Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-07-23
FITTING.
Harmful Tendency of the Spiritual on-
-aa4 Of the Day. u \

exemplar for the Christian 10 Iolio".
Fitting from flower to flower is not
the exercise most conducive TO grown
If the filter were as eager to get tne
sweets from the flowers among whlch Z
he fits, and as patient to digest them K
into honey, the bee might possibly
serve as suggestion, if not as a model. T
But, unfortunately, this the Filters are
not wont to do. They are more curious
than industrious, and more eager to get I
than assiduous to utilize.
There are not few in our day who
fit from church to church; who go
wherever they can hear the last new
preacher or the last new soprano; VINO
crowd the aisles of one church on one
Sunday, of another church on the next
Sunday, and are possibly on their BIZ
cycles or reading the last sensational
Sunday newspaper at home on the
third Sunday. If they are not given
the best seats in the sanctuary, they
grumble at the inhospitality of the
churches; if contribution box is
passed they drop penny in, and won
der that the churches are always beg
ging; and they go away from the
ch arch fattering themselves that they
have rendered a distinguished service
to the church and its preacher by hon
oring the one with their presence and
the other with their attention. Such
Christians grow as little as n plant that
should be transplanted into new pot
every week The soul is not like the
aerial moss which thrives on the
moisture in the air, and grows as it
travels on the wings of the wind. 1t
must be rooted if it is to be built up.
Of similar fashion are men and
women who fit from creed to creed.
The Athenians survive in America, and
they spend their time in nothing else
but either to tell or to hear some new
thing. That conviction is old and
tried, that it has passed through the
fire of controversy unscathed, that it
has come out assayed and proved, is
to dub it uninteresting; and it is not
truth but interest that the filters seek
after Whatever is traditional they
count as false; whatever is new-or
they imagine to be new-has an ire
sistible attraction for them. Such men
are like PLATE, of whom Bacon says:
''IIe asked: What is truth? and went
out without waiting for an answer"
In the olden time men men were edu-
Gated in creeds and believed them, not
because they were true, but because
they were traditional. The danger in
our time is exactly the reverse; the
danger of being educated in question
ing and so to believe nothing which is
traditional. The world wants not
doubts and indecisions in business or
politics; as little are they wanted in re-
| ligion. The mind should have two COM
partments; an open one to receive the
truth; a closed one to retain it. tits
quite as important to hold fast that
| which is good as it is to prove all things.
Men should question, not for the INTEL
lcctual fascination of questioning, but
| for the solid satisfaction of securing
| Il definite answer. The skepticism
! which leads only to an interrogation
mark leads nowhere. A positive con-
viction should be the object of all in
quiry.
1t is better to believe in anything
| which has spiritual truth in it, than it
| is to question everything. Put q tree in
| poor soil and it will grow little.
Transplant q tree every morning from
one good soil to another good soil, and
: it will not grow at all. We are to build
| our faith as men build house. Settle
one foundation truth; when that is
settled, refuse to question it.; build the
next faith on that; thus lay course of
| ;+.
| lay them in cement. Refuse to let
others questionings or your own IN
settle them.
For instance:
The Gospel of Mark tells the story Of
a wonderful life, paints the portrait of
q wonderful character. The life is, al
noble one, worthy of imitation; the.
character is noble one, inspiring to
every noble soul who reads it. This
is what manhood ought to be, may be.
This is an indisputable fact; a granite
! foundation.
This life and character presents an
object for reverence and love. History,
furnishes no higher object. 1t is q rev.
| citation of an ideal, disclosure in his
tory of what humanity worships when
ever and wherever it is perceived. This
is q second indisputable fact; another
granite foundation. And these are facts
whether the story is fact or fiction,
history or myth. In either case the life
and character is an ideal humanity and
Il manifestation of divinity. These facts
settled, on these further building is pos,
sible. To build on these is to begin a
building on Christ. And any building
is better than perpetual locomotion
from tent to tent, put up to-day and
taken down to-morrow.-Outlook
] The Ideals Are Realities.
All the beauty of flower, of sound,
| Of literature and all the beauty of men.