Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-19
knowledge Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus

Christ.
1t is no disadvantage to the cause Of
true religion that all of its effects should
not be fully seen nor. heard. Consider,
pray you, how many things in nature
are not directly observed nor fully COM
pretended. Science, which has gone
very far in these our days in it's inveeti-
cations into the laws of nature, is forced
to confess by its truest followers that
their studies find certain limitations; |;
those limitations are very narrow in
deed, and that many things are beyond
its ken. With hills and mountains
weighed in the balances, with the e,ars
held ia invisible scales, with the dis
tances of the planets definitely meas
ured, with eclipses calculated to a GER
tainty of time, with the antediluvan
history of the rocks in their possession,
science yet finds itself unable to see and
comprehend that principle and yet
simple power which holds the world
together and keeps all things moving
How much more impossible to COM
prehend the immaterial-the spiritual
all which acts and reacts upon the
soul. Take the inner consciousness, the
varying moode, the different tempera-
ments. Can we account for all of these
Joy and gloom, hope and despair, sweep
over mans nature, and he knows not
oftentimes why it should be go, for the
outward may not he in harmony with
the inward. We are baffled in our
efforts to discover the causes which 80
operate upon humanity. The @loian
strings of mans heart vibrate with un
noticed breezes; the strings OF the air
about him play upon his nature and
evoke strains of which he knows but
little, If anything.
Consider that true religion has a
spiritual force at work in and with the
souls Of men, derived from the personal
presence OF God, the Holy Ghost. His
work, of course, is mysterious. We
cannot by searchings find out God, and
the Holy Ghost is God. Mighty
changes are wrought within mems
lives, glimpses of which are caught at
times when cause and opportunity
draw them out. Regeneration, con-.
version, sanctitication, all are mysteries.
Results are seen-msnner of operation
unseen. Is this process peculiar to
Christianity? No. Mind acts upon
mind. A word from public speaker
and resolution changed. The fash OF
an eye kindles in another q lasting de-
termination. The impressiveness of
gesture accentuates thought. affecting
the whole after life. Did you
see communication between speaker and
hearer, beyond the magic power of his
oratory? Who can distinguish or follow
the subtle influence which passed from
the one to the other. That there was
influence. power. domination, you very
well know. Beyond putting label up
on it and calling it personal mag
netiem," we know nothing about it.
The invisible touch of the Divine, then,
who is able to comprehend it? Enough
to know by revelation that He, who
called the world out of chaos, moves
sustains the world, strengthens human
king and master in our inmoet souls.
The work OF the spiritual kingdom
canuot be weighed, nor it's results tabu-
lated. 1t is designed, amonget other
things, to cure us OF the weakness to
value only tnat which we can handle,
place upon scale, and quote at q given
far as they 60, but they were never de-
signed to gauge purity Of life, sain.lineas
OF character, zeal of work. There ia
something higher than the material.
An unseen force. the mighty power OF
the Holy Ghost is always and every
where at work. With what weights and
balance will you determine what the
kingdom has really lost or gained? Go,
then. to your earthly inventions, and
measure their power ye puny wits of men.
Calculate, ii you please, the horse
poweEof steam engines, but eseay not,
on the peril of discontinue, to put Gods
kingdom on the scales and to weigh it
in the balances. Not in numbers,
wealth, prestige, nor anything seen by
sight, does the real strength of the king
dom rest. Israel had but 1000 in the
days of Elijah whose knees had not
bowed to Baal, yet the kingdom, small
in numbers, had lost no part of it's ever
living, ever present strength divine.
We can thus see where our dependence
must be. Wemust give ourselves to the
dissemination of the gospel by the
words of our lips and the actions of our
lives, trusting IN, and praying for, the
sending forth of the Spirits grace to
change, adorn and beautify the lives Of
men.
The kingdom shall come. O, Lord,
thy kingdom come. It comes, silently
it comes, aud forever keeping on it shall
come, till the glory of the Lord shall
cover the earth as the waters cover the
sea.