St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-18
THE MISSION OF THE HORNET
A Sermon in Which DIR. Vail Re-
ferred to the Presbyterian Dis

ferred to the Presbyterian Dis
pute.
In his sermon to the Unitarians, yes
terday morning, Dr. Vail made special
reference to the controversy in progress
in the Presbyterian church over the
standards; and showed the value of
contrary conditions that stir men up,
and make them unsatiSfied with pres
ent attachments in their present places,
and deeply DESTROYS of reaching what
seems higher point. His theme was
"The Mission of the Hornet" the text
being drawn from Deuteronomy: 1.-THE
Lord sent the hornet among Them"
The lesson conveyed by the sermon was
that iI was difficulty and obstacles that
brought out the power and strength and
resources of mankind; that, from Jonah
to William Tell, every man has
| had to fight for name and fame.
The Screst of this age should be
a hammer, a sword and an ak; its motto
should be, 1--WE try all things; the false
must Wither under our hand" 1t is not
unmixed good, this spirit, and we should
| be careful how we fall down and wOr-
ship it: bat properly used, it will work
in the interest of good. He continued:
.'Our Presbyterian friends find that
the hornet Is let loose among them.
With what interest we read the state
ment of Dr. Parkhurst that the West
| munster confession only misrepresented
| the church; that it belonged to past
l age and must go; that you could not
| even make out the Fatherhood of God
| fbom it, and that an entirely new creed
| must be formed. Remember this charge
| is not made by me. 1t is not my affair
| in any sense. But l am glad to see 1T
come. l am glad to see that even so
staid body as this great and
swift, deep undercurrent OF Thought
that we all knew was going in the
| minds Of those strong men who have
| been leading its forces. 1t Is like the
| lark that shoots from her nest in the
grass of the meadow, scars into the
blue ether, now just flushed with gray
and shot with blue, to declare the COM
| ing'of day. This movement Is one more
point of evidence. 1t shows most
CLEARLY that the world gets through
with us about the same time we get
| through with it. We must square our
selves to the problems of the times. Ii
we are held by piece of timber
strapped around our neckS while swim
| ming from the wreck let us cut 1t Off
and swim for life. hope the time is
| very near when you can go into Chris
| tan church without being told the
| moral man is the most dangerous ele-
| ment of the community.
But 1 must not leave this prospective
| change without another word. 10 say
| that the ideas under which the West
minister confession was born were less
| than powerful will be to willingly mis-
represent. 1t reduced man to cipher.
it made God so essentially supreme that
| a command of his was right apart from
all known laws of judging right-an
action resting on his arbitrary will was
beyond the pale of question. 1t was
proper and becoming in Him In order to
show His power and glory to elect men
and angels before the foundation of the
| world to heavenly glory. but to repro
bate others was just as necessary to his
honor and glory. Since that time the