Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-10-01
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THE PATTERN ON THE MOUNT.

ernacle; for, see, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pat
tern showed to thee in the mount
Heb. S:5
Life needs a pattern. Every great
work begins In a dream; 1t first lives
as vision Of the mind, as picture
on the walls of the soul One might
venture to build shed for cattle or
q sty for swine without calling In an
architect or making plan, but not
50 with mansion for man, palace
for a king, or temple of God.
| God gives the pattern for our lives.
| Upon the prophets ears there fell out
of clouds of glory the divine message;
See that thou make all things after
the pattern showed to thee in the
! mount" We all have set before us
tasks not less sacred than that OF
building shrines to Jehovah. Indeed,
our task Is akin to that of Moses, to
make our lives into living temples
where God may dwell.
God has a plan for each of our lives
and it is our wisdom to discover it.
And so there comes to every earnest
| soul high moments when He reveals
His plan for each Of US, moments on
mountain top of ideal vision. Con-
| science gives its vision of duty, imagi-
nation its vision of beauty, intellect
it's vision of truth, and the will It's
vision of power In these revealing
moments We see as God sees and the
great divine patterns shine before us.
, Our life Is a divine thing; it has its
roots in the unseen world. There are
heavenly ways to do all earthly things.
Our work as men is to follow God on
the paths of his creative toll. All
science is the discovery of God, all art
the imitation of God, and all religion
Is the inspiration of God.
Pattern gives dignity to life. It Is
our ideals which save US from the vul-
gar and the commonplace. Culture
has this kinship with genius that 1t
gives insight, certain power to per-
ceive the imminent ideal beneath all
things. Other ploughmen beside Rob
ert Burns have overturned a mouse's
nest or uprooted a crimson-tipped dali
sy, but the poet alone saw more than
vermin and weeds; he beheld in
mouse and flower the tragedy OF life,
it's broken plans, and the fading Of all
earthly glory Things suggest more
than they are to the awakened soul
The cataract Is more than falling wa
ter and the mountains than heaped up
rocks We need to get behind the
shows of sense with this Interpreting
vision. It is by this subtle insight
that souls leap from flesh to spirit and
put on sudden greatness.
The heavenly pattern Is given not
merely for contemplation but real1za-
ton Vision means responsibility. We
cannot do without the dream, but we
dare not do nothing but dream. We
are under bonds to live up to our best.
Youth ought to build castles in the
air" but it Is weak and wicked to
leave them in the air; they are meant
to teach us how to build on the
ground. Thought Is sterile until born
in speech, desire is unimportant until
it leaps forth as the deathless deed,
I9GlIuA IN 1Ol1S WulCI uOCS lOG AAAGAlAy
flesh into the living fire of service.
Man stands forever between his vi
sions and his tasks, between heaven
and earth, between his ideal concep-
ton and an uniformed universe. His
mission is to subdue the earth by the
power of the vision. He is to encircle
the earth with the girdle OF manhood,
which Is the law of God. AS the build
er must follow the plans of the archt-
tect, or the orchestra interpret the
score of the musician, so should we
finish Gods creation for him and make
it perfect after Gods plan which He
gives us vision to see.
There is a peril in neglected vision.
Earth will offer its poor patterns and
we will be tempted to exchange stand
ards. 1t is easy to degrade an ideal,
to pull down the stars and trample
them in the mire. It is easy to mis-
take the scaffolding of life for the real
building, earthly and temporal success
for eternal character. The vision often
fades too soon and we put earth's
worst in the place of Gods best. Not
by dreaming but by fulfilling our
dreams shall we fulfill the plans of
God. Il slept and dreamed that life
was beauty" sang the poet, but II
woke and found that life was duty"
Both the sleeping and the waking
thought were true. Life Is a dream of
beauty to be made real in deeds of
duty.
Where shall we look for the SUI
preme Pattern? Not on Sinai, where
Moses stood, but on Calvary, where
Jesus died, do We see the full ideal.
In the Christ We see Gods plan after
which He is creating all things, and
for the shaping of our lives. He is
the mountain top where Heaven touch
es earth, where the divine and human
meet and where the real and ideal
come together. Great is the majesty
of the mystery of love which Jesus