The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-02-16

one as in the vegetable and animal world.
Every spring the tree must renew her life.
must begin once more. while man goes on
and on through eternity. The light Of God
revealed the things created and wrought
a grand, state of life. and orderiincss; the
natural law-abiding world was produced.
In mans realm the burst of light shines
on with ever greater glory. revealing the
disorder of tne human soul. but also bring
ought to have. The C. eatur. called man
Is the goal: no higher development tnan
his is possible, ana all future greatness
of nature will be within man-not beyond
him.
"The burst of light upon all the things
of creation seemed to awaken all the sleep
the opportunity Of being better. and being
something more than inert masses. One OF
the grandest characteristics of sunlight is
Its warmth. which thaws the ice. loosens
the earth and draws the stalks and buds
from the seeds and bulbs in the ground.
Gods light is not a cold fierce issue of
luminous rays. but IL is life light. the eter-
nal warmth that brings forth signs of the
touch OF a divine hand. of a divine life:
of life. of her powers of beauty. and she
does her best to express her giainess.
The greatness of man lies IN the fact
of his being conscious of gifts within. of
his divine endowments which may ever he
developed into more perfect copy of the di-
vine character. Death is a state of utter
give in return. and nature which bursts
into her blossoms each year shows her
life. her CladneSS Of life. by giving to the
world most of what she has received. If
man receives all and gives none he Is dead:
he is inert. forceless. Iight!ess. lifeless.
There has long been a theory that the
progress of man Is intellectual. whereas the
world Is coming to see that mans real
progress is an ethical or moral one. After
all. the growth of the intellect Is one Of
receptivity and not one of projection. All
that We know or think Is the result of the
vast past. where the greatest ideas of
history were given to the world. The light
of the intellect is the cold fierce light that
warns not but absorbs. while the light
the ethical nature. We may pride ourselves
on our industrial development. upon the
useful things of life. but the thought of
the world is the gift of past ages. VIC only
receive and remold what has been original
to greater minds than our own.
The heat of the sun is due to the impact
OF objects from without and the time
will come when her intense heat will die
out and only a residue of cold. dry ashes
love. 1t comes from within: it thaws the
frozen heart: 1t meits the stoniest and
makes a fruitful field out of a barren soul.
Mans light is that of his own being reflect
ing the warm light of Christ. AS the river
flows through a dry plain, quenching thirsty
nature. so the warm nature of those light
ened by Christ flows through the deserts of
dry humanity. giving refreshing drink to
dry souls.
what power have you for holiness? It
Is &. divine power. As he can bring a hum
dredfold fruitage from the corn sown I'm the
dark soil. so from your life he can bring a
heavenfold fruitage to bless. to brighten. to
tighten, to warm a world cold with false
light, dead with inertness."