The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-04-07

what 1t calls the commonplace. II
it Is discourteous to appear listless in
the presence Of a speaker, or indiffer-
ent before the pleadings Of love. how
great an error 1t is to complain and
whine In the face of this rapturous
creation and yawn in the presence Of
grace and mercy.
Goodness Makes Beauty.
When young Mercury found the tor
toize-shell upon the seashore and
twanged the sun-stretched ligaments
there fell upon his ear the first notes
of music. Pure delight to him.! No
corrupted youth was he, knowing ev-
erything Of wickedness and nothing Of
senger OF beauty and nothing is beauti-
and evoked note after note and felt
his soul thrilled again and again while
tears wet his cheeks, for tears spring
ing from the sense Of spiritual beauty
are the waters that ebb and flow upon
the golden shores Of eternity and are
never lost.
p. Hazlitt's remark that the sky, 50
pure and radiant in our youth, grows
more and more astronomical as we
get older. is a melancholy truth. And
yet it is not necessary. I would rath-
er people the blue dome Of heaven
with all the gods Of Greece than arrive
at that stage where l saw nothing but
matter. believed in nothing but blind
force, and accepted humiliation.
Compares Two Teachers.
Amiel was right in his comparison
OF two great teachers. He said that
Socrates sought to make men better
by enlightening them; Jesus Christ
aimed to enlighten men by first max
ing them better. The superiority Of
the latter is evident We know that
education of the mind does not guar
antee a better life. We see that peri
DDS Of intellectual greatness have also
been periods of great vice and wicked
ness. The 18th chapter Of 1st Corinth.
ians, which to me Is the highest peak
CT Christian teaching, has told the
e story. We know that the poor
Il humble have been better men
than Lord Bacon. We know that des-
pissed and ignorant bondmen in Rome
were nearer the truth than Seneca or
high and august, lacked the true es-
sentials of height and breadth and
length-love. Amiel we'll said that sci
/ ~.
| science does not produce love it is in
sufficient
Church to Enliehten.
The church was organized to en-
tighten men by first leading them to
better lives. Milton prayed what in
me Is low, lift up; what is dark, H.
lumine." That is the mission of the
church and the prayer of all good
souls. When the church ceases to pro.
mote good and goodness; when 1t be.
comes a social club; when it rejects
the poor, the obscure, the truth-loving
and cherishes the socially prominent
and the notably hypocritical it is nc
longer the church of Christ The time
has then come to reject Christianity
and take up Jesus Christ again. There
are several distinct periods in church
history when this has been done and
the church saved. That was all that
could save it, for Jesus Christ is the
best critic of what we call Christianity
Ever and ever from His utterances do
new truths flash in each succeeding
/ age.
| l was thinking Of Amiel, the Swiss
writer. His writings are profoundly
sad at times. But 1t is not true that
the profoundly sad and pathetic take
deeper hold upon US and live longer
than anything else? Comedy makes
no impression upon US. Tragedy
stamps upon the soul an indelible
mark. l can't see how a gospel OF
purely material happiness, utterly d.
vorced from belief and faith, lookins
at the grave as the end, can ever pre-
vail
Tragedy plows deep burrows into
the plates Of memory. but comedy
flows gently. Happiness itself leaves
scarce trace. The tragic Graves
dates never to be forgotten, but the
sweet and pleasant efface themselve.
as they glide along. surely writ il
water What was the happiest da,
OF your life? There Is no record. Tha,
Gay has floated away like a f1eec,
cloud. But there stands in the halls
OF memory the white tablet, the stark
cold monument. the unforgettable me
MORALS of that day when sorrow IL
sable robes touched your shoulder ant
whispered pass under the rod
Thus does ones mind wander If
church, under the psychological influ
!. ence Of many minds gathered there
and the senses catch the singing, tn.
organs god-like swell, the blendet
choir the ch}1dron,e $780, ~