Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-07-29
FAITH THE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.

49, Va
College, on "Faith in the Unseen God,
the enernizing principle Of a noble life,"
he gave utterance to some very noble
thoughts. Among them were the fol.
lowing, which are worthy Of thought
full attention The %well.being of man is
not found in indulgence, but in achieve
ment. Man cannot be groomed and Tod
dered into blessedness. He must work
| out his own salvation. Even in Heaven,
while ",hey rest not day nor night, the
everlasting repose of the spirits Of the
lust made perfect is like that of the SOL
id earth, the repose Of harmonious, but
intense aud unceasiug action. 1t is
this radical impulse which makes it
impossible for any man to rest satisfied
with any good possessed /; which drives
him from the arbors Of delight already
created, to incur new risks, to endure
new tolls and privations, to assume new
responsibilities. Jesus announces the
law of service as that Of his kingdom.
If any man will be great among you,
let him be your servant"
The ideas and hopes which arouse en-
thusiasm and heroism spring only from
the unseen, and are received by faith.
Thence the ideas Of the true, the right,
the perfect. From eternal truth we
gain the principles of all existence,
from eternal right the laws Of all action,
and from absolute perfection the ideals
Of all beauty and goodness. Outward
goods cease to satisfy when attained
They perish in the rising" while
spiritual ideas and hopes are above the
soul, and command its action and aspi-
r~ations. In striving to realize these, q
man finds a cause which kindlcs enthu-
siasm and heroism, gives scope to ener-
gy, and at once satisfies and cnnobles
the impulse to action.
The character developed by faith is
that in which alone the soul a~ttains its
~fullness Of life, and is capable of its
highest and most enduring energy.
That character is lore. 1t is the souls
enthusiasm to realize in itself and in
society the principles Of truth, the law
of right, the ideal of perfection. Love
is psychologically not less than ethical
ly the perfection of being. 1t is the
souls life. Faith necessitates worship.
Its native speech is aspiration, praise,
alteration. Before the grandcurs Of
nature We admire or are awed, but when
we discover God, in whom is perfect
truth, law and goodness, admiration
and awe pass into alteration, and we
PROSTATE ourselves and worship. Faith
by the necessity Of its nature becomes
love. By contact with the Divine it is
transformed, aud returns God-like to
bless mankind, like the dew and the
rair. The faith that expends itself in
meditation and exhales in emotion, is
spurious, and cxhausts the soul in erap-
grafton, but the love into which true
faith is transformed is not n transient
glow of scntimentality, but II vital
force, like that in the acorn, transform
ing the soil, the water and air into its
own substance, lifting the massive oak
in triumph, and yearly browning it with
leaves. Virtue is not o mere negation
of sin. The moralist whose only good.
ness consists in not doing wrong, can
never enter with enthusiasm into O
noble act Of se~lf-sacrifce, and he whose
rhole moral energy is concentrated in
abstaining from vice, will never have
| the heart of love from which blooms al
that is lovely in the soul of man. Re-
ligion consists in loving God and man,
not in simple antagonism to evil, and
the love which springs from faith is the
~fullness of life in which the soul realizes
its noblest development. In closing,
President Harris addressed the class,
pointing out some Of the %hindrances to
faith in the complex civilization Of the
age, and exhorting them to the faith
which works by love.