Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-06-12

| iedCHeS Tue teAt A1C el1ae WIZ az
His will shall now of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether
speak of myself" And this is the
great thong hit which tonight takes
form and shape in our presence. Let
us secure some fragments of it, imper-
feet as these must inevitably be: :,
Il believe friends, and as far as I
have been able to understand life every
thing that | have met has but deepen
ed the conviction-that the business 6f
men and women here is to know the
| Lord Christ, to understand what Hs
meant to Sc see into nj his heart, to open the
heart to Him"
Our Lord always recognizes
the presence Of the spirit Of truth in
man. Ii there is not the living power.
of truth present in any soul, th.t soul
is not accountable, Is not human, is not
divine. IT there be not this living
presence, the soul has no. relation to
God or to man. TO that soul there
can be no appeal made. No heart can
speak to it; there can be no concentra-
ton of most powerful energy upon it.
There Is not any power of response.
You have read
what kind of world the moon is,
where there is no atmosphere. Sup
pose we lived in world without any
atmosphere about it, and that We were
looking up at the sun We should see
but dim circle Of fire, of light -
Wherever that light fell, there would
be o glory. Wherever it fell not, there
would be a blank ot awful darkness.
We could not see light around US e1-
cept as it was reflected from the objects
upon which it fell. We could only see
the sun as we look at it in direct line
all the lines hard, sharp, clear;
nothing that the human brain could en-
dure or the soul enjoy Let an atmos-
phere be thrown around it, and all is
Light everywhere. Shadows have soft
enedj light has softened 1t is
world ! 1t grows warm and pleasant:
lhe grass comes up. the springs run.
From being mere mass that is shone
upon, it becomes living world.
The man who cares not about the
viii of God, to him G,d appears
something awful, and the world around
hI confused mass, discordant, cha
otlc kind Of place, because his own
heart is all chaos and inhabited by creA-
lures wallowing in the slime of immoral
uncreation. <
He may be fine theologian, and may
by able to deal with these questions
splendidly' but as soon as he begins to
feel that the whole matter has has to
do with himself, with a consciousness
and conscience Of himself, and tina.
there lies. upou him a duty, that tho
whole universe centers upon his, soul.
as upon pivot Of duty-then he be-
gins to see things altogether differently.
Then there begins moving Of tho
spirit Of God over the face Of the
waters. The strange, Ugly. things bo-:
Gin to protest, and sftcrwards-for
they can not bear the light-they
sweep away out of sight. and up comes
the world as God meant it to be. If
any man is wiling to DO His will. he
shall know Of The doctrine What doc
trine? Anything that Christ taught
So he went on talking Of 'this man
who says that he knows the secret of all
things" ani Urging the Importance Of
the search for truth in this way. Then
he suddenly freaks out
Ear be it from me to lay the Bible
upon any man, as if 'ri'hou' any prep
GRAFTON cf any Kind, he was bound to
take that. Many book has been
so furnished, aud many a religion has
been SO enforced But no such claims
are. made for the Bible, What it
claims is, that man shall take the testi-
monv and examine it by the very light
which God himself has given him,
that he shall see whether the doctrine
be Of God.
Afterwards he said such things as
these:
'A great difficulty nssals us in the
name of science at the present day
What does it amount to? Simply this.
that the man of science does not know
Of the doctrine He has not seen it,
1t is not to be found by his tests or
his inquiries. It is to be found only.
by him who is willing to do the will Of
the Father, and, thank God! the
poorest man may find it So"
And then came one Of the most re-
markablc sentences [ ever Gstaacd to
in my life, rugged and powerful and
rapid as the flash of swift sword, a
sentence over which the phonographer
and myself worked hard in order tc
get it exact and as it was:
There is nothing that I at least,
have ever met with in science that
weighs hair against the. trVtha--the
ruhs--that arc revealed in this. man,
Jesus Christ, after all. after all that We
can find out, and poor stuff it is to SGT
isfv the longing of the soul with -
gilded husts | say have seen noth-
iag that touches the thing, and when
You have it all, is it anything agati1s.
knIowle lge, priosi, that at the centre
CT it there should be human Heart?
Even your keanes. man Of science will
fling his science behind him 1Exn son