Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-05
A CONSTANT NEED
Living Apart from God-Men Need No3
BE without His Conscious Presence and

Living Apart from God-Men Need N53
BE without His Conscious Presence and
Supervision.
God is the supreme need of every
soul. A universe without Him would
be az the earth thus bereft, "without
hope" Theoretical atheism says:
"There is no God;' practical atheism
tries to live without Him. Men who
resent being called atheists, live and
think and act atheistically. "There is
one living and true God, maker of all
things, ruler Of Heaven and earth," is
not an uncomfortable creed to those
worldlings so long as they can manage
to feel that God has His own separate
sphere of activity which does not in
terfere with theirs. The thought Of
taking God into their lives, their BUSH
mass and their hearts rarely comes to
them; and when it does, they revolt
from it as impracticable and fanatical.l
This habitual feeling of avowed theists
that a God remote from human affairs
is shut up in the solitude of His own
eternity is as irrational and ~indefensible
as atheism itself. Others have a theo-
retical belief that "the tabernacle of
God is with men," that He is a factor.
IN human affairs, and has something TOT
do with individuals; but they fail to-
verify their belief in daily experience.
They pray, but to a God afar of; who
is not nigh them in their hearts. Such
men sing: II need Thee every hour,''!
but in almost all hours feel not their
need of God: Sung as lived, their
prayer-meeting and in bereavement; I
need Thy general supervision, but i
have no abiding consciousness of Thy
presence"
It is time to revise our thinking on
this subject of human want. Our habit;
of limiting our need of God TO spiritual
concerns and great temporal crises
makes il all the more important that we
should appreciate our dependence I'M
apparently trivial matters. Nothing isl
really trivial that in any degree affects
the welfare of a man. What seem to|
be "tritles" are often laden with eter-
nal consequences. A mans path isl
constantly beset with perils and sig-i
nificant crises in which only God can
direct.
There is no human philosophy more!
sound than the statements: 1. That if.
God is ruler in general over this world;
that general supervision grows out of
His omniscient specific supervision over
individual men; 2. That if God ever
controls the world He controls it all the
time. This philosophy does not i~nvolve|
the sequence that God ordains evil, orr
that He is powerless and indifferent,|
and therefore is overruled. Sin and
evil are but the ordinary results of dis!
loyalty, british obstinacy, disobedienceI
and rebellion against Gods PERSONAL
law. In n sense He permits evil in
that He does not summarily strikel
down the rebel or allow rebellion to de-
stroy the traitor instantly. Specified
promises and invitations give some|
ground for faith that God will guard
the human soul that trusts, and will,
lead it beside sweet waters. The man;
or woman who surrenders to a PERSONAL
father in Heaven, and constantly con-
socrates himself to obedient SERVICE;
surely will mount a human Pisgah from:
which he can see Gods land in this life.
Our need of God is satisfactory proof
that we need not be without His con-
scious presence and supervision. Al
"OA1u tN Wy NOu IL " WOCAul AullNA0,
if the Creator does not abide among the
men whom He has pronounced His.
noblest creation. When the world was
young, angels walked with, and talked
to, some saints. Later, Christ was
flesh, and tarried on earth thirty-three
years: Now in these latter days the
third person in the Trinity "abides'' as
the comforter, guide and saver of all
who invite the Divine Guest to tarry
until the end.-M W. Christian Ad-
rocdte.
-''No one liveth to himself" an
apostle declares. Whether the man
thinks of it or not he yields an uncon~
soious influence. His words, his man.
ners, his acts, make an impression upon
others. In the household, the counting
ROOM, in the workshop, this silent power
makes itself felt. According as his life
is controlled by godly or ungodly prin-
ciples this influence will be for good or
for evil, and he will be a blessing or q
bane in the circle where he moves
Christian Secretary.