God's handiwork and its beauty is manifest wherever the eye rests. The
towering mountain peaks, the great boulders, the babbling brooks, the
peaceful valleys, the green grass, the beautiful flowers, the shady
dells, all speak of his master hand. The moon-beams playing on the still
waters, the sunshine streaming through the golden clouds, the perfect
poise and artistic shape of the trees growing on the mountain side among
the jagged rocks where the hand of man never trained or cultivated them.
There they stand as sentinels waving to and fro by the gentle breezes
and tell of His wonderful works. The wild flowers growing side by side
in the shady dell, each a different color, whisper His wonderful plan.
The little brook dancing and playing in and out among the deep chasms
chiseling its narrow passage among the granite, jumping over big rocks,
rolling little pebbles, it steals here and there until it spreads out on
the great plains and fertile prairies into a rushing river hurrying on
its way to the ocean. The beautiful sun-set casting its long stream of
golden beauty over the western sky mocks at the skillful artist when he
tries to imitate its marvelous shades and tints. The moon breaking
through the silvery clouds and showering the heavens with beauty and
grandeur rests its glory on the evening dew, and the millions of
diamonds glitter and glisten in a splendor and elegance far beyond the
hand of man. The many stars hanging like precious gems upon a great
pedestal twinkling and sparkling tell the same story of His wonderful
handiwork.
God was not satisfied with all these marvelous things and, though they
are perfect, good and beautiful He must surpass them. He must have a
crowning effort to all their glory. So to defy imitation He brought
forth His masterpiece and called it man. The incomparable and
unsurpassable, the grandest achievement of his architecture. In his
wisdom He provided everything for his needs and comfort. Sunshine to
warm him, darkness to rest him, trees to shade him, give him fuel and
shelter, birds of song to cheer when weary with labor, flowers to
beautify, soil to produce whatever he sowed, rain and sunshine to mature
it, meats of all kind to nourish him, fruits, fishes, grains, honey,
milk and everything necessary for his growth and sustenance, He made him
pure, clean, strong, and beautiful, just a little bit lower than the
angels. He furnished man everything to start with. It was no disgrace if
his hands were blistered and dirty if they were stained by honest toil,
he fought hardships and privations, he was the hardy pioneer blazing his
way for home and country, raising his children near to nature's heart
and cleanliness. He gave to posterity strong, hearty, rugged men and
women, he lived honorably, his labor was rewarded and he died ripe in
years as a fitting tribute to his great achievements.
Time rolled on! Years became centuries! Methods changed and the great
plan of God was lost.
Greed, avarice and monopoly commenced to steal the bread from the
infant's mouth; the keen and bitter struggle for existence is in full
sway; the great land of liberty and opportunity no longer can put forth
her boast and call and call for him to come, build homes, prosper, live
well and accumulate.
What changeful conditions today from then! We boast of our great
enlightenment and yet we are like the drowsy cat under centuries of
domestication. As soon as the raw meat is put before us all the
centuries' training is cast aside and we are ready to do acts of
barbarians. Instead of being able to arbitrate and handle all questions
of war through peace tribunals we cast aside the brotherly teachings of
the great book, increase the standing army, build more warships, enlarge
the navy, and be ready for war, ready to shoot our brother, ready to
destroy his home, leave his children penniless and fatherless, a widow
to struggle and mourn, posterity to be enfeebled, a gigantic debt to
stagger many generations unborn, a country bankrupt and all teachings of
love and better citizenship disgraced.
No wonder our people are discouraged and feel we are slipping away from
the preamble of our great Constitution! If this age and this country can
not handle all questions, national and international, and extend the
fullest measure of brotherly love where peace is needed; what age or
country can?
I think it may be America that will be called upon to lead other nations
and have them cast aside their war preparations and prepare for peace.
In every crisis through which this country has passed we have been
fortunate, thank God, that the right man has always been found. We have
had our Washingtons, Lincolns, Websters, McKinleys, Wilsons, and
hundreds of others and in every instance when some great problem has had
to be solved, either in this country or abroad, in either science,
statesmanship, literature or art, no matter how perplexing, difficult or
intricate, American brains and ingenuity, in the vernacular of the day,
has brought home the bacon, Swift's premium, if you please!
I have always felt deeply sorrowful for the man who studies long and
ardently with a bowed head resting upon his hands. His whole soul seems
to be calling for the fine sympathies that can only be rendered from the
loving teachings of the Nazarene. He is calling for the tender affection
that is keenly necessary to right him just before that sullen burning
wave of despondency casts him into utter gloom and sorrow. O
Christianity! Christianity! amid wealth, society, culture, influence,
peace, advancement, laws, legislators, and boasted liberty where art
thou?
