The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-09

Tor me TO bear the yoke
IL seems to me, my friends, If there is any
MISTAKEN view of life, you may not know what
experience lie and what it means. The expert
ences oil life are not mere chances; the soul does
not collide with this or that incident in q chaos
OF circumstances. Life. the experience of life,
| u not TO be thought of in this way. What does
a man mean when he says my life?" There is
nrst the SOUL and then secondly there II all that
| is not my soul, but outside the soul. What Is
| outside the soul is always pressing in upon the
soul through sense and thought and every given
that which Is OUTSIDE the soul oI'
means of this contact and conflict
between the soul and that which is outside the
soul. the life OF the man il developed. This is
life, and the life 10 good and great in just the
way and proportion in which the soul responds
| to that which is outside itself II the soul does
nos respond, then the soul is not alive; and, on
the other hand, the soul fulils its life in the
fullness and perfection of the response. See if
II is not 40 In the life of thought it is the re-
to think about. The life of feeling is a response
70 something which occasions the feeling Ths
lie oil action Il the conduct OF the soul toward
VIVA. IL hnds to act upon.
Different lives respond in different WAYS The
mollusk responds in its way; the insect or the
hsh in its way. Different men respond in diff
ferent ways. The depraved man in his way:
| the selfish or exclusive man in his way; the
noble man in his way-as is the response of his
soul to the experience of the soul: such is the
And so it is that the true religious life may be
the very highest kind OF response of the soul
| to that which is outside the SOUL It is the re-
Spouse of the soul to God, to that life which il
the source of all life.
1t Is so common nowadays to say that the
highest life is the life OF good morality that the
religious life is unnecessary unreality.
heard a man say something not long ago, OF
which what follows lie the substance He said:
VI am now happy. year ago was all stirred
up with doubts and questions about my life:
now my mind Is at rest those points, for
have come TO the conclusion that the highest
aim IN life is simply to try to find the correct
,ystem OF conduct; to make for myself as fast as
can learn by experience q system OF rules to
which shall conform in order that my fellow
men and society in It's eyelarion may be bet
tered. go to hear certain man preach, he
went on to say, "and he stirs me all up again.
90 TO hear certain other man and he settles
things for me, and he hs. helped me to see lie
as now see it. and now am happy, and after
all isn't happiness the chief end OF life?"
No, my friends, happiness is not the chief end
OF lie. Lille, more and more, is the end OF
about US and to the life of all life, that 10 the
chief end OF man. That iullness and goodness
OF response may require suffering, perplexity,
desth OF the body; all right. Let us make them
part of our life--not merely something to bs got
through with, or to be climbed over or to be
got around. And if the experiences OF life
bring us to know more and more life, to know
more OF its mystery, its awfulness, its immor-
tality, Its beauty, there does come to the soul
happiness, yes, . happiness unutterable in the
thought that we are living with God. People
ask Us to show them God and they.will believe
to show them how prayer can be answered
and they will pray. What do they wantf Do
they expect to ace God with their eyes or touch
Him with their hands? We are sons OF God; we
are of one substance with the Father, and the
manifestation OF God to the heart OF man is the
manifestation of life to life. Let man pray day
by day that he may lead better life, and he will
be better. There is the answered prayer; and
the new life that comes to the man who prays is
the life OF God partaken of by the man. So man
comes to know OF his relationship to the Divine
Life.
The highest manifestation Of God to man is
Gods own Son for man. We feel that love is
not alone with itself: that love outpouring in
the hearts of beasts and men 10 not of our own
fabrication, but issues from life that loves.
earthly parents, by what they are to us as
made known through our experience Of them.
exhilarated by the cold wind that blows across
his path, but soon is chilled. He who knows
the law of God is warmly clad for the weather.
