Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-12-30
EPWORTH LEAGUE DISCUSSION.

, over again" each year: he did not mark
his progress by the mileStoneS OF the
! years. and his life was not series OF
; separate and distinct chapters, but
/ rather one complete, continuous. com
/ p~ehensive, undivided thesis. We real
! ze this as we read in his letter to the
church at Philippi: Not as though L
| had already attained. either were al
; ready perfect: but l follow after, if
( that l may apprehend that for which
! also am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren. i count not myself 10 nave
! apprehended: but this one thing l do,
! forgetting those things which are be-
hind and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, l press toward
the mark for the prize of the high
! calling of God in Christ Jesus" Paul
was speaking of the race of life to
the goal of heaven-and as the natural
units of time, with their complete
cycles, so also the spiritual life is a
complete unit. and progress is not
tainment; there is no beginning all
over again every year, but a single
unit of development from the birth of
the soul to the attainment of perfection
reached when it is liberated from all
the letters of the world, the flesh and
the devil.
Pauls words quoted above have
welded powerful influence all through
the ages. not only because of the high
courage they show but because they
We're backed up by a life that was
heroism all through. from start to
! finish. His was the real courage de-
scribed by Edgar Priest:
Courage was never designed for show;
II isn't thing that can come and go:
It's written in victory and defeat
And every trial man may meet
rs part of his hours. his days and his years,
Back Of his smiles and behind his tears
Courage is more than a daring deed
It's the breath of life and strong mans
creed
Methusaleh is known to us only be-
cause of one thing-his length of life .;
apparently his life had no other di-
mension worth mentioning. for we have
no record of it. His life was measured
b. years, but far more important are
the other dimensions of a life-its
breadth, and height, and depth
In the journey of life, however, the
milestones of the years have come to
mean to US a sort of measure of at
tainment in character or soul develop
ment. in this way: that it has become
customary to take stock the first of
the year. las merchant does; to COM
pute our losses and gains of the past
year, and to look over the prospects
of the coming year. and. to greater
or less extent. determine our course of
action or progress. 1t is time for re-
/ trospection. and the soul needs such a
time at stated intervals in order to
keep its bearings. and to he conscious
of its growth and progress toward final
perfection. This progress of the soul
by stages is beautifully symbolized by
Oliver Wendell Holmes in his poem,
The Chambered Nautilus" which closes
with this application of the lesson
taught by the nautilus:
Build thee more stately mansions. o my Soul.
|, As the swift roll
Leave thy low-vaulted past,
Let each new temple, nobler than the last
Shut thee from Heaven with dome more vast.
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by LIES unresting
sea ~