Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-11-27

led FORMS England's great poet ex
presses this truth in his own beautiful
way when he says:
The sun, the moon, the stars, the
seas. the hills and the plains
Are not these, o Soul, the Vision Of
Him who reigns?
Is not the Vision He? though He be
not that which He seems.
Dreams are true while they last, and
do we not live in dreams?
Speak to Him, thou. for He hears, and
Spirit with Spirit can meet
Closer is He than breathing, and near.
er than hands and feet.
'ID We will give thanks to God
because of the power of our life.
Age of Brotherhood.
There never was day so pre-emi,
nently day worth living in as today
Set over against it the best times the
world has ever previously seen, and
today is rich and opulent beside them.
Mans life counts for more now than
ever before. His influence is more pro-
nounced. His reach of power has been
added to by the thousand agencies
which go forth to do his bidding.
What energy man carries with him to
make the world better. How his
dreams throw themselves out into the
darkened future and so provoke his
heart that he can die conscious that
the thing which he has begun Will be
brought to completion by others who
have been fired with his thought.
What a spirit of fraternalism
works in the world today. Certainly
here we touch one of the most preg-
nant and prophetic movements of our
times. Life has gone forth after the
thought of the Master and as it goes
1t is not satisfied simply with
the accretion of wealth, nor
of power, nor of the things
which ordinarily we state as
forming parts of civilization but it
must with all these other things
bring men to recognize the bond of
privilege and duty making the world
one. How great, then, the influence of
those preachers of a broader and more
sympathetic Interpretation of the life
OF all men. If once the rich man
thought he had no need to be con-
cerned with the man who worked for
him he is now coming to feel that he
is a partner with the worker. And if
once the worker felt that he was at
enmity with the owner he is now COM
ing to feel that there is more of CO.
operation between himself and the
owner that he has been accustomed
to think existed. But this is only the
local side of the problem. With what
conception of the worlds unity in the
things pertaining to the advancement
of international peace have we been
confronted in these latter days. How
the west stretches out it's hands to the
orient and seeks to give to the peoples
there those things which have made
us SO great as nation. How life has
risen in appreciation and value since
the day of him who said, How much
then is man better than a sheep?'
Now laws stand to protect him. Then
there were none. For the law of Moses
protecting the workingmen was OBJ
served more in the breach than in the
observance. Now men write to adj
vance the place occupied by all men
in the growing good of the world,
then there was a great silence. Today
every mans life counts for something
then the bulk of men passed through
life meath leaden skies. For the great
ness of life today, for it's splendid op-
portunities, for it's magnificent dis
contents, for the JOY Of being helper
in the coming day of better things,
for the better understanding between
men of all classes, for the hope that
sends its CLEAN far down life's broad
ening way. for all these, o give thanks
unto the Lord and call upon his name.
iii. There should be gratitude for
mans constant upward moving.
Worked for the Better Part.
I'VE are what we are today because
of the gift of the men who in all his
tory have wrought for the world s soul
life. Here we Join hands with the law
giver of the Old Testament. we go
farther back and say that there has
never lived a man at any time into
whose heart there has come vision
of mans condition lifted up and the
yace exalted, but that man has made
us his debtor So here we give praise
to the prophet and the saint whatever
the name and under whatever banner
he worked. who in the fullness of his
soul gave songs which have cheered
the hearts of men in the heat and the
burden of later battle. The thing
which stands out most prominent to-
day is this movement of righteousness
coming from a brave heart here and
a man of courage there until nation
such as ours stands out before the ma
tons of the earth as a righteous peo-
pie, one in whom the fear of God is.
Must Look Forward.
Sometimes in connection with a
thought like this we think of the men
who have gone before and mourn SIS
though they were the chosen Of the
Lord and that there are no more in
the world. Like Elijah we think we
are alone. But we need to know that
there are souls obedient to the great
thought of the race of God today. Men
who are holding the truth as inviolate
as ever did the seer of the Pilgrim
fathers There will be no good accom-
plished in lauding a conscience two
hundred years old. The man who
farms today with the implements his
grandfather used will soon be left be-
hind in the struggle Of business. If
the farmer has not so trained his son
that he can take up the new machines
and use them he has failed in the
most vital point of the boys education.
ii the conscience of the past is good