Article June 2, 1917 Issue

The Golden Thread

HARRY E. CARTWRIGHT

In the weaving of a fabric the practice of repeating a design is one of great antiquity. At one place the design may appear in full and exact detail, at another it is modified, and again it may be but faintly sketched in the material. It may be varied further by changing its size or by weaving it in different colors, and in some cases the various modifications and repetitions of a design are so arranged as to form a harmoniously elaborated group presenting on a larger scale the design which is so often minutely wrought in the piece.

In a certain fabric exemplifying a high order of art there is woven a golden thread. This thread emerges to view, runs a brief distance, and disappears. To the casual observer its appearance and disappearance are abrupt, but if one looks on the other side of the fabric he can see that this brilliant and precious thread is continuous throughout the piece. Where it does not appear on the surface it runs along covered by inferior stuff, to reappear where the design is once more taken up.

In reading the Bible one learns that a spiritual theme, a "pattern of good works," to quote from Paul's epistle to Titus, is carried throughout, repeated again and again in every book from cover to cover. In one passage this theme is dimly portrayed, in another it is sharply set forth. Certain experiences recorded in the Scriptures seem nearly to obliterate it, while others bring it out in all its clearness and grace; but in studying the Bible as a whole the reader sees that the entire work is harmonious. He sees that it forms on a grand scale what is so often brought out by the many-colored word pictures woven into its length and breadth. He learns from its varying stories of life and action how to weave for himself after the pattern shown in the mount.

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