Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-19

ent upon water. And In the last
chapter Of Revelation we read:
"And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out Of the throne of
God and the lamb" And it is no
wonder that in this marvellous ma
ture- book of Job we find the
meaningful words of the text.
"Dost thou know the balancings
of Him which is perfect in knowl-
edge?"
Have you ever thought Of the
balancing" of the clouds? With
what perfect precision they are
balanced, though ever changing?
Have you ever observed how the
heat of the sun is balanced by the
clouds and rain? Remove those
balancings and there could be no
natural world. And in the moral
and spiritual world--the absolute
accuracy of those balancings of
God! There is just enough sun
shine and cloud in the natural
world to cause life and growth,
fruitage and beauty. SO in the
spiritual. We must think of God
as weighing with infinite care the
experiences of our lives. Ana
where evil enters, God can cause
even it to work together for good
to the sincere in heart One Of the
great comforts of soul lies i'm the
consciousness that God is interest
ed in all the details of our lives.
Let us think of some of the
clouds which have come into our
lives; bearing in mind the bright
ness and blessings which follow
As before Indicated, we have lately
beheld a cloud of world-propor-
tons. After the longest and bright
est day that the world had ever
known - as regards mental and
material improvement-there how
cred Ger our planet the darkes;
cloud of war every seen by man
And, while, as we have said that
catastrophe shattered the faith of
many, it should be a means Of
kindling q sublime consciousness
of the fact of God. The very con-
trast of what the world would be
without the spirit of Christ, and
what 1t would be IL man but fol-
low the teachings of the Master.
should be an unforgettable lesson.
Since the dreadful cloud the world
will never be the same again. out
of that struggle all thoughtful men
must of necessity see that right
eousness alone can endure. The
day is yet dark. But the clouds
are lifting. And when it is day
we can see all the more clearly
that God can turn chaos into order
and curse into blessing. The ma
tons of tomorrow will be far in
advance of those of yesterday or
today. He will turn the wrath of
man to his praise" and the king
doms of this world shall become
the Kingdoms OF our Lord and his
Christ"
We have had clouds of national
proportions. After every period
of depression-social. economical
or financial-we have leaped for
ward to a higher life. The bound
ing growth of our country is one of
the wonders of the world. In our
moments of discord we often sigh
for the good old times-for menu
DRY would ever fain paint the past
in bright colors-but, after all,
each succeeding epoch of our his
tory has been one of tremendous
advance. Today we lead in the
van of the worlds progress. Our
responsibility is great. These are
critical days. The cloud Of unrest
and discomfort is all about us. But
it is only part of the moral revo-
luton which confuses us because
we are in the midst of 1t. New
| ideals and new standards are daZ-
Zling US, like the lightning flash.
| And 1t may be that we must pass
through dark clouds and violent
storms ere we come to understand
the course we should pursue. Yet,
out OF 1t all, God will cause to dawn
new and brighter day of higher
morals and more Christian spirit.
We have seen clouds of church,
wide proportions. Notwthstand-
ing her trained workers and meth
DDS OF proven value, it is but yes
terday when our statistics revealed
a loss of members. The church
| came in for a painfully condemn
| lT1S CTlIlclsllls Dllt WdS ulSud'iltil
and denounced by thousands. She
has tried to analyze herself. And
where there is sin, purify herself
Of the evil. She has determined
to arouse herself from lethargy
and is today making progress new
err before equalled in modern his
tory. Her greatest Advancement
in missionary and educational lines
has been registered within the last
two or three years. The marvellous
increase in membership within the
last two years surpasses all pre-
| vious records. We need not fear
for the beauty and truth of the
Gospel. And we need not be fear
| full of the dark days. God will
take care of the "balancings."
"Gates of hell can never 'gainst
the Church prevail.
We have Gods own promise, ana
that cannot fail"
| And in our personal experiences:
The great Father above balances
the clouds and the sunshine. The
! Christian religion does not lesser
the struggle. ii is true. But 1t does
change our attitude toward the
world and its battles. And by
/ faith. in the midst OF the storm
we may, like Paul Of old, claim