The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1915-05-22
GODS HOLY SPIRIT
His Presence in the Heart Explains
Saints of History and Heroes of
Humanity.

. who subdued Kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the power of fire, .
from weakness were made strong,
waxed mighty in war, turned to flight
the armies of the aliens, were
stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain
with the sword being desti-
tute, afflicted, ill-treated "
Hebrews II: 1887.
1t is a marvellous story that his
tory has to tell US of the sufferings
men have endured, the perils they
have faced and the deaths they have
died for the sake of the causes they
have loved. No road has been too
hard for those who have had some
goal to seek, no agony too sharp
for those who have had some vic
tory to win, no death too bitter
for those who have had some God to
serve. Nothing, apparently, that the
ingenuity of the human mind has
been able to devise has been strong
enough to overcome the valor of pa
tient hearts nor terrible enough to
daunt their courage and determina-
ton. If a word had to be spoken it
was spoken, if a deed had to be done
it was done, if a blow had to be
struck it was struck, regardless of
peril or of cost. Poverty, exile, i'm
prisonment, bodily pain, loss of
friends and family, life itsef-all
have been offered as willing sacrifices
upon the altar of human need when
ever in dark hours and wherever in
waste places that altar has been rear
ed.
Nor is it only among the accepted
martyrs and saints of history that
the heroes of humanity are to be
found. On the contrary, in the hum
blest walks of life-in homes dark
ened by flaming fire in the hard ways
of daily toll, in the grim hours of
personal tragedy, amid the thousand
and one circumstances of existence
which test humanity to the breaking
point-do we find men Crowned with
glory and honor" Never has there
devotion. Never have martyrs failed
nor heroes been wanting; Saints
walk in every street, apostles dwell
in every home.
Materialist at a Loss.
What this all means is hard to put
into words. The author of Hebrews
explains it all "by faith" Other seers
speak of courage, love, conservation.
But these terms themselves demand
explanation, do they not? And where
is such explanation ultimately to be
found save in the presence within the
hearts of men of a holy spirit, which
comes from God? The materialist cuts
a poor figure with the sublime hero
isms of human life and is asked to fit
them into his philosophy. His materi-
alism nay serve to explain the sands
of the sea, the trees of the plain, the
birds of the air, the beasts of the
field. But when it comes to man it
fails to meet the facts. For in the
human realm, however it may be in
other realms, we meet things spirit
ual, and are borne, in spite of our
selves, perhaps, to the high places of
religion. We know that the divine
spirit is present in the world, for we
see it at work by the bed Of illness,
on the field of battle, in storm and
flood, in the prison, at the stake and
on the cross! We know that men
are immortal, for we see them daily
attaining unto the measure of the
stature of eternal life! We know
that God lives, for we meet him every
where.
1t is in ~regenerated man-in the life
he lives for-that we have the "evi-
dence of things hoped for, and the as
surance of things not seem" He is
the witness of the love of God. He
is the prophecy of immortal life. He
is the presence of that spirit over
brooding ALL" which eternal love re-
MAINS"