Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-04

lives is appalling. The crowds do not
know where they are going. but they
are on the way. On the way whittier?
It Is a crime against our own souls to
i've an empty. easy. purposeless. useless
life. The value Of each individual to the
world. to the community, to his church.
10 himself. depends on crowding his life
with good things. The Scriptures urge
a passionate earnestness in living, urge
that we crowd into our lives, long or
short. every good thing that we can an
propriate and pack in them.
I. To crowd our lives we need IA
take an Interest In everything and
everybody.
The abbreviated story OF Christ makes
II very clear that he took an interest in
every question and an interest in every
body. Human minds range from the mi
croscopic to the telescope. Through your
opera glass you may see one object clear
ly. But look at the heavens through the
great forty-inch reflector and you will
see at one glance thousands OF stars. One
object will crowd an opera glass; thou
sand objects will leave room for more In
that reflector. Phariseeism looked at
Christ and life through an inverted opera
glass: but Jesus was like that big re-
nector-a thousand men were mirrored In
II at a glance: his mind was big enough
to see them each and all. The possible
developments and powers OF the human
soul cannot be estimated: but IL is certain
that we can shrink 1t or We can enlarge
u by the interests we cherish. IL the en-
tire life be centered in some insignificant
task, grievance or wish. the soul withers
like the fig tree which may have leaves
but yields no fruit. Crowd that same
life with every possible interest and the
soul expands 1t is SO elastic that the
more We rut In II the greater becomes
its caracity. and the more we crowd into
II the more We can crowd into 1t.
We hope through the grace Of God to
noh L..
the whitening shame, OF carrying an
empty soul to God! That fig tree ought
to be an alarming lesson to empty-heart-
ed people. What is life for il not to
crowd 1t with interests, human and d.
vine? Perception. memory, imagination.
but infinite powers the soul Possesses.
And to atrophy those powers by littleness
of thinking. pettiness of doing-givng
way to inertia and Incidence. indifference
serve God, be filled with God.
With nature. humanity, the Bible be-
fore us as open books. and with libraries
stored with books containing the greatest
discoveries and thoughts OF the greatest
minds Of all ages, dare we be empty when
we might be crowded with the riches of
living? God hath given us all things
richly to enjoy" and all things are ours
the world, life. death. the past, the pres
ent, the future; and IL we take an in
think. feel and do. our lives can be
crowded with wealth instead OF being
puckered. withered. empty, barren and
practically worthless.
:. Life ID crowded, not emptied, by
our responsiveness to human needs.
It is not true that we get out OF life
only what We put into tive get out of
1t more than We put into it. for the
reason that the crowd is always giving
to the individual. We each Of us share
the work Of Washington. Edison. Christ.
and all OF the activities Of the past enter
into our Inheritance whether we take pos
session Of that inheritance or not We
get out OF life the most enjoyment and
put into 1t the most usefulness by main
tanning an open mind and q willing heart.
Something must be paid for everything
we get. The harvest must be bought
with the seed-sowing. and more is the
harvest than the sowing. otherwise there
would never be any wisdom In sowing.
We get out OF life more than we put In
1t II we maintain an open mind toward all
truth and an open heart toward all
Self-giving never impoverished a soul
It is the only way Of cultivating the
soul: and this Is what Jesus meant by
finding our lives in losing them. He IL
Illustrated his thought by saying that ex-
cept the grain Of wheat fall into the
ground and die 1t could never bring forth
other grain. Except we invest our souls
In human life we shall never even find
that We have souls. We never lose by self
giving-we gain far more than we can
ever give; and the reason lies on the
surface: the open mind not only gives out
light. but receives It; the open heart not
only gives life. but receives life. 1t Is the
attitude OF the soul toward life. It's re-
sponsivenesS or irresponsiveness that
makes 1t poor or rich, empty or crowded.