Morning journal and courier., 1884-09-01
THE HIGHEST GOOD.
The Rev. Dr. Fiske, Late of San FraI
 cisco. at the First M. B. Church.

The Rev, Dr. Fiske. Late of San Fran cisco, at the First M. E. Church.
 Rev. Dr. Fiske, formerly of California university, occupied the pulpit in the First
 Methodist church yesterday morning. A
 large congregation listened attentively to an unusually interesting and ably delivered ser mon He took for his text:
 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
 righteousness, for they shall be filled ''-Matthew In the course of his remarks MT. Fiske said: ''The gospel is often represented by our Lord under the similitude of feast. Physi- cal capacities and needs are symbols of moral needs That physical uneasiness, that crav- ing which we call hunger, thirst, is fig
 ure for that uneasiness of soul which dis turbs him who sees a purity of soul which he consciously does not pos sess. Every soul conscious of a fault is hungry for righteousness. The sense of it's faults grows within it. There is shame of it's present deformity and serious fear lest it abide and increase. These faults vol untarily consented to conscience recognizes as guilt and sin. A mans soul is more con siderable than his body, his houses, his lands or his earthly goods or enterprises. All these things he uses. To be is more than to have; to be worthy of favor and of love everywhere, at the hands of every intelli- gent person. To be capable, effective, grand in any range of being, in any style of world We were made, oh, my friendly brothers, in the image of God. We are constituted for fellowship and society with him. We are designed for sharing his house, his presence, his love, his work, his glory, his joy. Our faculties are all built for him. To know him, love him, live for him, with him, in God, in the sweet and eter- nal company of all the souls here and elsewhere. The soul of man means holiness, eternity in the after world and God. It is too great, too nightly equip ted for mems senses and matter and time. As caged eagle hooks it's pinions against the bars of it's prison in it's fuming for lofty flight and great liberties so the soul fight and prays and is forlo1n if it cannot at least begin it's truer and higher life. If it has grown unconscious of it's forlorn and too low estate, has lost it's aspira- tions, it is in pitiable plight indeed. At Washington during the war saw through the doors of the hall of Representatives, which framed for me the picture, black man standing in the Speakers desk. Before him sat Abraham Lincoln and the highest officers of the government, the gathered rep resentatives of the people and the elite of the nation. The black man was portraying in vivid colors the horrors of enslavement. ''They say,' said he, ''slaves are content. I see man in sin"
 In conclusion the speaker said: Beloved of God. Ye great ones of the universe, these hungers and thirsts of man for his glory and blessedness, our God will satisfy. He takes us at a low estate. The hunger of conscious guilt he satisfies by free pardon. The deep hunger of a conscious lack of rectitude in character he meets by an act of divine power The blessed content of man in the surety of the final likeness to Jesus Christ, the certainty of heaven, of bliss be- yond compare. The fullness of every desire. The surrounding of the holy and radiant soul by an infinite society of holy beings whose mental powers are all brilliancy, whose social qualities are all fascinating, whose speech and song and culture and grace in movement are enchanting.