Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-09-07
when SHAH We Walk by Sight.


q have yet many things to say unto
| you, but you cannot bear them now
John, xvi, 12.) The world has had in
any given age as much truth as it was
able to bear. A truth misunderstood
is the equivalent of an untruth, just as
| firearms in the hands of a child are
| danger. When a person has acquired
a due amount of intelligence he may be
safely intrusted with a gun, but ig-
norance will not escape injury from it.
When men have reached that period of
yolution which demands new truths
they have somehow come as lightning
came out of the cloud at the bidding
0. Franklin. New truths seem to be
concealed from us until we have spe-
cjal use for them, and then inspired
| lips are unsealed and the revelation is
made. We have never been able to
hear any larger knowledge of the i'm
Mortal life than we have possessed,
and it has therefore been denied to us.
We have not been sufficiently devel-
oped, either spiritually or intellect
ually, to endure the blazing light, and
so the curtains have been drawn down,
the full sunshine has been shut out,
and we have seen through a glass
darby" Our conception of the future
has been heretofore of the vaguest
character. We have believed in an
other life, and our belief has lightened
the burden and set a rainbow against
our tears, and filled us with a yearn-
ing after the departed which has
robbed death of its terrors, but our
IDEAS have been indefinite and con-
9used, and we have been unable to dis
cuss the subject even with ourselves.
Why is this so? 1t has given us great
pain at times, and we have sighed as
though Immortality might after all
prove to be a dream, beautiful, uplift-
ing, but still a dream. Why have we
had so little knowledge, and incorrect
knowledge, of that life to which we are
all fastening? In my poor judgment
it is an added evidence of the wise
plan on which all things are con-
Quoted. Christ's words recur to me,
and | feel sure that we have hereto
fore known all that we could bear, all
--zr we were fitted to make use of.
We get what we need at the time We
need it and are prepared for it. II
this is true along the historic path of
material progress it is equally true in
the realm of religion. To the UNTIL
tored or the undisciplined mind a per-
feet revelation of what heaven is and
of the environment of the soul in that
other world would be incalculable I'M
wisdom, and in the great majority of
cases a positive and alarming injury.
This life has divine purpose, but that
purpose would be wholly defeated if
our knowledge of the future were sud
denly enlarged. The heavy burdens We
bear, the struggles in which we are en-
gagged, the bitter tears we are forced
to shed, the disappointment of our
fondest hopes which we are compelled
to endure, are all blows of the ham,
mer and chisel which shape the rough
block of marble into a priceless statue.
Life as at present constituted would be
incomplete without hardship and sor-
row. 1t may not always be so, but 1t
is so now. To those who find it spe-
cially difficult to use their troubles
for a high end and who at times sink
in despair, a perfect knowledge of the
other world might prove the irresisti-
BILE temptation to commit crime. The
universal dread of death and this UNI
certainty concerning the future is one
of the strongest safeguards of the pres
ent life. We bear the i'll we have and
gain the sweeter character by our pa
thence and endurance, whereas If we
knew more we might cross the border
line through sheer desperation, and so
lose the very object for which we were
placed in this lower world. But the
time is coming when we shall know
more because we can bear more |
can see the first streaks of light above
the hilltops, and am sure that by and
by the fogs and mists in which we
now dwell will be swept away by the
light OF a brighter if not a perfect day.
Gods revelations come no faster than
they are called for. Christ meant a
great deal when he declared, Il have
yet many things to say unto you" and
| think He has been saying them one
by one through the ages, giving in
proportion to our ability to bear and
adding nothing more when the limit
of our ability to use was reached.
Many things have been told to our
fathers, more has been told to US, and
much more will be told to our chill
dren's children. Are we prepared for
an actual demonstration of the i'm
mortal life? | know we long for it,
hunger and thirst for it, and pray for
it, but would it be safe to answer that
prayer? Are we in condition of mind