The Penn's Grove record., 1915-09-17
The SOULS ANCHOR
Faith Is Optimism, the Highest
Form of Optimism, the Faith
That Saves.

Of the soul sure and steadfast which
entereth into that within the veil"
1t recently was my privilege to
stand beside an old Greek anchor
which had lately been unearthed. We
never look upon a relic of this kind
which has been buried for 20 centu-
ries or more without the feeling Of
reverence and awe.
We think OF the story that it might
tell of that far-away age. We think
Of the hands that once grasped it,
now long moldered into dust. We
think of the m long since for
gotten. We look back through b
vista of the centuries which have in
tervened during which men have lived
lives just like ours with the same sor-
rows, the same joys.
We wonder what story this relic
has to tell. And it does have its
story, for in spite of rust and corro-
sion l saw in large Greek uncials the
words Zeus hypsistos, which we must
translate, God is the highest"
These words speak volumes. Think
you not that the Greek sailor in his
little craft, rude, primitive, a play
thing of the waves, felt more secure
because he knew that down there in
the slime and ooze and mud OF the
oceans bottom his anchor bore the
name Of God Supreme? Perhaps the
apostle had seen such an anchor and
this had led him to the beautiful fig
ure of faith as an anchor of the soul.
What Is Faith?
What is faith? 1t is not something
that can be analysed in the crucible OF
scientific investigation. 1t is intuitive
knowledge. / watch a vine as 1t
reaches out its tendrils and mounts
higher upon the trellis. l see a
fiedgling as it tests its wings and
scars into the sky. / see a man
bowed down with sorrow raise his
head above the clouds. The vine
might have argued: 81 have not hands
to feel, / have not eyes to see," but
it turns toward the sunlight and it
is not deceived. The little bird might
say: MY wings are so tiny and the
ether is so vast" but something told it
to spread it's pinions and to fly far
above our earth, and it was not de-
ceiyed. So man when he looks up
ward to the stars will never, never be
deceived. That is faith.
Faith is not synonymous with dog
matte opinion. We sometimes speak
of it as such when we say: "A man
has not the right faith" When a
word with such purity of meaning has
been incrusted with other significa-
Etions it is well for us often to sub
stitute another term for the Greek
pistis, and such a term might be
trust" There have been heresy
trials about a mans faith" but there
has never been a heresy trial CON
corning ones trust in God.
In the British museum 1 saw ne
prayer book which Lady Jane Grey
carried with her to the scaffold, and
she had underlined these words on
which her eye last rested: I'm thee,
o Lord, have 1 trusted; let me never
be confounded." That is faith.
Faith is optimism, the highest
form of optimism, which is confidence
in the ultimate triumph of truth and
righteousness.
Atheism in Its Worst Form.
Pessimism is atheism, and it is the
worst form of atheism. A man said to
me the other day: Il am growing old
and 1 fear that life is losing its
charm" What a sad commentary on
his life! / thought of what was al
most the last %utterance of Senator
Hoar: Gentlemen, yesterday vas
better than the day before; today is
better than yesterday; and tomorrow
will be better than today" That is
faith.
Near my old home in Massachusetts,
is a Faith monument, to the fathers
who landed on that forbidding shore.
1t stands with face serenely tranquil
pointing to the skies. nave see it
when the accumulated SHOWS of win
ter have rested heavy on its head; I
have seen it when the burning heat
of summer beat down upon that bar
rem hill. But in storm and sunshine,
in winters cold and summers heat, it
has stood as it stands at this hour,
with finger pointing toward the stars.
Faith points US toward the stars,
but more than this. It points us to
some poor soul who does not see as
plainly as we that the stars are shin
ing-perhaps he does not know there
are any stars above him-and hede-
mands that we take him by the hand
and point him to the stars.
This is Christ's faith. This is the
faith that saves.-Rev. H. G. Holman.
Amusements.