Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1911-05-04
n. r. DENTON, Editor.
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1911.
Leadership of the Spirit

Nov there diversities of gifts, blu
the same Spirit"
Paul believed he was "called to b,
an apostle of Jesus Christ through tn,
will of God" He was a man of spirit
ual emotion. If emotion be too strong
word, say he was man of intense
spirituality, of dominant spiritual feel
ing. He was not altogether different
man as Paul the apostle than he wa,
as Saul Of Tarsus, He was Of thai
temperament, as we would say, thai
he did with his whole might what he
undertook to do. AS a preacher he
held that there are differences OF
administration, but the same Lord, .
that there are diversities of opera
tons, but it is the same God that
worketh in ALL" and that ''the mani.
festation of the spirit is given to every
man to profit withal."
1t is common among men to speak OF
spiritual life, to speak of spiritual emo.
ton, of spiritual feeling, and of the
leadership of the spirit But what is
meant, under any close analysis is not
usually well understood. Much of our
use of language is tangled with prim.
alive times, and what is called the
spirit of man in the days of Greek
philosophy is not now accepted.
Whether men are scientific or not,
their thought has been transformed by
the revelations of science. The prin-
ciples of life, nevertheless, remains the
same, and in definition we have not
improved much upon Paul.
When men come to look for the
source of life, to measure the elements
within themselves, to deal with their
relations in spiritual being, they are
easily led beyond their depth in mys-
terry. But what man may know is
that they have what passes under the
name of spiritual feeling, operating in
the highest attributes of their being,
which they may trace to their personal
ambitions and which they may carry
beyond themselves into association
with the divine, the perfect, the eternal
Spirit.
If men are too weak to recognize
that they have spiritual nature, apart
from their material nature, the two
much in conflict, the one striving for
the mastery over the other, then they
lack the initiative in greatness. In
such case they are of weak incentive in
the tasks set for them, In which they
must overcome or be overcome. If
men are to gain mastery they must
triumph by means of the superior
power of the life of the soul within
hem.
1t ID true that men cannot differen-
tate the soul. They are won't to assoc
ciate 1t with future state, with the
teachings of theology. with occult
things beyond their understanding and
foreign to their struggles for the
necessaries and comforts of this life.
And yet they have need every hour for
the guidance of the soul.
1t is very common to say men cannot
without putting their soul into
their undertakings; and it is still more
common for men to recognize that they
cannot hate their work and get on
we'll with it. Thus we speak of the
spirit of meeting, the spirit of an
enterprise, the spirit of the man.
Spiritual dominance is prerequisite to
success. If men lose faith in them
selves they have nothing to hold to,
and if they lose faith in one another
they cannot succeed together in any
enterprise. Faith follows the spirit,
and the guide Of the spirit is always
toward some fountain of love.
Spiritual power as manifest in the
world is all the time broadening. New
avenues Of life are being discovered,
and, in 50 far as they are explored,
enriched and made fascinating they
enlist mems souls and distinguish their
lives. The power of the spirit is given
increase of range as the hidden; things
are revealed in the passage of years,
and with this increase comes more gen.
erous unity with the invisible, the
dominant, the eternal, and forever
mysterious, unfathomable, heavenly
power Of love.
The essential value of history is null.
tiplied Is time passes. The record
from the time Of Moses until now il
rich IN example and replete with
proofs concerning the way over which
the world has come from darkness into
light. Along that way in every epoch
Of Il are certain great human land.
marks Illuminating the centuries; and
oxery one Of these landmarks has upor
Il theundying force Of spiritual power.
Itis well to note that no man lives
h ~ affections Of the race except a.
rs example o. great spiritual force.
Thotsver may Be Pet up g TO tn
~ neracy Of any age. whatever may