The weekly examiner., 1901-06-08
TO SERVE GOD.
R e1fSion Furnishes the Only Efec- tive Antidote for the Poison
 of PeSsimism.

1 CcTOulcleS, zO.S
 How differently we look on life at different periods! We really live three or four kinds of life between
 the cradle and the grave.
 In early youth, for example, the days go by with leaden feet. From the half holiday in the middle of the week to the other half holiday at it's end seems to be small section of eternity. The hours of boyhood are longer than the months of manhood. In later years, on the other hand, when the coins in the treasury of time have grown to be small in num- Der, we rush by the weeks as we rush by the telegraph poles when on an express train. .. s But what. an exquisite season our youth isl The boy opens his eyes on a beautiful world, and every passing moment is a special delight. He is in harmony with the universe and joins in the chorus as the morning stars sing together. He may not appreci- ate the situation, but he is charmed by it. He wants to live forever, and the thought of death chills, possibly terrifes him. In the full and mag nifcent flow of physical vitality, he dreams great dreams, builds castles in the air of which no architect could make definite plan, and is happier than any language can express. It is ordained that we shall begin our ca reer in that way.
 When manhood comes stealing on with. slippered feet the dreams, fade away and we stand face to face with, grave and stern realities. We need muscle of body and muscle of mind to do our work. Disappointments check our hoped-for progress, and so far as this world is concerned we feel sure of very little. The optimism of earlier days gives way, and the tendency, both spiritual and mental, is in the direction of mild kind of pessimism, which is as harmful as a drop of poisonous acid in glass of pure spring water. We are all of us conscious of this, and we all of us yield to it in some degree unless we know of a well from which we can draw water without the accompany ing drop of poison.
 I venture the assertion that it is impossible for any man to go through life keeping a cheerful tenn per and trusting heart unless he has that series of uplifting thoughts which it is the privilege of our re- ligion to furnish. But with those thoughts in his firm possession he is superior to any possible experience. Life makes one tired, but religion is like the sweet sleep from which he is refreshed. Life makes one hungry. but religion is like the food which nourishes the worn tissues. Life is a stormy season, but religion is the snn that breaks through the clouds and floods the landscape with longed-for light and heat.
 It would be folly to deny that from morning to evening we have a hard days work. It is not easy to live comfortably or serenely; it is impos- sible to do so without religion of some kind. Your very health de- pends largely on your state of mind, and when your mind has scared to that realm in which your God dwells, not only does your body respond, but your whole outlook undergoes a change. If you look up and see nothing but darkness, the shadow of that darkness englooms your days; but if your upward gaze discovers God and immortality, your pathway becomes light, even though it be rug ged and difficult. If there is nothing ahead of you, if graves are simply graves and nothing more, if broken ties will remain forever broken, your mental attitude produces a depres- sion which is close to despair. But if, on the contrary, you are convinced that the universe has a Master, and that your road to better world lies through struggles as we'll as joys, through tears as well as smiles, and if by faith you can look forward to rest, to higher activities, to reunion, there comes into the soul a some thing, dynamic energy, cheering force which makes, despair impossible and changes despondency to hope.
 That kind of religion is what the boy needs when passing through the formative period, when, he is laying the foundations of a character. It does not interfere with his joyous ness, it is not a cloud in his sky, but an additional source of physical hap piness.
 It IS WnaG the man neeuS when ne is in the midst of affairs and when the pessimistic forces are at work. It illumines his ideal as a white statue is illumined by calcium light, and teaches him that loyalty to eternal things is better than the gainful sue cess which he must leave behind him.
 It is what old age needs when it faces the inevitable, for it opens the door of the future and disc1oses such radiant facts that death is only a sweet sleep from which the soul rises to cross the threshold of eternal life. Religion crowns all periods of life with hope and joy.-George H. Hep worth in N. Y. Herald.