St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-11
Showing the Unrest Which
Possesses the Average
Mortal.
j. w. Jaynes, Of the Christian
Scientists, Gives a Talk
on Liberty.
Sermons Which Will Repay
and Instruct the Gen.
eraI Reader.

the musical parts were rendered by
Miss Marie Stone and Eugene COwles.
''lmperfection With Promise was the
subject of Rev. w. S. Wallis sermon.
Mr.. Vail began his sermon with the
words sWhat is man, that Thou art
mindful of him?'' He said that after
all the changes that came to this gener-
alton by the change of ideas one
fact, the imperfection of man, re-
manned. We might explain away the
story of Israel which accounted for hui
man imperfection by the entrance of
demon into the garden and the cOnSe-
Quent wreck of the world. We might
say these were legends of an early and
primitive age, but there are still the
facts that the beaver makes no mistakes:
that the swallow never improves on her
first nest; that the hooking bird never
takes music lessons, that the harvester
performs its work with success; but
that man, who eau count the stars and
call them by name, who has measured
the physical world and tells its history.
who aspires to immortality and perfec-
tfOn-that this man is the one creation
less perfect than the animal which fol-
lows instinct, and less perfect than the
machine that acts according to the blind
laws of mechanism.
Passing to our social system, we find
the fact of human imperfection playing
most important part in the common
life of man. That innate and undying
tendency to look for better things is ever
present iii the young generation, and
ever will be; with it is tue tendency to
expect the perfection that comes with
a life that is able to fulfill its hopes; and
fvrrn for fc 1in Of th,,b oc Of oil hot
restless complaint of which the world is
full. The whole progress of the world
is based or the fact that maE cannot he
satisfied with his achievement. You
might as well ask the river to run up
hill, the summer to freeze ice. the mock
ing bird TO be silent when the glory of
a summer dawn in his native South
wakes him, as to look for satisfied man.
If men could be satisfied with halt,
then the world must stagnate. As we
grow older we often feel this; but the
coming generation is ever OH the look
ont for something better, and "EXcelsi-
or" is the motto of the youth.
The tendency to expect perfection is
the
Fault of All 1aen,
We are unreasonable as to what others
can do. We fail to realize that man is
nearly all promise. And out of these
two facts comes the habit of fault-find-
ing, the common disposition TO look for
imperfectionS and the unhappy result
of restless. dissatisfied condition. MOI
can we fully appreciate what this is UNI
til we realize what habit becomes in
life. L have seen many captain who
sailed the deep seas to the eastward, and
who tried to retire to some less arduouS
task. But such men are seldom at home
save OH the deck of a ship. A soldier
rusts without the inspiration of battle.
Men and women who speak or sing be-
fore the public are Seldom satisfied.
The story of the dying hunter that
Charlotte Cushman used to tell-the
hunter VINO leaped from his bed, called
the pack. mounted his waiting horse
and rode out into the wild night-Seems
to me to be true.
These tendencies make human life
bitter and disagreeable. We carp, we
| dwell on faults, we look for the spots
we sour our own life, we embitter the
| life around us. The habit becomes oul
| second nature. And certainly the world
| is no brighter for our having lived III il
| IF we
Reach an Extreme.
So much for general view Wher
we come to the particular view of socia
| relation it is not less a truth. Take the
relation of friendship. There is no en-
joyment more deeply Impressive. Its
| memories are like the memories OF
| happy June days OIL bright waters; like
| the memories of loved songs, now silent
with the singer; like noble aspirations
| OIL the mountains. And YET
tr
.e the bonds we have woven sew,
eredl How often friendships chain
parts! How sad are the recollections
| of pure enjoyment and the regrets we
are obliged to feel! We expected toe
much We made an idol where we
| found an imperfect man, The Idol
shattered and fell; we could not be sat.
| isfed with the man. And when | hear
the wedding bells. and listen to the
| music Of the march, and see the tri-
umphant look of the groom and the IA.
dance of the bride, how many times
| am obliged to see that each has chosen
| an idol and received very imperfect
human being; and l know that the
| future will depend on thousand wise
! adjustments, based on the fact of
Human Emperfeetion.
| But as we pass along our theme
| widenS. Coming to the religious appli
| cation of the subject, we see in the
| mind of man these tendencies l have
! already limited. An ambition to per-
feet things, realization of his imper
| lection, and with these feeling thai
the responsibility of this condition mus
not be placed OH the Creator-these are
the instructive beliefs of the human
mind. The ambition for the perfect
leads him ever to- strive, or If not tC
! feel in his heart that those who are
| striving are in the right way. He con
i structs theories in the childhood of the
world to explain the condition of man.
and yet preserve the goodness of the
| Creator. He introduces devil, and
makes underground pits where this
demon will carry his victims. AL
| the movements of religious con.
| troverSy center around these facts
! The tendency to seek for something
| more than we have moves men to study,
sift and analyze. The belief in the
eternal goodness leads them to the feel
| ing of pity for an imperfect race. And
the fact of progress already made, and
| of pity combined with hope, constantly
| leads to more liberal view of religion
| That is the reason we are having dis.
| cussiens today in the higher circles oil
thought. That is the reason why
/ People Are Saying:
do not lay too much stress on the mere
| ism of your creed, but give us some
| thing humane; make the world little
| better if you can; lift the burden OF
| doubt and fear from some poor mortal
| and we will bless your church." And
| the real value of modern church. as il
seems to me, is not its ritual. not in the
magnfficence of its appointments, but
in the inspiration individuals receive
! that makes them a little stronger to
morrow to bear the burdens or to make
the fight necessary in this busy world.
| The true Christian view of life EN-
braces ali that l have mentioned. Ii
| sees the imperfectlon of human life, il
| realizes all its fickleness, all its lapses
all its disappointments, all its baseness
| 1t realizes the fact that all human life is
in state of ferment and that mer
know the right must win. We may rins
the changes Oh the word fanatic. W.