The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1904-09-23

me to be Ike q writer OF noienookn
In the kings judgment hall or on th'
street or out upon the hillsidcs undel
the blue dome of the sky, when grea
thought is dlvlncly inspired within hl'
brain. he jots that thought down IL
memorandum. Then at the end Of the
day or the week or the month or the
year he collects these different
thoughts, irrespective Of their logical
sequence, into chapter or book
and has the court stenographer write
them ont again In full
The modern critics tell us thnt King
Solomon did not write the book of Ec
clelastes: that its style and diction be
long 10 later date. II appears to me
however, that its tone and its depress
ing refrain are characteristic Of man
who led such a life OF ease and self in
dulgence as Solomon led, and that AT
the end OF 1t. satiated with pleasure
and study, as he must have been, II
was precisely the kind of book that
would come from his pen. and the con
clusions uttered IN that book just such
as would be likely TO be reached by a
man who, having strayed from God
was disappointed and dissatisfied with
his life. In the absence, therefore, of
definite knowledge | shall assume that
the first verse Of the book indicates
him as the author, "Ihe son Of David
king in Jerusalem"
But. though King Solomon was not,
az a rule. n connected writer, yet In the
book Of Ecclcsiates he makes an eXcep-
ton 10 his usual custom. In this third
chapter. for example there is clear
soduence No man can interpret my
text Alright unless he uses the words,
He hath made everything beautiful
In his time" as a glorious climax TO
the ten verses which preccde them.
Solomon is here enunciating the mighty
law OF sequence. He Is marshuling the
events Of O human life as an army.
Each event must have It's right posi-
ton. In the language Of the chapter.
he says, "rhere Is a time to be born
and time TO die" There is time for
a cradle and time when the wood Of
that cradle should be changed into
coffin lid. "There IS a time TO plant
and a time to reap that which is plant
cd"
Then, after tho author Of my text has
sung the changes Of the Gospel Har-
monies Of Sequence" meadow
lands and upon tho mountain top. in sea
and on land, by cradles and by open
ed graves, during the times when the
dove OF peace is lowering over man,
and during the time when the black
raven OF war is Tapping his wings
above bloody battlehelds- King Solo
mon generallzes all his statements in
one great conclusion. He practically
says, "All the different heart beats Of
Joy and sorrow. life and death, peace
and conflict, hope and despair. have
their purpose TO serve if they only
come to man I'm the right way and at
their appointed seasons." For God
hath made everything beautiful I'm its
time" This is the keynote Of Chris
tlanity. Man I'm his sinful state is n
monster Of ugliness, blemish on crea-
tion. a discord, but man redeemed, Is
haloed with divine beauty, and, as
Ralph Waldo Trine has said. "lie is In
tune with the infinite" He becomes
part Of the universal harmony and his
thoughts are in spiritual symmetry
with the thoughts of God.
We find an analogy for mans splr-
itual beauty I'm the painters brush
and the artists easel. According TO
Samuel Coleridge, the English poet and
literary critic, the true definition Of
"beauty" is multitude I'm unity"
When standing before a great picture |
like that Of Leonardo da Vincrs Last |
Supper" or MurillO's Miracle of the !
I,Oayes and Fishes" or Raphaers |
greatest picture, his sistine "Madon-
na." we find that there the many lights
and the shadows. the gold and the |
silver and the green and the yel- |
low and the blue and the saffron and /
the violet and the purple, all blend in
one common purpose. Thousands, per
haps tens Of thousands Of times, MI
chael Angelo, with his brush, may have
touched the wall I'm the Vatican where
today IL seen his Last Judgment"
But not one Of all of those thousands
Of times when he laid on the paint did
be do so without having one great idea
In his mind. Perfection Is composed
Of many trihes," wrote he. but per
fection in art is not a trihe" A great
picture is always "multitudes OF diff
Ierent colors in blending unity" That
unity is the cause of beauty when
seen upon the canvas Of the masters
Of old and the masters OF the present
day
An artists beauty is multitude I'm
unity" We know that Samuel Cole
.idge's definition IN reference to the
painters easel Is true We see "mul.
titude Of colors In unity" when Tur-
Ter the most brilliant artistic col0rim
England ever produced, makes the sea
/ creature Of life Now II is beauti-
'ul boulevard Of gold. paving It's way
% the throne of setting sun; now a
perfect pandemonium Of furies; now II
$ O burial scene, when Sir David VII
lie finds a sepulcher in the mighty
leep, whose waves beat themselves In
o pieces on the Gibraltar crags. We
ee an artists multitude in unity" IN
he portraits Of n Sir Anthony Van
iyke and I'm the mighty mountain
,eaks Of a Bicrdstadt and I'm the pas
oral dreams Of Millet. But though