Visit the parks of any cities, towns or small villages and you can find
sitting on the benches man after man who is unable to solve the problem
of an honest existence. There he is, honest, clean, and worthy of good
citizenship, unable to find labor that will keep him an honor to
society. What will become of him in this land of boasted opportunity and
liberty? Plenty for all; but monopolized and organized until the
laboring man is almost ostracized. Look at his countenance, clear cut,
manly and open, haggard, yes, but from what? From worry, loss of sleep,
lack of food, responsibility of a family without funds, etc. But withal
you find no look of dissipation, no odor of liquor, no foul language,
and still with all these excellent qualities of meritorious citizenship
he is sinking. How long will he stand it?
Were you ever in a condition of this kind when any way you turned you
were outfigured. How long can a man have a thorn like this continually
getting deeper and deeper into his flesh before he will make a grasp for
it, and endeavor to release the pain? Where is the cause? What is wrong
with our wide heralded economic system? This condition being true of the
man with a family how alarming to the young man of today without a
family? Show me any incentive or inducement for the common ordinary man
of today without funds to cause him to establish a home and rear a
family under the grand old Stars and Stripes, and I'll show you a man
that loses worse than a bankrupt in the finer sense of the word.
Without the establishment of homes this nation can not stand. No matter
how frugal a man is, no matter how economical his habits you can give
him the most promising part and he can not marry and rear a family
because at every angle he is beaten. What is he going to do? Free land
is almost gone, food stuffs are high, all his needs are expensive; how
can he make it? Every line he wishes to enter is crowded! Reason for
yourself and see if this is not true.
When you talk of large families, who raises them but the poor people and
this will soon be eliminated. If the poor man raises one child he is
doing more than his duty to society than the rich man. The expense is
such a night-mare and horror to a common, ordinary and honest man to
provide the necessaries of life for his family that I sometimes shudder
and feel sorry that I caused children to be born, fought for a home,
paid my debts, and lived clean. I wouldn't want to do it again for my
country, and I love her as I do the man of Galilee.
I fear America is no longer another word for opportunity as was said by
the beloved Emerson, unless she helps him to establish homes on the
public domain by loaning him money at a low rate on long time periods
and keep him at work and help him along and not foreclose when he is
doing his best to win. He'll win, give him a chance.
What Emerson said may have been true at an earlier period it was so
intended, but the plan was lost sight of and the great greed for wealth
was accomplished to the detriment of the majority who have been obliged
to make their living with their hands. It is a sad fact but true that
there is a revolution slowly kindling in the breasts of the laboring
class of people against capital; God grant that in some way the fire can
be put out.
I have sometimes thought what's the use of living. The sorrows and pains
outnumber the joys by a large margin. You slip down the hill of pleasure
without any exertion, but to climb the mountain of morality is a
gigantic task, for every step is a struggle, and after you have fought
and won nine-tenths of the journey one misstep and you slip to the
bottom and the whole climb is before you again. It's fight, fight all
the time, continually and forever! It robs you of nature's rest, steals
away your ambition, stirs up hatred towards those in easy circumstances
and causes conditions of unrest and strife.
Is life worth the gigantic struggle to overcome the perplexing
difficulties and endeavor to live honest and clean and not slip down the
path of despair where the great majority seem to be going. I say it is!
"For, what do you profit if you gain the whole world and lose your own
soul."
Let your mind ponder over the story of Lazarus picking up the crumbs
from the rich man's table and you must conclude the starving beggar
gained uncomparable joy and satisfaction to the rich man's torment when
the two men's lives were carefully weighed on the scales where God
predominates and not the sugar trust. It pays! It pays in a thousand
different ways!
There is something to a man that lives an upright life in the church and
in the world. He is a valued asset to any community, he may be poor but
he has character, and this is something money can not buy. It takes a
good life to make a man. A fellow that is rich and lives solely for the
pleasure of his money is not a man.
One time I mused thus: If it could be so, just for the shortest duration
of time, while temptation was the strongest and the fierce conflict was
raging, if I could be blind, absolutely blind till the strong temptation
had passed and then let me see again and have my first sight catch the
last glimpse of the golden sun as it dipped behind the western horizon,
leaving behind a long stream of golden beauty stretching out in its
grandeur to kiss the evening sky; even if a scene like this could erase
the temptation and the blindness prevail during the surging of the
conflict, how could my faith be increased by not having the moral
courage and strength of character to withstand the evil? It's the
casting aside of temptation by the sheer strength of the will power that
makes the struggle easier, the way grow brighter, and the victories
grander. If God would allow such a condition once, we, in our weakness,
might ask again and again and instead of growing stronger we would grow
weaker. It is the heroic fighter who has won his laurels when the
bullets of evil whizzed all around him that you like to go up to and pin
the medal on.