The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1871-10-12


ence upon God runs far deeper than we
have been accustomed 20 supposer.
Whatever emphasis has been put upon
it, think we have failed 30 get hold of
the secret and inner truth which is con-
nected with it. The progress Of knowl-
edge, the Development Of the human IN
Outstanding, the better light that is con-
t.nuaily shining upon the phenomena of
human consciousness, is tending, IN a
very strange and marvellous way, to cor
yoborate the great truths of the New
Testament; and around no one point is
there concentration OF truth more re-
markable than around the point of man S
smmediate and personal connection with
God, so that from the efflux of the divine
mind we receive inspiration and light
and knowledge; so that from the direct
action Of the divine soul upon our souls,
we come toward true manhood, and pro-
duce those fruits which the human soul
Is incompetent to produce when under
any lower stimulus or help than that of
the divine mind itself. One Of the most
striking features of our Sayiour's minis
tratIon is the place where he puts him
self in his own instruction.
You certainly will wander long before
you End better ethical instruction than
that which he gives. The duties of life,
and, above all, the sources of action, are
marked out by it. The truth that inspi-
ration should be from the inermost self,
and not from external circumstances and
forces, was nowhere before, and has been
nowhere since, so well set forth as in the
teachings Of Christ.
But, after all, it is not ethical duty
that Is the most conspicuous in the teach
lngs of Christ. Neither is it moral
knowledge that is the most conspicuous
there. 1t is very true that. he exalted
moral truth to plane which it had not
reached before; it is very true that many
things received illumination at his hands
which before were only partially known
but, after all, he was pot SO remarkable
for the amount of truth which he pre-
sented, as for few great master truths
which, being accepted, gradually worked
out condition that was necessary to all
the race. And significantly and distinc-
lively the teaching of Christ was this:
Come u'ato ME. I am the light of the
aoorId. lie that eats MY flesh, and drinks
MY blood, shall ice. In other words, not
only his own personality, but adhesion to
him, is presented as the very center of
truth. Urged by every conceivable image
and consideration, this is declared to be
the handspring Of all activity, and all
that experience by which men are to be
saved, both in this life, land In that which
IS to come. He made himself the CEN
ter; and in our text he declares himself
to stand in such relations to the human
race and to men. that separated from
him they can no more bring forth the
best fruits of which their organization is
capable, than the branch or the vine can
bring forth the clusters which it was
meant to produce if it is broken from the
parent stalk.
II am the vine, We the branches He that abid-
eth IN me, and L IN him, the bringeth forth
much fruit; for without me ye do nothing
We consider Christ as the representa-
ton OF God-as standing in the place of
God-as representing formless and
spiritual being in form, and under the
limitations of time and place. To us it
is the declaration that to be united to
Christ Is to be united to God.
The general truth is, that man is in
complete in himself, and that he can re-
celVe completion from no secondary or
secular influences. No education, no
training, no natural development, will
eyer bring man to himself You might
as well undertake to bring a plant to its
blossom and seed by lamp-light, shutting
out the sun, as attempt to bring man
really to his true manhood, shutting out
the direct, continuous inspiration and in
huence of the Divine Soul upon his.
We do not know what are the modes
by which God maintains actions with us :;
nor do We know what are the methods by
which we act upon each other. No man
can analyze that subtle, mysterious infiu-
ence which men are all the time exertipr
both upon individuals and upon masses
OF men. The whole theory of the nature
OF mind, and its modes of existence and
activity and influence, is yet nebulous
and obscurei and we are just as ignorant
OF ourselves as we are "a our connection
with the Divine Soul. But the fact is
declared; and We have reason to believe,
from partial experience, and from the
polntings of many analogies, that this is
vital truth.
What, then, is the connection between
the Divine Soul and Gus, we do not need
to know, in order to believe that the
divine influence is Indispensable to the
rounding up, and completion, and nor
MAJ activity or every part of the human
mind. 1t is only when we are brought
under the pressure of the divine mind.
and controlled by it, that there is order
and harmony in our action, and that the
best and noblest fruits of the human or.
ganization can be evolved and ripeued.
III one will look at the history of men
out from under the influence of God, 7
think he will see. negatively at least, a
proof of this Where God has not been
joined to the human mind. it runs almost
60 ammallsm, In all those nations which
are without God and r-itbopt bopa nh,