The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1906-04-06

life the workings of the law of compen-
Sation. Here, as nowhere else, is ex-
pressed, and Immediately, the result
of act or thought. God is not arbi.
trary. He let's US work out our own
and the end is seen in the beginning.
to every thoughtful man. Our first
choices may affect our whols careers.
Drunkenness begins with first glasses,
and philanthropy with first kindneSseS.
The law of habit makes even a thought
momentous. '"There is no chance, nc
anarchy in the universe" (see note 18)
writes Emerson; and well do we realize
it as we think of the fixity of life. Good
is so potent that it rolls on even to the
unworthy: profligate may inherit q
fortune of an industrious father. Evil
is so potent that it continues even to
the the tnnocent:many drunkard was
born SO. In every little of evil there
Is that which tends to more evil, In
every little of good there is that which
tend to more good. We do not heal
enough of this theology In our pulpits
the theology of a reasoning and
reasonable God, who made cause anC
effect to be our master or our servant
II we seek to do we'll every force in the
universe helps to increase us; If evil is
our desire all things conspire to CRUST
US.
EVIL DOES NOT HAVE IT'S OWN WAY
not even for season. The ingenious
rascal laughs that the world is so OBJ
tuse-he had better be wiser himself
HE who steals my purse steals trash. .
The cheat cheats himself, the rObbel
robS himself. "For the real price OF
labor is knowledge and virtue, whereof
wealth and credit are signs" (see note
19) Prison bars and electric chairs are
monuments to our sense of justice: we
shut up the man who does not relate
himself we'll to others. Whatever may
be the end sought through penalty, we
see that it is for the best interests of
the state to make operative at once the
infraction Of social right.
Mans cruelty is an evidence that the
law of compensation holds true in all
men. When the Indian burnt the
captured white man at the stake, he
chose the most horrible death he knew
that he might pay back to the iptrud-
Ing foe the great wrong done by the
white man. Until only recently all
criminals were put to death in the
most painful ways, with intent to
make accounts square on earth. If,
then the barbarous and unenlightened
mind has always been moved by a de-
sire to punish with a fit penalty a
breaking Of law or fnfractiOn of right,
how much more shall we not see this
compromising process in the whole uni
verse.
The Christian religion is in harmony
with the idea of immediate penalty for
transgression. In the Old Testament
we have at last reached the truth con-
corning guilt and consequent punish
ment. When David sang, blessed be
he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered" (see note 2O), he
did not mean that tine sin was hidden
or forgiven, merely. The covering pro-
cess Is doubling over as of one piece
OF cloth upon another, or of one piece
doubled over upon itself SO that the
two folds are of the same size. And so
may we deal with Isiah 40: 2, "She
hath received double for ali her SINS"
This is the justice which Emerson
not alone in Scripture, but also in the
workings of the physical laws, In the
experience of nations and in the build
ing of character.
1t is not partisanship that prompts
us to feel that the philosophy of the
Concord seer will be in years to come
one Of the greatest factors in the world
to raise men above dogma, creed, and
thoughtlessness. Whatever is "cen-
trio" or whatever ought to be, there
is no miStaking the
EMPHASIS PLACED BY EMERSON ON
GOD.
Aside from his attitude to
Christ, Emerson is wholesome and in
spring. Be his method analytic or
synthetic or be entirely lacking in one
OF these, there runs throughout all his
works new impetus. His philosophy.
his theology, however much opposed
at first, are now indicating them
selves. Emerson is not of the past, he
is beginning to he felt to-day. We
cannot relegate to dusty shelves works
IKE Emerson's for they contain truths
which will cause revolutions in char
acter as well as in condition. The in
f1uence Of Emerson is felt. To be a
disciple Of Emerson is to hold life
more sacred, its experiences more
To see things as he did
Is to have more courage and more
faith. The Emersonian philosophy
teaches Surer truth, a diviner man.
! nearer heaven.
Note l, from "Letters
Note 2, from Mature"