St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-15
THE IMAGE AND MOUNTAIN.
Rev. o. III. Tiffany breaches His
toricaI Sermon.

THE IMAGE AND MOUNTAIN. :
Rev. o. III. Tiffany breaches His
toricai Sermon.
DR.. 0. II. Tiffany preached very in
teresting sermon yesterday morning at
the Hennepin Avenue M. E. church.
He took his text from Daniel, ii, So:
And the stone that smote the image
became great mountain and filled the
whole earth" During his sermon
he said: The four great dynasties
OF the ancient world are here rep
resented in one colossal human form,
to symbolic the moral evil that sways
mankind. General consent is given to
the Interpretation which represents by
the golden head the Medo-Persian en-
pre- founded by Darius, king of the
Modes. and Cyrus, king of the Per-
slams; the brazen body and loins;;'
founded by Alexander; the iron
legs the Roman empire, and the
'earthen feet the decrepitude of that
dynasty in the later stages of its his
tory. AS whole, however, the image
stands for Evil, and the stone which
destroyed it for good. While in heaven
there is only good, and in hell only evil,
in the earth both are found, the worlds
the theater for their conflict. All the acts
of men may be resolved into one or
both of these principles they are the
fontal forces of literary history under
these banners are ranked all the indi-
yIdual, social and national histories of
the past; around these standards are
grouped the thronging myriads of the
teeming present, and to the adjudca-
ton OF the conquest will come trooping
all the thrObbing interests of the in
evitabie future.
From the fall. until now, evil has
OfteneSt overcome good. A great Dor
ton Of the world is under its undis-
puted sway; it is enthroned in the great
heart of humanity; it rules the world
with almost absolute and universal
power. To see. therefore, in the vision
OF the king. good rising and growing,
battling with it everywhere, and finally
overwhelming it in ruin, is the future
for which the world longs, to which it is
tending, and which, though as yet un-
reached and unaccomplished, it is yet
to witness. Revelation teaches and his
tory confirms its lesson, that by no Or
binary human eXpedients can this re-
suit be reached. There are statements
about 1.-THE Stone" which intimate
its upernaturalness 1t was 'cut out
of the mountain without hands," no
human hand was concerned in it; it,
was not dug, nor eXhumed by toll nor
labor. The king saw it roll through
the air without outward propelling
force. 1t moved with such velocity
that when it touched the image it
dashed it to pieces, and then grew be-
You'd human foresight or expectation.
becoming mountain, filling the whole
earth.
by this wealth of oriental imagery
we are instructed in the supernatural
ness of the power by which evil is to be
ultimately destroyed and good en-
throned. In seeking, therefore, for the
good which is to have ultimate domin-
ion, we are not to inquire of the dreams
of rhapsodists or the anticipations
beautiful, reforms. however beneficent,
do not compass it. No humanitarian
devices can embody it. We must find
it i'll some exterior and higher sources;
somewhere above us, and beyond US,
and yet communicable to US. Theories
may he discussed and their value de-
termined by theiI origin. Religion
an Importation of good, reached
in way altogether above nature. Jesus
of Nazareth, though wearing the nat
ural form of man and appearing subject
~ tno oioiHaly laws liidt govern uu-
mainly, had a manifest supernatural
history. His birth, His miracles, His
life, His death, His resurrection and as
censiOn, demonstrate that He had all ex-
lStence and d sphere tranScending what
appears to US the natural order of
things.
Efforts to explain away the super
natural in Christ are plentiful but fruit
less, and Christianity, which grew out
of Him and His teachings. and is the
realization of Him, could never be pro-
duced by the brain of any age. Loftier
than the conceptions of humanity,
1t enforces its commands and restric-
tons, with motives that loom up in
their trenchant and terrible might from
the dark abyss of eternity. This super
natural good is TO meet, Smite, SILVER,
displace and replace the evil that is in
the world.
In regarding this as an ultimate
possibility, by the will and appoint
ment of God, we are impressed at
the outset with the convection that
Gods ways are not our ways.
HIS agencies appear insufficient;
III the vision mere stone smites the
well-conStructedi image; III the prophecy
the Unseen overpowers the most males
tic forms Of antagonism. Regarding these
Bible statements and their historic vim
dicatiOD, we are impressed with two
errors commonly committed, namely.
wrong estimate by appearance andE
wrong location of power. s. !;
Wrong Estimate by Appearance
Things are not what they seem. Evil
puts on the best appearance; inspec-
ton removes the mask and shows pau
perism in palaces, meanness on thrones.
misery beneath mirth.
tt\VrOnp 0natiOn of DOyyor &c
not in outward seeming, however i'm
posing or magnificent, as in the beams
OF an engine, castings of gun metal &
atoms of poison too small for sight NAV
sleep i'll the air, that shall Smite whole
kingdoms with pestilence, and slay
more men in an hour than war in a
campaign, though the influence be-
so subtle as not to stir leaf in the
forest. Frost destroys more vegetation
than thunder. In history the outwardly
great has not done the work of progress.
God hath chosen weak things So we
mistake Gods plans and his power.
But we also learn the super
natural conferred on natural agencies.
The shifting has been done by rolling
stone, the destruction was wrought by
the use of an ordinary agency. So in
the salvation of the world the result is
to be reached by unusual efficiency con-
ferred on common agents. The magni-
flying and enlarging power of human eff
fort, and of human speech where used
for the truth, and consecrated to the
truth, nothing can resist it,"
Dropped From His Chair.
A. Lavelle departed this life suddenly
yesterday forenoon at 414 Second street
northeast. He had been to church and
on his way home stopped at the home of
his brother for brief rest and chat.
81 o1I III - IL