The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-12-25
THE SOULS GREATNESS.


: came Il living Soul.-Genesis. H., Z.
What a startling statement! And the
longer you think of it the more it startles
you.
Man, then, is a two-fold being,-dust an'
God! In good time the dust will 60
| back to the place from which it was
taken, to be used again as a component
part of tree or flower or animal. We neeC
it only for a few years, and when it has
served our purpose we sigh farewell, for
its companionship has been very pleas
ant, and so our knowledge of it ends.
But the Giving soul" what of that? i
does not return to Him whose breath il
was. but preceives its identity, is indie
structible, and, as a personal being, ell
tiers another sphere of activity, there to
be developed by circumstances more fa-
vorable than any which earth can af-
ford
The dust can accomplish its entire mis-
sion here, and why. therefore. should it
continue to be a part of us? But the
soul never wakes up to a perfect knowl-
edge of itself until it is reused from the
sleep of death. Then only does it thrill
with the consciousness of real life. Its
bondage to the flesh is broken, it be-
comes free, it loses the sense of limita-
ton, it recognizes its dignity as Il part
of the plan of God, it feels within itself
the throbbing of this breath of the Gre
ator it appreciates its kinship to Him,
and it trembles with boundless joy at
the thought that it is immortal.
How curious that a man who lived sew
eral thousand years ago and who repre-
scented a semi-barbarous people should
have uttered such words as these. Where
did he get the truth he spokei Yes, they
are the truth as we in this modern age
understand it. All our systems of reli-
gion are based ON it, and when we medi-
tate of the grandeur of the soul and its
endless destiny the words of the text
repeat themselves in our ears. They are
crudely and rudely symbolical, and yet
they have rung through the ages like
a chime of bells. We do not accept the
seer's story of mans creation as literally
true, but we are amazed that he should
have so emphasized the difference be-
tween body and soul at Il time when
the world was in its swaddling clothes
We retain his idea, but clothe it in
more philosophic language. We declare
that Gods life pervades the universe;
that all life comes from Him and is a
part of Him. Mans soul is therefor
the God in man. Since no part of God
can die. the soul must needs live for
ever. The infinite and the finite belong
to each other, just as the water in a
pool came from tn water in the ocean.
The mothers love is simply Gods love
fitted to the limitations of a home, and
all the attributes of man are Gods att
tributes in miniature, the one being the
shadow of the other. or better still. the
echo of the other. You cannot get away
from God. and when you try to do so
your conscience pricks YOU and bitter re-
morse is your portion. Remorse is
merely the Inconsistencies of the soul. the
soul remembering that it has wandered
and longing to get back.
What a marvellous idea of human life
follows from these facts! You have
perhaps wasted it under the honest inn
preston that it matters little what be-
comes of it, or that. at any date, it is
your own and you have Il right to do
with it what suits your fancy. But no,
your life is in a large sense the prop
erty of God, and you are His appointed
steward to guard, care for and develop
it. 1t viii never return to God as two
flames. the little and the large, combine,
the little being lost in the large, for
God has given you your life, just as
king would give a peasant some treas
ure, never asking for it again.
And that life of yours, that mysterious,
wonderful life, n puzzle which no
science has yet truly guessed-what use
have you made of it. what are you do
ing with it now, and what shape will it
take in the days to come? Has it been
depressed by leaden doubts and fears,
has it been fritted away in fOllies or
in pleasures which have lasted no longer
than brilliant soap bubble which
bursts when it's colors are most radiant?
Or have you moulded it into some heroic
form, using your circumstances as the
sculptor uses his tools to bring the statue
out of the rough block of marble?
God has done one thing which seems
to me so awfully grand that the brair.
reels while contemplating it. tie has
given You sole charge of your own char
acter. You are master and events are
your slaves He puts sweet and per-
suading influences about you. He sends
the whole unseen world to direct you
with invisible hands, but when you face
your experience you alone must decide
whether 1t shall lift you to the stars
or sink you into the mire. Such respon-
sibility. How God must have priced
the soul He created when He made it
the arbiter of its own fate.
And if He has given it such grandeur
and crowned it with Immortality, can we
do aught else than lead princely lives, as
Jesus did. conscious that we are so large
that we should disdain all smallness aud
throbbing with that divine ambition
which will be satisfied with nothing hess
than the highest good ana the noblesI
attainment
That is the religion of Christ, AMI Il
consists of an appreciation of what YOU
are. and of your destiny, and 4 dttermi-
nation, with help from above. t. produce
such Il character out of the disc0rls and
SMILES of tine that He will say ut las,
We'll done. good AMI faithful servant"
GEORGE II. HEPWORTH.