St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-20

views VIII be COuCneQ upon, Tic rover
end gentleman believing that such sub
jects viii be appreciated by !, a y large re
series exhibit the excellency Of yester-
days sermon, there is little doubt tina.
the discourses will attract considerable
attention. DIR. Vail took his text from
the words: "Like as father pltieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them
that fear him." A careful prepared
synopsis of the sermon reads:
My sermon to-day Is prompted by
present conditions in the world of
thought. While feeling that large
number of pc 0ple are attracted to the
church, and their needs met by song
and exhortation, ! also feel that still
larger class, including some of the most
intelligent, is constantly drifting away
from the church. AS man walking
on levee of the lower Mississippi sees
the crevasse just making its way through
the embankment and imagineS the pos
sibility Of flooded fields, so do we see
the possibility of flooding doubt. What
are some of the causes? Asking men
to believe things unreasonable concern
ing the Bible, an accumulation of Scien-
the knowledge brought forward by
men not religious, the establishment of a
criticism that lays its hand upon every
thing and allows only the diamond to re-
sist its grinding power; the circulation of
the great reviews literary forum where
men of all shades of belief fearlessly
express their OpinionS-are not these of
themselves sufficient influences to make
their mark upon the time? desire to
speak to the men who read these re-
views, who have been touched by this
knowledge and who have consciously
or unconsciously lost their belief in the
authority of the church. have chosen
my illustrations all from one man.
That man is literary and religious in
the highest sense of the word;
but not a subscriber to creed nor
member of a church. Has my course
any justification? That depends on
your opinion. Do you consider all the
truth revealed, feel that you know all
that can be known on the subject, be-
lieve that those that differ from you
should be placed under the ban Of the
law? If so, my sermon will not help
you. Still, let me ask you to have pa
thence, for possibly we may find that
those that have the deepest faith may
be strengthened by the outside witness.
And we would all do we'll to remember
that, when standing before magnifi-
cent Raphael and glibly expressing an
opinion thereof, we are being judged as
well as judging. Is it not the same
when we grapple the words of great
thinker? When we remember that
Robert Browning has been contempt
rary with Newman and Morris and
Dickens and George Eliot and Spencer
and Darwin, that he has been in the
very thick of a controversy to which
these names have given permanent.
fame, that private fortune enabled him
to say his word without the least hope
of a material reward, and that his fame
is in the hands of the most Intelligent
circle in Great Britain as we'll as in
America. shall we not he the more in
cllned to give heed to his message?
And, having promised this, we may
proceed to his comprehensive question.
Is there theory that will meet the diff
ficult situations of life? A theory that
will meet common situations will not
serve. A rider must be able to
LAssO THE Widest HORSE
with the fleetest foot that breaks
from the herd. A captain must
be able to stand on the bridge
when the storm losses his vessel
in wildes fury. A commander must be
Sheridan who rides from Winchester
to hurl defeat backwards and replace
the form of victory and erect the trail
ing banners. A theory Of life must
meet its most trying conditions. What
is such theory? In answer let me de-
velop Browning'S poem of Saul The
scene IS grove in the center OF which
stands huge black tent. From the
pasture lands beyond comes youth
with the dew on his gracious gold
hair" In his hand he carries harp,
round which are tWined fresh blue
lilies, newly picked from the meadows.
He lifts the spear that obstructs the
passage-way to the tent, crosses the
grass, opens the inner tent, where King
Saul is waiting in one OF his melancholy
moods. Huge, gigantic i'll height, stood
the king by the main prop that sup
ported the pavilion. When the singer
had taken the lilies from his harp by
what music did he undertake to raise
the spell? By the music that tells of
the joys of physical living. When Ten
nysOn gives the same idea, does he not
paint us an island ever green, sur
rounded by the languid atmosphere peo-
pied by the lotus-eaters to whom ex-
istence is a dream. the highest JOY rest
within the shade, lulled by the music of
tie sea? And who of us does not re-
member those boyhoOd days when we
felt the same experience? When we speak
of the tunes that called the sheep from
the pastures and the quails from the
cOrn-landS, we enter to certain ex
tent into the enjoyment furnished by
the simplest and commonest kind of life.
With perfect health, including perfect
oppetite, the complete enjoyment of sun
and shade and natural scenery, with
physical surroundings that would make
such enjoyment desirable, men might
live kind of happy life. 1t would be
in the sun, and would have no ideal.
The next song was the song of industry;
of the grapes of the wine gatherers when
hand grasps at hand, eye lights eye in
good friendship and great hearts ex-
.pand and grow one in the sense of this
worlds life. Then came the chant of
the marriage and then the song Of the
Levites; and this song of the social life
touched the heart of the king. but
did not reach him. 1t is good, but not
sufficient to meet the deeper experiences
of life. Then came the song OF ambi-
ton. The singer recOunted the life. of
good deeds. told how men are inspired
by some noble example, showed how
footprinte on the sands of time might
encourage some one to take heart. But
still there was only a shudder, the jew
els in the turban sparkled as he moved;
still the end was not accomplished.
While we stand here let us approach
the main question. We have touched.
this life, with its joys, pleasures and
ordinary experiences. Is it enough
that we do right for the sake
of right? Is there reward suffi-
cient in this world to touch. the
extreme cases? l hope it has never
been your experience to meet these,
yet Browning says men do meet them,
and that our theory of life must be wide
enough to give them place. Here was
Mrs. Browning, and taught the word
liberty. By ana by they marched away