Article May 8, 1902 Issue

Religious Items

with contributions from F. W. Robertson, Maltbie D. Babcock, J. R. Miller, R. L. Stevenson

F. W. Farrar, D.D., D.C.L., says in The Homiletic Review: "Let us remember that the sins which forfeit and quench the Holy Spirit of God within us are never the mere sins of surprise and of a moment. They may often seem to be so. Sometimes, indeed, it does seem as if, after years of apparent respectability, men plunge in one moment into the abyss of wickedness; but it is never really so. We are not worst at once. The source of evil begins slowly and from slight cause. The infant's hand might stem the breach; but let the stream grow wider, and philosophy, aye, and religion, too, may strive in vain to stem the headstrong current. The serpent that with one swift, dark dart drives its fangs into a man's life has long been reared in that man's bosom, or has been suffered to creep noiselessly about his feet; the temptation which bounds out upon him as from a thicket, terrible and with a tiger's leap, with such a glare in its eyes and such carnivorous passion in its throat, would have been powerless had it not been suffered eagerly to prowl about the purviews of that man's soul. The sin which overthrows a man often seems indeed to be sudden, but in reality it has been long a secretly besetting sin."

In this modern spring-time one feels as if nature were alive, communicative, bursting with secrets to be revealed to all who are lovers of nature and patient seekrs after the truth. Life and beauty are revealing themselves in unmistakable terms. They offer gifts to man, they draw out his love and reverence, and even lay upon him duties and responsibilities. In more ways than the wisest can tell, revelations of truth are made to waiting souls. They are even thrust upon the reluctant and the disobedient. But there is no compulsion. ...

In ghest ranges of thought there is and can be no compulsion. Truth unveils itself to the waiting mind, and through his myriad experiences man learns the nature of the world in which he lives, the spiritual forces that play in him, around him, and upon him, and his relations to them. There are as many modes of revelation as there are flowers on the earth or stars in heaven or human souls with their passions, sentiments, affections, hopes, fears, and ideals. Truth is infinite, and revelation is as varied as human nature and opportunity.

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