The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-20

learned or illiterate, rich or poor, album
dainty prove it. 1t is clear, therefore,
that enc must be SO equipped that. he
cannot be conquered by cyclone, for
if he is ready for the worst the lesser
ills viii lie easily overcome, and the ex-
periences which require no struggle will
take care of themselves.
,. Again. the captain who thinks he
can safely reach his port without COM
pass ought not to be intrusted with YES
sci ana cargo. His convictions are born
of self-conceit, and before lac is half way
across the ocean he will learn how one
feels when he calls for help. II is almost
as certain as the law of gravitation that
II vessel with no compass III the pinnacle
will not need an anchor, for she will
Sooner or later rest securely on the bot
tom.
And so. once more. the soul I know OF
no compass which equals that of a reason
able religious faith. The man who lacks
it lacks also the highest motives which
lead tc heroic endurance and brave
achievement The highest motives come
from Tie nOblest convictions, and the
nollest Of all convictions is that which
makes Gods presence the best part of
human life. Doubt His presence and
Ills requirements and you will find it inn
possible to stem the tide Of evil, and
many, to their sorrow, have already
found it so. The incentive to grand
living is absent 1t is only when the
other life becomes a factor in the prob
lens of this life, and when we can exc
out our weakness with strength borrowed
from above, that we can feel ourselves
ready for whatever may come. While
it may be true that a man with no faith
may be a man of honor, and also true
that a man who thinks he has faith m9y
be thoroughly dishonorable in life, we
cannot fail to see that the strong ten
dency Of faith is to produce something
godlike in us, while the tendency, Of ex-
IRENE doubt is to demoralize the present
by plotting out the future. The excep-
tons only serve to emphasize the rule.
What the compass is to the vessel, then,
faith and religious convictions are to Il
man. There is no night so dark or star
less that the compass does not point to
the north, and there is no experience SO
overwhelming that faith does not point
to God. 1t is the magical needle in the
pinnacle that saves the vessel from
wreck, and it is the equally magical
yearning of the heart for God that saves
us in our direst Affections. Defect the
needle, and the vessel makes for the
rocks by kind of diabolical attraction;
defect the heart of man, and You pro
duce, or at least are likely TO produce,
q like result.
3. Perhaps there is no nobler spectacle
on earta, with one exception. than well
built ship, properly manned, breasting a
gale. The winds do more than whistle,
they shrek through the rigging, and the
waves are as furious as demoniac giants;
but the sturdy craft, though grooming in
the contest, is more than a match for
them both, and at last the winds and
waves calm down, exhausted and de
feated.
The only grander spectacle is that of
human soul in a successful struggle with
the evil spirit of temptation, or calmly
bending its shoulders benath the burden
of a great sorrow. That is a spectacle
which even angels gather to witness. And
that kind Of victory over events is never
won except when the spirit of the Christ
is in conjunction with the spirit Of the
man.
The vessel wears out, but the soul does
not. That is the difference. The vessel
drops anchor and goes to pieces by the
slow processes of time. There are other
seas for the soul to traverse, hidden for
the present, to be revealed by death.
There is no final. anchorage, and the
same faith which brightens our to-day
will illumine tomorrow and all the other
days of the eternal life.