The Sunday Oregonian., June 18, 1916, SECTION FIVE, Page 9, Image 67

9
PASTOR DECLARES CHRISTIAN IS THE WORLD'S TRUE OPTIMIST
' - ,
.Dr. Luther R. Dyott Says Thoughts Are Masters of Life and Real Thinker Sees Good Things With Bad.
TITE SUNDAY OREGOXIA?T, PORTXAITO, JOE 18, lMfi.
BT LUTHER R. DTOTT,
First Congregational Church.
Thst which hath been is that which shall
be; and that which hath been done is that
which shall be done; and there la no new
thing under the sun. Eccleslastes 1:9.
If any man is In Christ, he Is a new crea
ture; the old thinks are -passed away; be
hold they are become new. II Corinthians,
V:1T.
THOUGHTS are master of . life.
Some persons think. Others do
not. When one does not think
one lives at random; and life at ran
dom ends at zero, or something worse
than aero.
Among those who think are some
men and women whose thoughts are
wrong and others whose thoughts are
right. Right or wrong, thoughts take
the color and quality of the soul and
the mind giving them birth.
Back of the habitual thinking, which
forms and establishes one's home-nade
philosophy of life, is the thinker him
self, with his nature and mood and
habits of thought. "When that man
is a pessimist the exhalations of
his mind will laden the mental at
mosphere about him with pessimism.
When he is an optimist his thoughts
will be characterized by accuracy, per
spicuity, amplitude. Justness.
Blessed Is the man who enjoys men
tal health and to whom every new
born Jay brings the good morning of
.C . . . rV i a natural
tiOQ, HO lllttlicr 1 ......
weather may be. We dellDerateiy
prefer his company. Our texts pre
sent two erudite authors who contra
dict each other. ' The philosophical
creed of one is pessimism and that of
the other is optimism. To one there
was no new thing under the sun. To
him life had become stale, monotonous,
a dull uniformity, wearisome; and
there was no fresh bloom upon the
face of the future as far as he could
see.
He was a disappointed man. He had
given full and free play to his desires,
appetites and selfish ambitions. He
had used, his eyes, his ears, his hands,
his tongue, his mind. But his eyes
had not been satisfied with seeing, his
ears with hearing, his hands with han
dling, his tongue with tasting, his mind
with Investigating, " discovering and
knowing.
Amld such light as he possessed his
own shadow made a black spot. He
had disqualified himself for any great
and distinct mission in life. When a
man unfits himself for service to 'God
and humanity he has committed the
most fatal tragedy of his life.
God Mentioned 37 'rimes.
Theologically the author of the book
cf Eccleslastes was fairly orthodox,
according to the intellectual beliefs of
his day. In his strange book he men
tions the name of God 37 times. He
was not an atheist. Again, the God
he recognizes is personal deity and
clearly distinguished from his crea
tion. So this man was not a pantheist.
But his formal belief was repudiated
by the condition of his soul. He was
not in tune with God. To the discord
ant soul the world is discordant, the
vision of life is blurred and all life is
full of disappointment.
To the other author, Paul, life is al
together different. His view is new,
because he, himself, is new. His is the
Christ-environed life, his the philoso
phy of optimism. Broadly he affirms
that this newness of life is possible'
to any man. Jesus was an optimist,
his life the mission of an optimist.
When one lives in Christ he has a new
view of life and comes to estimate men
in divine terms. He sees all things in
their true relatedness.
Thus the phenomenality of life must
have its new meaning through the rel
ativity of knowledge where nothing
can be known as it is save in a vital
consciousness which affords the pri
mary datum of ail knowledge in the
experience of the fact at issue.
Pesnlmlsm Sot Necessary,
The axis of vision is in ourselves
rather than the objects of vision. Per
sons with jaundiced vision have the
yellowness in their own hearts, but the
pure in heart see God in all things and
know him, as the great lover of the
true, the new and the beautiful, in all
the sublime movements of the God
filled life; but his love, immense and
unconfined, is not limited to these
things.
The same sun that gives the flowers
their beauty and the stars their glory
does not refuse its light to weeds.
Where nature is Impotent grace is om
nipotent and God can change human
weeds to flowers in the kingdom of
heaven when we are willing to have
him do so. No man needs to be pessi
mistic about himself or anyone else or
the world in which we live or the
present-day tendencies of the majority
of the human race. But, nevertheless,
some persons are given to pessimism.
