The record-union., 1899-09-05

before the law; in the eyes of God, all
men who obey His commandments are
TO Him equally near and dear whatever
may be their color, creed or station in
life.
We, then. who are not believers in
special Providence nor in Divine favo7
ritism, neither ask nor expect special
treatment at Gods hands: we ask moth
Ing for ourselves that We are unwilling
to share with the rest of the human
family. Having the fullest faith in
the justice and wisdom of God, and
knowing as we do that He will not put
burdens on us beyond our strength nor
punish Us beyond our deserts; we look
only for such blessings as we deserve;
and we stand ready to receive with
fortitude, and to bear patiently what
ever punishment or Affections our
ignorance of His laws or our wicked
ness merit.
In this spirit, then, let US on this
day, as enlightened Jews, carefully re-
view our past and see whether we
have, at all times tried to live pure,
upright lives. We need no one to per-
form this duty for US; our own hearts
and minds and consciences will tell us
most truly whether or no we have done
justice, loved mercy and walked hum
bly, before our God. We need no ac-
cusers to parade before the world our
sins of omission and commission. We
have an accuser within US, from whom
we cannot escape if we hide ourselves
in the deepest caverns or fly to the
summit of the highest mountain, or
hasten tO tha TraI11otAcf nook oT. CORNER
of the globe. If we have wronged our
fellows or secretly transgressed the
law of God or man, we may escape
the punishment fixed by society, but
we cannot ecape the punishment
which comes from within prescribed
by God
In reviewing our record during the
past year, we cannot but note how
derelict we have been in our duties
toward both God and man; we can
not but recall how our passions, our
greed, our spirit of animosity, our envy,
our jealousy, our pride, our selfishness,
have often made us untrue to ourselves
and prompted US to act against our
higher and better natures We can
not but feel that we have been weak
where we should have been strong,
brave. If we could but live the year
over, how many ignoble deeds COM
mitted we would leave undone, and
how many noble deeds left undone we
would perform. How many harsh and
unkind words uttered we would leave
unsaid, and how many gentle, kindly
and considerate thoughts left unsaid we
would hasten to speak. The days,
weeks and months of the past year,
with their deeds good or bad, are gone
and are beyond recall: all our prayers,
all our meditations and all our exhort-
ations, cannot in the slightest degree
alter what has taken place; all that
is left us is the present and the flu
ture. The present. at best, is fleeting
and is gone before we fully realize it,
AS our past must influence our pres
ent, so must our present influence our
future. If, in the past, our hearts and
minds have been filled with wickedness
and corruption. with envy and hatred,
with unholy thoughts and debasing
fancies, we are not likely now to be
in a pure and holy frame of mind,
even in this sacred place and on this
serious day. Nor are we likely to be
in a higher or nobler frame of mind
should we live to again visit this
house of worship a year hence. If
however, despite our weaknesses and
failings during the past year, we make
honest confession to ourselves and en-
ter into the spirit of the day with a
contrite heart and engage in sincere
and unsparing self-retrospection and
self-eXamination, laying bare to our
own eyes all the wrongs we have COM
mitted and all the sins of heart, body
and mind of which we have been
guilty during the past year, there is
hope-much hope for our future If,
in addition to this. we resolve to avoid
the sins and errors of the year just
passed, to lead a higher, better, purer,
and a nObler life during the year to
come, and if we have the courage and
the strength to carry out such reso-
luton, we shall be all the better and
stronger for the errors and the sins
of the past. THE glory is not in never
failing, but in rising every time we
fall
We should be thankful that the fu-
ture lies hidden from us. How wretched
and. miserable would be our days and
nights if we but knew the sufferings
and misfortunes that may be in store
for US.
Not long ago, a certain man in New
York arose in the morning-the hus-
band of a loving and faithful wife.
the father of a sweet and beloved
daughter, the owner of a magnificent
hotel yielding him great yearly profits
He stood a man among men; prosper
Gus, happy, respected and envied Be
fore the close of that day his Snlendid
Windsor Hotel lay in ashes; his wife
and daughter charred and blackened
corpses lay silent in death the victims
of cruel confiagration; while he, pros
trated on a hospital cot bruised and
bleeding, with family gone, wealth
gone health gone and mind almost
gone, lay a shattered wreck of his
former self.
Imagine, if you can, the condition of
this mans mind had the power been
given him to know. years beforehand.
the frightful end which was to befall
him and his. Imagine the suffering and
the wretchedness he would have passed
through with such knowledge in his
mind. The days which had been filled
with sunshine and happiness would
have been days of gloom and despon-
dency; the days which to him had been
days of joy would have been days of
sorrow; the days which were filled with
hope and faith in the future, would
have been days of narrowing despair.
Let us thank God that the veil of
darkness is drawn over the future. that
we cannot, dare not, know the dread
full, the unhappy, the calanitous
THINGS ha