The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-05-07

.aTby Tyranny Of Our Ideals" was the
.,biect Of an interesting lay sermon de-
Wrered by Mrs. Sarah Pratt Carr. a well
known Seattle literary woman, yesterday
,rorniug. at the First Onitarian church.
1--WE cannot say where in the scale OF
sa,ng the ideal began to dominate the ma
.er,alD said Mrs. Carr In substance "No
,au today undertakes 10 measure off with
tis penny line the exact spot where in
stinct merges into intelligence and intelli-
ssnce blossoms into soul. Indeed, there
r. those scientists who suspect that
thought, conscious intelligence lies at the
heart Of things; Is the real fact in every
hing which has life.
a1le ant has conceptions of form, time
and obedience, for he builds houses, gath
ers provision for the future and implicitly
aheys HIS leaders. Both the ant and the
eoekroach have some faint idea of what
lave means, for they will risk and even
ose their lives in trying to save a com
rsde.
aReigious ideals have always been the
largest factor in the development of races
me teachings of the Eddas. the Koran.
the Zend-Avesta, the Vedas, the sacred
hooks Of the Buddhists, the Jewish scrip
tures and the Christian gospel have mold
cd the minds of their followers; though
the higher the ideal the further from its
teachings have it's followers departed
And today though millions of people de-
clare the Christian gospel the only true
word Of God, yet the believers in almost
sny other religion are more devoted, and
wiling to make greater sacrifices for their
beliefs.
"One need not be an occultist TO know
that the fact in mind must precede the
fact IN matter, Before hands can fashion
conceived by mind; and though hands can
destroy the material table, the idea can
not perish from the earth. AS we think
20 are we, was said and believed ages ago
A man Is more than water. phosphates,
flesh, bones: an idiot is all this.
"A man IL what he thinks and feels and
does His occupation, his companions, his
desires but most of all the thoughts which
he habitually entertains are all written in
BIS face and form. so that It does not take
avery wise man to read his life history as
he runs
Tho tyranny of our ideal Is absolute; II
Il is low our life tends downward; IL high,
We grow upward. No matter what we
fancy our ideal to be, that to which we
give our utmost effort is our real aim in
ais. Money, ambition. conquest, business
success, these are some OF the things to
which men give their lives.
The poet well says:
The worlds in which WE live are two,
The world Il ann and the world L do
Wherever there is life. doing must fol-
low being; being is getting, creating
dong is giving. Wherever the doing Is
selfish the order OF nature Is reversed, and
misery is the result.
"A great deal is requisite TO a healthy
hfs Every cell and organ In the body has
VII OF Its own. When the central will
holds them all under control. working SOL
IDLY for one strong purpose, there Ia
health, Wilderness Whenever the central
Will The spirit, has no liked aim, no great
purpose there is rebellion mutiny, sick
nsxs.
A good ideal is necessary to happiness.
he mar who cannot see the immortal inn
pulse In all life. who sees only the faults
q man and the defects of nature, allies
Himself with the poorest forces. He has
y so much clasped hands with the dead
PAST. But he who sees only the best Of his
'eilow men not only adds to his own ma
iare the good no sees In them. but com
ftis them to be what he thinks them TO be.
The world is a bowling graveyard to the
pessmist. but far more truly is IL to the
eptmist divine cradle.
The pathway which leads To peace Is
through unselfshness, self-aacritice. There
are those who have entered in We all
fnew those serene saints on earth whose
very presence Is a blessing. We may ask
asn how they found the way. They can
net tell us. Ask any woman who has gone
essn into the valley of the shadow OF
asalh that a child might he born, II she
could know the ecstacy OF motherhood be-
lore. and she will say no II her child is
aksh from her. ask her again If the JOY
q motherhood Is worth tho loss, and she
Nh always say. Tho child, the love, Is
sefM all the sorrow. for tho loss is but
Tor time
And so those who have found the peace
Which lies at the end of the way OF love
ana anselhshnCss viii always say: Tt is
Ne SURF path that leads 10 happiness aud
g Tod Alone. unaidcd except by the
voice Of the Divine speaking IN our hearts,
y must seek The way. II lies within. II
ne spirit of Good whlspering My child.
eane up higher"