The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-03-08


pody and brain were being developed
make this creature of the vast out
of-doors a mere piece of machinery,
ooll, parasite, an idler, toy. and
the function which separates him
from every lower order becomes afro
phled. He loses the power to think.
and becomes the easy victim of
world OF ghosts. the blind follower OF
delusion.
Such men and women do not ar.
rive at selfconsciousness. They are
cases of arrested development as sure
ly as apes and monkeys are. I hey
never realize the sublime fact that
the very nature of man requires that
he be the master Of his own destiny
They are as oblivious of their own
power and station In this world as the
chained elephant becomes unconscious
of his real strength. And so they
people the skies with phantoms and
pay vain worship to those phantoms
They become the victims of supersti.
tions, the worshippers Of dead trndi-
ton. dead weight In the march of
human progress toward better things
And they fail OF life by as wide
margin as their brothers Of the dens
and 1ungleS of animaliBm.
But another possibility beckons
these souls of ours, and If we have
had no glimpse of 1t, no sense of its
power and worth, we have missed
much that makes life worth living
The quality OF character which | have
In mind belongs TO those who find a
purpose TO live for which kindles en-
nobling enthusiasm, breeds a great
hope. feeds and enriches the whole
nature, and organizes life for better
and ever better. things There are
men among us who are saying tIat
all religion means is the good life To
say that is not merely not TO say any
thing at all, since "a good life" de-
ScTibes nothing whatever that is def
mite, nothing distinctive. nothing nee
essarily purposeful OF potent, but is
to eyade the whole matter Religion
means infinitely more than that 1t
means the better life. Life Is and
must ever be incomplete To think
of 1t as finished or complete Is never
to see 1t or know II at all The story
of evolution is Of one long ascent. one
unceasing upward climb. How much
more surely must moral and spirit
ual evolution-or. in other word,
"life"-be a constant ascent, a steady
climb from good to better, and from
better eternally to better still.
Life means moral aScent-means a
climb-in everything we do, In all our
hands handle. in ali our hearts feel.
in all the products OF our labor, In all
the relations of our existence. But
il Is not that and cannot be that. un~
less men and women become personal
ly. individually, conscious of a rea-
son for living The man or woman
who is to have part in this upward
climb. who is really to live, must dis
cover some supreme and command
ing interest or passion, and that in
terest or passion must have to do
with this present world and be capa-
BILE of stimulating enthusiasm and en-
listing all the resources of ones be
ing There is no such thing as the
unfolding OF human nature upward
and away from the brute tendencies,
except as men and women act and live
from motive power greater than any
selfish end,
This source of inspiration may
sometimes be-has sometimes been
a great and worthy affection. Often
er, and In the last analysis every
where. 1t must be ones supreme de-
votion to cause 1t Is the larger
demand OF some splendid human
cause that transmutes the baSer metal
OF our nature into the pure gold of
character. Indeed. | doubt whether
there can ever be really satisfying
or enduring affection between soul
and soul which does not strike its
roots deep down in the soil of com.
mon devotion to some noble human
cause. 1t is hardly too much TO say
that that man alone has spelled out
the deeper meaning of human love
who Is inspired by his thought of its
object to some strenuous earnest ser
vice, to service which taxes the
largest capacities Of his nature, whose
soul under the potent shine of tnat
affection flowers and fruits into all
high thinking and courageous living.
No finer tribute can be paid to man
or woman than to say that he or she
is the inspiration to noble deeds. No
more terrible thing can be said of
either than that he or she possesses
nothing capable of inspiring such a
type of life, or Of supporting It.
The supreme task. therefore. of
human society and Of human life
that alone which can justify or make
1t goods the creation Of a moral
atmosphere, a social order, In which
shall be wrought the very nerve and
fiber Of man-making power. to live
in which is to breathe the air of free
dom and feel the summons to noble
service. That Is indeed the final
meaning Of every genuine human
cause. of every great moral movement
In the midst of human society.
A holier religion than this cannot
be The voice that calls to such SER
vice Is the voice of God, the voice Of
Divine Life in the midst of men.
And the affections and friendships.
the devotion and passion. the faith
and hope and love which spring up
and blossom out of the soil and In
the atmosphere OF this great fraternal
world that Is slowly fusing into form,
are intimations of mortality and
glimpses of God such as never glad.
dened the heart Of man In all the
buried past. To have some such. yis-
lon Of life, to be conscious of having
part In some such task, to describe in
ones few years on this earth any
such moral orbit is more than to eX-
ist-is to walk the ways OF this world
In companionship with the Eternal,
every human tie. and to find ones life