The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-01

81
people almost adored her, and if ira
oltlon is to have any weight, she wa
famed throughout her region of coun
try for her regal qualities of mind. Blu
she was not satisfied with her own at
tainments. She saw, as every grea
person comes TO see, that her learnin,
was meager, and that her field of trutl
was limited. Accordingly, with the in
stincts of true scholar, she scented
wisdom from afar. and no sooner dis
covered its location than she set fortl
to profit by it.
There is nothing that so effectually
blocks the avenues that lead to trutf
as pride, arrogance and prejudice The
! person who thinks that he is already
IN possession of everything that is to b,
known, who discounts, if, indeed, ht
does not contemn, the truth that others
mold, who permits prejudice to blind
MS eyes or passion to warp his judg-
ment, who defies tradition, bows in
utter servility to prevailing custom
! and adheres with blind fury to a pre-
conceived conclusion which he will not
and dare not investigate, is the mosi
| hopeleSSly benighted person that the
sunlight of truth ever falls upon. The
very first step in the highway of truth
| is humility of heart and life. We must
assume receptive attitude OF mind
! 1t is absolutely necessary that we
raise the curtain for the light to enter.
! Custom, tradition and authority have
their place, and they deserve respect,
! but their place is not to coerce, nor is
their influence final. The truth of God
never has been obscured nor ever will
/ be; and as long as human beings keep
the channels of the soul unclogged by
sin, God will visit them with light
and truth. 1t is doubtless true that in
final and peculiar sense revelation
has been made and has eliminated in
| Christ; but exactly what is the truth
about Christine best of men differ in
their mental attitude toward this su-
preme being, and toward all problems
of truth. God is not dead nor absent;
he teaches the hearts of the pure and
guileless today; therefore, while we
hold courageouslv TO our truth, we
should not close our ears to the truth
that is cherished and set forth by
those as good as ourselves.
To visit the distant court of Solomon
was no slight undertaking for the
queen. She was compelled TO arrange
her own affairs of state for long
absence; it was necessary for her to
choose and equip proper retinue of
servants and courtierS and scholars;
it was important that she should not
overlook the selection and preparation
of magnificent gifts, such as befitted
mighty monarch whose favor she
sought. All of this involved time and
thought, and immense expense. Then
the thought of the difficult and dan
gerous iourney-one that would re-
quire months to complete-might cas-
ily have cooled the ardor of a less
earnest and determined soul. But this
woman. confident that she would find
in Solomon the wisest teacher of the
10
fort and to undergo any toll, if only
she might see the splendor of his
court apd sound the depths OF his wis
dom.
The difficulties that beset this queen
in her long. dreary journey across the
desert are typical of the hardShipS that
confront the scholar in the pursuit of
truth. 1t is true now as it always has
been that there Is no excellence
without great labor" Positively there
is no royal road to knowledge We,
must toll for truth. Perhaps this is the
case for the reason that the search for
truth is quite as fascinating as the
acquisition of truth. But however this
may be, il is certain that knowledge
is not for the lover of ease and pleas
ure, but rather for the one who for
gets self in an earnest effort to dis
cover the universal. God plants trees
in the forest, but he tells man that he
must cut and saw and plane them be-
fore they will afford him a suitable
shelter from the storms of winter and
the heat of summer; he conceals coal
in the mountains, but he tells man that
he must mine and ship it before il will
lend warmth and cheer to his home;
he plants seed in the earth, but he
says TO the farmer. you must water
and cultivate and harvest this crop of
golden grain; he puts pearls far down
in the depth of the ocean, and says to
us, if you desire them you must send
your divers down in quest of them; he
hides gold in mountains and streams,
and then informs the miner that he
must seek for it and separate it from !
the dross, and reduce it, and refine it. |
So in the search for truth The spirit |
of inspiration whispers to us that
truth, however yelled or hidden, goes !
before US, and that if we pursue her |
through sunshine and shadow, over |
rock and river and desert, we shall at |
last overtake and capture her and she |
shall smile upon us and unvefl her |
beauty to us. Truth but rarely comes
unbidden to the soul. L must be |
in the lonely garnet at
the midnight hour while the dull world |
slumbers and the gay and sinful seek
respite or intoxication where fashion
waves her perfumed wand or vice
raises her golden chalice to pledge
once more with fiery drink her deluded
levoteeS; sought in the gray dawn.
with no companions but the sprites of
cold, hunger and loneliness; sought on
ce fields, amid Polar SHOWS, in Arctic
darkness; sought on cold and lonely
peaks; sought in African
ungles, tortured with thirst, burning
with fever. surrounded by wild beasts,
md wilder men; sought in prison, on 1.
he rack. at the stake. It is thus by
pain, and want, and neglect, and lone
mess, and martyrdom, that great
spirits have sought and found the
ruth; and it is thus that men and
women are still pressing on. beset by
poverty, and opposition, and disap-
continent, to disclose if possible an
'ther aspect Of the stern yet beauteous
Orm of truth.
1t is said that Edison, the great in
Tentor, sometimes becomes so absorbed
ime. going without food or sleep for
4 hours. Leibnitz, the great philoso-
,her. used to spend days and nights
in his study-eating,
thinking and sleeping in his chair.
Alexander Duff, almost upon the point
f death from weakness and disease,
ainted in the midst of a fiery and elo-
ruent address upon the evangelization
f India; but recovering consciousness.
nd his friends endeavoring to lead
i'm from the platform, he declined
heir assistance and launched once
1Ore into an overwhelming appeal for
ndia. saying: IF l am to die, let me
lie pleading for India" Luther. when
armed that it would cost him his life ,
he appeared before the diet of !
l.a