Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-08-23
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AN ATTRACTIVE FAITH.
By Henry F. Cope

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Religion ought to be the most nat
ural, desirable, and attractive thing to
man, for it simply stands for the de-
yelOpment of the best In us, the COM
Ing into the full and rich heritage
that Is ours as spiritual beings, and
the realization of our highest possi
bilities of character and service. He
who ignores religion is cutting himself
off from the best and most beautiful
possibilities in his life.
Some have talked of the necessity of
making religion attractive. 1t does not
have to be- made attractive; there is
nothing more desirable than the peace,
power and prosperity of the real life
which it confers. 1t Is the Imitation,
of religion that men endeavor to dress
up attractively. In that they never
succeed, for cramping the soul and
twisting the intellect ever is opposed
by the best In us.
From the caricature of religion we
turn with loathing. Mummerles and
mockeres, fads and forms leave us
empty and inpatient The heart of
man goes out to things fair, lovely,
joyous and uplifting, and they who find
40 God in the elaborate sermon or the
service in the church somehow are
thrilled with the feeling of the divine
and inspiring in the woods and field
and mountains.
All things good, all things attractive
and lovely, uplifting and sublime have
but one source. They touch our hearts
because they come from the heart Of
all being; they reach our spirits be-
cause they are spiritual. Deep calls
unto deep when the divine in man
answers to the divine in the world
without, in human affections, in noble
aspirations, and in glorious deeds
Too long have we believed that only
the unpleasant, the gloomy and repell-
ant could be right or religious. There
is type of conscience that determines
action by the rule that If thing Is
pleasant or beautiful it must be sim
ful and wrong. TO such souls it Is
Sin to be sunny in disposition, to de-
light in the Fathers fair world, with
Its glowing riches and bounty dropping
daily from his hand.
1t would be safer to say that sin
must be somewhere lurking wherever
there is deformity, pain or discord-
that, as a common phrase has 1t, the
bleak and barren Is the evidence of
that which is forsaken of God. Things
,desolate are not divine. Religion Is
not repression but development into a
fullness and beauty far beyond our
dreams.
1t is good thing to see the divine
In all things fair and lovely; to take
them as evidences that the love that
once pronounced this world good in
Its primeval glory still is working, still
is seeking to enrich our lives and lead
them out in fullness Of JOY. Why
should not we, like the poets and
preachers of ancient Israel, taste again
of the gladness of living.
Character may need for Its full de
velopment the storms and wintry
blasts of life, but 1t needs just as truly
and just as much the sunshine, the
days when the heart goes out and Joins
leaps within us at the gladness of be
ing alive, and we drink In of the In
finite love that Is over all.
Just as the sun seems to call the
out their beauty, calls forth the bud.
and brings the blossom into perfec
fruit, so there is spirit Of divine
life in our world calling Us out t.
the best, seeking to WOO us to tn,
things beautiful. Man needs not t.
repress his life, but to learn to re
spond to every worthy impulse, ever!
high hope, to find the life beautiful.
The beauty of holiness is the beaut,
of character. 1t is the adjustment O
life to nature and neighbor and heavel
so that strength and harmony ensue
so that duty becomes a delight, labo
n song of praise, and out of life's bur
den and battle the beauties of godli
ness, of love, and tenderness, Joy an,
gratitude begin to bloom.
Lay hold on everything good an,
true, on all things glad and elevating
cherish every fair thought and aspira
tion learn to see the essentially re
Iigious in whatever lifts up life, L
whatever helps humanity, and so max
life rich in heavenly treasure and glow
ing with the glory of other worlds