The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-05-01

Danger In the Intensity OF Life OF
Present AEe.
The very intensity Of life in this pres
ent age is at once its protection and it's
peril. There Is such thing as being
too busy 10 sin certain kinds OF sin. The
very pressure of life displaces and ex-
cludes much mischief which idle
hands" might otherwise find to do. He
who drives fast may run into other
difficulties, but at least he will not loiter
in various forbidden paths along the
way.
There Is another side 70 this question.
however, and a serious aspect IL Is. IL
busy people are less prone to various
overt sins of a lesser type, they
are perhaps more liable to the
greater sin OF neglecting to keep
the thought of God ever before
them. III they find little time to
hate one another, IL may be that they
take as little time 20 love their Creator;
| il their personal life is somewhat purer
by simple reason OF its preoccupation
with intellectual interests or mechan-
ical efforts, IL is not impossible that
meanwhile the deeper spiritual life has
| lacked for careful cultivation by the
| old familiar methods Of meditation and
prayer.
We are not, of course, 20 commit the
mistake OF supposing that the strength
of the religious life is TO be measured
by lust the amount OF time spent on
ones knees or with a devotional book in
hand. The counting room more than
the cloister is the means and measure
of the religious activity of the present
day. Times change and conditions
alter. The manifestations of religious
sentiment and of spiritual sensibility
are not and cannot be for us precisely
what they were for our fathers. If we
are godly our godliness must show it
self under somewhat different forms OF
expression. The old leisurely medita-
tive type OF religionist has gone, and
the busybody style of believer who
makes haste (the ancient prophecy to
the contrary Notwithstanding mas
largely taken his place.
This change OF conditions has not
been altogether loss; it has been partly
gain. The practical instinct is neces-
sary. Martha can, or at any rate, does,
: do things better than Mary. Martha,
however. must not crowd out Mary al
, together. 1t will not do 10 serve the
Lord so absorbedly as to forget the
: Lord Himself. The personal element
i'm service Is its chief charm, it's main
, raison d'etre The final plaudit of the
E great day of account taking will not in
/ the last analysis be found on the doing
. of good deeds 10y men to men, but on the
e fact implied in the Masters declara-
$ ton: "Inasmuch as We have done IL UNI
+ TO one of the least of these, my breth-
$ rem, We have done II unto me-"
!. And so the thought of the God who is
: servable by the various activities OF
{ life must be kept in the foreground.
e AS materialists multiply and all man
S nor OF new discoveries, enterprises and
C social evolutions increasingly engross
{. attention, there Is danger lest, amid
all this bewildering maze Of criss-cross
ing temporal and even religious inter
~ est
"In the various round OF thought
n The one thing needful be forgot
e Humanity always needs TO think o.
IS God. 1t can never safely leave him ou'
% Of account. And a certain amount O
$, time spent in religious meditation anc
D. in prayer is requisite TO the obtaining
C of any real sense or impression OF God
Too much OF hurry and rush, even II
< religious work." practically, II uncon
st scously obliterates the sensibility o
d the Divine presence. When a note'
ot philanthropist was once asked; "Hoy
h is IL with your soul?" his quick repl'
Re was: 81 have no time TO think about IN.
n soull" No absorption in good works
Of however, excuses an individual from
n consideration Of his own spiritua
II needs. Every man has time 10 thinl
al about his soul. The Creator desires Z
J. have His name and attributes kept Il
le memory. Even in rushing age Their
d can be no excuse for forgetting God
~ N. Y. Observer.