The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-11-05

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some great center. Any one who has
studied the earth and studied the heav-
ems knows that Gods favorite figure
in geometry is a circle. When God put
forth his hand to create the universe,
he did not strike that hand at right an
giles, but he waved it in a circle and
kept on waving in circle until systems
and consultations and galaxies and all
worlds took that motion. Our planet
swinging around the sun, other planets
swinging around other suns, but some
where great hub, around which the
great wheel of the universe turns Now
the center is heaven. That is the CAPT
tai of the universe. That is the great
metropolis of immensely.
Does not our common sense teach US
that in matters of study it is better for
us to move out from the center toward
the circumference rather than to be on
the circumference, whore our would
now is? We are like those who study
the American continent while standing
on the Atlantic beach. The way to study
the continent is to cross it or go tn he
heart of it, Our standpoint in this
world is defective We are at the wrong
end Of the telescope The best way to
study piece of machinery is not to
stand on the doorstep and try to look in,
but to go in with the engineer and take
our place right amid the saws and the
cylinders. We wear our eyes out and
our brain out from the fact that we are
studying under such great disadvantage.
Millions of dollars for observatories
to study things about the moon. about
the sun, about the rings of Saturn,
about transits and occultations and
eclipses, simply because our studio, our
observatory, is poorly situated. We are
down in the cellar trying to study the
palace Of the universe, while our de-
parted Christian friends have gone up
stairs amid the skylights to study Now,
when one can sooner get to the center
of things, is he not to be congratulated?
Who wants to be always in the fresh
man class? We study God in this world
by the Biblical photograph of him, but
we all know we can i'll five minutes of
interview with friend get more accu-
rate idea of him than we can by study
ing him so years through pictures or
words. The little child that died last
night knows more of God than all An
dover, and all Princeton, and all New
Brunswick, and all Edinburgh, and all
the theological institutes in Christen-
dom. Isitnot better to go up to the very
headquarters of knowledge?
At the Center.
Does not our common sense teach us
that it is better to be at the center than
to be clear out on the rim of the wheel,
holding nervously fast to the tire, lest
we be suddenly hurled into light and
eternal felicity? Through all kinds of
optical instruments trying to peer in
through the cracks and the keyholes of
that both doors of the
celestial mansion will be swung wide
open before our entranced vision-rush
ing about among the apothecary shnas
of this world, wondering if this is good |
for rheumatism and that is good fer
neuralgia and something else is good |
for bad cough, lest we be suddenly
into land of everlasting health |
where the inhabitant never says, Il am
sick. -
What fools we all are to prefer the
to the center What
dreadful thing it would be if we should |
be suddenly ushered from this wintry
world into the Maytime orchards of .
heaven and if our pauperism OF sin and
sorrow should be suddenly broken up by
a presentation OF an emperor : castle
by parks, with springing
fountains and paths up and down which
angels of God walk two and two We
are like persons standing on the cold
steps Of the national picture gallery in
London, under umbrella in the rain,
afraid to go i'll amid the Turner's and
the Titians and the Raphaels | come to
them and say, why, don you go in
side the gallery 'Oh, they say,
we don't know whether we can get
in. " | say, Don you see the door is
1pen? Yes, they say, but we have
been so long on these cold steps, we are
so attached to them, we don like to
cave. " But, l say, lit Is so much
brighter and more beautiful in the gal
cry; you had better goln mo, they
'ay, 1--WE know exactly how it is Gus
lere, but we don know exactly how it
is inside
So we stick to this world as though
To pref ued cold dr1zlle to warm GaUi-
auou dlseotd to cautta, sackclJ,u to
oval pWp'e--a5 Though we preferred q
plano "tcl four or five Of the K US cut