Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1908-10-30
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THE SOUL AND THE SOD.

buL L Keep NY DO1s uIiOSl anu
bring it into subjection."- Cor. 8 q.
A mans religion is in whatever he
esteems most worth while, whatever he
sets on top in his life. One does not
have to be told to make sacrifices to
his God: he makes them to this or
that because this or that is his god.
The test of any religion is whether the
things which it sets up as supreme are
those which are rightfully superior to
all others and whether their service
calls forth the best in the worshiper.
You can find people who pour out
the best alteration Of their being be
fore steak and onions. 1t needs little
insight to indicate the type Of exist
ence to which such worship tends.
There are those who lavish all their
love on money. Theoretically, at least,
we all know the sordid meanness, the
dwarfing Of soul that results from such
a religion.
Yet he would be a fool who should
say because meat and money are I'M
worthy objects of worship, Il will have
none of either" This was the mistake
that many make to-day. They learn
that many lose their souls through IN
worthy loves and they therefore say
these things shall have 10 place in our
lives
Once the ideal religious person was
a disembodied spirit. The nearer one
could come to the grace the more the
glory Of the Creator was established.
Since suicide was forbidden, men
showed their loathing of the flesh by
lowering on the brink Of It's dissolu-
ton. They heaped anathemas on the
body. They talked Of their bodies as
belonging to the devil while their spir-
its belonged to God.
The modern lopsided religionist talks
about his vile body. Often he goes Il
step farther and affects to deride the
intellect, a gratuitOus exhibition Of
pure envy. If he is sincere he Is sadly
mistaken; the engineer might as well
talk about saving the steam by destroy
ing the engine The one Is but the in
strument of the other. There can be
no holiness with half a man.
No one doubts that the soul is SUI
preme in man. 1t makes NO difference
by what name you know this inner life,
we all know that it determines all the
outer life. The difficult thing Is to dis
cover it's relations to this so easily ap-
pretended life of feeling. This body,
with its passions and possibilities Is
not ours to mock us, nor for us to de-
strOy. How may we find its right
place in the full life?
Everything falls into it's right place
when we find that which takes rightly
the first place in life. When man thinks
Of himself as the child of the divine,
the first, the supreme thing is the life
which is his as a spiritual being. This
[, this consciousness, separating me
from the beasts, sets me beside the
throne Of the infinite.
Here, within, is the true self; here
the enduring life; here, within the
walls of flesh, take place the real bat
ties Of life; thence issues conduct and
here is shapen character. Here is u
body and a form that goes on perfect
ing it's fashion of glory or Of grossness
irrespective of the accidents that may
happen to the physical body.
Here, where conscience speaks, where
I feel the touch of the divine, where l
can apprehend the infinite Of whom l
cannot reason or debate, here is the
soul life, the seat of authority in the
right life. Here dwells the I, the per-
sOnality, bringing the body into obedi-
ence, training it to do its will, and COM
polling intellect to exert itself to carry
out the plans of the soul.
Make the lower to serve the higher,
the lesser the greater, and the passing
the permanent. Set the soul on top.
Order the life for its beauty. Perhaps
you cannot conceive Of this soul in set
terms nevertheless, you can live for it's
ideals, for the things you know to be
best regardless Of whether they have
market quotations or not.
Cultivate your soul. Think of your
self as a being with unending and in
finite life. Make the most of the body
that it may the better serve this higher
life Set all the faculties in their
places as its ministers. Then all life
is seen in new light and much that was
mysterious is plain, when seen as min
istering to this life of the spirit The
sod becomes the servant of the soul and
the true man comes to himself as the
son of the great soul Of all