Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-14
THINKERS AND ACTORS.

LIt0 AMI AOAOxtCo
The following extracts are from a re-
cent sermon by Prof. David Swing, Of
Chicago:
IF any one be a nearer of the word and not
q doer, he is like unto q man beholding his nat
ural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself
st.! s. e. what "annsf' of man he *~as'-''"s'' l:
The future of our land lies in the hope
that it's words will turn into deeds, that
the doors of good willbecome as numer-
ous as the hearers and sayers of good.
Of course the theory must precede the
practice. The orations and poems upon
human liberty came in advance of the
actual freedom, and before a steamship,
or a steam-car came many public men
began to speak of modes Of rapid travel,
and in the mind of Johann Faust there
must have lain half asleep for years an
idea of recording thought by movable
types! Thus the pure intellect comes
first in the order Of progress; but woe
to the age where nothing follows the
theory. Suppose there had been moth,
ing but a dream of printers types, moth
ing but a theory of the locomotive,
nothing but oratory and poetry about
liberty! All can be summed up at once
by s%upposing that the Creator had been
satisfied with His intellectual concep-
ton Of the universe, and had found
blessedness in only such q gigantic
plan! The sublime moment came when
the Creator said: II have for ages
thought, now for ages 1 shall act"
What a change came with that Divine
resolve! Thus in a humble manner the
noblest crises in humanity are those
hours when theories turn into deeds.
When Faust began actually to printmany
copies of some great book, then the
wondering eyes Of the world began to
open. So when the first railway engine
began to drag cars and to carry freight
and people the triumph of mind over
matter began to unfold its greatness
and beauty. Awkward and frail was
the first engine, but it surpassed the
hope of it's builder, and is to-day all
covered with honor because it carried
the human race from theory to action.
It stands a small machine compared
with its lineal descendants, but itpulled
more than all of its children can draw.
They drag great trains, but that first To-
connective pulled the whole nineteenth
century out of its theories. It dragged
the human race from dream to reality.
1t whirled Europe and America from
the little town Of theory to the great
city of work.
Thus all pure intellectual action
makes a prelude to some external form
of deed. If q spiritual God could in a
sense transform Himself into a material
universe, and add to His glory instead
of %detracting from its luster, man may
well suspect that his earthly duty will
be done only when his dreams of be-
nevolence and wisdom shall have be-
come works of benevolence and wis
dom. y u The man who does no.
BILE things equals the genius who can say
them. We would declare the doer of
good to outshine the dreamer of good
did we not know that the perception of
a moral end must along in advance
of the duty done. The man or being
who uttered first the Golden Rule would
have done the world unreasonable
service had he lain down and died with
the utterance of the words without hav-
ing lived to do one deed of kindness.
10 evolve such q law from the old
chaos of %selfishness and cruelty would
have been task enough for a god. We
dare pluck no honor from any one of
that long line of gifted ones who have
in all ages said wise and sweet and beau
tiful things to mankind. Let them all
stand in the temple of fame, for there
is no marble too white or brass too en-
during for the varied merits of these
names; but not daring to touch these
immortal wreaths, we may behold a
company as illustrious, as immortal,
those who perhaps in silence have done
the things wise and sweet and beauti-
full. These make up a large company.
Read the roll OF earth's great from the
present back, and it is not made up of
only those who wrote and spoke with
elegance and genius and logic, but eve
ry alternate name is of some one who
led the legions in the field of action.
Poet must divide space with inventor,
orator must find room for fiscoverer,
dramatist must share marble with
the philanthropist, artist with patriot,
philosopher with missionary, until
at last poetry is equaled BY love,
and admiration is divided between
the genius and the hero. *
Let us recall the remark that two
changes must come before our city or
our land ear make a rapid spiritual
progress breaking-up Of s~elfishness
and a new estimate of the glory of
deeds. The multitude is ready to re-
ceive all the wise attention your souls
can venture to bestow. Not having the
office of thinker, or poet, or artist, or
astronomer, or inventor, you have with
in reach a duty and an honor which no
Intellectual gifts can surpass; your
good sown wisely in the great field of
society will blossom in perfect beauty
and will hurry along toward a harvest
richer than those of the new Dakota or
the old Nile. The welfare of mankind
is no longer waiting for words, but for
noble actions. The song of charity has
been well sung by all grades of voices,
and the %self-denying religion of Jesus
has been well preached to this genera
ton. The presses are busy with the
literature of kindness, and each drama
and each novel finds its climax in the
triumph of the poor. All has come ex-
capt the triumph. The quantity of hui
name philosophy on the one hand ;s