The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-05-27

In HI dSeS SCnOlaTS nave CIeIlSueu
the thought that individual Journeys
forward under the care of an infinite
God. In the realm Of Nature, men
have noticed that the largest planet
and the smallest grain of sand are
alike led forward by u force named
gravity, and held by q hand that never
allows the smallest speck Of dust to
wander from it's place. And in such
world, for reflective minds, II has
seemed to lay too great task upon
credulity to ask the intellect to believe
that the soul Is an orb that wanders
wildly through space, without an ap-
pointed orbit, or a divine and con-
trolling sun. Looking upward. man
beholds the snowflake, fashioned after
the most exquisite pattern. and look
ing downward, he finds that no flower
petal falls without Natures notice. and,
taught by these events, he learns to
associate these great incidents named
the falling of an apple In Newton's
garden, the sailing Of a Mayflower from
the shores of Holland, the prayer of
some Washington at Valley Forge, or
the death of some martyred Lincoln
in the Nations capital, with the
thoughts of an infinite God. beyond the
circle of whose thought no blossoms
foot may ever wander. So careful Is
Nature OF dead things that those
masses of vapor named clouds are all
shepherded home by the night winds
God Cares for Man.
And shall man, who suffers count
less ills, who battles for the true and
just" be bound by fate and chance?
Shall matter and force use the soul
for a lifelong game Of battledore and
shuttlecock? Shall man, Natures last
work, who wceps, and Drays. who
sings. who rolls the psalms of wintry
skies.
Who builds him fones Of holy prayer.
Who trusts that God was love indeed.
And logo creations final law.
Ro blown about tho deserts dust,
or sealcd within the Iron hillc7
Rude and savage men may support
the thought that there Is no place for
them In Gods loving regard, but the
great intellects of the earth have felt
no surprise that King Lear should sur
fer q broken heart and a ruined mind
because he had ceased to be cared for
by his own daughters. But If man,
with his three score years and ten,
filed with labor, and humility and sor-
row, is simply the child of night, wan
dering aimlessly through the forests,
then the brightest day is darkness, all
music Is n dirge, all flowers are black,
death is the only good. and hope passes
under a perpetual eclipse. Contrariwise,
the thought that Gods providence Is
personal has armed man against many
emergencies and been panoply against
a thousand Ills, All the heroes who
have stained the battle-fields with their
blood and won our victories for re-
ligion, have survived their disasters
through the faith that Gods providence
Is q golden chain that binds each life
to q throne that IS sure and immov-
able. To the exile. wandering upon tho
mountains, to the patriot, lying In his
l |f Il L
denCo has come with all the warmth
of q winters fire. and all the welcome
of q dear friend. And beside each
foundation of bitterness the thought of
Gods care has planted some living
| tree. In life's darkest hour 1t has un-
yelled some star OF hope. Indeed, IL
| is the thought that God lives and loves
| and plans. that lends conservation TO
| the dreams and the chivalrous hopes
| of youth: that lends enduring strength
| to the strong men who bear llfe's bur
| dens while this thought also sustains
! men grown old with care, In the hour
| when they sit upon the western piazza,
| and walt for the sunset gun. Perhaps
| we may be permitted to doubt whether
any other thought has wrought so pow
| erfully for liberty or herolsm or re-
neion. In the faith that God relgns,
| and shall reign forevermore. the heroes
| and the patriots have gone dry-shod
| across all seas. turned stone to angel S
| bread, made the desert rocks TO fall In
cooling streams. found every noun
| tain smoking In Gods presence. and
every hill OF difficulty bright with the
| lighting Of His command and purpose
He who believes that God cares for
man has a right to see the best clam
| orlnG through the worst; to feel the
| suns warmth piercing through the
| thickest cloud; to taste the fruit before
the blossom falls. and hear the song
within the llfeless egg" and In the
prattle Of q child discern the fore
| CLEANS Of the wisdom of the sage and
seer. For the soul that is made In
| Gods image, those events named a
cradle, the marriage altar. a voyage.
| q friendship, q signal from the battle
inents. making ready for death, repre-
sent events so momentous as TO Justify
the entrance of q supreme Gcd into the
midst of the earthly scene,
The Enemy Becomes the Friend.
! Fortunately the attempt to destroy
| Gods providence In Nature and life
has ended by science creating argu-
ments to establish that which 1t once
tried to overthrow. for the world ma
| terial is big with testimony and the
laws of God are written all over those
scrolls named land and sea and sky
| For If science has taught us anything
K teaches that the intellect is justified
In cherlshlng the belief that there Is
a pilot who directs the soul In Its long
| voyage across the ages: that there is
@ divine guide who leads the pilgrim
| in his march from that shore named
birth across the plains and mountains
| and rivers and deserts to that shore
named death. If twenty years ago the
| doctrine of Gods personal caro- was a
vine upon whose clusters the teachings
! OF science fell like whitening force,
now the teachings fall like nourishing
rain and cooling dew from heavens
that are indeed benignant At last the
| time has come when the God OF Ma
tlons, whose presence at Runpymede
and Marston Moor seemed plainly man
ifest to Tennyson. Is discerned by the
! great poet as one who is present also
to note the sparrows fall and to re-
| gard the lilies and to hear His chill
| dren's cry. He who once was manifest
| In such events as the earthquake and
the fire and the battle, has been un-
| yelled as that One In whose presence
| tho goporationS dwell as In the midst