w!, e “ C Therefore, lit’ ua" sp*nd“no some succession of disappointments regretting over the and apparent failure*, yet had the In- bto*. ‘. n „d P "reo"*tn ?he P«e we are ventor once forgotten hi. failure., auc- about to turn, nor In equally profltleaa boasting because of the things worth while Which we may have been per mitted to write there, nor let us be so unwise as to attempt to ^et lhe rec ord which we are soon to hide from our Vl Rather let us take the stumbling blocks of yesterday's failure and out of them fashion the splendid proportion* of tomorrow 's succcts. The dragon fly floating In the sum- put away alt roottsn thoughts or t mJr h M d r r ?Po" Ln-glorlfled win,, of K^e wcce-jrfwy attest jrt ventor once forgotten hla failures, sue. cess must have forever eluded hls grasp. As the year which we have called our own quietly draws its few remain ing ilaya away from ua let ua fearless ly take stock of the experiences < has brought ua In the passing of Its months that we may be able to apply their re- sultant wisdom toward the success and the happiness of the year that will roon be ours. And first of all, let u* put away all foolish thoughts of the REV. E. D, ELLENWOOD. beyond doubt that t.iial Is written I* gauze*tuuat teach but a sorry lesson cf change in the records. Let ua know written, and this knowledge, though it bring its atlng, will help us In the days that are to be. All the tear* of all the repentant liar* alnee the days of Ananln* can not Hufflee to wash out the utaln of n Hingle malicious falsehood. Lady Mac beth’s hands must forever be stained with blood, though with bitter remorse she strive for their cleansing until the name of Shakespeare shall fade from the memory of man. But this is also certain. The blackness of a lie may teach the beauty of truth and the domi nation of falsehood is ever ready to give place to the reign of righteous ness. The torture of a memory of murder may prepare the way for a reverence for every living creature. The agonizing longing for atonement may give "beauty for ashes and the oil of Joy for mourning." Though we cannot undo the evil we have wrought, yet there shall be given us another day In w hich, If we will, we may overcome evil with good. The most graceless prodigal is he who recklessly squanders time, for this Is the stuff that life Is made of. There fore, If the passing year bps brought to us a proper sense of the value of our own nnd of other people’s time the year has Indeed been rich in bless ings. - Let us hope also that we have learn ed In this time the moral damage of envy and hatred and lusL If we have learned, beyond question, that these are serpents which cannot be safely harbored by even the most disciplined soul, then the dawning year flnds us equipped for splendid work In soul cul ture. • If we have been more thoroughly- convinced by the experiences of the year that gold won at the cost of char acter or of health Is but a monument of folly und disgrace, then we have 'gained wealth which Is beyond eg|lmate of value. If we have learned how to tiae ad versity so that it shall strengthen In stead of crush its; If we have learned how to take *hold of sorrow so that ft shall soften anti mold our hearts In stead of se&nng and hardening them; If we have, learned the power; of pa tience and the- courage of submission; If we have learned how to forgive even before forglvenesa^Ja sought, then the year has been the best one we have ever lived. And row for the new year. Of course, we are determined that It shall be the happiest and the most success ful one that we have ever known. And so. Indeed, It shall be if we shall will It to l»e so. Probably we shall make a number of good resolutions to help us to carry out our helpful Inten tions. We shall make a list of new promises, or perhaps It may be thati we shall merely recover from the dust of the wayside, where they have fallen, the promises of the beginning of last year and brush them up for use again. Now, instead of burdening our memo ries and our consciences with a per plexing multiplicity of prohibitions, suppose we determine that for the next twelve months we shall endeavor to the best of our ability, and with the con stant help of God, to live natural and unselfish lives. Let us utter a splen did declaration of Independence from the bondage of artificiality and pre tense and from the claims of a dis torted conception of civilisation. Let us elect to obey so far as we may dis cover and interpret them, the law* ,<t nature which govern our physical bod ies and the laws of the spiritual world which protect and preserve our Immor tal souls. With this determination to become really law-abiding citizens or the king dom of God, which Is here and now, we shall And It unnecessary to make any special pledges to hold In check the vagrant Impulses of the body and to curb the wayward tendench-s f the spirit. We shall cease to -m - » lelghbors grievously against our' to our own destruction. Obligation shall give plac** to npp .r- tunlty and duty shall b<* changed to desire. Let us learn to mean all «*f this When we wish our friend- a happy Ne w Year. —I—,..