St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-21
DAY OF JUDGMENT.
Rev. w. S. Vail EnlaPges Upon an
Interesting Topic.

Rev. w. S. Vail, of the UniversaliSt
society, had a large congregation yes
terday morning in the Grand opera
number of the visiting railroad ticket
agents. The reverend gentleman took
for his text the parable of Judgment.
and in the course of his sermon he said {:
If the term everlasting were used in
any other book would we put the same
meaning to the phrases, or would we
use another method of finding the
meaning. When Longfellow promises
to take his children to his heart and
hold them there forever" yes, for
ever and a day." does anybody stagger
at the unreaSonableness of the man?
When Tennyson makes the brook say,
''Men may come and men may go, but |
go on forever" do we understand the
words to be literal and scientific truth
The rhetorician had no trouble with
these, why then with others? Is not
the mystery solved when we find men
holding that the Bible is plenarily in
spired document, therefore TO be judged
according to its literal reading, and not
as other books? And is not this idea in
tensified when we remember that pict-
ureS touch the sense OF sight, and that
Christian art literalized all these ideas
in the early history of the church? And
when we look at the horrors of such
pictures as The Last Judgment" do
we not see reason why men have come
to have such ideas of judgment day?
But what more does our student find?
He finds that it you are able to look
close enough you will discover that,
whether you appreciate the fact or not.
the Judge is on His throne. nations are
already brought before His tribunal,
and the examination is going on all the
time. Rome, the ancient queen of the
world what does she resemble more
than well built ironclad, perfect in
every particular, riding the seas with a
Consciousness OF power, but harbOrlng
within her bosom an enemy who is fix
ing the blasts of powder and boring the
holes that finally undermine her great
strength; and, though she wlthstood
every outward foe, she floundered and
fell the victim of immoral life and prac-
tice. France was on the very edge of a
vortex, into which she plunged when
the reign of terror broke out. And when
the smoke rose i'll every quarter of the
city, when barricade was raised against
barrlcade. when the air was laden with
the cry of despair, when vice held car
nlval and sin missed at virtue. she was
only carrying out to logical result the
ideas that said: Evil be thou my
good" We may not see it at the time,
but by bad conduct we are weaving
snare, and that snare will surely catch
our feet.
do not stand here to threaten. Go
and read your history. Go and read the
story OF the boy you knew who started
with the notion that superior Shrewd-
ness would take the place of honor, or
that other who felt that dissipation was
the mark of brilliant mind, or that
other who believed that happiness was
found i'll the indulgence of passion. If
you could only be provided with a light
to go into the inner life of each he
would say: THE forces OF good are at
work as are the forces of evil, and you
are weaving a web that will be your
help or your destruction" Macbeth
met the witches on the heath, and they
so meshed him in the snare they wove
that he lost power over his own will.
and so went down and down until the
blackness of the abyss was reached.
And all this means that the judgment
day has come, that the Judge is present,
and that at some time in our history we
shall see our life revealed. No man can
tell how or when, but remember this:
mo man can feel safe when in the way
of wrong. He is like one in volcanic
country; who can tell how soon the
stroke OF doom will be sounded?