The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-04

IVY hAsS " VNA y wHR o l
Illustrating my dominion, In order that you
may become conscious Of my rul0 IN the
world. God rsiRns In nature and In tho
soul Of man. TO the man OF affairs whose
Of thoughts run along ths channels
only t1i idol "a "a NE Il so osp aies. 81 q shs sn MOMENT sl sns
day announces tho counsels Of God stands
forever" Enter the sanctuary Of thy. soul,
mani throw away thy. convantionalitiesi
forget the inequalities Of wealth n posi-
ton and mental cunning and power,
IL daily dress, and iss the majesty q
Gods truth enter 1t; ask myself what
means thy earthly career; whence CONTEST
thou, what art thou, and whittier dost thou
60. The answer will be thon CONTEST sent
by the Creator. whose kingdom thy own
good daily proclaim. Thy duty here is as a
FREQ citizen to fnrther that kingdom, and
thou wilt return az a soldier from battle to
say II thou art loyal. The eternal truth
expressed in the psalmist's saying, the
thoughts of his heart from generation to
generation,' must also be Numbered into
the ears OF an age like ours, too busy with
its achievements, too limited TO It's
w Investigations, too scrutinizing of the
creation to see the Creator. God reigns
through his thoughts traced IN nature, but
very often our modern scientist is like the
man who overwhelmed. by the number
Of trees did not observe that hs was in the
wood. Everywhere tho regularity Of na-
ture's processes ID being discovered. and
mans inventive talent becomes. 80 to say.
partner to God in using its secret powers
for his own purposes. And yet what is the
moral drift Of the thought Of our age.
quarters 1t Is to exHit the body. Of nature,
the matter over the spirit which infuses il
with life and regulates its movements With
reason and crowns its various forms with
beauty. Does not man stand so awestruck
and dumbfoundsd before the mechanism
ths Great Mechanic. Nay, has not the
very triumph in scientific research and me-
chanical art produced with some the mar
row and brutalizing conception that there
is nothing but the machine. the world is
but one grinding process in which the
longer than the weak, but all are finally
ground to atoms and a handful Of dust ia
the crown Of the whole movement. Our
day wishes to teach us that this IL . false
philosophy; shall the axe exalt itself above
him who swings it, Can the human intel
thoughts incribed in the universe, disregard
the writer: THE thoughts Of his heart are
from generation to generation Under
stand, proud man, who dOst boast of thy
knowledge, that it is because of the reign
Of a wise God That thou hast been
gifted with the power to gradually gain an
insight into the wonderful harmony of his
world plan. The laws which thou dost dis
cover are but the thoughts of God made
eloquent to thy approaching o The
cause and effect which thou dost never miss
in the magnificent chain of fact, from the
sur to the tiniest insect, the n neces-
sity and absence of tiekle caprice which en-
able thee to learn and with confidence to
act IN thine information, are the result OF
the throbbing of Gods heart through the
universe. A God built the temple of nature
according to a plan, therefore man canst
thou to some extent find thyself in the maze
of its labarynth; and. thou SOU of the artist,
which mountain and tree and flower. and
above all the human soul itself reveal be-
fore thy sympathetic eye, forget not it is
only because thou art an apt pupil before
the great Master whose SWAY everywhere
transfiRurea the meanest with beauty, that
such visions to thee are possible.
1.-THE second lesson which the day is to
teach us is that God is our guide and friend.
There il a covenant between God and man
which the Eternal always remembers II
man must not forget. Happy is The people
whose God 10 the Eternal Judaism insists
as the frst truth to be guarded in all relig-
ious emotion, the recognition Of the exalted
nature of God, His absolutism in goodness
and wisdom, which makes it almost BIAS
phemy to limit glory amongst the facts Of
His creation. The heavens cannot hold
Him and how can man, be his ,acom-
plishments ever SO great, be deemed a fit
temple for the ~fullness of his glory. But
although this God is so far above man, yet
every human being has a share of deity in
him, and the meaning of life consists in
the proper Interpretation of the divine law
within him. Infinitely above and be-
yond mans grasp but not en-
tirely Indifferent to him is God.
(lr1r ro1inint 1nac not Eko Rr1Hhicro nvar-
powered by the thought of Gods eternity,
make the conclusion that the object in life
ia self humiliation. . killing of of tho
body altogether, so as finally and as soon
as possible to obtain the rest in the bosom
of the great Nirvana. Nor does it like
of Gods power by a formula of fate from
which no man can escape; nor does it make
salvation depend upon some particular
scheme which the creator of millions of
worlds invented for a few faithful to the
utter damnation of the rest. But Judaism
first points to life n no to cloister soil
tude, as the field in which to act out the
God within us; and secondly regards man
as free to obey the law of God or not, and
also sees the guarantee of salvation for
every man in the obedience to the physical
law in nature mi man. God provides for
man, gives him q reason and a conscience,
on himself. God gives men and
nations perfect freedom to work
out their task In life; He is all powerful,
but the glory of man consists in the fact
that God does not compel him to do right
and love truth. Hence, the price of our
divine birthright of freedom is the possibil-
ity of failure. A dlsheartening spectacle of
failure presents itself on all sides, in the
lives of men and in the disgraceful actions
of whole nations carried WI by the lowest
passions. 1t is q sight which makes a good
man weep, and the weak-hearted despair,
and the superficial critic deny altogether
the rule Of a God in the world. But al
though God has made morality dependent
on man, the price for his free sovereignty,
God is not indifferent to the results. Beau
tifully does the prophet describe the SEEM
ing contradiction between Gods power and
his u~nwillingness to prevent moral failure.
The prophet describes Gods inexhaustable
love and infinite sorrow at the course of his
hayward children. "A dear son is Iphraim
to me, q child whom | dandle; for when I
speak of him, l remember, therefore my in
ward parts are moved with pity for him.
Iphra6m ia the type OF man. Maynard,
manipulating on in his self-destroying
career. God is not willing to save from
moral death hin who will not make an Of
fort himself. in the words of the rabbi,
Everything from God except fear of
God.' And yet the Almighty loves and
weeps for his wayward Iphrain'. And our
day says to us oh man, remember thou
but this covenant, and if thou have the
faith that God helps the smallest of thy Of
forts coward the good and the true, thou
wilt mot despair, ii thou fail ever so FREE
q~usntly. Turn thou but in the moral night
= a u Ai-- a. r-l H. ~.-..-.