The struggles of our thought must be met;
movements of the soul The relations to our
fellow beings are not the whole of life. 1t is as
II ship in the harbor should get In perfect
trim, crew well drilled. cargo on, sails set and
then say: "Now have found the correct sys-
tem of navigation, why should 60 to scar 1t
Is perilous, it will stir me all up, new 1 am
quietly at rest But ship was meant to sail
ths seas, aud the human soul was meant to live.
Or is it az If husband should say, II win en-
deavor to treat nay wife correctly. will learn
by experience iust how to conduct myself to-
ward her: it il not necessary that should love
her, but will act Just as If did love her. She
will not know, anu will be just as happy; the
much benefited. Twill not love her: that stirs
me all up; ii gives me unnecessary anxiety ii
she is ill, and in fine, love is something can't
understand or explain.
No. the religious man is not betrayed into
| such inconsistency. He regards the experiences
| OF life in different way He watches for the
| intent of God in every experience. He is ready
| to respond in proportion as the experience
presses upon him. The religious Lie is this
| full response to the leading of God. What
| mistake il is to speak of q man getting relg-
| ion" Some one has well said: christianity
| is the fullness of manhood. Christianity is not
| something added to a man. = Christian is not a
man plus something, but a man who isn't a
Christian Is a man minus something.
l have described this aspect of tine religious
| life at some length. not forgetting the reason
| which led me SO to do. / have been trying to
lead you to position where IL will be easier for
you to see that ii IS good to bear the yoke.
have tried to show how it is that the experiences
OF life are not blind and chaotic happensIances,
| but are the headings and lessons of God.
selected he words of the text, for it seems
to me particularly true and important that this
| should be learned by the young who are just be-
| ginning life-the sooner 1t is learned, the better
at is good for man that he bear the yoke in
| his youth"
| Ithappens very often that young person is
disappointed or discouraged or embittered by
| the unexpected perplexities or trials.
| Imagine, Tor instance, young man with the
| ideal OF a certain business or profession, having
| to sacrifice all TO support the family in his
| home; or imagine some one longing to perfect
| herself in music or hne art, obliged to do i'm
| perfect work, because the desired study is i'm
| possible; or some one eager to pass few more
! years Of happy youth before the more serious
duties, brought face 10 face with problems which
| touch the conscience and heart very deeply. and
| seem to render the time unhappy; or l imagine
some one led while still young TO meet bereave-
ment, to suffer ill-health, or poverty, or sud
| denly called upon to assume unusual or extra
| ordinary responsibility.
| And when such experiences come We often
/ think too fondly OF tbs lie we would prefer to
| live and fail to meet such experiences as they
| ought to be met
They should not be treated as a sum that
| must be worked, or so much unpleasant labor
| TO be done. Meet them with q welcome. They
| always bring their summons to duty and to
| faith. They bring food for life. Do not flee the
| heavenly messengers in whatever guise they
| come Wrestle with them as jacob wrestled
! with the angel OF the Lord, until they bless
you. so meet them and you Will find in them
| Gods intent for your life. II you hEd all that
| you can find, you have found Gods intent, for
| He does not mean that any more shall be found
| than that which you can find. Even il il hap
| pen that the search reveals nothing to you but
inscrutabe mystery, then that is what God
| wants you TO know.
| Your destined life is not what you would
! choose, but what God means it 10 be. To fulfill
Gods intent you must realize that the expert
| ences which come upon you are not 10 De merely
/ endured. They must be taken up into the life
| and nurtured in anticipation and memory till
| they sacred.
| Aud so the words OF the great prophet carried
/ down the ages are true for us today; we may
| verify them IN our own lie as containing q
| truth for ali men aud for all time.
! Would that not only while we are still young
| we may learn TO bear the yoke, but that all our
| lives we may say: sit was good for US to have
| borne the yoke"
| read the words of Jesus in Gethsemane, for
| they seem to me TO carry deeper lesson than
! the words OF the text. The words OF Jeremiah
were probably uttered after the conflict. The
| words of Christ were uttered when the death on
/ the cross was impending. We must learn not