The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-09-11


preston Of tho infinite PURPOSE. Image OF
God. Will he take wings and fly awGyY II
20 God has fttingly crowned his crention.
Or will he stand for a moment In the dnz-
xline light. then plunge to tho bottom and
mouldeT back to Kindred dust2
1hsa ths ~ever.swelllnR bubble OF exist
ence that expands till heavens light 70.
nothinRness. A mode n thinker hns said:
1--WE havs an intelligent creator. starting
with auoh elem "nts ~ cosmio dust. proceed
Ing In nm orderly process developing fhs
solid globe. Then ofders OF life that hard
~ escape matter. then other orders that
sim ply eat and move. and 80 on to higher
forms. but always aiming at man, for the
olod must think, the CRYSTAL must Ienson,
the hrs must love, all pressing toward man
for whom tho process has gone on and In
whom IL ends He reversed tho laws that
reduced him. Instincts have died out.
necessity changes TO freedom. For desire
there 10 conscience. natural selections 10 lost
In intelligence. tho struggle for existence IL
reversed under the moral nature. the weak
live and the strong perish unless they pro-
tset the weak. A teinR who lifts his face
toward the heavens in alteration extends
his love to all things. falls into sympa-
thstic afinitv with God and become a
conscious creator of the good and true.
such is man. What will Gol do With him.
the product OF countless ages of creative
energy? How much of time. .hat field Of
existence and action will God Give him?
His active life Is less than that OF the higher
animals. He dies saying. II am the pro-
duct of etet nifty. have lived under the in.
spirations of eternal life. l have loved
God, my child, my brother man. know
that love Ia eternal md ] paAa Into its ner-
feet realization. Is this mortal, leeting
life 70 him a reasonable existence? Ihen
there 10 not proportion between the p~roauo-
tion of man and his duration. 1t 10 like
spending II thousand years in building a
pyrot.chnic p!eceithat burns against the SKY
for one moment and leaves tho blaokneas
Of q night never again to DO lighted"
Flake again SAYS in ''Ths Destiny OF Man."
II believe in the Immortality Of the soul as
a supreme act OF faith In the reasonable
ness of Cots work."
But there is another claim. Emerson
said: Il confess everything connected
with our personality fails" This was be-
fore science reached it's brighter conclu-
sion. that when the goal il reached tho law
of the process 10 changed and the indi'
vidual preserved. This return of person-
ality to the original essence. this loss OF
personal existence for the general good, has
gone into literature md claims to DO tho
only worthy aim Of life. Not 80, If person.
ality is under tho law of love and service.
Benevolenco then will act forever. This
altruism Of benevolent annihilation,
claimed as the only immortality. cuts away
tho basis Of its action. pnupe iz,s itself by
one act Of giving. Stripped Of its Literary
NOR bad; but to live for love
and service is the highest moral
ity and the only true benevolencs.
But science will ask. Where in this universe
ia mans eternal abodeP As increasing
knowledge of geography drove the Elysian
fields and happy islands Of tho blessed far
ther away until no place was left for ancient
myth. 80 modern astronomy seems to have
b nished heaven from the skies until no
place for the re,plendens oity seems left
child Heaven is up there" but no paradise
Of green fields Is found. The visible uni
verse 10 all of tho same perishable stnf and
ia growing old. The author Of the unseen
Univers SCI has uttered these scientific words:
form is permitted to remain on
the cnrth a long series of yenrs,
We merely lenRthen out tho reriod but we
cannot escape the final catastrophe. The
earth will gradually lose its energy OF ro'
tation as we'll rs revolution round the sun.
The sun himself will wax dim and become
useless az q source of energy until at last
tho favorable condition of the present solar
system will have quito disap! cared. But
what hnppens to our system will happen
likewise to the whole visible universe,
which will. II infinite. become a ~lifelsss
mass, II indeed IT be not doomed to ntter
dissolution. 1t will become old and effetc,
no les, than the individual. 1t is glorious
garment but not immortal; we must look
elsewhere il we are to be clothed with i'm
mortality"
Spencer says: Evolution has an i'm.
passsble limit" A universe of extinct
suns round which CIRCLE planets devoid of
life. Universal death" Is the end of a
worn out creation. This is the nnti-clima1.
the dismal end Of creation. The evolution.
list recoils from his own conclusion ana
takes refuge in the mystery of tue un
known. Spencer admits that "on carrying
the Argument still furthe We are led to
infer a subseauent univc, sn! !if"." Having
gained tho summit OF mo!eln wisdom he
looks round ON n ~raylesa no lion and mp
proaoh of universal night. Yet beyond
that horizon, he thinks, ma, lie the posi-
bilitr of another dawn. Inc
Christian sees the night coming and
can this dark picture DO the final cnd9 The
world II unfinished, visible nature incom-
plets, its evolution q contradiction ana de-
struotion of itself. unless VIC believe 1t ia
continuous with "A supernatural realm. q
prepa1 alton for that which is to como.
Thsre is a dualism in tho constitution OF
nature, two kinds OF force. two orders OF
DEVELOPMENT, body and mind. nature and
spirit. earth and heaven. Professor Harlip.
Of Yale, ono of the profound philosoThC
thinkers of the age. has said: Tho ends
for which nature exists are not in itself,
but in tho spiritual sphere beyond. Nature
always points to something beyond Itself.
Backward to n cause. above to q law and
forward to ends in tho spiritual
system. CD 10 always developing
nature to n capacity to be
receptive of higher powers. Under tho
tension of tho divine energy in II. it always
seems to be striving its bounds to overpNss'
This disclosss in nature n certain reality III
Hecel's conception, that nature Is always
aspiring to tetu II to the spi itunl whence
it crme." As tho autumn husk shall fade
and fall, as tho natural body shnll dissolve,
so the physical universe shall grow old and
mass away, while the now hidden universe,
real, spiritual. no longer needing its en-,
easement of clay. will continue UNCHANGED
and GLORIOUS III, ough tho rolling ote nittes
II 10 the dualism OF lifo; tho two-fold svo-
luton; the outward 70 III and symbol; the
phantasm OF matter only, will pass away
Then not bey ond tho stars. not on some
undiscovered planet. but In the not dietanl
realm of spi 1t, is tho abode of the snncti
fed, Like oil spirit, the evergreen shores
are hidden from moItrl eyea. science hr''
r~ecoils from its conclusion OF nniversn
death; then 10 points the Anger beyond, bu'
SAWS, I'VE cannot lc,d." Physical speeu-
lation, sent ont to search ovsr tho depth'
for the everlasting hills, bilngs back uro1
it's wings tho perfume OF other iHndH
Poets have looked OF tho green hills DO
yond. Take Longfsllow's words;
..Lifs Is real; lilo Ia carnestl
And tho grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest.