The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-05-20


covered some of the offices which atmos
! phere renders us. Our Wanted know,e3ee
largely consists of shrewd guesses concern
ing surface appearances. The last result
| of culture Is the coronation of nescienca
Its proudest achievement is fixing the lin.
Its OF thought, The most snewy brain
cannot scale those adamantine barrier,
| that convert reasons highway into mo
thoroughfare." There are nuts OF facr
which the stoutest blows of the hammer.
aead of human knowledge fail TO cracf.
! There are Gordian knots of thought wnich
turn the. edge of the most finely tempered
blade OF human research.
Nineteenth century intellect, the human
mind. in that age when mind touches the
meridian is not able to tell the story of the
little lichen that clings to the stone in the
wall, ''root and all and all in ALL" How.
then, shall human wisdom answer for me
those awful questionngs concerning origin
and duty and destiny which ], reasoning
and feeling, SHINING and suffering, mortar
and immortal. must know? What lore OF
man will unveil to me the face of the great
God, my maker and roll back the cloud
that enwraps His throne?
What mechanic skill will suffice for I'M
raveling the dread secret of this dark wool
of evil which is woven into human eXpe-
rience? What scholar, though he have
drunken at every Castalian fount can
tread with me the brink of the grave, and
peering down into that abvss of dreadful
night give me any assurance that confined
dust Will rise Respondent In some resur-
rection morning? What pupil of the most
cultured Gamahel can sit by my bedside in
the hour when heart and flesh are failing
and set one single star of hope aglow in the
dark midnight that gathers around me?
just one star beam to tell me that beyond
the cloud and darkness are the many man
sions of an eternal home, that yopder
waits fathers welcome to love. and light
and joy ineffable? Most majestic are the
achievements of intellect.
Greek tragedy tells us how King Edipus
at the close of life heard cry-a strange,
weird, imperious summons. far off, yet
near in some distant world, yet close at
hand a voice that drew like gravitation.
SO does every man, in virtue of that royal
nature which allies him with heavens
throne, hear at times just such cry re-
sounding from some distant sphere, even
from that spirit realm which is his true
father,and, yet near, within his very soul,
that bockons him to his highest destiny.
ooh, soul of man, awake. awake, shake
off the chains of spiritual s.umber and
sloth Escape the earth-bound life lleav-
pu-born and heaven-aspiring, live for God!"
The Hindoo palace echoed with that cry,
and Buddha swept out to brood in the will
derness depths over its mysterious mean
ing. Those accents hoated over the land
of Pallas Athene, and in academy and por-
tico there gathered groups OF thinkers that
sought to follow its leading as the wise
men followed the Orient star. Every
dweler in Christian lands hears that cry
more plainly. 1t is borne to him in the
quiet peacefulness of the Sabbath chat
whispers to his toil-worn spirit Of that rest
that remaineth When the t6ii OF this work
aday world is done. II comes TO him from
the open church door that tells him Of n
home shelter for his storm-beaten spu' it
speaks to him from the Scripture, where 1t
syllabes the spiendors of the Christ. and
declares that such is the g,orious image
which God has Planned to reproduce i'll
him now sulled and sickened with sin.
But where, in all the ages, is the man that
girding himself at this signal call has won
in the race for holiness? Are we not some
times glad that thoughts are not audible?
that motives are not visible? that we are
not breastp.ated with transparent glass,
through which the workings of. the inner
life might lie omen to the curious eye?
Are we not glad that it is sometimes
function Of language to conceal, as well as
to convey thought? If our struggles after
holiness be as honest hearted as that of
the old pagan seekers after GOD, we will
unhesitatingly echo their sad avowai,
couraged company, II approve the better
courses, but I follow the worst" And.if
our own hearts, sin-darkened and sim
warped, condemn us, how can we meet the
scrutiny of Him who is greater than our
hearts and knoweth all things?
eff thou contendest with the footmen,
and they weary thee, how canst thou con-
tend with horses?" There is but one
method by which this problem of the He
ID 1a 1,tt tO
encouraging solution. Let its terms be in
verified. Read the formula backward If
the horsemen could be conquered first, who
would waste thought upon footmen? II
we could meet the mightest foes and over
ride them there would De little difficulty
in outmatching lesser needs. If we could
run with horses and outrun them, we
should shake the dust of sandaled scorn
in the face of the footmen. Such a solu-
tion is limited at in scripture. Turn the
Bible page. Put the apostle against the
prophet. Reply to the challenge of .Jere-
miah with the triumph shout of PAUL
| can make money in the market place:
I can obtain pleasure in the playhouse:
can win culture in the school room. But
the remission Of my sins | can secure only
upon Calvary. Christ is the solitary Sa-
viour.
When the sin want is appeased all want
is met When this is righted all is right.
With the regal robes of righteousness go
the sceptre of power and the diadem of
peace Bring the matter to test of a
personal experience and see if it is not so,
and imagine that every one in this assem-
by was Christian; that each one OF us
began the weeks work as a saved soul. !
You 60 forth tomorrow morning, your
heart aglow with brighter sp.endor than |
the g,ory-bath with which sunrise floods
the earth The light of the knowledge of |
the glory of God as it shines in the face OF
Christ" You go downtown, not knowing |