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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—,..
