The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-09-11

meath are the everlasting arms. "-Deut. xxxiii,
s7.l
'sThe eternal God is thy refugee"
thy refuge from what ? The word it
self implies the existence of peril and
distress and God, if we seek him, will
be our refuge from every form of peril
and distress-the only sure refuge from
every one of the many ills to which our
life would otherwise be the helpless
prey. God will be our refuge, first of
all, from the illusions, the disappoint-
ments, the memorable WEAKNESS of life.
Youth knows little of these, and hardly
believes in their existence; but no man
or woman, / suppose, has ever reached
even half the allotted term of three
score years and ten without finding
that the worlds experience has also
become his own. VANITY of vanities,"
said the preacher, call is vanity" That
sigh burst from the hearts of men many
thousand years ago, and it was but the
echo of the yet more ancient lamenta-
ton: Few and evil have been the
days of the years of my pilgrimage"
Each man soon finds for himself that
these are not commonplaces, but sad
realities.
God has two ways of leading men to
him through the narrow gate of disap-
pointment-one by refusing our desires,
to show us that they are not according
to righteousness the other, by grant
ing them, and sending leanness withal
into our bones. hardly know which
of the two experiences causes the most
disappointment-tha of the man who,
yearning in vain for the good things of
this world, sees them fitting over his
head like clouds which only break upon
the distant hillsi; or that Of the man
who, attaining the end on which he has
set his heart, finds that 1t yields him
no happiness, but, like an apple Of
Sodom, it is full Of dust and ashes.
Thus men labor for wealth, and find
that they were happier in poverty !;
they thirst for fame, and find it less
tolerable than obscurity. Am wrong
in saying scarcely any one of us in this
life gets what he desires, or, getting it,
is happy We hear on mems lips, OF
read in the literature of all ages, that
"life is but an empty dream, and "that
man is born to sorrow as the sparks fly
upward" And, perhaps, we repeat
those congratulations of common ex-
perience with vague assent but, oh, is
there one of us who fails to understand
them very differently, when he, too, in
his turn, finds out their true meaning
and their terrible reality? And yet to
be led by these facts into gloom or pes
simism is entirely to misunderstood
their nature, and would be the most
fatal of all errors. For why does God
thus deal with US 1t is simply his
way of convincing US that this earth is
not our home, that here we have no
abiding city, that if we are in any way
to fulfill the true law of our life we
must set our affections on things above,
and not on things on the earth. 1t may
sometimes seem to be with ruthless
hand that God skaters, one after an
other, all our idols; but the ruthless
ness is the most perfect mercy-it ia
meant to show us that they are idols,
and to lead us to himself. Happy he,
and he only, whose hope is in the Lord
his God happiest of all if God has
been that which he has longed for even
from his youth but happy, too, if,
after following false lights and walk
ing in wrong paths, he is led back again,
weary and heavy. laden, to the true
way, and there finds in peace, at last,
'sthe eternal God is his refuge, and I'M
demeath are the everlasting arms"
And God is our refuge, not only from
the sore disappointment of life, but also
from its insoluble mysteries. There
are times when the burdens of life's
unintelligible secret rest upon us with
weight almost too heavy to be borne.
There are so many things which it
seems to us infinitely important that
we should know, about which we yet
know almost nothing. Mystery cir
cumscribes our little lives as with a
wall OF adamant we can hardly ad-
vance one single step in thought with
out dashing ourselves against it; we
know not what we are. we know not
whence we came. we know not whittier
we are going, and none can tell us. We
cry aloud for surer knowledge, and
while to the froward and presumptu-
GUS there comes back no answer except
the echo of their own voice, even for
humber and faithful questioners there
is only the whisper /: What l do thou
knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter" There is silence and there
is darkness. Our Wanted science can
not break that silence and cannot dissi-
pate that gloom. Yes; but faith can
speak to us even though there be
neither voice nor language, and can
shed upon our path light which is not
of earth. We see not, nevertheless we
believe. The mystery ceases to be so
oppressive when humility accepts it