The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-01-02
SERMON FOR the NEW YEAR
REV. ANDREAS BARD SPOKE TO
LARGE CONGREGATION IN
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.
His Subject Was "The Path of Life
An Able and Eloquent
Discourse.

cation yesterday Rev. Andreas Bard,
rector of ST. Paurs Episcopal church,
delivered an able and eloquent SER
mon. In part he said:
The Path of Life.
Text: The path of the just is as
shining light
Among the many emotions that
year the note of sadness is clearly
heard. How brief is life, how evan
escent! But yesterday we were child
rem reveling in joys that knows no
care; then comes youth with it's gold
en- promises, it's bold expectations, it's
brave ambitions; then manhood with
its serenuous activity; then the wrinkle
on the brow and the snowy lock, at last
a tomb stone. Man is not something
himself. He has his spring, his sum-
mer, his autumn and his winter grave.
How is it possible says Ingersoll. that
the passengers on train where at
every station some of their friends
drop off, never to appear again, ana
whose destiny is death, how is it pos
sible that such passengers can be hap
py? So on the engine of time we fly
along nearing the end with every sec
ond. Rabelais compares life to "a leap
into the dark" Shakespeare speaks of
it as "a. walking shadow" Shelly as
serts that "our sweetest songs are
| those that tell of saddest thought
Heine remarks that sleep is good,
death better alas, it were best we had
never been born" Melancholy, says
Amiel, lies at the bottom of every
thought, just as at the bottom of all
| rivers is the ocean. l do not believe
that thinking people can be satisfied
with life as it appears. If we could see
| all human sorrow concentrated, we
the cup of oblivion and to play the os-
trich is our only salvation.
| If, therefore, in spite of these unde
| niable facts I touch the keynote of
! hope and compare the path of the just
to shining light must have higher
view than is offered by philosophy.
have l believe in the Gospel Of the
Christ. l see meaning in life through
| the vision of faith which transcends
creed of Huxley. To those who have
| accepted the Nazarine as their Master,
earthly struggles have a purpose di-
vine. We are here to learn. The years
may pass, but they do not pass unused.
They bring results. They ripen our
character, they deepen our feelings,
they spiritualize our nature. The poet
says that I'VE are all going toward the
setting of the SUM-" but the Christian
goes toward the rising of the sun. His
motto is nearer to God" He is not
rock in the river. over which the
waters flow in vain. His soul is the
spring soil, nourished by the sunshine
of joy and by the rain of sorrow. He
learns, he rises, he grows until he is
ripe for that higher future which God
has prepared for those who try.
! And when speak of the just 1
mean those who try. We cannot be
measured by what we attain. Some of
the best seem to fail; some of the
| worst seem to succeed. But they who
have struggled and striven amid the
encircling gloom of life, who like an
! ivv plant in the cellar have found their
| way to the sun Of hope, they who have
| loved and labored and lost-they are
the just. To them is given the prom
! Use: Blessed are they who hunger
and thirst after Righteousness, for they
shall be filed"
| The Christian alone can enter the
new year with good cheer He is not
| only thankful for the future, but for
| the past His very losses have been
blessings, his sorrows have been turned
into stepping stones. He does not fear
| old age. He accepts it gratefully. Il
am on the sunny side of sixty" said
| Cardinal Gibbons nearer Cod"
| OLD SOLDIERS FILE APPEAL.