The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-11-15

hlelH III lllclI respective l0MnB llhn tue
lawyers, the doctors Or the seleClmen now
possess. There Is no pfetense that Il Ia
possible u the old state Ol thinHS, but Ii IL
certain that we must, II possible, advance
by ether methods, II WO can discover
them, 70 tisagcB and habits that will pro.
duee tho same fruit Of reverence, piCly
and lively interest In spiritual things, tho
decline OF which Is obvious,
Clearly there Is something wrong and to
DO deplOrCd and amended In the present
slate Of what may bB called public Feli.
gon. Can Il be denied by the most CON.
PLEASANT defendants oi the GGIstinY state Ol
our public lie and feeling that q marked
decline In the sense Of the unseen, Of &C.
COunIableneSs 10 an Invisible Sovereign Of
truth, business and holiness; Of tho pro-
found spiritual importance Of perSonal
piely and Instrumentation, In tue spirit Of
awe and reverence before tic almighty
purity and perfection, In the relative i'm.
pOttAnCe Ol standing well before our final
Judge % compared with the advantages Of
Immediate prosperity and success; In the
sense Ol q great common bond In our com.
mon amenableness to universal and ON
nlpotent betngi Of our common interest in
common Lord and Savior and in the
church, which Is his continued presence
WIN us? Can i DO denied that these
lallings away vii attest, not only decline
Of ialth and spirituality, but arc accompa'
MED with tho decay and appropriateness
ola high practical morality; Of a whole.
some humility Of a cOntGntGdness with our
external lot, which WIS once made toIer'
able and even happy by the expectation
oil the final victory over all earthly misIOr.
tunes?
Undenlably the old, invisible restraints
which explicit faith and hope and holy
lear supplied have somewhat fallen away
IRON the publ and then from the private
consciences Of men. The present genera.
ton, considering It's paTentage, Is strangely
secular and material; devoted 10 external
things and immediate qualification, to bust.
ness and social emulAtIons, 10 dress and
equippage and pleasure, to mea,s and
drinks, and restless change Of place. That
old inwRrdness Of life, which came from
the recognition Of tho souls relations 10
It's infinite source, has largely declined,
ana mo world, In tho sense In which the
apostles dreaded and denounced It's In.
iiuencc, has come into almost undispuled
and, even lRtlded sway. What was the
world which was coupled with tho flesh
and tho devil IN tho minds OF our Savior
AMI his immediate followers? Was It the
soil, tho sea, the mountains, the stars?
was i daily toll, and bread and meat, and
clothing? Or was II rather the re-
coGnltion and several OF these
IS the principal thing, 20
that men looked TO Il not as meaub. but
an end, and sacrificed their hearts, con.
sciences and souls to its behests and ils
brides? Surely faculties OF loComotion,
animation and thrift in business, wide
commerce, and exchange Of the pfoducts
Of oil lands, comfort aud abundance. 70.
linement oil tastes, development Of facul.
ties, enlarged knowledge and varied cdu.
cation are not tho things that the Master
would tnveigh agains. to-day, But he
would deplore and denOunce tie error and
folly which mistakes what men call rivili.
Gation, the pride OF the eyes, Inc POM and
circumstance OF life for the end OF Exist.
enCe, or which allows devotion to business
and pleasure and riches and power, 10 dull
the vision Of God, the Sanctfty OF the con.
science, or the aspiration OF the heart To-
ward spiritual perfection.
We do our Puritan predecessors and
lathers injustice, when wo charge them
unresetvedly with ndrrow views of life,
stern and somber views they certainly
had but not narr0W-ii we inclnIe in
lie what belongs 10 its future. II wo Judge
them by the fruit Of their lives, we must
acknowledge that certain factors Of the
most charging and exalting sort entered
into their souls, which well supplied what.
ever they lacked In the Way OF material
knowledge or mechanical advantage or a
wide territorial outlook. They lived, per.
haps, wider aud grander lives than their
children, because their spiritual horizon
was broader than any territorial expIora.
tons can make ours. What Is the most
advanced astronomers knowledge Of the
depth and extent OF space on the bound.
less multitude OF suns and stars. consider
CD IN ~ tendency and power to enlarge
any widen the SOU compared with the
acIl N sense o. God as occupying the uni.
what can communication with foreign
countries, or conquests over elemental
barriers, what railroads, telegraphs and
telephones do to take the place or fulfill
the functions Of prayer, heartily believed
III anu pr1ctlce1H-prayer, the great eman.
cipator from tho tyranny OF time and
space, that swittnesS OF teegraphs, that
leTeller OF external conditions and sta.
tons; that highway to and from God,
open to all that souls telescope and tele.
phone, revealing the invisible, and max.
ing the whispers oil an Infinite spirit heard
over unreasonable distances; PRAYER, a
living faith in which, ovorbalanced In our
loreiathers' hearts all that their children
have since gained, with its loss, as wild.
ener OF life and an enChantment and sub.
limasion OF existence. And for all the
wealth and glory Of the loom and the mill,
ior. all the victories Of steam-on the sea
and the land, in tho press and the factory,
for all tho upholstery and decoration and
utilities Of our luxurious modern names
on! give US back the richness and the Joy
OF oclelving hearts-heRrts that the Holy
spirit filled with his shining presence;
that were transported with the nearness
OF God, and the communion Of Christ, and
ate angels food, and were clothed in the
radiance OF exalted hopes and fears! Alas!
where outward furnishing comes TO take
the place, and Is looked 10 to supply the
lack Of inward beingl How narrow, how
empty. how dull, the largest and most
splendid and luxurious mansion, in tho
mtdest OF which dwellsa shrunken. unim.
aSinativc, unspiritual soul! And how low
and mean and poor the civilization that is
rich In food and ConvenienceS and out.
ward splendors and shows, and only de-
ticient in the nobleness, and self.control.
the aspiration and spirituality Of those
who are crushed beneath III
Our age and time Is not the FIRST that lag
suffered from the swollen current Of world.
~ ambitions and successes. History Ia
haunted with the ruins that prosperous
worldltness has heaped over buried M.
tons that had lost their souls In the
drunkenness Of their lust for splenior
and pleasure and power, Paul himself
looked upon Rome at tho very time when
Nero was striving with ali his passion for
splendor and show, to make Creek art
and Greek culture take The place N olS
EatoS piety, and seneCa's ethics. He
thought, mad loo, that refinement and
elegance Of living and esthetic adOrn.
mcnS could take tho place Of aspirations
to virtue and honor. and worship OF the
gods! lie stroye TO make heaven OF
earth by his golden house, his vast parks
and artificial lakes in the very center Of
'!ome his priceless stolen statues, his
silver ahod horses, and his larpesssS and
games Tor the people, in the very city, at
the very moment when Paul was lel!.
ing. his few and fearful disciples
that the world passeth away and tic
glory OF It, md that only by fixing our
aIleCtionB on things above, can va realize
this peace or satisfy the wants OF our starv.
ing hearts. You know Neros early and
miserable iatG-dying BY his own dagger,
4 fugitive from the army aud tho peopIe
no had betrayed and seduced and Won
know Paul'S glorious history, and his
name and praise, second only 10 that Of
the, Master no loved, and whose cause,
under God, he saved. 1t has always been
50; and It may long continue so-not
always let US hope! But sgain and again
the effort will be made, as Ii Is now being
mado once more-the effort to see what
man can do 10 mako his senses. his prilo