St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-03
GATHERED IN SALTWATER.
Rev. DR.. Dunn Delivers His Farewell
Sermon.
Making Preparations for Life His
Subject.
A Farewell SerM on.

Rev. DR.. G. S. III. Dunn, who will leave
Saltwater for Duluth next Wednesday to
assume the pastoral charge # the NJ. E.
church, large and prosper GUS one at that
city, delivered his final sermon in the NJ. E.
church here last night. The subject was
Preparation for Life. The essential points
of the discourse are given below:
We are often urged to prepare for death, but
the idea is false. Death does not eild all; or,
even then such an appeal is unnecessary. We
are to prepare for a greater issue than dyingi
We must prepare to live. 1t has often been
asked, When man launches into the great
deep beyond death, what goes with him? 1t
would seem from the appearance of a dying
man that he takes nothing with him at all
Death seems to break up and wipe out of ex-
istence all that has ever made life what it is.
And yet, when we think deeply, we are driven
to the thought that what man has wrought
out in character, is the significant tn NJ he
carries with him to the next existence. In
going he accompanies himself-a self which
is the result of his modes of thought and life;
he is the product OF his joys and sorrows, his
burdens, his deeds. In such case it is
AN IMPORTANT THING
to live in this world. Death is only the dlvid-
ing line between a limited and continuous
life. 1t is all one life in two spheres. Just
as the boy is the man in embryo, so are hui
man life and eternal life the one, self-same
thing. Thus all life casts its character into
the future, every experience projects itself
toward eternity. Character is transcend
entity important and human speech is taxed
in the Bible to its greatest tension to impress
this fact, and to enforce it. All the imagining
of this book, all its warnings precepts and
examples, all the tender pleadings of Christ,
and all the terrible scenic displays of the
ju dgmeut are intended 10 stir the thoughts of
men to the conception of the infinite raids
ating, projecting power Of good and evil do
ing. DO not labor under the impression that
evil conduct cannot hurt you. Your moral
sense teaches you better. He that is right
eous lis to be righteous STILL" and he that is
filthy is to be morally filthy STILL A man
begins in the next life where he ends here,
either on higher Or lower plane, as was his
character here. The only true
PREPARATION FOR HEAVEN
is that which includes faith in God and love
to Christ No other preparation is adequate.
Every experience leaves its impress on lis, as
we were true to our best selves OR false to
duty. And our characters come from the
summing up OF all these thousands of daily
acts, and states: God will not permit one ca
pacity of good within us to go to waste.
The method of preparation is universally the
same. You will occasionally find bigot who
sees only his own ism But, as a rule, we
are united in the essentials of Christianity
The method is plain:
First-You must believe in sin and that
you are sinner. This is not creed ask
for, but faith which prays.
Second-You are to accept the incarnation
of Christ in his atoning work for all men, and
specially for you.
Third You must believe in immortality.
The creed may tell US where heaven is, but
faith takes God at his word and looks at the
unseen city.
Men differ only in creed. In what they are,
they are essentially one, for faith must be
orthodox if your creed is not. Religion is not
a thing to be got but it is to be lived and
enjoyed. This is my final word to you: Pre-
pare to meet God Let your aim be to de-
velop in yourselves, by Gods help. those
Praces which mark the disciples of Christ.
Let the entreaty of this text and the weight
of its doctrine awaken in you instant effort
to thorough preparation for heaven.