Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-14

Tossing to be complete exposition of truth
was by that very profession proved wrong,
because no system can compass perfection,
not being in possession of all the facts Our
| iron-bound, orthodox Puritan bigots, what
ever hard term you will, riveted that truth
into an institution 30 years ago, clamped 1t
in so fast and firm that the Supreme Court
of Massachusetts, is having very hard work
to get it out and will, trust, work in vain;
| the "infallible revelation which God con-
stantly makes of Himself in His works of
creation, providence and redemption" If
| God is constantly revealing Himself, no
system can be perfect, because it must be
founded on partial knowledge. .
THE INFLUENCE OF CHRIST.
'The toiler of the world" says Mrs.
Ward, "as he natures may be made to
love Socrates, or Buddha, or Marcus Au-
relius 1t would seem often as though he
could not be made to love Jesus"
By their fruits We shall know them.
Which has the, most influence on life to-day
in Europe and America, Socrates, or Buddha,
| or Marcus Aurellus, or Jesus Christ? How
many are reared to Buddha in England?
How many workingmen and women on the
Continent sustain memorial supper to
Socrates. How many of the trades unions
of the United States or how many indi-
vidual members of society, young men and
maidens, ever founded an alliance of
mutual endeavor in right living, in benef-
cent and charitable work in the name of
Marcus Aurelius?A Or of Socrates? Or of
Buddha?
A little while ago a young girl, sweet,
pure, perfect, I think one might say, went
beyond the vision of earth. Three ana
half years after her death sealed envelope
was found which contained a paper whose
date showed that it was written when she
was IL years old. 1t was to this effect:
81 do henceforth and forever give myself
to the Lord Jesus Christ 1 give my soul to
Him; my body to work for Him; my tongue
to speak for Him; my hands to work for
Him; give my whole self to Him, to be
forever His. He will keep me, guide me
and guard me. I must seek Him every day.
I must love Him better than all the rest of
the world. l must do as know He wants
me to do, and all 1 do must be to please
Him. I must love to read His word. 1
must do all the good can in all the ways
1 can. Not one of all these things can do
without His help, and He will help me if I
come to Him with my whole heart"
Seven years after, overtaken by sudden
illness in Europe, the same little hand
wrote:
"Oh, my darling, how miss you! am so
homesick that feel sometimes as if I cannot
bear it.
IS NOT THIS DIVINITY?
'sNothing seems like home. The food is
so fused up and different. This is q little
thing to speak of, but you know when one
is sick-then when think I may die here,
the longing is dreadful to get home and see
you all once more. I would give all
- H. D,-A
my never-failing friend. He is always near
with comfort and help. He always makes
me happy and satisfied to leave every event
of life or death in His hands,
Is it only what Jesus Christ has in COM
mon with Marcus Aurelius and Socrates,
and other Jewish peasants of amiable lnclin-
ations that brings him thus in effective
pledge and stimulus, comfort and succor, to
the innocent, yes, and to the guilty, to the
weak, the struggling, to the helpless and
the suffering? What lie is more stupendous
than Gods revelation of Himself in the
long history of man if the Christian story
which has ministered to generations of
trusting, helpless, ignorant, devout, shall
in a moment of dread awakening, or a
more dreadful blank and dark, be proven
false?
"To reconceive the Christ! It is the
special task of our age, though in some sort
and degree It has been the ever recurring
task of Europe since the beginning"
Why? There has never been anything
which might be called movement toward
recohceiving Socrates, or Marcus Aurelius,
or George Washington. We have not been
aware of any special attempt in Europe or
America to reconceive Buddha, though
Buddha is for us originally and as man
no more than an Oriental, an Asiatic, than
is Jesus Christ Why is it that the world
can never have done with Jesus Christ?
Why is it that His name. His nature, His
life, His character, His work is the center
of perpetual interests, is the pivot upon
which the worlds life turns to-day2
Why, but because in Him was life; and
that life is the light of men; because in Him
the Word, the Logos, the Eternal Reason
was made flesh and dwelt among men; and
forever as long as the world stands, and
more and more closely and lovingly the
longer the world stands, will men study
that object lesson from the Unseen Uni
verse, will men peer through that rift in
the heavy clouds Of matter to discern life
and Immortality brought to light; good It'd
ings of great joy which shall be to all
people. GAIL HAMILTON.