Show GOOD RESOLUTIONS Thou didst well In that It I was In thlno heartH Chron vl 1 S The end of the year Is upon us some of the hopes entertained last New Tears day have not been realized and some of the good resolutions have failed of achievement a resolution honestly made even If it is not fully carried out Is better than no resolution at all Thou didst well in that It was I In thine heart There is a proverb which tolls us that Hell Is paved with good intentions Like many another maxim It hints at a truth which It fails to tell for I I cannot believe that such noble material as good intentions could ever be used I for so vile a purpose rand I feel sure that if that state which we call hell Is in any sense paved with good Intentions Inten-tions they will furnish some comfort for all weary and burning feet that walk thereon No there is almost untold un-told value in good intention There Is r perpetual fascination In the study of motive of ones own motives and particularly par-ticularly the motives of other men We never weary of the search for the motives of deeds we come to wrong conclusions get on the wrong trail but agaln and again wo find ourselves 1 searching for the motive back of every deed It Is Instinctive intuitive Inevitable in-evitable It is a perpetual witness to the belief of humanity in the < free will of man and in his moral responsibility responsibil-ity Our jurisprudence is founded on that supposition The law spares no effort to determine If It may the motive mo-tive back of the deed before it pronounces pro-nounces sentence Men are always searching for this motive because they feel unconsciously lhatr the underlying foundations of life arc in the motive in the intent and not alone in the deed The most powerful factor in life is motive aim purpose The quality of a mans life depends upon the quality of his motive I know ithat purpose always al-ways seems larger than performance with us I know how necessary it i Is to emphasize diligence and activity in spiritual matters I know It is true as Emerson said we are all wise In capacity ca-pacity but very few wise in energy and yet to every one who has been prevented from carrying out his highest hopes tho Lord says ThOu didst well In that It was in thine heart Purpose is the original source of all worthy achievement moral purposes good resolutions are never to be despised de-spised It would be very easy for a river to make sport of a cloud and tell the fish swimming In the stream that the cloud up there is after all but a gaudy ornament of the skya hazy useless thing and turn the laugh among the I 1lsh against the cloud It would be very easy I fancy for the fat pastureHold to convince con-vince the cattle that the dew that Is distilled night by night by the cool and silent laboratory In the meadows was a vain thing and ralso the laugh against the dew among the cattle thit feed on that pasturefield and we all know that It I Is an easy matter mat-ter for a demagogue to make sport of principle In public life and get men to laugh and Jeer There aie thousands of men that smile inwardly and many who applaud lustily when the decalogue deca-logue Is ruled out of politics and civil service is spoken of as a1 Iridescent dieam a clover scoffer can raise the laugh In many a mind against faith and prayer aspiration and consecration consecra-tion It is easy for him to laugh them down Just as it Is I for the river to rouse the laugh of the fish against the cloud or the fat pastiuelleld to ralso the laugh against the dew with the cattle Although the fish does not know It I he is I debtor no the cloud and although tho kino are altogether unaware un-aware of It they too are debtors to the dew and the veriest demagogue thait ran IB upon his materialistic platform plat-form Is debtor to all high principle In politics and the poor scoffer who Is trying to raise tho laugh against his fathers religion Is debtor soul and mind and heart to those Ideals which his father cherished When we look upon n life we dwell upon results and we think we have j seen It all and we Judge accordingly Thero Is a God who sees above and I below the color spectrum who knows I all the subtle touches all the latent I power 1 all tIle unseen aspirations who said to David when ho had been disappointed I dis-appointed In building the house of which he Quid cherished the ideal so I long rhou didst well In bait it was in thine heart I There is a blessins upon the unfulfilled i unful-filled ideal l not upon the klrvil That IB a I deliberately abandoned but upon the I ideal which remains unfulfilled by no fault of ours I I Here Is a man who says I once believed be-lieved In ideals I once thought that I I could really do something for the I world I once thought God had a mission I mis-sion for me but many of the things I hoped to do I have failed to do the things I have accomplished look 6onlt I Ifully small compared with what I hoped to accomplish that I am tempted I Ito give It all up as a delusion That hour Is as critical as the judgment judg-ment day When a man turns his back I Upon theideals that God has given him he turns from power to weakness from I I life to death Happy Is the man who is able to follow straight on though often painfully wearily In the tracks I of time divine Ideal which stood by the I I side of his youth I I Every noble purpose cherished though It may be unfulfilled lives In I I Gods presence In some subtle form that I will accomplish Its work and achieve I its end Thou didst well in that it I was in thine heart I CLARENCE T BROWN Pastor First Congregational Church |