The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1903-01-16
THOUGHTS.



The Master Mason throw. across life's stream
Af-ame OF Faith. chat au TOO frau woul,
seem,
pldHe not bid us work thereon tolay
The shaped aud solid stones. that day by day
reever nrmcr KNIT ANA form am arch
Oervhich from land 20 land may myriad.
march.
This is the age Of faith, an age ahead
Of all other ages To- It's sublimer, broader
hope and sereuer trust in a destiny
worked out under the eye Of a loving
father.
But when speaking thus broadly we
do not forget that in this as is i'm all
ages some are progressive, some are
motionless, some are retrogressive.
Yet no matter what holding back, or
pulling back, or working back there
may be on the part Of some portions Of
humanity, the mass moves forward.
T. doubt this is 20 doubt the majestic
pOgress Of all things forward from
darkness into light, upward from slime
to beauty.
The faith Of the present day is ex-
pressed by works. There never was a
time when the dignity Of life and the
claims of suffering humanity were
more realized, and because Of tn at faith
in humanity and its worth We see on
every hand, both within the pale Of
the church and far outside it, constant
well-directed, triumphant effort to-
wards showing 10 all human beings
their real opportunity in life. We can
not work for that in which we do not
believe. Ii takes faith in humanity to
call forth the myriad forms Of unselfish
devotion to humanity that We see in
the present age.
Faith in man calls for love. Love is
the fulfilling Of all law, human and di-
vine. Faith i'm man gives US the best
glimpse Of divine. We cannot veneer
ste man unless we venerate his cause,
though that cause remain mysterious
IS remote from positive proof as it ever
hss been in the history Of mans search
for truth.
We believe that as an almighty
power, the same one power, has worked
in all things from the beginning until
now, some kinship to that power is
best shown by our own feebler imita-
tons Of activity. Every fresh revela- /
ton Of science. every deeper glance in
to the universe, every increased evil /.
dence Of the dignity of human beings /
as they step upward, brings them near
er 10 an appreciation Of the divine, and /
makes them dread less the terror that .
ages Of superstition gathered around
Him, driving unthinkIng herds Of men
by fear instead Of by that diviner love
which men are learning more and
more to interpret in their actions to-
ward each other. Man has eyer meas
ured God by the standard to which he
himself had attained Now is he a
God Of love, for this is an age Of service:
and service is love.
We can well understand that to the
reflective mind will occur many symp-
toms that seem inconsistent with the
idea ofgrowth, but to doubt the gener-
al forward move, and to be convinced
OF The doubt, is to throw ones self into
condition Of despair, and to claim for
humanity the one inconsistent thing TO
al the laws that prevail over all other
material things Man can make cum
ning devices Of wood or metal, but
when they are made they stay made
until they decay; divine power makes ]
sui more cunning devices that have !
The Tower Of life, and growth and de- q
'elopement, and reproduction. Man
must grow or be untrue to his Author. /
de must progress or even the tree on c
.he hillside excels him. He must shine
'esplendent as a moral being or the /
beasts Of the field, the chsste lions, the h
devoted dams, put him to shame. y
tie does grow or the world would still b
'e In the grasp Of dark brutalities; his y
leart mets into tenderness over those 5
Who see less well or have less oppor-
unlties. Faith in man, faith in n
working Father, brings unquestioned y
'ith 10 destiny. ~
This sort Of faith will help everyone :.
walk peacefully forward into the a
nadow Of the years. We are not I,
nance atoms floating hither and \
nlther on the breezes. We are orderly
elpers Of the forward trend Of things,
o matter how humble our lot. Be "
de US ia the dignity Of doing our best ,
he greatest of all the accidentally great
'nnot measure 10 the knee unless they :,
$50 do their host "