The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-03-27

To Rise triumphant Above the A.
snults OF SIN.

sauits OF Sin.
All OF our great animal painters have
loved 10 picture the challenge OF the
stag outlined against the morning sky
from some lbfty eminence; but there Is
a nobler courage far. ii Is the courage
OF a soul that by Gods grace is lifted
high above the assaults of sin. Not
one has found life TO be n straight level
highway bordered by hedges of bios
soming shrubs beyond which lie only
smiling farms. Rather is our way like
that of the mountain climbers upon
slippery fields, where, as we turn to
know the reason OF the silence behind
us. we see the friend with whom we
were but just now walking in company,
shooting down the steep incline
through mist aud fog and swirling
clouds to the dreadful plunge that
awaits him. What falls from heights
OF supposed virtue and security we have
all seen in these last few years. We
have learned what David learned when
brought from the sheep fold 10 the
court, that the more nlluring the re-
wards of favor the more tempting the
amid the echoes of these tragedies we
see the tens of thousands of Christ's
disciples stand with feet sure planted
upon the granite of Gods own hirh
hills. The man is neither to be enyied
nor admired who can make light OF the
fact Of death. III one were n tiger or n
polar bear he might indeed engage i'm
the struggle for existence until his APP
pointed time should come and then.
succumbing without thought OF any
thing To come afterward, sink down
in the Jungle or float off upon the lev
wave. The bird may approach disco
luton with n song because In its heart
there is no thought of either close or
continuance OF life The butterfly
poises upon the petal of flower and
in the morning is but dead leaf upon
the sward, pinched by the fingers OF the
frost. But man is not such a creature
as these. There is to him in his home
more than the wolf finds in his lair.
And when he sings there is more in
his melody than any bird, be IL lark or
nightingale, ever put into his. Deep
down in his soul there stir thoughts
that never moved the grpy matter of
were-wolfs brain. Safe within his
conscience and consciousness are hope.
and desires and purposes and affections
which mo behemoth ever knew and no
bird OF paradise ever felt; and of which
no laundering megathcrium, no fairy
like, gauze-winged insect ever dreamed.
No. 1t is not for man to die like a
brute; to curl himself up in his lair OF
dead leaves and expire. and at once un-
afraid and unwept His thoughts have
laid hold upon God. by all the intui-
tions of his God-like being he knows
that he was not born To sink into the
deep and fathomless damnation of moth
ingness. BY oil the dreams of all the
dreHipers, by all the visions OF all the
seers, by all the cries of all the prophets,
by the confidence of little children and
the assurance of aged saints, he knows,
and all trne men know, that at death
he is brought face to face with the crisis
of existence, and will pass, must pass,
to blessedness or woe.
But the disciple OF the Lord Christ
does not meet death as the stag brought
TO bay and facing with desperate valor
his last foe IL may be something to
rear tlte horned head, and toss the broad
antlers, and, looking the hunter in the
eye, receive. the death wound UNI
daunted. But il is sweeter by far tot
meet the last hour as the stag, which
has escaped to the high hills, silhouet-
ted against the sunset which at once
proclaims his safety and his tomorrow.
There let the night fall upon us, stand
ing with feet well planted upon the high
places. And when the sun goes down.
II goes down upon the soul triumphant;
not dying but risen TO a higher life, To
feed henceforth in the safe enclosures
of the sky-cappcd ranges, those safe and
fiower-bordered Enclosures which the
poets call "the gardens of the gods."-
Chicago Interior.