Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-06-29

that reason and right and love have tho
mastery. Think what the condition of
life would lac If it were not 80. if thcro
were room for doubt whether the supreme
spirit in the order of events on our
planet were other than good and wise and
loving. Think what havoc it did actually
make in human life, what confusion of
moral ideas. what unrcasOn and per-
verify in actions. when men believed that
God is not supreme in His universe, thaS
His will Is rivalcd and thwartcd by II
powerful spirit of evil. Think what Il
cloud rested over the life of such man
as John Stuart Mill, who doubted
whether either wisdom or love had UNI
divided empire in human life. We believe
that tnc three angles make two right
angles, that bodies fall downward. that
naturc abhors n vacuum. that II wound
tends 10 heal. We need to be just as
sur, that lying is unproiitahlc. that wrong
hidden is not wrong undonc, that jus
ticc ~ as inevitable as gravity, that God
Is not CA the side of tho heavy battalions
and that there is something that sue
cocds better than success. Let man
believe that by his sharp wit he can eludc
ol defy Il moral law, that is that he can
transrress a law of the universe with
impunitv then in his view of life virtue
may he II mistake. wrong may get tho up
per hand aud all things may work to-
;,ctner for tho good of the ungody. But
in such n univers life would be intolcr-
able. Such a universe certainly is not
this universe. EVoi Xthlng within us. and
most things without us. persuade us to
Il, liovc that We live in Il universe in
which reason and love conspire with
power 10 mako human life. on this earth
or anywhere. Il life worth while for beings
who hav. reason and will and an in
finite capacity for love. That God is the
moral governor of the universe. rs the old
Dcists rhrasod it. is a cold absirs Ct ion
that in God ar" ccntorod all the wisdom
and power ANA love of the universe. that
they are for us focused and manifested
in the God-man. that through Him VIZ
become one with this universal spirit
which pcrvadins human lif" makes it
divine, this is life eternal now and ever
moro here and anywhere.
Iiut not only is the universe good-a
universe which makes Tor order and right
and beauty-it is more--t is evangclistic.
1t brings its great and magnificent pcr-
siasons TO bear upon life. to rescue and
redeem and sanctify ii. 1T teaches sweet
lessons of sacriiicial love--of the beauty
of suffering for the sake Of bio ssns. Tho
cosmos is evangelical. 1t says to us in
its still small voice what St. Paul says
in his pcans-"all things arc yours for yo
are Christ's." 1t promises it's all things
not to some four hundred but to the
hundred and forty-four thousand. to a
multitude that no man can number All
things work together To persuade mon to
love God, 10 obey His Will to be- con-
formed to tho image of his Son-or as St
Paul says in one of his songs about all
thrrs-"It was the good pleasure of the
Father that in Him should all fulncss
dwell and by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself"
II. 1t follows from this that each one
OF us needs to got himself personally into
right relation with this supremcly good
Whole of things. In theological terms
each lie must by regeneration and
|sanctitication be brought into harmony
with the divine order. in terms of modern
science must become fitted to the spirit
ual environment. If all things work to-
gcthcr for good to the godly. then they
must discriminate against all life which is
in the way of their so working. If this
is a good universe it must perforcc be al
ways striving to rid itself of all evil be-
ings and things In all its opportunities
and favors. its rewards and blessings. it
must discriminate against all life which
is not OF its kth and kin. AS in the
physical realm it sets up Il fcrment of
pain and inflammation so as TO drive out
a foreign substance from tho cyeball or
I bo in tic in1 IA tv
up minatory or punitive system of
dealing with unoOng"nial elements. so as
either to convert or expcl them. Evil
cannot confederate with evil for evil. and
go get the final triumph over good 1t
is essentially divisivc and destructive.
Tho bad heart is like the troubled sea.
which cannot rest. In his secret heart
the guilty man feels that hundred I'M
seen hands are lifted to strike him. la
knows that the universe is against him,
and that the universe is right.
This is what Augustine meant when he
said that we are made for God and cam
not rest till we are at peace with Him.
This is why scripture and the experience
of good men set so high a value on peace
"a peace which is not dissatisfaction,
nor llstlcssness, nor iinality in anything,
nut that CAIN ana lolSc winch come
from feeling that ones heart is right
with God ones mind in harmony with
Gods truth. and ones sympathies in
unison with Gods creation. 1t is a fine
sequence which Leigh Hunt suggests in
| his little poem of Ben Adhem.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem
bold"
We know how doubt and frctting makes
towards OF us-how inward unrest spells
all outward thin9s-all things of beauty
| all noble idcals-all fine aspirations.
When ones soul is at peace with itself
and with God. all Gods creation is once
more very good. Ono can consider tho
| lilies Of the field. and behold the fowls
of the air, and he sure that neither tho
or disappoint him, that the seed time and
harvest Of wisdom and Justice and love
are as sure as the ripcning of the corn
and the vine. that though heaven and
| earth pass away the word of God shall
never pass away. till all be fulfilled.
III. But now in order to complete
ones relation to this divine order of
which he IS part. each Of us
must find his proper place and
do his individual work in that
order. This in more distinctly religious
phrase Is conservation. treating as holy
as set apart for sacred use. ones
capabilities, ones possibilities. ones self
The divine order, Is under God, self.
fulfilling. 1t takes care that tho great
purpose of the whole suffer no defeat--it