The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-02-13


commerce from continent to CONT
nent. And how the masters love
them. And how they speak OF them
as members of living fraternity, en-
deared by tragic heroisms and brave
service.
Moral and Religious Activity.
A life is like this. Give the people
something to do and the public heart
purifies itself. Crime is always rife in
hard times. 1t is the occasion of ex-
cess in lawlessness. When times are
prosperous the prosperity is not reck-
oned alone by larger money divi-
dends; the virtues prosper and the
moral value of mankind is raised
large percent. Whatever the ancient
traditions may say about the curse of
labor, it has come to be in this age of
the world a means of divine grace.
Make the people so busy with urgent
tasks that they have no time for idle
dreams and fancies, fill their minds
so full of the visions and plans of
work to do that there is no room for
other images and you have done
vast deal in the interests of pure
heart. The loose and unemployed
energies are what raise the mischiefs
and project sometimes the tragedies
of life. l remember once riding on a
coach in California over some noun
tain roads that seemed to me ex-
tremely hazardous, especially as we
were being speeded along. We
seemed like beads drawn on thread
around the mountain sides. The road
was narrow and at some places it was
cut into the rocky sides of the cliff.
On one side was the mountain, far
above us, and on the other were the
tops of trees even below the level of
our road. They came up from peril
GUS depths below. The horses were
being driven rapidly and few inches
of inaccuracy would have sent us no
one knows whittier 1t was good
time for stranger tourist to hold his
breath, especially till he became ac-
customed to it. | sat on the high
seat with the driver, and when I dared
l asked him if there was not danger
in that kind of driving, and he said,
''No. There is no danger here, for
we are careful here. Our accidents
always happen in the easy places,
where we become careless"
To keep the imagery of our subject,
the heart was purer, the atmosphere
was clearer, the whole condition was
better while the stress of care and
anxiety was upon him, and in our life
generally there is better spirit, a
safer spirit when work is earnest and
when there is certain sense of ur
gent responsibility, and even the
shadow of peril resting on all thought
of careless indifference.
All Things are Ours.
l quoted little time ago st. Pauls
word that "All things are ours-the
woodland things present and things
to come" All this is in our large in
heritance, but we do not and cannot
tlke possession of all this at once.
The possession of all things, when
compared with our power to appro-
pirate, seems like the possession of
almost nothing. But we can and
must take possession of our smaller
kingdom. Today it is the school or
the university; it is the store or the
shop or the office; it is series of So
cial or benevolent duties; it is the
homes, or it is my profession or your
profession. 1t would tax any person
to make an inventory of all the inter
ests centering in any of these lesser
kingdoms, but you are the kings and
queens appointed to occupy the
throne. You are the ruler of your
world, and How shall all the indus
tries thrive? is your question. With
what grace and with what complete
ness of execution? In what spirit?
With what intelligence and with
what fine quality shall even the least
duty be performed or the becoming
courtesy bestowed? All these ques-
tions must be answered before we can
answer the questions of the pure
heart. have not very high appre-
citation OF pure heartedness that is
detached from rugged, busy, en-
lightened and high spirited life, a
pure heartedness that is regarded as
something apart.
Ruskin tells US that "We need not
hope that our work will be majestic if
there is no majesty in ourselves" and
Milton, writing out of his own blind
ness to this outer world, says:
''He that has light within his own clear
breast
May sit in darkness and enjoy bright day
But he that hides dark soul and foul
thought,
Benighted walks under the midday sun
Himself his own prison"