The Ordway new era., 1909-03-19
THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL

The least sentimental OF men are
largely controlled by ideals. Imagin
alton holds some ideal object before
our view until some ther object takes
its place. A good man cannot be bet
ter than Il good ideal, and bad man
Is not often worse than Il bad one.
Good or bad, we are like our ideals
and are like what we care enough to
live for
The actor that takes the part OF
the villain on the stage will, in time,
become Il villain in reality. The man
that plays the part Of an insane per-
son will gradually become insane.
There have been many men in the
world, whose lives have been pure,
noble, sclf-sacritcing and helpful in
every way, and we may gain much by
studying the weak and the strong
points in their characters, and yet,
n matter how worthy OF imitation
their lives may be, they are not to be
our model; they were imperfect and
we need a perfect ideal. Life itself is
a fine art, and more difficult than
sculpture, painting, music, architect
ure, or the creations OF poetry. Man
is the only great thing in the universe;
all the ages have been trying to pro.
duce Il perfect model. Only one com
pletc human life has yet been evolved,
the Goldman, Jesus Christ.
In the story OF the Great Stone
| In hns sl hn
influence of an ideal upon life. Near
Il certain New England village there
was rocky clitI and on the side Of
the cliff in bold relief was the rough
outline Of human face. There was
"a legend current In the village that
some day Il man would arise in their
midst whose features would resemble
those Of the Great Stone Face" a
young boy of the village would often
20 and look at the face on the cliff
and he would think and wonder, when
this man would come, and what lie
would do when lie came to the town.
AS the boy grew into manhood these
thoughts still clung to him, and in
time this man became a great bcne-
factor To his town, and thus fulfilled
the legend OF the Great Stone Face"
This story simply illustrates a great
Bible truth, ''As Il man thinketh in
his heart, so is he" We become like
what we habitually think about.
1.-The power Of great thoughts and
great sentiments to refine the face
and manner, to lift mau above
his surroundings, is marvellous We
see this illustrated IN the faces OF
great scientists, reformers and great
statesmen"
1t is yours If you choose to develop
a spiritual life more beautiful than
any OF these. The body is but SER
want OF the mind. A weak, one.sidcd,
unsteady and ignorant mind will ul-
timately bring the body into sympathy
with it. On the other hand, every pure
and uplifting thought, every noble
aspiration for the good and true.
every longing Of the heart for Il
higher and better life, reacts on the
body. makes IL stronger aud more
harmonious and more beautiful.
Our deepest thoughts soon find en-
preston in our actions. A mans life
is written In his face and all may read
his history as they pass him by.
When the disciples OF John the
Baptist left him and went to Jesus,
the Jews thought that John would
feel the loss, but no, John reioiced
and was glad. He replied to the
public, II am the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make his paths straight"
The thought predominant in the life
OF John was that Christ might in
crease and himself decrease. There
must be- one thing supreme in every
life. The Lord Jesus Christ ought TO
have large place in every Christian
life today. But too often the world,
pleasure, sin, or business takes the
Masters place and we have no room
for Jesus.
The Apostle Peter says for us to
grow In grace and the knowledge of
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ"
Let us take Christ for our model every
day and fashion our lives after his
glowing example. AS we approach
our ideal, it recedes and beckons us to
higher and nobler things. While we
shall never be able in this life to at
tain our ideal, we should never cease
to strive for IL. Too often we become
discouraged and want to give up the
struggle for u nobler life. Our success
In the Christian life does not consist
In never falling, but rising every time
we fall, and make every failure u