Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-07-05
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attractive FAITH.

By Henry E. Cope.
i .r,ba beauty of holiness. Psalms,
b. . -
#pn1foion ought to be the most nat
srai desirable, and attractive thing to
L. for it simply stands for the de-
], Io,,raent Of the best in US, the COM
T. into the full and rich heritage
If is ours as spiritual beings, and
j raaIfZatfon of our highest posi-
H., If character and service. He
J.. IGNORES religion is cutting himself
i from the best and most beautiful
,sfbfIirips in his life.
Some have talked of the necessity OF
Aagfng religion attractive. 1t does not
T. to be made attractive; there is
2,tbjng more desirable than the peace,
&oopr and prosperity of the real life
khfcb If confers. It is the imitation,
H. false and prejudiced presentation
n roligion that men endeavor to dress
l., attractively. In that they never
rccnad for cramping the soul and
cfstfng the intellect ever is opposed
h the best in us.
From the caricature of religion we
R,rn with Ioathing. Mummeries and
bockprips. fads and forms leave us
s,nnry ana impatient The heart of
h. GOES out to things fair, lovely,
byops and uplifting, and they who find
L. Cod in the elaborate sermon or the
servfnn in the church somehow are
Ahrillpd with the feeling of the divine
hi inspiring in the woods and field
And mountains.
All things good, all things attractive
hi lovely. uplifting and sublime have
IT. one source. They touch our hearts
because they come from the heart Of
/ being; they reach our spirits be-
zause they are spiritual. Deep calls
Into deep when the divine in man
Answers to the divine in the world
Without, in human affections, in noble
SEPARATIONS, and in glorious deeds.
Too long have we believed that only
be- unpleasant, the gloomy and repell-
lint could be right or religious. There
q a tyDe Of conscience that determines
acti0n by the rule that if a thing is
DleaSant or beautiful it must be sim
Sul and wrong. To such souls it is a
Bin to be sunny in disposition, to de-
aght in the Fathers fair world, with
L. glowing riches and bounty dropping
aaily from his hand.
1t would be safer to say that sin
Aust be somewhere lurking wherever
here is deformity, pain or discord-
dat, as a common phrase has it, the
sleak and barren is the evidence of
hat which is forsaken of God. Things
aesolate are not divine. Religion is
hot repression but development into
KuIness and beauty far beyond our
Creams.
4 1t is good thing to see the divine
u all things fair and lovely; to take
hem as evidences that the love that
nee pronounced this world good in
Is primeval glory still is working, still
u seeking to enrich our lives and lead
hem out in fullness of joy. Why
#hould not we, like the poets and
#reachers of ancient Israel, taste again
u the gladnesS of living.
Character may need for it's full de-
8elopment the storms and wintry
lasts of life, but it needs just as truly
Hnd Just as much the sunshine, the
avs when the heart goes out and joins
q the song of nature, when something
pans within us at the gladness of be-
n alive, and we drink in Of the in
mite love that is over ALL
d just as the sun seems to call the
covers out Of the dark earth and draw
@nt their beauty, calls forth the buds
Ad brings the blossom into perfect
TUT, so there is a spirit Of divine
#1e in our world calling Us out to
ANe best, seeking to WOO us to the
RngS beautiful. Man needs not to
PpreSS his life, but to learn to re-
POND to every worthy impulse, every
HSh nope, to find the life beautiful.
The beauty of holiness is the beauty
Il character. 1t is the adjustment of
- 10 nature and neighbor and heaven
Y ihaf strength and harmony ensue,
II ihat duty becomes a delight, labor
song OF praise, and out of life's bur-
- and battle the beauties of godli-
-, Of love. and tenderness. Joy and
Il 1J tude begin to bloom.
Lay hold on everything good and
~ ON all things glad and elevating !;
3leTlSh every fair thought and aspira-
-; learn to see the essentially re-
sous in whatever lifts up life, in
n''e'fr helps humanity, and so make
f. f'cn III heavenly treasure and glow
= with the glory of other worlds.
8ALuE OF DISADVANTAGES.
BY Rev Charles F. Aked, D. D.
Ana Moses put forth his hand and
'0 hoId OF the serpent, and it be-
#'Ine 4 rod in his hand.-Exodus 4 3.
''t put forth his hand, and the ser
FIJI dangerous, destructive, deadly, be-
lie rod, a stay, support, a de-
4 use In the hand of a strong man