We should be thankful that it is not
so with all.
Our two authors are representative
of two classes of persons in modern
life. There are many ii the world
today who know nothing of the Joy
of being alive on God's earth and who
never see anything new in the world
and In men, women and children, who
are always Interesting when we are
willing to have them so.
Novelty Bads In Monotony.
There are so many who, still pos
sessing the power to appreciate that
which is new, have lost the gift to see
it and even their love of novelty ends
in monotony. Some of these try, once
in awhile, to study human life, but be
cause of their superftlcial observations
here they do not see beneath the blurs,
the blots, the sins and stains and their
depressing conclusion with reference
to mankind is this: "They are all gone
aside; they are together become filthy;
there is none that doeth good, no, not
one." Shame on such a sweeping con
demnation of humanity! Some of these
pessimists try to study the cosmio or
der and fail to see that it has any
moral" ends. The days come and go
and they see nothing new in any of
them. They are all alike to the pes
simists. Thir intellect reels in the
contemplation of the cyclic move
ments of nature. while now and
again some of these men and women
selfishly seek that which they think
will give them pleasure, until the heart
grows sick and the soul chokes with
disappointment; and, at length, their
experience is vividly described in some
such words as those in Byron's last
poem:
My days are in the yellow -leaf;
The flowers and fruits of love are cone;
The worm, the canker and the grief a
Are mine alone.
The fire that on my bosom preys
Is lone as some volcanic isle;
No torch is kindled at its blaze
A funeral pile.
The hope, the fear, the Jealous care.
The exalted portion of the pain
And power of love I cannot share.
But wear the chain. ,
All who have selfishly sought pleas
ure have failed to find it. No pessi
mist can ever be happy while he re-(
mains as he is. But all may be opti
mists of the right sort. Let us dis
tinguish between the genuine and the
counterfeit. Genuine optimism is of
God, who has so .ordered things in bis
universe that here everything is adapt
ed to produce the highest good and the
greatest possible good to the greatest
possible number.
Nature and the laws of nature are
on the side of good. Nothing in na
ture is against us or invested with
evil, until men, by transgression, make
it so. Most of the evils of life, if not
all of them, are the goods which have
gone over the line of right. Disease
Is not of God. Pain is only a burglar
alarm in the interest of self-protection,
reminding us that something ought to
be done. (
Troth Sure to Triumph.
In the realm of mind all truth is on
the side of good.' We should never
fear the whole truth and we should
always welcome it, through whatever
means it may come. It cannot hurt us
when we are trying to do right. We
cannot finally hurt it, even when we
do wrong. It Is bound to triumph at
last.
All who know the truth and live in
truth are optimistic as to the final out
come. In the realm of soul life all the
mightiest forces in the universe of the
soul are on the side of good. Here no
person need fear failure, for God and
his kingdom are for us. "If God be for
us, who can be against us?" No one.
Even those who seem to be against
us are helpless before God and the
soul that dares to live in him. with him
and for him. Wherever we look we
shall see that all things, when ordered
of God. are on the - side of good and
that nothing is beyond the reach of
his almighty power. Even in the
movements oi' evil when the "worst
reaches the worst, things begin to
mend" and "man's extremity is God's
opportunity." This I take to be the
view of a genuine optimism. Some
hav.e counterfeited it and have adopted
the soft and smooth ideas lazy in
dlfferentism. To them it seems very
sweet to fall .asleep and dream that
since this is God's world and he Is in
his world, there is little or nothing for
us to do. . Why should we be trou
bled or concerned, since all things will
be well in the end? We need not be
troubled, but we- should be concerned,
and concerned we will be when we are
wide awake, to see things as they are.
Then shall we nd that God's great
plan and method for plan and method
he has -contemplate our co-operation.
When once we.begin anywhere to co
operate with him, we spurn that coun
terfeit optimism of lazy men and then
burn with the genuine, optimism of
God. Then no conditions in the world
can make us despair, for the God of
hope lives in us; human failures can
not discourage us. for beyond them we
see our divine success; the darkest
night does not alarm us, for we kn'ow
that the world's tomorrow will be bet
ter than its yesterday, when we do our
best to help God make it so; then, we
know that at low ebb the tide of good
is turning, though the waves may be
running in the other direction.
