The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-10-14

deserts We, who are dwelling In a rich,
civilized city; we, who have been trained
from our infancy in the knowledge of
God; we, who are wont to gather together
in the house of the Lord for his worship;
shall we be called to prepare the road of
the Lordy Why, this road has rather
been completed, and strong and
durable road it is, for do we not
live in the civilization of the Nineteenth
century? Are we not now wondering on
that broad highway of the Lord that runs,
through populated cities, and through the
very market-place of the world! But,
friends, if we have no feeling of our being
in Il desert, this is the surest proof of our
being utterly bewildered in it. Even an
Epicurean skeptic found out that "to sit
on rocks, to muse over flood or fall, to
climb the trackless mountain all unseen, is
not Solitude" but that the true dismal,
forlorn solitude, is 'amid the crowd, the
hum, the shock Of men, to hear, to see, to
feel and to possess, with none to bless us
and none whom we can bless" And,
surely the ancient cities of Egypt, Greece
and Rome were populated, ana the tenn
Piles of Moloch, of Ashtaroth, and of
Baal were thronged with wOrshipers.
but Notwithstanding this, they were de-
serts. And why? Because God was afar
from them; love, the only bond of union
was afar from them, and every spirit was
filled with hatred and cruelty. Covetous-
ness, jealousy and envy, renders and shiv-
ers the divine unity of the universe and
inasmuch as these vices yet prevail, they
make the populated city desert, and in
the deserts we are commanded to prepare
the way of God.
But, how is the way of the Lord to be
prepared? The track is set forth in the
last verse of our text: Every valley is to
be exalted; every mountain and hill to be
made low; the crooked is to be made
straight, and the rough places plain
This description is well known to represent
the labors incumbentup the pioneers who
proceeded march of an army, and the
prophet speaks in terms comprehensive
to his hearers. We have to regard these
highways as types of the way which we
have to prepare and make straight for
God i'll our own hearts and in the heart of
mankind. Every valley is to be exalted,
every base and grovelling feeling is to be
lifted up; every mountain and hill must
be made low, every proud and swelling
imagination and whatsoever raises itself
up against God and humanity must he
cast down; and what is crooked, all the
path of cunning, falsehood and fraud,
whatever deviates from the path of truth
and honesty, must be made straight; and
the rough places, the stubbornness of our
will and all unkindness must be made
plain and smoothed down to that even
ness and gentleness which become the re-
ligious.
Such is the work which is enjoined on
us and the "Day of Atonement" shows
us the means through which this work can
be accomplished. Atonement, forgive
ness, repentance and reparation leads to
the aim and end of the labor to prepare
the way to God. Let us, therefore, con
fess our sins and transgressions against
God; try to wipe away the tears that we
have caused to be shed, and pray for
giveness from our fellow beings, and for
give those who have offended us; let us
rebuild what we have ruined, heal what
wounded, and thus try to make the desert
like garden of the Lord; JOY and glad
ness will be found therein, thanksgiviDgs
and the voice of song.