St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-04-20
Rev. S. G. Smiths Sermon on
the Epistolary SYM
irj9d postum.
A Pulpit Threat of What the
- Next Grand Jury Will
i9 Do.
Round Roast for a Senator
Who Feared a Pack Of
o.a5 Wolves.
A Religious Revival Is What
t. at Smith Thinks st. Paul
Needs.

S. g. Smith, of the Peoples church,
would preach on the Nee DIS of st.
Paul. and draw his inspiration from
letters contributed by prominent citi-
zens, drew large audience to the
church yesterday morning. The matter
presented and the preachers comments
thereon were of interest, but there was
nothing sensational, and the division of
theme brought out the most uninterest-
ing one for the beginning. In intro
ducing this theme, DR.. Smith said:
My purpose in inviting expression of
opinion from hundred representative
citizens was two-fOld. First 10 find out
what is the present aspiration of our
life. SECONDLY, to quicken if possible,
the community into Self-conscious-
ness which should seek 10 satisfy her
greatest needs i'll the very act OF dis
covering them. OF the one hundred
persons addressed about sixty have re-
SpOnded, and it is curious that only ole
or two profess inability to state some
needs of the city which in their judg-
ment are the greatest. | first intended
to divide the answers into three classes,
reading one-thrd of them on each Sun
day NOR ming, but L have found that it
is impossible to preserve the unity of
the discussion in this way. There
fore L have divided the theme into
three parts, and shall present this morn
ing the religious and moral; next SUN
day the social and intellectual, and the
Sunday following, the municipal and
financial needs of st. Paul. | shall
have read this morning the letters and
parts of letters which fit into the theme
Some OF the writers quoted to-day will
be quoted later on on some other phase
of the subject. | now desire to throw
the gu eStion open to the entire public,
and | solicit from any one questions,
criticisms or suggestions upon this sub
Ject. All communications will have
careful attention, and the names of the
writer's will not be used, although pre-
fer that the letters sent to me should be
signed. Now, here is free field Tor a
popular symposium upon most vital
subjects. The text of my letter adj
dressed to the 100 correspondents. is as
follows:
am addressing note of inquiry to num-
Der of leading citizens of st. Paul, and wish
to use the answers in public manner
Among others, will you kindly favor me
with your answer TO the question;
What, in your judgment are at the present
time the greatest needs of st. Paul?
The answer may relate either to the edu-
cational. financial. social, moral or religious
phases of life.
An early answer will greatly oblIge.
| have asked f. A. Pike to represent
the public and to read the letters and
parts of letters which are offered in evil
dence to-day.
The Letters,
Mr.. Pike took the platform and read
a score of letters, including epstles
from the following gentlemen: Revs.
Bishop Gilbert, VIC. Pope, Rabbi Hess.
Z. G. Mitchell, ID. Morgan, S. NJ. Croth-
ers; Hons. c. X. Davis. Alex Ramsey.
Coy. Merriam. A. r. McGill. w. r. Mar
shall, Mayor Smith, W.P. Murray. Judge
r. r. Nelson. G. d. Kerr. Albert Schsf-
fer, f. Willius, John S. Prince. d. r.
Moves, William Bickel. Peter Berkey,
H. A. Castle, }. A. Wheelock, j. G.
V. Smalley, Attorney General Clapp,
DR.. c. E. Riggs. DIR. p. H. Willard, E.
W. Peet, c. d. OBrien. r. c. Jefferson,
Rev. Father Conway. Arnold Kalman,
j. Q. Adams. President q. H. Bridgman,
Secretary Phelps, Supt. Gilbert. Prof.
Carman, Prof. Bennett, Ignatus Don
nelly, A. B. Stickney, Ii. p. Robinson,
Judge Flandrau.
Only those portions relating to the
religious and moral aspect were used,
and from that fact there was nothing
ocHSdtiolidi. AiuoHS IcIiSiOuS IeeuS,
reyivals and the unity of the churches
were advocated by the minister; closing
the saloons, at night and on Sunday,
closing the theaters. the concerts, the
music halls, stopping the street cars, in
fact, closing everything but the churches
on Sunday were suggested. The
Sunday newspaper was inveighed
against, and, in fact, almost every
thing but the free air and
Gods sunshinewere objected to for Sun
day diet. Nearly every writer wanted
the laws enforced; if present officials
failed. they wanted officials that would
not fail, and if there were not sufficient
laws they wanted the laws enacted.
The grand jury, according to one or
two letters, furnished the panacea for
moral Ills. The rest of the matter
furnished was alluded to in the suisse
quent sermon. 1t required about TWEEN
ty-fve minutes for the reader to finish
the epistolary wisdom and then DR..
Smith preached the sermon.
DIR. Smiths Conclusion.
1t is well for a community or nation
to scrutiniZe its ideals of life. and. in so
doing. to discover if its aims are worthy.
My correspondents were not selected
with reference TO church affiliations, or
lack of them, but with reference to
their relation to the community as a
whole. 1t is noticeable how small a
portion of the replies relate to religion,
and of those which do, how much
smaller section show any vital interest
in the domain of the spirit. Whether
we like it or not, the ideals of st Paul
seem to be quite essentially visible. Our
model is Nineveh, and not Jerusalem;
it is population, and not religion. We
will be like Babylon, rather than
Athens. We prefer wealth to culture.
Turning to the points made by our
correspondents, let it be noted that
number of them insist upon the protec-
ton of morals through the enforcement
of laws. And while this method of
morality is by no means fundamental, it
is nevertheless useful, and particularly
to the younger portion OF the COM
munlty. We are not yet ready to forget
the eXhOrtation of
Our Grand Jury
to the city officials. and the promise of
retrfbution in time to come if there be
not a speedy improvement in city af-
fairs. That eXhOrtation fell upon deaf
ears and dull hearts. 1t remains to be
seen whether the next grand jury,
which, it is observed, has been selected
with some care, will take up the task
outlined by its predecessor. There is no
question but that ample power lodges
with the mayor of the city and his CO.
adjutors to work such reforms as are de
manded by the better element of our
community. l have, however. letters
both from the mayor and the city attor-
ney which l shall read at a later time,
upon those gentlemen until that occa-
sion. On the question of Sabbath OBJ
servance, and it is too late now in the
history of the discussion of that ques-
ton to show its value from hygienic
and industrial point of view, as well as
from a religious, desire to refer to
bill for tina closing of Sunday theaters
which was introduced into the legis-
lature and killed there by a body
which eliminated Its disgrace, in
braakiDu the Stat1faS raIatiDC IN