Optimist la Confident.
God's optimist knows these facts and
is, accordingly, confident. Grouped
about this confidence in God are faith,
reason, observation, knowledge and ex
perience, all giving certain salient
characteristics to this optimist. He
has another characteristic. It is loy
alty. This is very much needed in
every age, with a truer and ampler
meaning than that which gave this
word its birth, and there never has
been a time when it was more needed
than it is Just now. Perhaps there is
no place where it is more necessary
than m America. Are not the reasons
obvious? As Americans we should be
lieve more than ever in the world-wide
mission of our country and, with a
well-balanced optimism, say as Jjtufus
Choate said: "We Join ourselves to no
party that does not carry the American
flag and keep step to the music of the
Union." Then all persons should be
members of some church to which they
can be loyal and work there with un
faltering optimism. But even deeper
than all should be our loyalty to God.
It has been said that "loyalty to God
is alone fundamental." Feelings, words,
deeds must be beads strung on the
string of duty. Let the World tell you
in a hundred ways what your life
is for. Say you ever and only.
"Lo, I come to do thy will, O, my God."
Mission to Be Performed.
Out of that dutiful root grows
the beautiful life, the life radically
and radiantly true to God the only
life that can be lived in both worlds.
Had not Paul been loyal to God and
his divine son, our Lord, he never
could have been God's optimist, say
ing, "If any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature; the old things are
passed away; behold, they are become
new."
Still another characteristic of God's
optimist is his hopefulness true hope
fulness, than which human life has no
better friend, filling our souls, and
urging us onward, and telling us that
we can make the coming days better
than all that have gone before. Yet
another characteristic Is cheerfulness.
By nature, by grace, by the love of
God we are designed to be of good
cheer.
Now, with all these characteristics,
God's optimist is surely prepared for a
God-given mission in this world where
there are so many things contrary to
optimism and this spirit is needed so
much in the complex and manifold re
lationships of modern life. We should
understand that optimism Is. something
more than a sanguine temperament; or
a pleasing philosophy, attempting fo
reconcile evil with the . goodness of
God; or a good disposition, taking the
most hopeful view, and always looking
on the bright side of things; or an In
nocent credulity with regard to the
evils of the present life, making the
optimist a negligible factor in the
great movements of aggressive good,
not counted by those who are willing
to fight for the right, and not dreaded
by the foes of the right. Some mild
souls have made It this, but they have
neither thoroughly understood this
spirit of real life, nor have they dem
onstrated its worth.
The true optimist has an Infinitely
more serious business In this world
than merely attempting to please
everybody, and for fear of alienating a
few cheap friendships' does not dare to
call his life his own. Popularity is not
his first desideratum. He can fight
when it is necessary, but he Is not
eager to fight. He is determined to do
right.
You can never compel him to com
promise on matters where right is in
volved. As much as he may appreci
ate his friends, and hungry though his
heart may be for the appreciation and
approval of others, he will sooner part
with these than sell the truth, and
throw the right overboard when a
little squall comes. We should know
that in a very profound sense the op
timistic spirit is the correct way of
looking at life, and the right way of
doing things that ought to be done,
and must be done, if we are to bring
to pass a new order of things, which
all must acknowledge, to be so sorely
needed.
We need some things that are old.
and must remain. We need others that
are new, and are long overdue. Dis
criminative and causativs lives hold
the key to the situation, and by the
power of the eternal God they are in
the world to do their part toward the
solution of pressing, world problems.
With God's philosophy of human life
they see that all life is marked by an
impressive periodicity with humanity
slowly moving upward and occasionally
losing its foothold and slipping back
ward, and sometimes falling down, but
never relinquishing altogether the
common hope of our common eheart
that some of these days the conditions
of our common life will be better for
us all.
Some of these days the skies will be brighter.
Some of these days the burden will be
. lighter.
Hearts will be happier, souls will be whiter.
Some of these days, some of these aaya.
Borne of these days In the desert upsprinrlnr.
Fountains will flash, while Joy-bells ate
rinsinc.
And all the world with sweetest birds sing
ing.
Some of these days, some of these days.
Some of these days we'll bear with eur
sorrow
P"alth In the future, light will we borrow.
