Cause in Iowa
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There are deep mysteries in the word of God, which will never
be discovered by minds that are unaided by the Spirit of God. There
are also unsearchable mysteries in the plan of redemption, which
finite minds can never comprehend. Inexperienced youth might better
tax their minds and exercise their ability to gain an understanding
of matters that are revealed; for unless they possess more spiritual
enlightenment than they now have, it would take a lifetime to learn
the revealed will of God. When they have cherished the light they
already have, and made a practical use of it, they will be able to take
a step forward. God’s providence is a continual school, in which He
is ever leading men to see the true aims of life. None are too young,
and none too old, to learn in this school by paying diligent heed to the
lessons taught by the divine Teacher. He is the True Shepherd, and He
calls His sheep by name. By the wanderers His voice is heard, saying:
“This is the way, walk ye in it.”
Young men who have never made a success in the temporal duties
of life will be equally unprepared to engage in the higher duties. A
religious experience is attained only through conflict, through disap-
pointment, through severe discipline of self, through earnest prayer.
Living faith must grasp the promises unflinchingly, and then many
may come from close communion with God with shining faces, saying,
as did Jacob: “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
The steps upward to heaven must be taken one at a time; every
advance step strengthens us for the next. The transforming power
of the grace of God upon the human heart is a work which but few
comprehend because they are too indolent to make the necessary
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effort. The lessons which young ministers learn in going about and
being waited upon when they have not a fitness for the work have a
demoralizing influence upon them. They do not know their place and
keep it. They are not balanced by firm principles. They talk knowingly
of things they know nothing of, and hence those who accept them as
teachers are misled. One such person will inspire more skepticism
in minds than several will be able to counteract, do the best they
can. Men of small minds delight to quibble, to criticize, to seek for
something to question, thinking this a mark of sharpness; but instead
it shows a mind lacking refinement and elevation. How much better
to be engaged in seeking to cultivate themselves and to ennoble and
elevate their minds. As a flower turns to the sun that the bright rays