Arizona republican., 1908-04-13

derful changes, the great achieve
 ments that stand out prominently 1 just as, in the worlds history, tht ! great battles stand out most promi- nently. As We are inclined to forgei ] the long periods of peace and pros perity which lie between the great | battles of the worlds history. so we are apt to overlook those finer traits
 and clements that do not stand out so prominently and yet are essential to ] Christianity.
 "One of these overlooked character istics is the beauty. the attractiveness
 of our religion. It is true that Chris
 tianity is. perhaps, first of all. force, | for. if it not a force, il is nothing at all. Though there are those who say that Christianity has lost it's force, yet I believe that never before
 have the forces of evil. whether or ganized or individual, trembled so before the power of Christianity as today. While it IS true that our re- ligion is a force and power in this world, it is equally true, that 1t is at tractive.
 II NdS lllt tlciIltnl oI DedulN Ol which the Psalmist was thinking when he wrote the text It was not the force or power of the church, but her attractiveness that he was viewing. Wherever he was when he wrote the words of our text, it was the beauty and attractiveness of which he was speaking. He ever longed for the temple of the Living God, and so we today ought to appreciate and realize in full the attractiveness of Christi anity
 "A detailed description of what We call beauty is impossible because of individual taste. because of influ- entes winch have helped in forming our ideals, and because of training. In broad and general wax. we may say that beauty is harmony. Carica- ture is lack of harmony, that in which one part of the subject is ex- aggerated. The very essence of God himself is harmony. The perfection of harmony and beauty in the moral world has been marred by sin. Whether we sin against the laws of God as taught by Christ or His laws as written~~in nature. we violate the laws of eternal harmony, and the re- suit is repulsive disharmony. God is the perfection of beauty, but in this world there are merely fragments of real beauty. The mountains. the val leys and the Istarry heavens show forth the beatty of God. But. after all. this world is but fragment of beauty The Greeks in the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ did see some things that were beautiful. but even their philosophy was not able to bring those things into per feet harmony IL was only through Christ's coming into the world that men could understand fully their true relation to God. that sin, itself must be removed and the soul must be brought into right relations with God It was this perfect harmony that Jesus brought. He was not merely one fragment among others. He was the Way. the Truth. the Life Under this influence of Christ the nations have been enthused to pro- duce the highest and best in every thing. The masterpieces in painting. literature and music have been ere ated under the influence and because of the perfection. the harmony. the beauty there is in Christ Jesus. The skeptic may seoff at the things of Christ. but the very thought he en- joys most, whether they be in educa- tion. literature. art, music or sOciar life. he enjoys because of the Christi anity which he mocks
 But all these attractive outward evidences of the perfection of beauty are as nothing compared with the at tractiveness of Christianity to the soul The finest things of Christianity we do not see. We may see the out ward, fragmentary beauty and the in fluence of this perfect harmony, but the very perfection of it is down in our oWn hearts
 Let us hold fast to the fact that our Christianity is not repulsive. it is in reality the perfection of beauty. If we see the beauty of it in our own hearts. We will appreciate 1t more fully. May we-realiZe that our re- ligion is not only d force to fight the Devil with. but it is also a torce to develop our lives and to fill them with the beautiful things that God has given us"