There will be joy In the golden tomorrow.
Some of these days, some of these days.
Today the world Is In transition.
These crises hours are awful. But it
Is not the death gurgle of good that we
hear. It is the birth throes of a new
order of things, and of a new humanity
for a new heaven and a new earth
where righteousness, with peace, will
have permanent dwelling. Old things,
which can no longer be of service, or
remain only to haunt, the new, must
either pass away, or become new. The
passion for novelty is mad.
It Is not novelty that we need. It is
truth. It Is truth about God and
man. It is the truth about life. It is
the truth about ourselves. The truth
which is so fresh from the soul of all
truth that it will come to us in all its
newness, entering our minds, and mak
ing them new. so that our lives may
be transformed by the renewing of
our minds,' that we may proye what is
the good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. The truth, making us new
in Christ, so that we shall have the
new view of life and live among our
brothers with a freshness of feeling,
and a glad spontaneity of the Lord of
Hosts. But the truth which makes us
new must be clothed in love, not merely
for looks, but for winsome service.
Naked Truth Frtahtens.
Truth is the soul of life, whose body
Is love. The naked truth usually
frightens us, but truth Jn love wins
sinners, and makes them new men and
women in Christ; it changes cowards
Into men of courage; it bids the weak
be. strong; it turns the poor old grum
bler's complaints into praises; it makes
it possible for us all to put a new in
terpretation upon life. Engaged In this
serious business of living we never
really live by merely making a liveli
hood, or by amassing a fortune in ma
terial riches, or by gaining favor and
fame. They, and they only, really live
who live for the good of all men, and
to this end know the perennial newness
of immortality.
We (Should, therefore, determine that
'optimism shall be the only mood of our
reasonable and comprehensive and
working faith. Since we know that
this Is. God's world, no man's nor the
devil's, and that, amid the slow process
of evolution, the whole universe and
man are tending toward a better state,
we have reasons to believe that all the
excrescent ills and evils of human so
ciety will be thrown off by the divine
principle of eternal life, bringing new
ness of life to us; God has undertaken
to do something here, and he allows
us to enter into co-partnership with
htm. The regeneration of a world of
human beings Is. indeed, a vast enter
prise, but God cannot fail. Neither can
we fail, in doing our part, when he is
in us. and we are in him. Our new
faith Is old in Its essential nature, but
new In Its consciousness and compre
hensive. It takes in all there is of our
true selves, all there is of humanity,
as God can make it. and all there is of
God. as we know him. and we have
faith in ourselves, our brother man,
and our God.
Now, because of this, and because
we and our brothers are not all that
we ought to be, jour faith ia working
In the mood of optimism. Each day
we know God a little better, and we
grow a little stronger and do a little
better, while all the time our good Is
related to our better, and our better is
related to our best, and we greet
every morning with newness of life,
and now and again exclaim.
Every day is a new beginning.
Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain.
And In spite of old sorrow, and older sinning.
Take heart with the day. and begin again.
We should determine to be minus of
nothing that is necessary to make us
God's optimists who are here on very
clear and distinct missions for him, in
him, and with him. We have observed
these characteristics. Not one of them
can be omitted. It takes a whole life
to do the whole work of life. We are
complete when we are in Christ. When
we are new creations in him. nothing
Is left out. If we lack anything need
ed by our brother man, it shows that
God has not done all for us that he
desires to do. Give God his chance in
your life, and you will give others
what they need through your lire.
Good Should Combat Evil.
We should determine to meet what
ever Is wiong in others with the op
posite, positive good in ourselves. It is
a greater thing to practice than it is
to preach. There are so many persons
with distorted notions about almost
everything and everybody. It is so
easy to fall into the pernicious habits
of faul-f lnding. grumbling, complain
ing and repining. God's optimist does
not scold such persons, who are thus
making themselves old; but. in living
among them he shows them the better
way. He helps them to overcome their
faults, and smoothes the wrinkles out
of the souls of cynics. He never speaks
unkindly about anyone, and is kind to
everyone. Let us all belong to God's
society of optimists. There are many
reasons why we should be optimists of
the true sort- Beginning with those
which apply to ourselves, we should
remember that our lives will be ruined
by dwelling upon our grievances,
fancied or real, as they may be. We
cannot afford to be mercurial, elated at
one time and despondent at another.
