The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1897-06-12

| intellectual conceptions have to do
with his moral life. Those who are
engaged in the manufacture and sale
lof intoxicating liquors defend she
business upon individual, social and
political grounds: but did these men
prove by rational and scientific pro-
cesses that the liquor traffic is right,
and then deliberately engage in it out
of pure beneyolence to the agricultur-
alist and to the taxpayer? No, who
does not see that finding themselves
in the business, and feeling public
sentiment rising against them, they
invented the argument to justify
them in their course of conduct.
Their wrong character perverts their
view of the truth in the case. On
the street we meet men whose con-
duct indicates that this is their prin-
ciple of living: every man must
look out for himself" Did they dis
cover this proposition to be true by
conscientious inquiry into the social
organization, and then deliberately
choose it TO control their actions?
No, evidently they found themselves
acting from such selfish considera-
| lions, and then invented the creed TO
Justify their conduct. How can
any man believe in generosity whose
life is smothered in selfishness2 Who
has not known some man who was
rampant in infidelity, forgetful Of di-
vine influence. wrought upon by God
| in the center of his being: all his
purely intellectual difficulties passed
away in a moment. A purified life
rectifles the intellect. Thus it APP
pears that obedience, right life, is
necessary to right thinking.
/ 2.-Obedience will bring a man in
to that moral likeness to God that
viii enable him to receive divine rev.
elation.
The revelation of man to man is
possible only as there is moral and
intellectual likeness between the two
in communion. Words will not re-
veal my thought to you unless the Sc
crcts of my words are already in your
possession. Words are only signs
that do not resemble the things they
signify. What resemblance is there
between the word bread and the food
for which it stands? Speak OF a
! frozen lake to an inhabitant Of the
Torrid Zone, the words do not give
him an idea. Why talk of the blue
ness Of the heavens to one that can
not distinguish colors? What can
the most eloquent description present
TO him resembling the real sensation
OF blueness? This is a fact familiar
to the student of philosophy and sci
ence. Unknown objects must be de-
fined in terms of the known. All the
words of the definition must be
known, or they convey no definite
conception OF the unknown. Take a
more practical illustration. Imagine
here such man as Alexander Won
Humboldt, with all the power OF his
natural endowment, with all that the
schools and study and tfavel and gen.
eral experience added to him; with
all his knowledge astronomic, geo.
graphic, scientific--with all that made
him the transcendant man that he
was in his period. Now bring face
to face with him negro boy from
Central Africa, with little original
capacity and no external advantages
of culture. And though Humboldt
shall have the logic Of a Webster, the
fire of Clay, and the intuition of a
Calhoun-powers of expression almost
preternatural, he cannot reveal his
lofty thought to the boy. Let him
speak to him of philosophy, of its
fundamental concepts: subjective, CD
jectiye, apriori aposteriori, innate, he
knows nothing; let him speak to him
of natural science, of its commonest
terms: law, force, energy, he is totally
ignorant. He must become child
himself and speak childish things,
before he can communicate any idea
to this child. Thus it appears that
the revelation of man TO man is pos
sibly only through correspondence, or
likeness in heart and mind.
1t is also true, as thus illustrated,
that the revelation of God to man is
through certain harmonies of life or
corresponding. This great new spir-
itual realm in which sphere revelation
moves, has ideas, concepts notions
distinctively its own, the meaning of
which must be grasped else the Ian
guage thereof is sounding brass and
tinkling cymbal. How. can God re-
veal the meaning of that sacrificial
love by which Christ gave himself for
men until he had not where to lay his
head, and then crowned all by placing
his life perpetual Offering on the al
tar-how can he reveal this to those
who are living the life OF selfishness.
beloved now are we the sons Of God,
and it doth not yet appear what will
be, but when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as
he is" We shall see him as he is be-
cause we shall be like him. Jesus is
a mystery to those who are not like
him. "Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God" Only the
pure can see the pure, only the right
eous can see the righteous, only the
holy can see the holy. Thus obedI.
ence brings that correspondence with
God that enables man to receive d.
vine revelation.
Let me emphasize the negative of
this proposition. Those who do not
have this moral affinity with God can
not receive this spiritual truth. ssHe
that hath the Son hath life Spiritual
Life, and he that hath not the Son
hath not life.' Except man be
born Of the water and of the Spirit he
cannot enter into the kingdom OF
God" Here then is the explicit state
ment that there is a whole spiritual
realm that is closed to those that do
not receive the touch of the life of
Christ. This fact is not without its
analogy in the natural world, as Prof.
Drummond illustrated in his Natural
Law In the Spiritual World. In a
broad general sense chemical science
presents the material world in two
divisions, the organic and the inor-
ganic. The lower or inorganic is to-
tally unable of itself to rise into the
higher or organic. There must be
touch Of life from above to bring it
lup. Drop the acorn; having the life
Of the higher kingdom shut up in its
helmet, intu Tie sli.l, and it soon
sends Its roots out into the earth and
its branches up into the air, to gather
the elements necessary for its growth.
Here the inorganic enters into the or
ganic BY touch Of light from above,
| and can do SO in no other way. So
the spiritual and the natural worlds
stand related in Christ's conception OF
the Kingdom OF Heaven. The lower