The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02

"~i ~As ~
There is a secret worth l~earning-the
secret of the serene, happy, productive life,
in spite of crushing experiences and+empo-
rary lapses.
Some years ago a friend handed me a
poem, one stanza of which read thus:
Do people live the lives they like best
Anywhere, l wonder?
Does anybody truly rest
Til grass roots bind him under?
1t expressed her estimate of her own life.
She felt out of place. She longed for a diff
ferent career than the one she was forced
by circumstances to pursue. Many a time
her soul was cast down; almost continu-
ously her spirit was disouieted. She quoted
David's words: 20, my God, my soul is cast
down within me- saying in that experience
she could understand and sympathize With
the psalmist. But | asked her if she had
read the whole of that psalm-if she had
noticed how David ended his strain of sor-
row? He is not discouraged and pessimis-
tic at the last. No: a cry of confidence in
God and a shout of triumph rushes from his
lips. why art thou east down, o my
soul, and why art thou disquieted within
me?' You have no good reason for de-
spondency. Hope thou in God, for shall
yet praise him, who is the health of my
countenance and my Cod" 1t was all
right; whatever state he was in was best,
and he would one day see it in that light,
he would yet thank God for his lot and all
its experiences.
David did rot live a dissatisfied life; he
was not to be bafled by his circumstances.
This is also strikingly true of all the best
and greatest Biblical characters from
Abraham to Paul, and of the noblest men
Of all ages from Pauls day to the present.
They have been proof against the sings
and arrows of courageous fortune"
Nothing could destroy their courage or
head off their usefulness.
How did those heroes and optimists of
old, and the strongest characters ever since,
gain their power TO sooner or later take
the sunny side? How were they reconciled
to their fortunes and kept busy in the serv-
ice of humanity? Jesus, challenged at
every step by the remorseless Pharisees,
and forced to death in the very zenith of
his powers. had tasted the bitter in the
cup of heroic living, tasted its very dregs;
but he neither flung the cup away nor
blamed him who had permitted it. Jesus
lived and died an optimist, discerning the
ultimate triumph of good over evil.
Paul fought with beasts at Ephesus.
That was his vivid way of declaring that
his career had been a protracted battle
with the foes of Christianity. He was
maligned, bafiied, beaten, left for dead,
hunted and finally burnt at the stake. He
was detected at times, as these cries show,
Woe is me- 80, wretched man that I
am" But he lived to be able to say, Il
have learned, in whatsoever state | am,
Herewith to be content" to be cheerful and
hopeful, whatever his situation. Speaking
for his followers and himself, he said: I'VE
are troubled on every side, yet not dis
tressed; we are perplexed, but not in de-
spair, smitten down. vet not destroyed"
What, l ask, enabled these men to con-
tinue sanguine and persistent? What rec
onciled them to their lot and encouraged
them to "be not weary in well-doing?" l
answer in a word: Their harmony with
God. Or, if you please, their trust in and
corporation with the divine Providence,
And this is the secret of a serene and stead
fast and fruitful life. Look into the matter
and see if l am not right.
Notice what harmony with God means
and secures. First, it means oneness with
His spirit. The man who is in harmony
with God has more than a. knowledge of
Cod: he is in living touch and vital sym
pathy with His nature. God is love. He
seeks the highest good of all. He is all
embracingly kind. He is perfectly holy.
Those are the characteristics which appear
in the life of any one in real harmony with
Him. Love, benevolence, tenderness and
holiness were the attributes of Jesus, who
said, Il and my father are one They are
your attributes, if you are a true son of
God. They have been seen in greater or
less perfection in every noble soul that ever
lived.
How, do you ask, will this union with
God save a man from a baffled career?
Chiefly by preventing him from ever aim
ing at or expecting to succeed in anything
contrary to the will of God. "There is in
this universe a power that makes for right
eousness," said Matthew Arnold. To deny
or blink this fact is to court failure and
dismay. God is on the side of the heaviest
battalions," said Napoleon, sneeringly, to
those who held that God was on the side
of the right, but later on, there upon the
Island of St. Helena, he changed his mind.
Everything that l love, everything that
belongs to me, is stricken were the sad
words with which he summed up his life.
Go up and down the aisles of history,
and wherever you hear a cry like that you
will find it coming from one VINO has de-
MED the spirit of God and delied the uni
verse. But wherever you meet Il soul who
has caught Gods spirit you will 1ot only
see that its purposes and en6eaVors are
lofty, but you will hear it singing a p&ean
of victory above the din of every seeming
defeat. And the close of such a life will
be like the ending of the career of men like
Starr King, who said, just before the cur
tain fell, II feel all the privileges and great
ness of the future. l see a great future
before me. 1t already looks grand, beauti-
full. l am passing away fast. NJ feelings
are strange, Tell my friends ! weat loTing-
ly. trustfully, peacefully" Come, then, into
unison with the beating of Gods very
heart. and become another incarnation of
His spirit and doer of His will and you will
have taken the very first step toward a
dauntless, ever hopeful. always sunny ca
reeF.
The other attitude necessary to so st.
tractive d state--Ind this, too, Slows Oft
of the general idea of harmony with
our makers the attitude of absolute sub
mission to the will and ways of God. Sub
nit yourself to God, and He will raise you
up"
There is the doctrine we all need to
learn. 1t does not counsel mere raesivity,
nor urge as to accept such ilt5 as we ought
to dispense or fly from, nor invite Us to
rane,Iildlv lean on God for growth and VIC
tory I'm righteousness. You and are in
cited biz the Christian religion To vrestle
with the forces of evil and TO rise above
all that we know to be wong H. on" con-
dition. Yet, we are couuseled 20 labor UNI
~. cod &c we'll as unto Him heipos aver