The Penn's Grove record., 1916-01-14
HARMONYWITHGOD
Retribution, Education and a Low
ing Life Turn Men and Ma
tons Right Way.

learn to keep step with the Infinite
except from terrible experience.
Though one should rise from the dead
and tell the world it's true interest,
1t would not believe him; it would
have to plunge its head into the fur
mace of fire before it would learn. We
see this in Europe as we have never
seen and realized it before. The great
war had to come in order to lead the
world to a great peace, writes Rev.
Henry R. Rose, D. D., in the Univer-
Balist Leader.
1t is the same with the individual
man. He discovers, sooner or later,
that he cannot have his own way; he
must go as God goes or go under in
the wrestle. What a parable the
story of the prodigal son isl To how
many men and situations its lessons
can be applied! The man who SOW
wild oats will reap wild oats. The
man who wastes his money will rear
poverty. The man who yields his
purity will suffer remorse.
1t is the certainty of retribution and
the experience Of %retribution that turn
men and nations the other way; they
come to themselves, at length, and re-
turn to their God. 1t looks to me as
II God had planned this world SO that
every sin is a path that leads to a
stone wall, and there is nothing else
to do but turn about and start in
another direction, albeit with bleeding
feet. Uncover the breast of many a
man and woman today who are living
the better life and you will find the
letters Il. H. S." written there in scar
let: 81 have suffered" They know,
and, thanks be to God, they have
learned their lesson.
Education will also bring mankind
into unity of life and activity with
God. It is playing a larger and larg-
er part in this direction. Education
is slowly opening the eyes of the
masses to the great truth that they
live in a universe of laws, that there
are no accidents or miracles, that for
everything that happens a cause can
be discovered. So that if they want
to live and live long and prosper
they must learn the laws of life and
heed them from the cradle to the
grave. The school systems of our
land are teaching our children and
our youth the physical laws of the
world, and driving home the fact that
the laws of electricity, of gr~avitation,
0f diUQSfinn ond oil tho raC% "a 1x-s
versal laws and make no allowance
for ignorance or rank. Obey them
and prosper; disobey, and suffer.
Education is also leading the peo-
pie to perceive and believe that there
are spiritual laws which are just as
real, just as binding and just as in
exorable as the physical laws. We
cannot break the Ten Commandments,
and laugh yer it very long. Let the
merchant fail to give sixteen ounces
to the pound or t~hirty-six inches to the
yard and his customers will soon be-
gin to patronize another merchant.
Let the politician declare that the dec
alogue in politics is IAN iridescent
dream" and we send him up Salt river.
Let the artist or dramatist or author
claim exemption for his art from the
teachings and principles of morality
and he is soon execrated by the world,
as he deserves to be. You and l can
not refuse u ear to the still small
voice within US called conscience, and
go very far without finding that in
stead of being a still, small voice it
has become a tone of thunder which
rocks and rocks our very soul,
The third factor is a loving life. We
come to love God. not only because he
first loved US, but because we begin
to love our fellow men. The age in
which we live is a loving age, more
than any other in the history of man
kind. I say this in spite of the tenn
porary insanity of Europe and the
awful hatred that has sprung up be-
tween some of the nations in this
frlghtful war. / mean that more ap-
peals are being made to US to do for
others, and more opportunities are
given to us to do for others than were
ever known, and more of us are there
fore putting our morality and our re-
ligion into practice than used to be
the case. We have passed the time
when we could go to church and then
shut ourselves away from the needs
of our fellow men the rest of the week,
or when we could really have any
standing in society if we were known
to take no generous and personal in
terest in some organized charity or
philanthropic movement. We are liv-
ing in a time when we must show
our faith by our works, when our lives
must square with our religious profess
sions or whatever other profess
sions we make to being decent citi-
zens. My argument is this: that as
the loving life grows within our souls
we will feel and find ourselves being
drawn o and more into harmony
with the loving life that fills the soul
of our God. We will discover that as
we love, love will meet us. and return