Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-06-21

| the profession Of moral Silence, which
studies God and futurity; tie profession
Of literature; which breaks,ut in a hun
bred details of poetry an6prose, news
paper and book, OratOry an6 philosophy:
the profession of art, which eals in forms
from the foreshorteniDg of ihand to the
construction OF a cathedral that carves in
ivory or rears a pyramid
But do you not already peceive the i'm.
menseness of the task when you inquire
into the theory of mans Tlis task is sur
passed by only one other u earth-that
would be the inquiry into tie manifesto
tons of God. Victor Cosin saws the
greatest word in any Language is the word
| God True! deeply and beautifully true!
takes itself But there Is one word that
stands near this name O the Creator
1t is the workman. 1t is. shadow true
in outline, though small ami dim, of the
Infinite Into this word nations, and
temples, and homes, and things beautiful
| and strange are gathered beond all count.
Would that we had now thu opportunity
to survey further this strange creature,
AID pause to contemplate lis pleasures,
his study, his wars, his vies, his errors,
his folies; but the task is too large. |
leave with you the plan of he work the
work itself is beyond the h.ur or the day
Let us not close our stud of this I'M
pressive creature without living at least
cast our eye upon
HIS RELIGION
Behold an altar! He Turns incense
upon it, and asks the rising smoke to car
ry his prayers to the Invisible, Could he
touch God with his hand, see Him with
the eye, he would not ask he smoke and
perfumes to be his mediatr. But God
being a spirit, man asks thu elements that
| can rise and fade from mortal sight to go
| in his stead and find Him whom his soul
teareth or loveth. If you will read the
history of religion, casting out here and
there the errors that the childhood of man
| has heaped upon it, you VIII find at mans
| altar the beautiful phenomenon of his
| career. All else seems humble compared
| with the picture of this being bowling by
| the altar of God. And as no one examines
| the twilight after day has cone, Us no one
| feels anxious about the blossoms of the
| tree when already the peril Of frost is past
| and the branches bend with fruit, so after
| Christ came with his form of worship we
were discharged from the study of man rs
seen in the groves of Apollo or Jupiter
Man and Christianity are the impressive
picture in this human spectacle. Into
the sublime theory CT humanity sin came
long ago as disturbing force. 1t came
as destroying angel, came as tempest
upon serene sea- Man without sin
would have had still a religion, but with
sin religion becomes sentiment full OF
alternating fear and hope. Christianity
is the loving effort of the children to re-
turn to their Father. Viewed simply as
a phenomenon no spectacle can sur.
pass that of man and his religion
The temples of his worship cover the
earth. Go where you will, and
either the massive cathedral fills you with
wonder or else the little white church in
the valley provokes your sympathetic
tears. For beauty and for finding the
presence of God gives us the latter, where
the whispering trees close to the window,
and the birds in the branches, and the
sublime silence of the world without, and
the simplicity of the worshipers come to
help the spirit in its efforts TO find the In
visible. In such place it is easy to see
that Jesus Of Nazareth, who once passed
over our world, resting here and there in
humility, praying at times beneath an
olive tree. But to see the true picture of
Christianity, all the variations of the ex-
ternal must be included. The humblest
chapel in the wilderness, where the poor
meet, must be Joined with the lofty min
lister, where Kings and Queens have
knelt. The child dressed in white for its
| first communion must be seen along With
the crowned Louis and the living jeweled
Queen of England, carrying their wor-
| ship within their souls forever. Christ
! being dearer to either than all the en-
pires of earth. 1t will be necessary also
| to recall the sweet and solemn music that
has grown up around the altar Of God
| like roses to cnwreath it, If, while think
ing of this wonderful enwreathing, you
| will recall that psalm, Lord, thou hast
been our dwelling place in all genera
TONS" and will imagine the harps OF
Judea handing over those words to the
organ tones of this century, you will re-
alize what volume of sweet worship has
| risen from man to God in the chariot OF
sacred song.
From this wide survey Of mans re-
| ligion the heart will always come back
| with its devotion TO some particular tenn
| pie. modified if not wholly destroyed by
the feeling that they are all temples OF
only one Savior and of one creature, man.
| Be the letters above the portal what they
may, it is the same creature at the altar,
man, and near him is the One God Re-
| ligion is one indivisible sentiment. AS
| the mothers love of the child is one, be
the mother American or English, or be
she Calvinst or Methodist, as these outer
names sound far away from her maternal
sentiment so religion is one and seamless,
all woven throughout from top to bottom,
aud tie name of the temple exhausts its
import far away from the kneeling soul
and the plying Lord.
But this succession of conditions and
| qualities, this childhood, this marriage,
| this pursuit, this religion, have led us far