St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-04
Instinct Declares to Be the
Preservation OF Your
self ID IS zen
Tc
Rev. W. S. Vail Gives His
Views Thereon in Mas x
terly Style, e2'S
And Shows the Great Re-
sponsibilities in This ~.
World. siti9
Brilliant Sermon Of a Visit,
ing Canadian Preacher s r. :
Last Night. sW

Rev. w. S. Vail, in his sermon yester-.
day morning before the Universalist
society in the Grand opera house, said:
Friends, there is il the human mind
an instinct that says: The first law of
your life is the preservation OF your
SELF and that law contradicts all the
philosophy you can bring to. bear.
Alongside of that there is another law
that says: You are responsible be-
ing You may inherit tendencies that
are unfortunate; you may reincarnate
a life that is dragging you down; you
may be bearing the sin of some an
cestor who weighted you with ytenden
cle5 that are curse 10 you every hour.
Still You and every man has the feel
ing of responsibility. That is the one
lever that has lifted the world. i am
responsible to some unseen power said
the primitive man, crawling out of his
dark cave, and he began to try to find
his God. | am responsible to some
higher power, and he began to seek in
the oYerarching sky,ln the bright dawn,
in the memory of ancestors, being to
worship and who had a
Right to His worship.
Every man comes into this world
without consultation or choice. Inwar
we risk onr lives under the guns that
are sowing the field with leaden grain;
or brave messenger rides through
very shower of bullets to deliver his
message; or a commander rides in the
very face of defeat, with death lowering
in the saddle Of each man. down some
valley of destruction, as did the Light
Brigade at Balaclava; but in each case
If yrac cl,oina IL ic rrptOedjfafnd capri
flee, or it is the acceptance OF the chance
in such way that each seems aminded
in his death to throw away his life, as
'tWere the merest trit1e. The other
case is different. That one man is born
in sight of the splre of Harvard univer-
sity and another is born in the heart of
Africa,is not the choice of either. And if
we are not consulted as to our birth, and
if we are to large extent the creatures
of circumstance, inheritance and condi-
ton. then | say that to make broad
macadamized road by which this whole
population shall march down to an end
less doom in a fiery pit puts fearful
responsibility on somebody. -.
And we may here pause momert TO
emphasize the fact that great end0W
ment implies great esponsibility!otA
Judge of the supreme court is held more
more of him than of rural justice. I'VE
expect more from Iennyson than from
TIse Village Rhyinster. W ii
1--WE rise in expectation as the object of
eXpection rises III endowment. And OF
all the responsibilities in this world the
greatest is the creation of q world shb-
ject-the awful doom of endless VIDE.
There has ever been in the mind5of
,oti hn ,t
him that he is under obligation to s6lne'
in varying ways that he is. to seek the
welfare OF his race. The sayagest. pm
ishment of this day was -arceptediin
the place Of some punishment more saw
age. and was accepted on the side1of
mercy. The prisoner of war, driven
like beast of burden under'yoke of
the tyrant, was supposed to enjoy an
immense clemencv because he was
freed from immediate and ign0miniouS
death. And rising to every form of ex
perience until we reach the,summit, we
find the same fact, and still it is man
endowed with a faculty. working out
by the help of this light, his salvation.
"Who will claim that he has absolute
knowledge? How little we know. We
boast of our scientific knowledge; every
man did that in the beginning of this
century, and since that time all knowl-
edge has been restated. Under this
condition, knowing that we are iii ig
norance of many things, that we are at
the best needing to pray continually
for light, and that we are burdened by
our heredity and our surroundings as
we'll as our weakness, | feel sure that
we shall say: The Father knowing the
weakness cf man will always leave the
door ajar and the lights burning. so that
when repentant nature seeks entrance
from the wild moors of sinful regret
that light will seem to say Come home.
my child, come home.'"