Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1903-12-26
j. II. ODER, EditOr,
Christmas.

does not conform to Divine consistency,
character or sovereignty.
But 1.-THE unknown is everywhere
low i'll the earth, high i'll the heavens.
1t Is nowhere more apparent than i'll the
compound of elements which made up,
fashioned and finished CC this old globe
during an age tinitely incredible, and in
its retirement thence to the solitude Of
centuries of recreation, where, until life
came and t1ourished upon its surface, it
remained untouched and unchanged
save by the mighty dust which, drifting
through space, fell upon its dreamless
bosom.
In all historic ages-past as now, men
have been So deeply absorbed III the
drama of human passion and the tragedy
of human wrong that they have disqual
flied themselves fol proper and adequate
study of the problems of creation and
redemption. They have graSped traS-
ments of the cycle of nevcr-ending time
that which we call eternity, rode a
moment i'll the realm Of being and sunk
into the tinitcly measure less abyss Of the
unknown without having given due
thought to the fact that origin is twin-kin
to destiny. They have accepted t he one,
doubted the other. though it is lust as
true as truth can be that Hr Iur Of Htr is
reSiSteSS: that the momrnt"m of rccupcr-
alton ever and fundamentally 0vercomcs
gravity toward decay, and that every
force II the universe is as actively filling
its office and accomplishing its purpose
as when ''in the beginning il was vital
lied and energiZed by the Almighty
edict-"let there be light :" They have
looked upon birth as ii matter of course.
upon death as IA calamity, but each is an
ordinance, signatured by 1.-THE Hand that
is Divine They have not regarded the
reality Of living as something to be cx-
planned, or thought that how they came
to be is an infinitely profoundcr problem
than how they shall continue to be-
They have not conceived the truth that
man himself is can epitome Of the uni
verse, nor that the being of the smaller
is wonder more uEscarchablc than the
destiny of either.
Men have searched, ard searched, how
ever, apparently without finding Il natu-
raj law idle or imperative. The law of
chemical affinity of certain elements,
.,l j.,
the law of grayitation, ever present and,
co-ordained with electricity-the one
conceivable tie between mind and matter
and believed to be the impclling force of
planetary revolution, is as fully alive and
puissant in the sunbeam as in the ire
mendous, evcr-falling orbit of the earlh
a thousand years ago. Indeed, if in any
event the law of gravitation were sus-
pended inertin would ensue throughout
the universe. If the agent we call cleo
tricity were removed the universe would
crash into illimitable wreck.
A lifetime, therefore, furnishes but
monlentary glimpse of one of the steps
in terrestrial progression. The world is
ever new, never old. 1t is an everlasr-
ing embodiment and solid illustration of
perennial creation and endless re creation
1t is not by any means past belief that
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, is synony-
nous with that which in spiritual lexi-
geography has been translated rrdrapfiou,
the incorporeal anuthesis of natural law.
As Drummond has segregated the empire
of Nature into mineral. vegetable and an
imal kingdoms, yet allied and impinging
upon each other i'll the order named. still
incommunicable, 50 is the spiritual the
yet higher domain and known only to
men through such glimpses behind the
veil' as are afforded in the Incarnation,
otherwise 1.-THE mystery of mysteries
But i'll all, through all and above all
survives in sovereign force and effect the
geHi"S of that which here we call "natu-
raj law" The force of recreation re-
mains, and not a jOt nor tlttlc Of human
responsibility for human tramsgression
has ever been repealed on amended
Men are still individually and coHrctircIy
accountable for wrong. Indeed, it is no
stretch of the truth to aver that the In
carnation, with all that it implies, actu-
ally accentuates accountability for will
full, overt, continued oifensc.
OF this, as to individuals, there is not
IL shadow of doubt. Collectively regard
ed, the same trcspass upon right must
earn the same forfeiture at some ''day
of Judgment" The people Of town,
county, State, or nation, especially a
people free to do right, who 90 to the
polls and, self-enslavcd to the prejudice
of party, endorse OF condone rascality,
lay the foundation for unwelcome but
inevitable requital. When they do this
year after year it is to be feared they
court payment and repayment of 1.-THE
wages of sin
This short. incomplete chapter is writ
ten partly, perhaps yainly, as an offset to
the many which assume to make this
period one of abandon rather than of
contemplation of its real import.
Or if the unreienting rigor of natural
law extends into and over the domain
of the moral universe it is a lay sermon
founded upon a text peroratiye, not
intrOlnctOrV.