The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-07

Lent with sense Of relief: many Of
| those who are not Christians In belief
| still wish this custom may obtain .
| give them some little surcease from
their driving social duties. In the same
| way Sunday Is recognised as a boon to
thousands who are not religious because
| II Is the friend OF man. True Chris
tianity Is always benehcent to the race.
When inddelity Stays the Sabbath IL
destroys the tall. white angel whose
wings overshadow the home OF the la
borer And the real public opinion that
supports Sunday legislation In not
founded upon the arbitrary obedience
to q rule of the church but upon the
manifest divine blessing Of q rest day
to tired humanity. In this manner also
Lent il appealing more and more to the
dissipating world. saying in voice Of
most gentle compulsion: Come unto
me and will give you rest" The world
is beginning to understand the pro-
found. underlying kindness and helpful
ness Of Christian institutions.
But Lent Is not truly kept unless II be
made, as far as possible. time OF quiet
and OF meditation. That word medita-
ton has become almost obsolete upon
our tongue. We are all for rush and
hustle. We are crowding from the con-
templative countryside into the swirl
ing cities. drawn hither by the mael-
strom of human excitement. We are
a noisy folk. We have brought the arts
OF vociferation and advertisement to
perfection. And yet we wonder that
the voice of God il no more heard
among us. God speaks to quiet souls
He is not in the whirlwind Of business.
nor in the earthquake of war; nor in
the tempest Of social gaiety, but in the
still, small voice Of secluded thought
fulness. All our moments are full; even
the crevices of our time we must fill
up with newspapers and novels. We
cannot bear to be alone, and dread
most of all the ennui OF being left to
ourselves.
Keep this Lent by finding and utiliz-
ing many quiet hours. Go into the room
alone and neither read nor play but
think. Just one hour OF self-com-
munion and communion with that per-
vading Presence that is everywhere Will
clean the life from what piles of rub
bish and waste! Not that we should
brood or NOPE or nurture morbid fan
Giles; but in quiet alone can We get
glimpse Of the eternal realities. Life
and death and eternity, before whose
majestic forms all earthly activities and
interests dwindle to nothing. will come
and sit with you. And from out this
time Of retreat and solemnity you will
come with truer views Of what is worth |
while, with more charity for the weak |
because you have caught a glimpse OF |
your own utter smallness, with a more |
sincere apprehension that 1.-The things |
which are seen are temporal, but the |
things which are not seen are eternal" |
Even in this quiet hour we will need |
to be on our guard lest selfishness de- |
stroy it's value. Above all, self-pity Is |
a most mean and childish thing. Our |
littleness and lack Of worth had bet |
ter never he known by us than that |
they should work in US a mawkish SEN
a cowardly despair, q tear
some cheap drivel Of humility. Only |
by reaching out and up to the Power
that sublimes the soul can we be lifted |
out and up from our meanness and /
lowness into a courage that loses moth
ing by being humble.
There is a luxury in self-dispraise;
And inward self-disparagement affords
To meditative spleen a grateful feast"
Jesus withdrew from the multitude to
commune with God, not with Himself.
Go thou and do likewise.
Il