The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-01-14

/ Mlom We believe IS not equal to the age
in which we live. Il is worse than fool
ish to imagine that the verIties OF oul
religion have destroyed the enemies OF
truth The battle is still waging. A su.
perfieial observer, unacquainted with the
past and not informed IN respect of the
resources of truth, might suppose that
the day was against us. But we can all
be profoundly certain that never before
| in the history of the world has truth
been as strong and hopeful as to-day.
| We should remember that truth, unlike
other vIctors, is never weakened by its
| victories or defeats. We have known
generals who the world has said could
| not afford another victory such as q des-
perate struggle had secured. Many a
| town has endured seige and forced
| those who encompassed il to retire in de-
spair, and all the while its walls have
been weakened and its forces sapped.
But truth comes ont of every conflict
stronger for the fight. As Americas
choice son, whom she buried last year,
has written, in words that have become
maxim, the
Truth crushed TO earth shall rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers"
From the very nature of the case, then,
the last day the world has seen is witness
| to the last attack made upon truth, and
hence to the fact that it is stronger to-
day than ever before. So that, by as
many attacks as the truth has received
| and victories it has won since Lord Ba-
con quoted the Grecian poet, is it more
true to-day than it was when he endorsed
| the words: st is q pleasure to stand
| upon the shore and to see ships tossed
upon the sea-a pleasure to stand in the
| window of q castle and to see a battle
and the adventures thereof below; but
no pleasure is comparable to the stand
| ing upon the vantage ground. hill not
| to be commanded, and where the air IS
| always clear and serene"
But this is not the highest function of
truth. As Archbishop Whately. in his
comment upon Lord Bacon, once said !:
Everyone wishes to have truth on his
side, but it is not every one that sincere
ly wishes to be on the side of truth. He
| is qualified to belong to the kingdom OF
better things who does the truth" As
Robertson has preached: There is no
truthfulness except in the witness borne
to God by doing his will-to live the
truths we hold-every hour pre-
pared to act the principles we
| profess, every hour to risk the cOnse-
Quences of holding the truth, for the first
lesson of christian life is this, BE true !"
and the second this. "Be trueir and the
third this, "Be true!!!'
Now l assert and without fear of sue
cessful contradiction that with this view
of truth in its relation to human charac-
ter, to-day IS the best day the world has
seen for its establishment; by the in
| SEPARATION which comes from the long
| line of the true souls of earth longer to-
day than On any other day the world has
seen; under the light o. an age more
eager to discover the truth and with ap-
| pliances more complete; in an hour
more near to the final victory of truth
than any other. In the presence of Him
who is the truth whose life is under
stood better to say than ever before; am
l not justified in asserting that never be-
fore has truth in its relation to character
| given more promise than to-day of better
things for us.
But is this tune of justice, the second
element which enters into character,
making in the kingdom of better things
Justice sleeps, men tell US, and point tc
the long list of unrighted wrongs OF
which the world is full; to the honors
heaped upon mean men and the slight
cast upon men of worth. But my friends
does not the judge of all the earth dc
right? Dare any of you say that justice
sleeps, while you believe in jehovah
In case you do, and the facts of history
=
your assertion; it does not lie in the
path of the argument 1 am making,
The one thought before US is that justice
in its relation to the Development o.
character is more efficient to-day than or
any other day the world has seen. And
here science and history come to my aid
as well as the judgment of the age il
which we live.
Science has become a witness, IN s
thousand ways telling the world that the
wages OF sin is death; that rectitude has
its reward. Physiology counts the mum
Der of children who die because theil
parents sin and the long roll of victims O
their own follies. Geology has thus hit
in the earth the story which the presen
age IS reaching, of the inevitable evil!
which follow transgression of nature:
law. Astronomy, by the sweep of it:
telescope, inspires in every beholder al
admiration of the magnificence of tha
law which reaches the bounds of i'm
mensity and in the farthest star Furnishes
the least violation of her precepts.
there is one thought more completely
taught today by natural religion thar
any other it is the universally and dig
nifty and integrity of law, or in othel
words the unbounded sway of justice
So that the man of to-day. needing a:
| TIC vi IuC past lldNO hCOuCAf iii
clement to makeup a well rounded char
acter, cannot fail of seeing such an in
: spiration as shall make in the good tim,
coming near at hand stalwart men anC
women.
!, The whole civilized world every morn
ing throws into the balance of justice
men of every cline and station. TIL,
, intriguing politician, who has taken ont
step too many in the path of self-seeking
the defaulter, who had never intended Il
defraud those who trusted him but a
{ length must disclose the evils he ha
committed in his desperate struggle Il
succeed; the clergyman of many years
faithful service, annulied by q few hour
of sin; one and all find their iniquitie
blazoned by the lightning, spread upoI
the printed page, ten thousand breakfas
tables pronounce their doom, the men il
shop, Office and store read it. AS wei
turn back Niagara as to attempt to re
verse the verdict. The politician ma,
indeed hold on to his place by the vote
of the mean and degraded, the defaulte
: may gain livelihood by the partialit,
of friends who keep him while they sus
pect and despise him, the clergyman ma,
preach under the cloud resting upon him
but the gospel becomes lifeless in hi
life Each and all have lost that mag
| WHICH, LIdSI lCIi III
hand of justice shaping it. In Older
times the poets wrote, THE mills of tn
gods grind slow but they grind exceed
ing small" To-day the wheels Q
justice run with the might of steam
and the swiftness of lightning, an
we can rest assured that there ar
! better things for US, because justic
lives. We can learn it in the awful storie
from Persia where towns and cities ar
!, dying from hunger to teach the worl'
! that If human greed will hue the flores
= human lives will perish for lack of raiL
Yes, my friends the man of the future
!, the near future is TO have upon his fac
. the evidence of higher worth O
character because he has been to schoC
: to justice and justice each year has bee
4 more faithful in its instructions. An
oh how magnificent will be the futuI
as its ranks of men and women sha
stand forth with the clear eye, the hoI
e est mouth, the smooth brow, the ereC
o form of him who can, owing to the az
b vantages of the time in which he live
b say modestly and truthfully Il unde
: strnd more than the ancients because
, have learned to keep thy precepts."
It The same principle obtains in the d
II rection of love, the third element whic
: enters into character-making. And her
IS as before, 8 survey of the present, i
e comparison with the past, discloses Ii
fact that love has never had the potenc
S which it has to-day, hence, in the effet
a which it is to produce, there are bettt
n things in store for us if we are moulde
+ by it than any who have lived befol
II could have had.
S BY love mean the spirit which pass
e away from US; in its completest for
a taking two directions, one toward Goo
v the other toward man. To secure til
# love two constituents are necessary; OF
e an unselfish disposition; the other,
II more appreciative acquaintance vii
], those whom we love.
e Now, as we have before seen the fir
st of these two instincts, disposition
d love is assured from the nature