The record-union., 1898-03-20

our knowledge is but approximate We
see through d glass darkly. BY and
by we shall see more. and know more,
of ourselves. and perhaps more of the
world around US, and so be drawn near
er and nearer to the Father OF us all.
Meanwhile, waiting for the dawn,
have a tenderness for the old creed of
our fathers. Not that / look upon the
Westminster Confession as inspired [
do not put those who framed it on the
same plane with prophets and apos-
ties But they builded better than
they knew. They builded q house for
the Lord whose timbers were as mighty
as If they We're hewn from the cedars
OF Lebanon. There our fathers took
shelter when the rains fell and the
winds blew. If now the ancient raft
ers begin TO creak, by and by the house
may nave to give place to one newer
ana better. But may not an old man
prefer this one request, that he may
spend his last days beneath the roof
under which his fathers lived and
died?"
The spirit of this generation" saws
the New York Independent" SIS fret
ted with anxieties. The age is fever
lsh, 1T is not restful. 1t accomplishes
a great deal, but it's tendency is to
wear itself out by mad attempts to do
more than it finds itself able to do.
Ihls restlessness no doubt tends
strongly to reduce the average dura-
tlon OF life, counteracting in some
measure the gains due to a better m
derstanding of the laws of health and
larger diffusion of physical comforts.
and to other causes The uselessness
OF constant worry and anxiety no in
teihgent man needs to have proved to
hlm Restlessness implies unayailing
activity of mind, if not of body: fret
Iulness means refusal to accept the IN
eYltable; anxiety denotes the condi-
ton OF mind which takes the possible
trouble of tomorrow upon the bur-
dened spirit of to-day. In bonoeIv
phrase. this is equivalent to burning
the candle at both ends. There is
profound philosophy in the teaching
or Christ. Take no thought for the
morrow, or rather, Be not anxious for
the morrow. What is the use of wor-
rylng about what may be or NAV nor
be? Man has no control over the fn-
ture; that is in Gods hands. No ona
oy being anxious can make one bair.
Whlte or black, or add unto his nature
or change the current of events. We
may De anxious over the things. which
are under our control-how we NAV
pest DO our work and discharge the oh
hgations resting upon US. Concern
ing these we are bound to take tbougbt.
but as to the results it is not for nc to
be anxious"
Ihe collect in the Prayer -BooI, for
the hrst Sunday in Lent contains this
slghincant petition: Give us grace
10 use such abstinence that our flesh
pelng subdued to the spirit, we NAV
ever obey thy godly motions in right
eousness and true holiness In these
words the Christian conception Of the
use of abstinence is clearly set forth "
says the New York Outlook; "It is
to bring the body into subiection to
the spirit. There is no magic in a}-
stlnence; no mechanical efficiency: the
oehlals OF the body are not, in them
serves, acts of holiness, and do not store
up Ior man good will in heaven. There
IS no virtue in abstinence as an end.
there is great virtue in it as a means
Ihe denial of the body was carried so
Iar during the monastic period that II
became distinctly unchristian: now
the reaction has been carried so far
that the possible uses of abstinence
nave been forgotten by many peopIe.
The highest type of man has 1onr
ceased to be the ascetic; it is to Christ
not to John the Baptist that men turn
to-day for the highest illustration of
the highest life"