The Penn's Grove record., 1908-09-11

n young scholar. How do you ac-
count for the German Reformation?
There was a power in the universe
that made for faith, and character,
and self-surrender. And that power
descended on Martin Luther. Whence
came the Puritan Reformation in
England? The explanation was not
in John Eliot, or Sir Harry Vane, or
John Pym. There was a power in
the world that made for the sense of
personal worth, inspiring each man
to give an account of himself to God,
challenging him to stand upon his
own feet and assert his manhood.
urging the sense of brotherhood, and
that unseen power flooded the souls
OF the Pilgrim Fathers and the Eng
lish heroes, and changed the face of
the whole world. Well may the men
of every great era of outbreaking ge-
MUS ,exclaim: 1--WE lift our eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh u
help" Our help cometh from the
Lord, who made heaven and earth"
Let us now praise famous men of
old, who have redeemed the people.
But let us remember that God clothed
the knight with His shining armor,
that God pressed that blade with the
two edge into the hero's hand; that
God lent the soldiers their paens of
victory that they sing beside the
camp fires; that Christ came to lead
His followers forth to their holy war,
giving them life, yea, life a~bundantly.
This principle also explains the Sc
cret of growth that begins with life.
The old idea vas that salvation vas
by intellectual culture. Christ's idea
is salvation by life through the new
heart. Bald intellectua1ism says
BLESSED be wisdom" Christ says,
BLESSED Is character" Here is a
little child. In his selfshness he
seizes his sisters little toy and breaks
it. Time and growth will increase
the amount of his selfishness and
make him strike his own wife and
break the heart of his little child, for
growth increases the size, does not
change the sort. Here is the youth
who is sowing wild oats. Little by
little he is draining off all the vital
forces. The false friend says, Don't
be discouraged; he will outgrow
this" But every farmer is in terror
when he finds the Wild oats growing
amidst the tame. The wild oats
III up IuC ldlu, SICdl IuS IlCuuS6S
from the soil, starve the tame oats.
And if they do this when the false
oats are young, time and growth SIM
ply multiply the havoc. Time a do
nothing for a youth who is sowing
wild oats save gather the harvest of
pain, disaster and h~eartbreak. Time
can turn a spark into a conflagration,
growth can turn a little leak into a
large one that will ruin the dixie and
submerge the land. Given a disease,
time does not cure it, but only en-
larges and spreads the poisoned It's
sue. Given a selfish child, growth
turns him into a monster. Given an
avaricious child, time and growth
produce a miser. Given a tricky and
cunning child, years end with a Ben
edict Arnold or an Aaron Burr, or a
Judas and a Apostate Julian. What
the wild thorn needs Is the rich life
of a double rose grated within. The
orchardist can use the wild root, but
he cuts from a tested peach or plum
a cutting that turns the sour sap into
sugar. 1t is new life we need. Jesus
was right when He showed the Sc
cret, the new heart, that nffnss yfcs
tory and peace.
Disheartened and discouraged, the
way is not to flee from God, but to
fee to Him. We live and move and
have our being in God, as our world
floats in amethyst and ether. borrow
ing all its colors from the light that
surrounds it. We have our life from
Christ as the tree has its life in the
rich juices of the soil, wherein the
tree is rooted-the stimulating at
mosphere with which the boughs are
surrounded, and the all-embracing
sunshine that lends warmth and
beauty to the sweet blossoms and the
ripe fruit.