The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-05-17
LIVING IN GOD,

( being.--ActS, xviii, -
There is an old apoIhegm which runs,
Never sit in the shadow II 1t Is pos
! sihle to sit in the sunshine" II We can
apply this advice to our religion We shall
md happiness in many an unexpected
place and the corduroy road OF many
an experience will be changed to u
smoother highway,
II is easy to make life hard by simply
imagining that 1t is hard TO make Il
easy. In doing SO, however, We run
against the grain OF eternal verify, for
the mission OF all spiritual law is to
make us strong and cheerful
Heaven is distreSsd by the fact that
earth turns its back on God. then de-
clares that it cannot see Him, and there
upon seriously raises the question
whether He is there or not one may
as wen be blind as to look the wrong
way.
The Scriptures are q trumpet blast pro-
claiming that God can always be found
when you need Him enough to take the
trouble to look for Him. We may truly
nken them TO a giants hand outstretched
from the heavens to assist us over the
rough places OF life.
The religion that the heart Graves. the
religion which is to the soul what oxygen
is to the lungs, cannot be crystallized
into creed any more than a disembodied
spirit can be caught and Gagged. 1t dis
dains such narrow limitations. Mere
phrases cannot express its beauty. The
child who can put its love for its mother
into logical terms does not love her as
he should. but when their arms are about
each other and their silent lips meet.
then they both understand what love
means. In like manner. when God and
you meet and you become conscious OF
the divine Presence. words are useless,
II not impossible. He alone knows what
true religion is who cannot tell you what
1t is because language fails to reach Its
depths.
To live and move and have our being
in Him-these are the esoteric elements
moves and has its being in the water.
is nourished and upborne by II. is sur
rounded by IL, is penetrated by IL in all
its parts and would gasp and die II lifted
above the surface, so may man live
in God and be conscious that God lives
in him. The fatal ability TO shut God
out from the soul. the exercise OF which
constitutes practical infidelity-the only
kind of infidelity that is worth a mo-
ment's attention-is the source OF all the |
ills from which We suffer. II you board !
up you windows it is useless to COM
plain of the lack Of ventilation. The |
difficulty is not with the fresh air. which |
is abundant and health giving. but with |
you.
II young man falls into evil ways he |
need not wonder II he reaps disease long /
before the autumn comes. The law OF |
the universe would be his friend, but |
he has made 1t his enemy Indeed he
hA1 RAo~ANalAs hNAAdANh hAiaL AAt Ia4l Il
either repeal or defy that law. but all
the while the law is making him a new
Illustration OF the fact that it can neither
be repealed nor dehed He succumbs |
on a field whereon no man has ever yet |
been victor 1t is not safe to shake the
fist In challenge TO omnipotence. The |
battle is unequal Never put yourself, |
like a kernel Of corn, between the upper
and lower miiIstones. for only one result
is possible. Vice never has made, and |
never will make, music for the soul, |
simply because God has made the soul
too large and noble to be satisfied with
anything short OF virtue. When you
live outside the line Of Gods purpose,
the fish is on the land instead OF in its
proper element, and ii suffers; put it
back into the water and the memory OF
the past is lost in gratitude for the pres
ent.
Literally you may live In God, and
life Of veritable miracle it will be. These
human hearts may be filed with God as
the sponge In the depths OF the ocean
is filled with water. If you can be pas
sive in His hands, If you can lift the
curtains in your spiritual house and let
the sunshine Of His presence ill the
rooms, you can love and trust, as the
Christ did, what a wonder world this
will become. And 1t is possible, for did
not the Master say, Greater things than
these shall ye do?" We have not yet
learned what religion is, or what it can
do for a man. We have looked at II
from afar, our eyes dlmmed by strange
prejudices and misconceptions, but when
our feet actually press its sacred SOIL
and looking up we can see the cloud
of Witnesses" then life will be a mount
ain path that leads to the summit, and
thence to the eternal Beyond.