We cannot afford to mope over what
we consider our misfortunes, or to fret
and worry until our usefulness is im
paired, and our dispositions make
others dread to be with us. We really
need the strength consumed in such
disease of mind and soul for whole
some living and happy serving. Alas.
how much worry wo waste, and how
much worry wastes us! To try to
carry all the troubles that we have
ever had and all that we imagine we
may have will prove to be too much
for any one of us.
. God's optimist does not do this, but
makes the best of whatever comes to
him. Such a person always gets so
much more out of life. Then he has
so much more to put Into life. No
person is a Christian unless he is good
to live with, and makes the health of
optimism contagious. We make our
religion attractive by living it and if
it is attractive to no one, there is some
thing wrong with It. Moreover, this
spirit In life is God's method through
us, of giving the whole wide world a
preparedness for the incoming of the
new order of life until the tabernacle
shall be with men, and he shall dwell
with them, and they shall be his peo
ples, and God himself shall be with
them. We need, and must have, a new
spirit In human beings that shall give,
the divine an opportunity to transform
the world.
CONSCRIPTION IS ADVISED
Swiss Captain Says His Country's
Plan Fits America.
HAVERFORD, June 7. While Cap
tain Remjr Faesch, of the. Twenty-second
Infantry Regiment of the Swiss
9rmy. described and illustrated the
"preparedness" of the -Swiss republis
and urged universal conscription for
this country. Main Line society women
who crowded the Casino of the Merlon
Cricket Club, alternately knitted and
applauded. Captain Faesch's Illus
trated lecture was arranged by the
Main Line branch of the Pennsylvania
Women's Preparedness division.
One picture Captain Faesch was
particularly proud of. It showed his
own company of 120 men, war strength,
lined up In their best bibs and tuckers
for an inspection.
"The night before that picture was
taken," he said, "my command of tZO
men started out on a practice march at
11 P. M. We marched S miles stead
ily from the start until near 6 P. M.
next day. and not a man dropped out.
After we got to our destination we
were turned out in our dress uniforms
with our regiment for an Inspection.
I believe my company holds the)
world's record for forced marching."
In a fascinatingly Interesting de
scription. Captain Faesch told how
Switzerland prepared, not for aggres- '
slon, but for defense, by expecting
every man to train- for war. "That
march could not have been made by
soft, untrained men.' he said.
Universal conscription. Captain
Faesch said, is the only proper way
to prepare for defense of the country,
and the speaker remarked that the
United States should adopt the system.
PARDON MAY WIN SUIT
Editor Vindicated by Governor on
Charge of Perjury.
POTTSVILLE. Ps June . Editor
Thomas Joyce, of this county, who has
bem purged of .the crime of perjury
by a pardon Just granted by Governor
Brumbaugh, will likely win a verdict
of $5000 as the result of the restoration
of all of his rights as a citizen.
Joyce lost a recent suit against Ma
hanoy City borough because he was
not allowed to give hl3 own testimony,
although th- Jurors ware so convinced
of the Justice of his case that they
were prepared to award him $5000 if the
court would have allowed them to pass
upon the suit. A new trial is now ex
pected. There Is much comment here on the
magnanimity of ex-Senator Coyle, now
of Philadelphia, who brought the pros
ecution against Joyce during a hot po
litical campaign In 1898. which resulted
In Joyce pleading gutlty to the per
jury charge and serving 18 months for '
the crime. Coyle asked the board of
pardons to restore Joyce to citizenship.
A PRETTY EMBROIDERY DESIGN FOR YOUNG CHILD'S FROCK
V
So many of . the embroidery designs this
season appear to have been designed primari
ly for the young child. The accompanying de
sign is for the youngster between the ages of
2 and 4. The color of the cotton used for the
working may be any shads preferred. Of
course blue Is one of the most popular and
satisfactory of the hades. Ia using the print
ed design from the paper ths directions are
as follows: If the material is sheer the easiest
way Is to lay it over the design, which will
show through plainly, and draw over each line
with a sharp, hard lead pencil. If your linen '
is heavy buy a piece of Impression paper the
kind that does not rub off lay it on your
material, place the design over It, and trace
with a hard pencil. You will find the design
neatly transferred.
sTjsi. .... -gy '