Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1877 — The Secret of a True Life. [ARTICLE]

The Secret of a True Life.

There is sofhe masterful principle sovereign over each life. ■■ In the crypt of,the Cathedral of Bt. Paul, in Lonaon, you Come upon the Save of Sir Christopher Wren. Upon e marble you read fn Latin the inscription : “ If you wbtfld see his monument, look About yon." In other wprds, the vast Cathedral, with Its soaritig dome, is but the actualization of tba thought which once thrilled that brain, now ■soldering In the grave before you. The building is but the obedient issue of the plan conceived and curled out by the great builder. In this sense every man’s life is his own monument as well. Whether one’s life be strong and surmounting, like that dome, grazing the «tan almost with Its gilded cross, or

"■"■WfV.". 111 j ""i I ■' ■■■■■ »y "■»' "" "*" whether it be nhabby and shambling, like many of the smitten, decaying buildings lining the rirer-side under the dome’s shadow; whether the life he bullded of gold, silver, precious stones, which will endure, or be but a mass, thrown together, of wood, hay, stubble, which will consume, depends always and for every man upon the principle the inner thought and purpose—the fundamental, energizing idea which lies behind the life. The life of every man is but the servant of his architectural choice. True 11 vga do not happen. If a man live well, it la because, on the whole, he chooses to live well. If a man livFTli, it is because, on the whole, he chooses to live ill. For some the prominent principle for life is wealth at any hazard, and they build a structure fraudulent, cracked, stained, though outwardly glittering it may be. For others the prominent principle for life is pleasnre, and they become selfish, craving, constantly searching, constantly disappointed, querulous, complaining, r Bnt well the Scriptures tell us that the propelling principle for the true life is Faith. “ The just shall live by Faith.” This ig the Scriptural secret for a true life. Faith, that is to say, God first, and the soul enduring as seeing Him who is invisible. Only thus can any life reach upward to the stars. Thus the lowlies mSy! There is no profounder question a man can ask himself than, What is the shaping principle of my life ? It is impossible to get a noble life out of air ignoble inner and harbored thought for life.— Ren. Waylaid Hoyt , tn Baptist Weekly.