The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-10-14
PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE.
FACE YOUR FATE BRAvELY AND EVEN
FATE WILL SURRENDER.
Daily Toll the Choicest of Blessings
Instead of Curse-Without il
the World Would Wreck Itself In a
Oeneration-Thank God For the
Trials and Struggles of Life-Reiig-
ion Consists in Making Ourselves
Little and God Great.
(New York Herald.)

Little and God Great.
(New York Herald.)
For my yoke is easy. and my burden is
light Matthew. XII, 30.
How was it possible for Him Ia
make such an assertion as that?
Judged by ordinary rules His life was
wretched failure. Without domes
tic ties, not having where to lay His
head, dis,rus,ed by friends and prose
cuted by enemies, it seems incredible
that he should speak of His burden as
light. In similar environment We
should regard our burden as too heavy
TO be borne.
Such statement made 10y such a
parsonage under SUCH circumstances
may well give US pause. There must
be philosophy, a whole system OF
philosophy, under it, and II may we'll
be called the Philosophy of Life.
We have been wondering for untold
ages how to make our days and years
more comfortable and more productive
of personal happiness, but have reached
no solution of the problem. We have
had thousands of theories, and they
have all failed to accomplish the pur-
pose. We have groped in the dark
like blind men, but we have not re-
duced the SORROWS which we must
needs suffer to scientific and practi-
cal basis. On the contrary, after this
long lapse of time, we do not know
what the under side of human exist
ence means. We find it impossible to
get near enough to God either to see
His face or to understand His plan.
We talk very foolishly about having
outgrown Christianity, and yet here
is one of the primary principles of its
Founder of which we seem 10 be in
total ignorance. The very thing we
have tried to do and never succeeded
in doing He tells Us how to do, and
we are so deaf we cannot hear what
He says. 1t is well enough to listen
to the baby talk of the worlds philo-
sophie childhood and to ponder at
our leisure the spiritual solutions of
life afforded by other climes, but it
was in the latitude and longitude Of
Judea that life and Immortality were
brought out of darkness into light, and
we must sit at the feet of the Christ if
We would become adopts in that kind
of occultism, which alone can fill the
valleys TO level with the plain, re-
move the mountains from our path and
make the way smooth from earth to
Heaven. If may be pardoned for
using so homely metaphor, it seems
to me that the right philosophy of life
can be spun from the single word Atti-
tude, just as the beautiful web is spun
from what is inside the spiders body.
Our trouble comes from the fact that
we have not yet learned how to spin
our web. The material is all at hand
but we do not know how 10 use it. 1t
was ChrIst's attitude toward His
Father which was the corner stone Of
His religion, and it is our lack of that
attitude which makes US miserable
rather than resigned. He began and
ended His earthly career in the belief
that this was Gods world and not
His, while we begin and end i. under
the conviction that the world is ours
(eo1'c Lo TnI'c ,,la
and regarded Himself as part of ii,
His only duty being to do Gods
work in Gods way. We, on the con-
trary, have plan of our own and sub
ordinate His way to our wishes, in
consequence of which life becomes an
inextricable snarl, and instead Of being
resigned we are rebellious. The SOL
dier who defies his general loses the
battle and blames his superior officer,
but the soldier who obeys order lends
his voice to the universal shout of vic
tory. Our poor notion of religion IS
that God should do whatever we ask
of Him, but Chris,'s religion was to
do what He was commanded 10 do
and not for moment TO worry about
results. If We have Captain let us
not usurp His authority. If we pro
pose to be captains that is another
matter. The probabilities are tina,
while we know enough to obey God
we do not know enough to tell Him
how the universe ought to be run. Re
ligion consists largely in making our
selves little and making God great.
We are poor? Well, we belong to
very large assembly and we are in
very good company. SO far from
being a curse the necessity for daily
toll is one Of the choicest blessings.
Without it the world would wreck IL
self in generation.
You have a thousand struggles9
Thank God for that. Struggle and
nobler manhood belong to each
other; they are twin brothers. The
man who has no struggles has no idea
Of the dignity Of life. Struggle
changes one from wet clay TO marble.
Face your fate bravely and even fate
will surrender.
Blu, you have griefs and bereave-
men,s. Then you have passed through
the ves,ibule and are in the temple il
self God has though, you worthy Of
serious work and is asking you TO do
it. If what He does is right then
what He does is best. Ii may be
hard. 1, may call into play all your
reserve force, but still it is best, and
therefore you can be resigned though
His hand seems heavy.
With Heaven rish, ahead I " sni
the door already swinging slowly on
It's hinges, this little iron. garden life