St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-10
THE ELOQUENT ARCHBISHOP
Delivers the Morning Sermon at
the Cathedral-An Able Effort.


the Cathedral-An Able Effort.
Archbishop Ireland delivered the
sermon at the cathedral yesterday,
choosing for his theme: Conscience"
After reading the Gospel, his grace
spoke substantially as follows:
''In this parable of the sower by the
wayside, we can see illustrations of the
different consciences among Christians.
Conscience is the mysterious voice
within us, a necessary part of our own
nature, which tells us we must
avoid wrong, and do right. It is
necessary part of ourselves.
Man by. his very nature
is as much moral being as an intel
lectual or physical being. The man was
never found, possessed of reason, who
was not a moral being, who had not a
conscience, and a knowledge that some
things were right and others wrong.
Unbelievers. and materialists would
have it that conscience is simply an
outgrowth of public opinion, and the
formation of the; conviction in us from
what we see and hear around us, and
they tell us man was when he had no
conscience, and no doubt somewhere
away from Christianity or civilization
a man could be found without a con-
science. Such man has been sought
in vain, and away down in the islands
of the Pacific, where man has been dis
covered as low in culture as
possible, there. he is, knowing
but little, with nothing but the trees
above him and the wild beasts around
him hsa iS. with hot
tells him he must do certain things and
avoid others. This mysterious voice
speaks in all societies. 1t speaks to the
pagan as we'll as to tile Christian; to the
sinner as well as the just man; and no
matter how far man proceeds in the
way of iniauity. whatever effort he
make to etfaee the subtle voice of con-
science, the moment comes, it may be
in the solitude of the night, when his
whole nature arms itself in protest
against his eyil-doing. God is merci-
full being, and when he made man he
made him moral being and stamped
upon his soul the moral law. And
this is mans true grandeur. 'Tis
this that absolutely sewers man from
the brute creation and, makes him like
unto God. The brute creation has
certain kind of knowledge called
instinct, not the high intellectual
knoWledges0f man, but still certain
kind of knowledge. But in the brute
creation there is no sense of right or
wrong. simply dread of what hurts
and a liking of what pleases. Man feels
he ought to avoidcertain things because
they are wrong according to the highest
| aspirations of his nature. Something
might be very unpleasant, but con-
science says it becomes man TO do
this. Conscience is the source of mans
triIest greatness, and SO supreme
is it in the eyes of Him that the voice of
conscience is the tribunal of last appeal.
1t speaks mysteriously from our rela-
tions of rational beings one to another.
The idea of right and wrong must be
grounded on these relations. God de-
mands that we hearken to conscience,
and our final judgment will be based on
what We thought was right or wrong.
Conscience is the supreme crucible for
the trial of man for his final destiny.
The world passes away and Judgment
comes. That Judgment will unfold our
consciences. That judgment will have
no reference TO your position in
life, to the opinions of men,
wealth or station, Simply this:
What did you do according to your con-
science? 'Tis a mysterious gift of God
indeed, and here then Is man walking
over the earth with pitfalls Der cath him
and his own passions protesting against