The Newtown bee., 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 |
destinies. Life is what we make 1t, |
and the end is seen in the beginning.
The awfulness of choice is evident
to every thoughtful man. Our first
Drunkenness begins with first glasses,
and philanthropy with first kindnesses.
The law of habit makes even thought
momentous. "There is no chance, no
anarchy in the universe" (see note 49,
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: a profligate may inherit 9
fortune of an industrious father. Evil
is 90 potent that it continues even to
the the innOcent: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 hear
enough of this theology in our pulpits
the theology of q reasoning and
reasonable God, who made cause and
effect to be our master or our servant.
If we seek to do well every force in the
universe helps to increase us; ii evil Is
our desire all things cOnspire to crush
us.
not even for q season. The ingenious
rascal laughs that the world is 80 Oh
tuse-he had better be wiser himself.
"He who steals my purse steals trash. !"
The cheat cheats himself, the rObber
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
be the end sought through penalty, we
see that it is for the best interests of
the state to make operative at once the
law of compensation in every case OF
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 tntrud-
ing foe the great wrong done by the
WulU6 HAIL. OuO1A July ACOSuVAy 0AA
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 de-
sire to punish with q fit penalty q
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-
ment. When David sang, BLESSED be
he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered" (see note 2O), he
did not mean that the sin was hidden
or forgiven, merely. The covering pro-
cess is q 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 1siah 40: 2, ''She
hath received double for ali her sins. |"
This is the justice which Emerson
would have US see; and 1t Is to be seen,
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
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 q new impetus. His philosophy,
his theology, however much opposed
at first. are now indicating them
selves. Emerson is not of the past, be
is beginning to he felt to-day. We
cannot relegate to dusty shelves works
like EmersOn's for they contain truths
which will cause revolutions in char
acter as we'll as in condition. The in
fluence of Emerson is felt. To be q
disciple of Emerson is to hold life
more sacred, its experiences more
providential. To see things as he did
Is to have more courage and more
faith. The ~EmersOnian philosophy
teaches surer truth, a diviner man,
q nearer heaven.
Note l, from Letters