Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-02-08

when he says eve look at the things
which are unseen and eternal" he has
different motive and his eye is fixed
on lower object, but it is the same
spiritual power that is at work, it is
| the power which carries a man beyond
| the visible, making the invisible a
reality. The most secular life, then,
you see, even in its meaner pursuits,
uses this sublime power of faith.
| There is confidence in success.
Think of the millions of mankind
tOiling hard with brain and hand, and
yet doing it hopefully: exhausted by
the days work they step into the
shadow and silence of the night
believing they will awake Oh the NOR
| row refreshed and made strong to go
forth again to their tasks. What I'M
conscious trust there is in these habits
| of work and sleep. What reliance on
the cOnStancy of the unive Sc. What
| unquestiOning faith in the future!
What reStful aSSurar &c of the I'M
known. And the more we study these
natural activities we learn that they
are working for results of another
kind, and beyond what we intend; we
are doing something beside keeping
ourselves alive, or gratifying transient
desires and ambitions, we are being
taught to live for the future.
If you will consider what activity
is, you will see that it always points
to the future, and that there is an
unconscious trust in it. The purpose
OF action is to gain certain results;
the idea of the future is necessary
part of every action. We toll and
have to wait the issue; it is a trans
action with nature in which we cam
not have our own way; we must leave
our own work in the care of a higher
and greater power. The farmer
cultivateS his land and SoWS his seed,
the manufacturer and merchant con-
trlve how they can make profits by
skill, industry and the distribution of
! their products; there is a present
duty, a part they can perform, for the
rest they have to contide in influences
unseen, and beyond their control; the
purpose Of these influences is not
merely to supply the temporal needs
of life. If we set out into life with
the idea that the world has no other
uses than t. minister to our narrow
and selfish wishes we are soon un-
deceived, and taught there is more
All nature is prophetic--pOintS to
ends that are neither material nor
transient: every law and process are
suggestive of far-reaching issues: and
the closer we come into cOntact-the
deeper and wider our knowledge of
nature becomes, the prOfOunder is the
impression which this spiritual fact
makes upon us; we lind we are not
dealing with things only but with
great ideas and eternal truths: we
cannot work with the forces of the
universe and maintain sceptical
spirit; whatever our use of those
forces may be they make some spiritual
impression upon us. Men cannot be
dependent upon them, as they are,
without learning part of the truth
God meant to teach by them: but the
closer we draw near-the more intimate
our knowledge of what is going on in
those sublime processes, and the
larger view we get of the vast sweep
Of things. II you wish to find the
most reverent faith 60 to those who
have been the deepest and most
patient students Of nature. Linnacus
fell on his knees when he saw the
gorSe in bloom. Tyndall standing on
Alpine heights and looking around
him at the snowy peaks rising in all
their grandeur was filled with awe and
confessed he felt faith which no
words could utter. Kant felt the
same awe as he beheld the starry
heavens.
But there is one special aspect of
Nature which is eXerting silent, yet
deep and enduring influence upon us,
it is the fact of its steadfaStneSS.
Faith depends for its life on the
stability of that in which we contide.
Human nature seeks the Interchangeable.
We cannot repose on what is tickle. 1t
is loyalty that begets and develops
trust. We have found an absolute
reliability in nature; it's law is invari
able; and this fact is doing more to
create and establish faith than any
number of abstract arguments. Law
has eliminated the idea of chance and
is preparing the way for the growth