The Republican journal., 1916-06-29
"The Life Which Now Is
| Tim. 4. 8.

sive word to be found in the English Ian
guage. If you search the dictionary
from the beginning to the end you will
find no word which is fraught with equal
ly vast import. There is no fact which
comes within the range of human
thought which is of equal potency to thu
great fact of life. Destroy life and 20,
reduce the universe to chaos and annihi
late the existence of God. Take life
from mans organization and he be-
comes at once lump of clay. The fac
of life is evident to our sense of touch
and feeling; to consciousness and sight
There are in men varied forms CT life, the
physical, the intellectual and the spirit
ual. There is also present life and
life which is to come. In the words which
are placed at the head of this article the
writer speaks of "the life which now is.
Life IN the present sphere of our exist
ence. The now rather than the future
of our personality and experiences.
The life which now is is physical, men,
tai and spiritual, and each department
of it is worthy of profound attention and
earnest care. The physical life ought
not to be neglected. The body even in Its
relation to the soul life is no inconslder-
able factor. Other things being equal
man or woman endowed with healthy
and vigorous physical constitution will
reach a higher type of usefulness and
life than will the individual who is COM
passed about with physical inflrmltles.
The intellectual form of life ought to be
carefully cultivated and the best possible
use made of the power to think with
which we have been so bonntifully en-
,lowed. The spiritual nature or the l:fe
of the soul is, however, that part of our
complex personality which is deserving OF
the most profound attention and interest,
for the soul is of far greater value than
the body AS nearly as we can we ought TO
endeavor to proportionatey develop each
department of our personality, so that
as nearly as possible we may attain unto
the ideal of perfect manhood. The life
which now is is full of deep significance.
From whatever point of view we contem-
nlate il there is a meaning to it which
we cannot easily exagerate. From
study of the facts by which we are con-
fronted; the laws by which we are gov
erned; the capacities with which we are
endowed. and the relations which we
sustain to each other ard to HIM who
made US we may come to comprehend IN
a measure the privileges and responsible
ties OF the life which now is.
!. In the first place the conclusion is
forced upon US that the life which now is,
is but the initial period of our existence. !
Tt is not all there is of US nor all there is |
for US. 1t is the bud but not the flower
of our personality. The commencement !
but not the conclusion of life's eventful
Journey. The aspirations which life
wakens, the forces which it sets in mo-
ton, the anticpations which it begets
and the fears which it incites compel US
to the conclusion that the life which now
is, is designed to be but the beginning OF
an existence which stretches out into an
future There is very strong
Or assumption that after the death of the
body we shall be more truly or more in
tensely living than we are to day. Death
ls an introduction to higher life and
time but small portion of vast eter-
nifty.
2. In the second place The life
which now is is full of constant changes.
In our own personality, in our bodies, in
1ur characters, in our mentalities we all
are the subjects of constant changes.
Scarcely one day finds US precisely what
We were the day before. We move
backward or forward as the case may
De. advancing or retrograding in body,
mind, heart, influence and character ac-
,ording as We advance or retrograde in
iiligence, thrift and character. The
lines change The old gives place to
he new, the present to the future.
Things around us change. The houses,
he streets, and the neighbors change.
Everythin is on the wheel of change.
Life like Penelope Of old is ever weav
ng and unweavlng the same web. Our
bodies undergo a complete revolution
every few years SO that We are no longer
n c.e substance of our bodies the same
.arsons we were several years ago. We
change as truly in our mental natures as
in our physical. We do not think the
same thoughts or look upon the same,
objects with the same degree of interest
or with the same eyes today as we look
ed on them yesterday. AS the days and
wears 90 by life assumes to us meaning
more intensely full of deeper slgnlfl-
oance One event after another takes
,olace by means of which we are thrust !
out of one place into another, from one
OCCUPATION to another. from one altitude
to another, higher or lower as the case
NAV be. One passes from att1uence to
poverty, another from poverty to attiu-
ence. Some have crowns placed upon
their heads, while others are thrust into
dungeons, In the midst of his daring
L. sob,