The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-24
An Appropriate Reelection Upon the
Reeeding Form Of the Chris
tian Year.
Put Your Hand to the Duty That
Always Lies Nearest to
You.
An Admonltion to Learn Good From the
Past and to walk In Better
Ways.

xxxii:17. He said: In Greek mythology
those who were about to enter the elystan
shades were required to drink Of the waters
of Lethe. It was property OF the waters
Of this river to cause forgetfulness Of all the
past. The peculiar structure OF pagan
mythology demanded some such agency "a
this tabled stream to complete it. But to
the Christian idea Of the relation between
the seen and unseen realms would not re-
Quirement of this kind be misfortune?
Doubtless there is much in the past Of
many Of us that we would gladly see OBJ
liberated. Alas! for the sins we have COM
mitted, for tine wastes We have suffered, for
blessings despised, that now brighten in
their flight; these We deplore. But alas!
again for the pain and disappointment We
have caused Of which the patient lips Of
those we revere have never spoken.
Nothing can be undone. Yet we cling to
our past; for it is a part of ourselves. And
wisely or unwisely lived is it not of great
Importance? Would We allow it, were it
possible, to pass into oblivion?
In the church the Christian year is the
one we follow. To-day is its last Sunday.
As the year retreats is it not appropriate
that we pause for one look at least at the
receding form. Carrying away SO much,
what does it leave for US behind? Many
lessons. Let US think Of one Of them this
morning: The value of the past.
Concerning a book, Daniel Deronda,
which some time since appeared, critic,
in the course Of his comments, said that it
could not have been written had not Her
bert Spencer first lived. Until the philoso-
pher had made his mastery analysis of the
powers and functions of the mind and soul,
the delineator of character could not 90
skillfully have traced out the logical Sc
quences of their harmonious or inharmon-
ious workings. And this comment illus
trates these truisms that to-day is the sch0l-
ar of yesterday; whatever the world is to-
day it has been made by all the days from
the beginning. Each successive age 90 It
And century as it departs hands to that
which follows the gathered fruit of all its
toll and triumph. Has not the present year
as it moves away some experience of its
own to leave to the young year which is
about to follow? And ought we not to be
vastly wiser for all that history upon
which We can turn and cast our wondering,
yet critical eyes? Something like this
seems to be the vision. Half shrouded In
the mlsts stands the race in its infancy at
the beginning, with no experience, holding
in tiny hands its little knowledge of good
and evil and back Of this the power to will
and execute. Work out, says the Creator,
with these materials the great destiny that
lies of in the far distance. The universe I
give to help you; it holds potentially q
thousand forces, By prayer, in the sweat
of your brow, by planning, investigating
and continuing to ameliorate the condition
Of your kind. bend them all to your SER
vice. And not far of am !. supreme
over all. "Subdue the earth''-in other
words was the Creators formal behest.
And does not history seem to you the at
tempt to fulfill this injunction? The de-
sire has been imperishable, the toll infinite,
the mistakes endless; yet as the enduring
ture if not over himself, before our eyes,
we'll nigh achieved. Like the yew- tree of
the country church-yard, used by Tennyson
for a figure, which owed its unwonted
freshness to the winding OF its roots
around the human body, which friends had
buried beneath its shade. the present age,
more vigorous than any Of which We read,
is SO because it's roots lie deeply in all the
buried past. Out Of the elements that
once were wrought MP into the forms
that served we'll their day and generation.
the new life weaves for itself more beauti-
full robes. From the past then how can we
IAN we think and feel" writes one from q
different standpoint, Of the evolution at
which we have been working sis but this
world of movement, Of mass and atom un-
able to control their own motions and
STEPPED I'M sea 30 tremulously responsive
that your faintest breath breaks on infinite
dance began, nothing swerves but BY COL
lision: Others: thou shalt drive and they
thee, but myself never. ! myself capable
for an instant of enjoying the past and pres
emit am but one OF these atoms, swept on by
its own inertia and disappearing az Il
came, q portent and wonder. Do you
know what effect all this produces
UH10n Yno3 To Nroako fn;kh -
necessary IN being 90 transcendent that
the inventions of men become puerilities.' y
So in any view of the worlds construction
and movement the past in some way sur
wives. Il cannot be wholly dead: whatever
was available in 1t reappears in the living
faith in the omnipotent intelligence.
Days should speak" Such is q senti-
ment which occurs in the wise speech of
Elihu In the Book Of Job. And they are
always speaking, to warn or guide or en-
courage. And however they speak, whether
in battle-fields or in the decay OF nations,
or in social oyerturninRs, OF in the individ.
nails ain finding itself out, the secret
wronRdoing that was Thought TO be covered
becoming revealed; 10 il not ALWAYS Of ne
permanenoe Of what il right, OF the detec-
ti0n and banishment Of evil, however varied
the cloaks in which it parades or chaneeful
the forms in which it seeks to perpetuate it's
baleful existence?
Apart from these concentrations, Let us
narrow our review to that little section
which is comprised within the compass of
our own day. What does the year past
teach us2 Like all other years gone by, the
value, the use of the present.
In the matter Of m0ney-making men are
generally sufficiently alert to seize the adj
vantages of to-day. In relation to duty.
how we procrastinats! For what We plan TO
accomplish in the way of being good and
doing good, does not all our hope lie in the
future? What the past has not
done for rs in subduing our IN
ordinate pride, in beeetting in us
maRnanimity, in giving M control of the
temper and tongue, In making us absolute
y truthful and Trustworthy, in delivering
rs from envy, hatred and malice, the fu-
ture may do for us. The resolute campaign
against our shortcomings and the abandon
the service of Christ for which we are not
quite ready to-day. We leave until to-mor-
row. How deceptive it is! What vanity il
nourishes! You realize the possibilities of
holiness. How great they are: the chance
to live above the world. with the heart and
mind in heaven; the friendship of God, the
mastery of sorrow, the readiness TO sacri-
nee all pecuniary gain for principle and
much personal comfort to help and bless
others! Such is often our dream. How
mlserabiy We trust to the future for its
peahaps, but good, unseihsh, patient in
time to come: and comfort ourselves with the
promise. In the meantime what are We
doing with the opportunities that might
help ~ ON to the contamination? We let
them speed by unnoted or unused. Here WAS
tho opportunity for few moments OF
prayer IN the church or ut home; an invita-
49, A. H. -. - .