The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-14
lie Dexter Avenue,

force today may be disproven tomorrow, He would be accounted 2 fool who dare
 deny the fixed distances between. the planets. or the shape of the earth we
 "Wondsrful. marvellous as these are.
 each day reveals new and still more
 wonderful and marvellous truths; man
 ever striving buried in the aeptns as ,ns o
 earth itself, journeying to the frozen re-
 eions of the poles, or, exploring starry
 tirmaanents, vieing with one another to
 compel nature to yiela UP ne, sesfss asa tha
 And thus it has been Tn all agesn the
 mind of man, ever restless, ufeiess n
 the search for truth. yet never sansnea,
 The possession of one truth serves oniy
 stre and this always in the upward
 tfend--frofn the less noble 10 the more more
 noble from the less sublime 10 tne more
 sublime, from the les perfect to the more
 nerfect, from the material to the spirit
 ,,ai in at last the genius of man falls him; his natural faculties. alone ana un- aided. no longer suffice to guide him Tn the glorious pursuit. 'There Is truth--a spiritual trutn, which Plato, the loftiest of the anciers philosophers, was forced to confess that rsason. the noblest, the surest of our natural faculties, was incompetent to de- terrnine, By the sole aid of this reason, lie came to acknowledge the existence or supreme being, the first cause of all the things we see existing around us in such admirable order. This we call nature and nature herself gives unmistakable evil de,,ce of some creative power. some con trolling force behind 1t ail-a first cause a God. This can hardly be called spir-
 Wual or supernatural truth as 1t is the fruit of our natural powers. and Is so generally possessed as to form the basis of ,religion of every people in the world, for all bow down t, a supreme being, aeknowledging their dependence to Him, whether 1t be to the sun, or the moon, to some hideous god of stone, or the God
 we profess today.
 "Thus far. then. in the search after truth, does our reason lead us; nor leaves us satisfied. We desire to know more and more of this our God; our very souls hunger for 2 closer view. a deeper com prehension of the Creator. But, alas, says our reason, I can lead you no fur ther. There are grsater things to know, higher truths to believe, but l can be your guide no longer. Do not disturb me nor yet expect too much of me. Thus far I have red you. and thus far am faithful and trustworthy There is a great beyond in which it Is not given me to entef.'
 Here we And ourselves on the very threshold, as 1t were of the invisible world. that impenatrahle veil drawn be- fore the face of the unseen. To ponder further on what our reason has thus far attained, we suddenly discover opened up before us a whole world of mystery the supernatural the realm of God from which our poor affrighted senses recoii back on themselves only to find if 1t were possible, still greater mystery, the greater only because the more near. This life, what is 1t? This life we live today to enjoy. to suffer and then to re- iinquish; this life so weak. so frail, so insignificant, yet so strong. possessing SO many powers and possibilities for good or evil, Does it all end with the grave? Are we to lie down, be dissolved and live no more? Mysteries upon mysteries, We seek far and wide for their solution; we drink deeper draughts at the stream of human love and our souls are left for a knowledge of the truth no man can give us.
 God is truth the absolute, the eternal truth, and all things are true inasmucn as they partake of the truth of the God head; just as objects around Us are bright or dark in proportion as they reflect the l rays of the sun the source of all the Lest in the effort to solve our own mystery relying solely on our own strength and resources. we become epRroSsed with ourselves and lose slght or | His Being and our relation to and de- | pendanee on Him, and so frustrate our \ own end. it has pleased the eternal truth
 t0 reveal to US certain of ms glorious mysteries.
 These. you may say. are beyond our \ comprehension. Yes. and for sthat very
 1continaed on Page seven.)