Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1876-12-17

or Was intended to be. and they wrought
peculiar disposition or atmosphere IN
the souls ci men when they attempted
religious life.
Mr. Reech-r proceeded TO discuss this
| "atmospere ii the soul. In the phys.
| zeal world dark. dull atmosphere is VI.
! favorable to pleasure, to labor. to every.
| thing animate and inanimate. On the
! other hard o clear, genial, radiant day
seems to favor everything. The analogy
| is perfect. The soul has IN atmosphere.
! Sadness. heaviness OF soul, obscuIlty
make it hard for man to live, make 1t
| hard fer him 10 be sociabie or good ma
tured Il is especially mischievous In
| all religious life, for all the higher
graces are such as only spring and bios.
som in the highest and most genial at
mosphers The elements that go TO
consli,n'e what call a Christian atmos-
| phe1e are first good nature. grace that
was no. mentioned by name only because
Paul did not speak English. With good
health and moderately fair circumstances
good nature is better than genius. than
property or honor. Richard Baxter
looking for wife with a good disposi-
ton rather than one who was einlnently
pious, SAID the grace Of God could dwell
in good many persons that be conid not
live with. This quality is better than
genius, for to have genius and to have
nerves one must have the devil, for that
is a gate think through which he comes
into men. Persons who have an adipose
ten,peramen,. and whose nerves are
heaitbilv covered, are relieved from q
good many annoyarces which beset
other people.
| To good nature mus. be added what is
called cheerfu,ness in the Word of God,
which is sta5o of happiness, content.
sladnsGs-the enjoyment OF life under
the conditions i'll which it is brought to
YOU; and 10 these i'll turn must be added
what is termed faith. for although faith
has significant md important meaning
as q special act by which n man accepts
the Lord Jesus Christ, the word Is more
comprehensive than that. 1t includes
the whole action Of the Imagination. by
which latter word I mean the peculiar
faculty of the human soul by which 1t
discerns things not tangible to the senses,
that whole play of mind by which man
deals with abstract things. The unin-
acinative. matter Of fact man is like n
wagon without springs; every pebble on
the road jolts him. But the man with
imagination has springs; he has the
power Of changing facts by this opera
ton of the mind so as to soften them.
This power of the imagination is one OF
transcendent Importance. 1t comes I'M
der the head OF faith, by which we over
come the world.
A sense OF hUmor was the next quality
; the preacher added to the list. and he
entered on long dissertation upon wit
and hunlor to explain his reasons for
naming it. Blessed" said he. " are
the msn WHO know how to put this
cushion between themselves and all the
sharp corners Of life." To the man who
can look at things from humorous
point OF view troubles are not hali 50
hard to bear. and the enemy OF care
seems to loss It's buttins edges when
brought to bear upon man like that.
When a man hos this atmosphere OF the
, soul lie has got summer day, and IN
that summer reason and conscience will
act better, and he is better competent to
discharge all the duties Of life. That
condition is far more favorable to grace
than any other; certainly far more than
this masked sobriety and stolid hardness
which great many persons suppose to
be the essence of the graces and OF true
manhood. i say that good nature,
chcerfulness and imagination is grace.
1t may be said that this disposition tends
70 relax the conscience. Well, that
. would be the best thing about 1t for some
consciences. Loyola was one Of the
most conscientious men that ever lived.
Paul was never more conscientious than
, when lie carried the bloody sword into
Africa. and the crueiest men i'll this
world are the men with limited syinpa-
thies and hard consciences. A man who
ties himself up III every direction Tor
fear OF SHINING is not so good as man
. who lets himself out and then says,
will trust to the grace Of God TO keep me
from SHINING" To-day the popular idea
! of being q Christian is to be something
less than YOU were, whereas l say that
the conversion Of man is like the
change Of bird that has been IL cage
and has been let ont; q man who has
: been living in twilight and has the rays
OF the rising sun shed on him; man
who has been in the wilderness and finds
it suddenly bud aud blossom as the rose;
il the Iargeness of Christian life. Love,
hope, cheerfulness, courage, faith, trust
in God and the JOY that overiiows and
the brightness that comes with 1t and the
sustaining power that accompanies 1t,
: in this is Christianity. and l will not
; suffer it to be slandered here. To be
Christs man is to be ten times as large
.. man as you ever were before. 10 be
devils man is to be dwarf. l call you
not to prison nor to the gloom OF dun
geon; call you to thrones and to glory
Accept God and the light Of His coun-
! tenance will make You children of light.
.. Rejoice in the Lord, and again l say,
rejoice.