St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-22
Delivered by Rev. w. s. Vail
on the Thought, sis Life
Worth Living?"
People Living in a Sublimated
World Need Nor Help Nor
Advice.
For the Ordinary Breather
Are Some Ideas Beauti-
fully Expressed.
A Sample Of Brother Wallis
Success at Pretty Word
Painting.

"What man is he that desireth life?"
was the Scriptural sentiment quoted by
Rev. w. S. Vail in his Grand opera
house sermon yesterday morning. and
from it he discussed the question, 'Is
Life Worth Living?" The preacher
said at the outset that all persons who
We're of that serene disposition at
tributed by Mill to Bentham would
find nothing in this to help. He would
exclude all who had faith so firm that,
like st. Paul. they could hardly diStin-
gulSh between present and future, be-
cause they lived in Sublimated world.
And he would address only those who
were sometimes in doubt, sometimes in
hope, sometimes ANXIOUS. sometimes Sc
rene; for all the changing mass of men
who make up the marching forces of
the world he brought this message.
The present age has given new
meaning to life. Thought and sentiment
have enfranehised common life. The
man who comes from the humblest
home finds the avenues open to hun as
they have never been before. The real
ism OF the present day has made the
very earth seem new creation. Burns
made the flower of the thorn aud the
song of the blackbird and the murmur
of Alton water all tremble and vibrate
with human emotion. Wordsworth and
Bryant made us feel all invisible pres
ence in the deep forest, and Tennvson
made every Christmas bell ring out the
feud of rich aud poor. ring in redress for
| all mankind" The AngeluS has mean
| ing to us, because the common man clad
| in the common garb, standing beside
| the implements of toll Ill the midst of a
scene of labor, with native honor
clad, lis an object of Importance to us.
| because the age has given life a new
| meaning.
l do not think that it is always neces-
| sary to have the body of an athlete i'll
| order to be a success or to make life
| worth living. | fully appreciate the
| blessing of good health. But [ remem-
| Der that Elizabeth Barrett Browning
wrote some of her rarest gems while on
sickbed. L know that Edison has suf-
| fered the most cXcruciating pain while
! doing some OF his best work, and that
some OF his most remarkable ideas were
| worked oat while he was suffering many
hours each day. The Carey sisters in
! the later wears of their lives were both
great sufferers, yet their hymns, writ
ten at that time, were
Like the triumphant Marches
played by full orchestra. Alexander
! Stephens was so attenuated and weak
| that he had to be carried to his seat,
| but was at the same time the most sue
| cessful leader of thought on his side of
| congress.
| But as we rise to higher considera-
| lions we meet new facts. We do not
| choose our birthplace. We might have
! been gathering in grove on the Congo
river to-day: preparing to offer sacri-
I fee to our fetch, instead of gathering
here in the land of schools and
churches. And there are terrible inc
! qualities of life imposed by this action
| of Providence. or fate, as we consider it,
The atmosphere of Cambridge car
| ried its peculiar influence when
Lowell, Longfellow. Holmes and Agas-
| siz walked and mingled with the stu
dents. The influence of Arnold. of
Rugby. has been embaimed in the fort
unes of ''Tom Brown and the no less
useful biography OF Dean Stanley. But
suppose the influence is bad. Suppose
it is poison to the blood of your boy.
| Suppose some power thoroughly fills his
life, and turns his steps downward. what
| shall we say then? How If we fall into
places that make life danger and a
burden? If we recall Joaquin MILL
er's picture of the marriage in
the older states, the journey of the
! young couple to the ranch on the
| prairies near the mountain: the estab-
| ishment of the little home: and then,
| if we recall the raid of the Comanches,
| the bloodstained hearth. the blazing
cabin, the foe, like an evil spirit, bear
ing away like Bonded line of black
| 4r,.,,
| join the rangers in the hot pursuit. their
thirsty sabers bright as glass: and we
go on in the pursuit until they near the
mountain, which seems to reach it's
| arms as to its children as they move up
| from the sands of fame to the friendly
1 cliffs: if we then stop with the dis
| mounted rangers while they stand
| watch and ward until the coming day
| light, while the river. roaring cata-
ract. keeps guard on the opposite side.
! and the moon, like white nun. throws
her veil of silver across the plain, and
! tips the mountain with her splendOr:
| and If at last we see The deed of venge-
| ance accomplished. and return with
the bereaved man to his ranch, where
| blackened ashes mark the place that
| yesterday held hope and happiness, we
VIII then see what may be done bv cir
, cumSt1nceS
Outside Our Control.
And these difficult conditions do make
the problem of life most serious. This
is one fact, there are thousands of 9TH
ers. What are some of the suggestions
that appear when we look closely into
the matter? First comes the attempt of
nature to carry out law of compensa-
ton. There are suggestions all through
nature of tendency to right all wrongs,
and to provide in the place of all lin tia
tons something that will replace the
thing withheld. The bird that is no
match for you in strength has been pro-
vided by nature with a strategic power,
and will run along on the ground simu-
lating broken wing in order to draw
you away from her nest. Mr.. Darwin
found animals so colOred that the
friendly brushwood and grass gave
them protection against enemies. Mr..
Drummond found some of the weakest
specimens of the insect race endowed
with a power of stimulation so that
they looked wisp of hay. or
a knot on a stick. and were not
molested. The greyhound, deprived of
the sense of smell, has been compensate
ed by the litheness that makes him so
noted. swiftness unsurpassed and a
| remarkable sense of sight. In the ma
ton sanguinary law is corrected by
the inability of officers to carry out con-
victions. When laws are too lax, the
opposite condition prevails. and the
/ lynch law takes the criminal in hand to
administer rude justice. Every reform:
er from st. Paul down has felt verv
sure that he was preaching to the cond-
tions ofto-m0rrow, and that in some way
the hopes that he so deeply cherished
would be carried out by other hands.
| And SO all modern men who have a
| cause at heart constantly repeat with
| Lowell
Right forever on the scaffold;
| Wrong forever OH the throne. =
| But the scaffoId sways the future
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow.
Keeping watch above His own
And while [ do not say that we can
always see the compensations of God.
| still believe thai we can see enough of
them to infer that if we could take the