The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-09-05

his care, or who wlthholds MS manu-
till man prays or offers sacrifice, but
he holds the seas Gin the hollow OF
his hand" There is never second,
when man sleeps or wakes, but the
same all-comprehending, all-invest-
ing power and life holds and upholds
the world.
The author of the proverb states
truth that will not be overshadowed
by the last and newest discoveries OF
men when he says, "The eyes of the
Lord are in every place, beholding
the evil and the good;" and while we
must certainly smile at the idea OF
God needing the help of recording
angel, it remains one of the serious
facts of life that a record is made of
all human conduct record that
cannot be blotted out or atoned for.
There is a hand that writes the his
tory of all events. God has not en-
tirely hidden the secrets of the past
from the tireless searcher after scien-
tific knowledge. The age which COW
cred this fair temperate zone with
ice and brought the climate of per-
petual winter to these very regions,
recorded its history in the earth and
upon the rocks and in the manner in
which rivers were turned back to-
ward their sources and vegetation
planted upon the mountain tops.
The primeval forests recorded their
history in the rich veins of coal which
is now digged from the earth's treas
ure house. The seas tell their history
by the action of their tides upon the
shores. The mission of geology has
been to translate this sign language
in which distant ages wrote their
history, and it begins to appear as
if nothing were ever transacted upon
the earth and lost to the records. In
the vast archives of nature the story
of creation lies folded in security
awaiting the greater man to trans
late it's wonders. And what of man?
He, too, is ceasing to be so much OF
a mystery. First came the immortal
scholar who read the language of
Egypt. The land of the Iliad has
been made to disclose her secrets.
The buried ruins of Assyria are
brought to light, and last has come a
tireless man who has translated the
manuscripts and mysterious writings
of the people who once lived in Cen
trail American wonderlands.
AS glaciers and tides and forests
and winged animals, and four-footed
beasts have recorded the history of
the globe, so do thoughts record the
life history of man. The audiphone,
a delicate instrument of mans in
genuity, catches the articulations of
human speech. 1t registers the roar
of cannon or the sweet note of love.
1t can catch up the moaning winds
of the mysterious sea or the notes of
the twilight anthem of the birds.
Had this machine been invented CEN
turtles ago we might have had the
pleasure of knowing how the voice of
Socrates, Plato, or Christ sounded.
Is there any universal substance
that may note the articulation of all
our speech, or, more properly, may
there not be some substance, like the
luminiferous ether that registers all
of our human thoughts and motives7
May there not be, in the mysterious
unseen of which we know so little,
depository where the great God him
self has ordained that every thought,
righteous, selfish or base, is filed
away? Why should the thought
sound for moment Incredible?
God writes the history of our lives
upon our minds. Memory plays an
important part in life and greatly in
fuences our happiness and has much
to do with our punishments. We
may all be able to hide our conduct
from men; we cannot hide it from
God, and what is of vastly more i'm
portance, God has so constructed the
human mind that we cannot hide our
conduct from ourselves. A man may
play the hypocrite with his church
and his neighbors, but he cannot play
the hypocrite with himself. If he has
been a fool, knave, or weak man
he must know it or find it out some
time. The audiphone memory will
forever keep singing in the soul.
His neighbor may forgive him, but
when he comes to himself he will
never forgive himself. A man is
always his own severest judge and
his own prosecutor. All the world
may lay aside its charges and cease
to accuse him, and like David he may
be exalted and honored, but he never
ceases to accuse himself. Every man