Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1901-12-06


and gszes deep into the vacant eyes and
speaks tendeTly 20 ears that are deaf
with the fsI-away silence of terrible
absence, the heart Quails and swell,
to bursting with the anguish that NUT
tiers doefully "Defeat" Defeat
"But thanks be to God which gIveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus
| Christi
The victory which We have by the
gift of God in Christ Jesus is at least
three-fold. 1t has to do with the con-
fict between mind and matter and the
triumph of the mind. IL has to dc
with the subtle and refining powers OF
the arts. II has, finally, to do with the
prowess and conquests of the spiritual
over the material. 1t is the drama of
triumph 10 three acts science, art, re-
| liglon-matter, mind, heart-the true,
the beautiful, the good-sud the great
est of these is the good.
1t is doubtless truism that the his
tory of the world is nothing more than
a record of wars and rumors of war.
But it is a truism that needs to be bat
tered down with iconoclsstic determin-
alton. AT least, We are glad to know
that the history of America has colors
not all of blood-it owns the blue and
the white, truth and purity, coDstsDcy
and aggressiveness, loyalty and action.
Our history is not all written on battle
fields, well won triumphs of brother
against brother-but much of it is re-
corded IN even more immortal phrase.
The hand that mas dlgged a treasure
out of the heart of the old bills and
fashioned it into a locomotive, thing
of beauty, power and speed, that hand
has done az nobly as the one that
welded a sword on the fields of oar ma
tion's fearful travail The mind tn at
has unrsveled a mystery and taken to-
gether the threads to construct mira
Gle, whether it be the cotton gin, the
steam ship, the telegraph or y rays,
that mind has triumphed as remsrka-
bly, as the commander chief OF our
brilliant armies, who has conceived a
strategem and won the day. The in
ventive genius of the human mind is
one of the biggest miracles God hath
wrought. We have heard of Buddhist
prayer nachlnes-rsttle boxes to please
deaf God. But every machine that
turns wheel IN the civilized world to-
day is in a real sense prayer machine:
the temple OF the true God has led the
way into every wilderness of history
out of which mems minds have gath
cred secrets. The bible and progress
In science are inseparable. The twain
have become One-n8y, rather always
have been one, for what God hath
Joined together no man may put
asunderl "Ye shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free
free from the limitations and shskels
that have bound the race like Prom
etheus to the rock physical, material
trammels that have imprisoned the
spirit aud made the soul a convict of
the clod.
Ii ls highly significant that christian
nations need not sit at the feet of
heathendom to learn q single lesson.
Christianity leads the van of all pro-
gress. When Rome sat on her seven
hills, the queen of the world, her heart
was slum of iniqulty. We cannot in
our times conceive of the wretchedness
and squslor, the discOmforts and mad
e1uasles of q christian civilization.
rhe highest character and the lowest,
the best men and the worst were alike
polluted. Christianity has stretched
the rails of travel and traffic across the
continents and ploughed the ocean
with her swift ships; christianity has
spun cables under the sea and wires In
all directions over the earth. The mir
scles of Christ no longer startle our in
credulity when we consider the mira
Giles wrought on every hand by his dis
ciples, for chritisDity is after all the
greatest miracle that can occupy the
thought of men. If the hesrtless
Ilerod's sword had struck the msnger
in the little Judean Bethlehem and
spoiled its treasure, 1t would have sew
cred from the world forever thoee vast
potencies that have made civilized hu-
manity what it is, and will make it what
it Is yet to be. But God had purposes for
his world. Hs laid the gift on the heart
of men; he vouchssfed unto the world
victory over the very primal ele-
ments, and no frsil arm, be 1t even the
cruel arm of a Herod or Nero, was
strong enough TO lift itself in cOntem-
plated defeat against that God man,
the gift of heaven, the light of men, the
lamb that tsketh away the sin of the
world.
But this victory over the physical
and material is not yet complete. 1t is
only begun. The present lenses of the
gospel are q constant incentive and in
spiratiOn. We give thanks to our God
not because simply he gave us the VIC
tory, but because he giveth it, he con-
tinues giving it. 1t is this supreme ex-
cellence of Gods word that makes it
ever living book. 1t is more than a
record of the past; it deals vitality with
the everlasting present. God giveth
us the victory yesterday, today, forever.