Arizona republican., 1899-03-19

fine me tourmente He is the unlgTlOw
 able of MT. Huxley. He is, as Tyndall
 says. that transcendental ideal, which is supremely real. He is that /abso-
 lUte, that sustaining might of every creature, whose being, causal energy. cmnipotence and eternity MT. Spencer confesses He is the Immense whom MT Littre reyercs upon his awful
 throne. He is that secret power ac
 kDowledged by later positivists from
 whom the unthinkab,e, procession of
 created worlds proceeds. Thus do
 these prophets of atheism O. antithe-
 ism. each in his own way, rear his altar
 to the infinite and eternal God Ti.us
 do they in spite of themselves ac-
 knowledge and postulate a reality be.
 yond the world from which the world
 proceeds. And they do this not only
 as a necessity and postulate of thought,
 but as a satisfaction for that heart
 which has been created for GCd and
 can find no peace outside him, ever
 more crying with the patriarch Job
 'Oh, that 1 knew where 1 might find
 him! that I might come even to his
 seat!" Ever true are the psalmist
 words: Thou hast created us for -hy- self, O God, and our hearts are not at rest till they rest in thee
 As it is with art and philosophy and
 the works of man, so it is with oul life. Above us, always a vision of our better, our ideal, our perfect self. That perfection which we ought to attain and which we do not attain: that something which we ought to be anG gre not Sin, where there ought to ac strength. And even when we have avoided these and lived the life of vir- tue, there are always before us heights and degrees which we have not yet attained.
 MIRAGE ON LIFE7S DESERT
 But since the ideal is by its very na- ture not attainable here below, shall we give it up? Should we desist from chasing this mirage across the desert of life? Would it conduce to our con- tentment and happiness to be satisfied with the real and the practical ip art. in philosophy, in life? No, the loss of the ideal element would be the degre- dation of art, mere realism. The mere attempt to portray and picture life as it is would be the death of art. I he real must be transformed and H. lumined by the ideal That philos- ophy which does not seek further truth is system condemned, and that na- ton, however glorious it's past, which does not hope for a greater future, has ceased to advance, and has already begun the movement of retrogression. Give up the ideal? Noi The loss of it is death; not to attain it, only temporary defeat, where discourag cement would be eternal disaster. And if, as the reaIisr says idealism is only a dream, who V ould not rather be a dreamer, and dream his dream than Q mere uLili- 11fo 1irrs, e.. cation? No! every art, every philoso- phy, every civilization, every nation, every individual must have ideals l They are the source of life and the con dition of progress.
 And oh, my readers, whatever of | beauty, whatever of good, whatever of truth, whatever of high and noble | thoughts, and generous and even itn- l possible ambitions, have come into | your lives, cling to them; grapple them | to your souls with hoops of steel. These | are your real friends; these shed light | and radiance on your youth, and when ! old age comes on, and all else has faGed, they are still with ycul
 But the divorce between the ideal | and the real is not an evil; it is . ben | eft. If man could attain perfection lere, if the artist could adequately ex- pI eSS beauty, ana the philosopher | thoroughly comprehend truth-if the | work of man could express the whole | power and force of man-then, indeed, lis world would, in a sense, Le a per 5ect world, but it would be a most mis- 9rable one. It is the imperfection of | fife that constitutes it's perfection. If | Fe were created for the finite, we could | 1e satisfied with the finite But God willed for us another destiny. He @illed to lift us higher This life is imperfect, but it is prophetic It bears witness to the fact of another and q more perfect.
 But shall we never be what we want Q be? Only when we possess God, for he Infinite is the ideal, and only the Infinite will satisfy man. f'I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy like lesS.'