Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-25
THE HIGHEST GOOD.
cHAUTAUQuANs INSTRUCTED As TO THE
USES OF INDIVIDUAL ETHICS.

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Prof. Il. r. Weidner's Scholarly Lecture
Full Of Bright Truths-Wagner and His
Musical Methods-spnin and Portugal
illustrated Trip Through Greece.
ysPEoIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,
T AXE CHAUTAUoUA. July 2.-And now the
latest thing at Chautauqua Is club. 1t
is, strange to say, a woinan's club. Perhaps
some self-supporting college students have
Joined themselves together under the title of a
Boarding Club" by cooperation to make the
cost of living cheaper, but it hardly comes un-
der this head. There is the baseball club, of
course. but we can easily pass over that, as its
name Is Stagg so the ladies who are the men,
bers of this organization can well lay claim
to their being the original club of its kind at
the Assembly grounds. This club is first in
more than one respect.
1t is the first thingOn the programme and its
meeting directly after breakfast. It does not
deal with woman's social woes and political
disfranchisement but tackles sensible ques-
tions of the home and household. This morn
Ing Mrs. Mosher gave an interesting talk on
Dress" The only unpleasant thing ABOUT
this affair is that the stronger sex are cordially
invited not to attend.
PecuIiarities of Chnutauquan Mud.
day. The mud here is distinguished and
peculiar to itself. 1t is no common, ordinary
everyday mud, but Is cultured, unsurpassable
Chautauaua mud. Though yielding. it never
theless possesses great perseverance and stick
ativeness. Unlike the Chautauqua movement,
it is not lasting but like 1t in the respect that
it Is always pushing and progressing, and
courses down the hills in little rivulets. Chau-
tauqua mud is not partial, and takes as much
in eli he tarf
dainty foot into its porous depths as the NO. l0
boot.
Besides its good qualities, our mud is very
independent sort of a monopolistlc mud; it
allows no walks of board. stone or brick to
cross its path, and has full possession every
where of the rustic paths of the grove on the
our desert. Mr.. Duncan takes great pride in
the Chautauqua mud, like all other things
which succeed SO well under his care. and does
not propose to deprive it of its liberties with
the visitors by putting down ARTIFICIAL walss or
crossings.
How to Attain the Highest Good.
PRoF. REVERE F. WEIrNER continued his
lecture this afternoon on 'Individual
Ethics. the Highest Good" I have confined
myself this week, he said. to the uses of in
dividual ethics. wish to bring out this after
noon the difference between the worldly and
the divine impulse. By the worldly we mean
that man is seeking pleasant. self existence or
happiness; all he cares is simply to have that
which the world can give. When q man seeks
after blessedness he wants all the Joy and glory
in Gods kingdom. He wants to know and to
understand God. II we carefully study things
we find that man has become q citizen of the
world without any right In the citizenship of
heaven. He wants to be wealthy, influential
and see that his family are well cared for. He
makes second the interest of Gods kingdom.
Sin will either develop itself in a physical or
an intellectual way. When developed physic-
ally, It leads to self-degradation; intellectually
it leads to self-exaltatfon. These two sins go
hand in hand. We thus find that the two fun
damental bases of sin are sensuality and pride.
From pride springs assimilation, infideltty and
treachery. From sensuaiity springs likeness
unto a beast. Pride lies the deepest. Man is
often entirely unaware of il, and he thinks all
Is we'll with him. In what sense Is man freef
We think that we have freedom Of will and
may do as we please. Everyone has certain
individualities, certain endowments, certain
gifts given to him. When man looks into his
soul he will find place that is light and one
is ea and
will, as it were, determines its own character.
When Adam fell by sin, the will Of man be-
came enslaved in sin. We have all inherited
his sin, and If we ever wish to become members
of the Kingdom of God we must have a new
birth our will must be regenerated and
changed.
The Unchnngeableness of Human Chnra cter
our character will be shaped by certain sue
cessions of events. Yet we hold that what
ever man may be, that man can have a new
character and be q new man by the grace of
Jesus Christ. You are molding your own
character continually, be 1t good or bad. We
can see IN our lives of the past places where
we could have made many improvements.
What is Gods view of the world7 1t is Gods
will that each individual is set special task.
Is he a personal God? We can answer ''yes,"
He has resolved Himself. All Gods dealings
with the world are educational. What God
did for the children Of Israel He Is doing for
us now.
The aim and whole object of history is to
educate man for the kingdom OF God. In what
world7 1t must be done by the education of
individuals. When we have many individuals
we will find a common influence for good in
the community. The teaching Of Christianity
highest good? What is the basis? The answer
is the kingdom of God. We can by faith be-
come members Of that kingdom, and hope
hereafter to become members of the kingdom
of heaven. There is nothing higher and better
than this, and 1t is our mission here on earth to
develop Gods word and spread it among all
nations A believer no matter how surrounded
We may have earthly happiness, but joy is
only found in the kingdom of God. The high
est possibility of earthly happiness is the idea
of those who believe that God with his saints
will reign again on this earth before the end OF
the world. We might say that this earth is
middle sphere. Tor it is medium between
heaven and hell. Man Is left here to get ripe.
He can eventually go to either place be wishes.
Optimism and Pessimism.
Optimism says the world is the best it ever
was; pessimism the worst it ever was.
Christianity is the truth of both. Christianity
says with the pessimist that the world is in
wickedness. and with the optimist there is a
paradise and chance to become members of
the kingdom of God. Goethe was the mouth
piece of optimism, Byron of pessimism.
Christianity paves the way of optimism to
Jesus Christ We are aiming for another shore,
and the church of God is the snip that is TO
bear US over If we are to cross. we must take
the right ship, with the right companions and
the master on board
When Prof. Weidner had finished his lecture
he offered to answer any questions that could
be asked, but everyone seemed to be satisfied
with his grand and logical treatment OF the
question. Mr.. Weidner is full of ideas, SEN
sible thinker and forcible speaker.
Mrs. Woolson's lecture was announced to be
upon "Spain and Portugal" but either because
of the evident tendency of the lecturer to wan
der from her subject the latter country re-
ceived no mention whatever.
Ignorance of Spanish History.
MRS. WooLsoN began by quoting the remark
"A of the Frenchman that Africa begins
with the Pyrenees." Spain is situated apart