St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-22
The JUDGMENT SEAT.
Rev. w. S. Wallis Ideal Picture
Of the Great Court Of
Justice.
The Divine Right Of Kings
Touched Upon by the
Preacher.
ChriSt's Principles to Be Fol-
lowed, il We Desire Sue
cess.
Our Punishment Likely to
Come Through Our Con- :
science.

A large audience assembled in the
Grand yesterday morning when the
Rey. w. 5. Vail, of the UniversaliSt
society, delivered an address on THE
Judgment Seat of Christ" He said ::
In taking up this statement we shall
begin by asking ourselves what there
is in it of local cOloring, that by an APP
peal to Imagination has been able to
draw the mind away from the real con-
ditions of the truth? 1t is the picture
OF great court of justice. What is
there in the picture that we should
hold? What is there to eliminate? The
thought of great court brings with it
many memories, many emotions. With
1t comes the vision of blind, stern
Justice holding with steady hand the
balances iii which all the conditions are
weighed. With it comes the vision of
trembling misfortune, of crlnging or
cunning guilt, of dark despair of wall
ing friends. 1t brings all the solemnity
of an occasion that is fraught with saw
ing of life or the condemnation of it.
And still. in trying to get at the signif-
canoe Of this text, | think that, instead
OF intensifying this feeling, we should
try to eliminate it. l know the awful
emotions that have been kindled by
transferring this picture by the power
and aid of the imagination to an unseen
world. What mighty majesty of Judge
and scene. What awful doom, where
Black Messengers
of night wait to receive you when your
case is passed upon and you are con-
demned. But, still, [ think the imagery
miSleadS us. Why?
The imagery misleads us because the
method of the court is not the method
by which Nature deals out her punish
ment. There may be terrible remorse
in store for US. There may be an inner
law by which the soul will feel all the
weight and burden of guilt The horror
that man may feel when he is alone
with his conscience is enough to over
turn reason if there is no mitigation or
hope. But still, all this is foreign in its
application to anything like the idea of
court, judge, a prison. Therefore,
in the consideration L would eliminate
this method of thinking.
In all religions and in all the history
OF mankind there is period when the
action of higher power is based on
divine right. Kings by divine right
have all the special privileges that have
been their prerOgatlve in past times.
Who cared that the poor lived in novels?
Who cared for the burden of taxation?
Who cared for the cries of the oppressed
that rose like swelling diapason on
the evening breeze? The king ruled by
divine right, who shall question?
So God ruled by divine right. Who
shall say that He may not do as He will,
or that punishment imposed by Him
is unreasonable? With the rise of that
good sense that denounces the divine
right of kings as unreasonable, there
comes the belief that supreme being
who would do thing that
OutraSes Our Sense
of justice is not right. "Show ME a
church whose god is love-" said Mr..
Lincoln, land Will join it," That is
what modern thought and our present
ideas demand of us in this particular.
We pass, then, to an examination of
man from the inner side, and we find
that in our common life we are judged
by all we say or do. When we stand
before masterpiece Of art our judy
ment will show an intelligence. or it will
show an utter ignorance of the condi-
tions.
have heard a man say of sermon
that represented the highest thought of
the present century.in which the preach
er was giving the result of the work of
scholarship that he had spent years in
gaining-I have heard man say that
such sermon was useless and value
less. The opinion only showed the
shallowneSs OF the critic. | have known
men to criticise music who did not know
the difference between major scale
and major general. The world is
largely made up of critics, and critics
pass Judgment on themselves i'm a ma
jority of cases.
Passing on to- this inner condition as
connected with our moral life, let me
say the judgment seat of Christ is in the
mind of man, the time begins when the
conscience condemns and makes him
afraid, and work will GO on until man
has the
Approval of His Conscience,
which is to him the voice of God. Of
the place it may be said that it is Ill
contrast with the usual representation,
but the proof of such place is in the
mind of every nearer. And if it is
something living and vital it will be in
action by the process of natural law all
the time. 70 wait until after death
would be an impossibllily. And
it can only be limited by the
length of time necessary to create
a new condition, and bring man into
harmony with his ideal OF perfection.
But you say conscience becomes hard
ened. Yes; but when that time comes
fear takes the place of conscience, and
a man only exchanges one form of ter
ror for another. A Richard, lowering
on the edge of battle like beast Of
prey, has lost the voice of admonltion;
but when he tries to sleep, how is it
that visions come Of the two innocent
boys; how is it he hears the challenge
and springs to- horse? Fear has taken
the place of conscience. He is before
the .judgment.seat.q He is being tried.
His peace is gone. He ison the wild
ocean. There is neyermore rest for
him. sac e. III ar
The working of this1law assure. 1t may
seem as if it ileYer would come, but
come it will. When the greatest artists
Carve a Character
and write its history, as Victor Hugo
has observed of Shakespeare, the mind is
given up to the working of an inner
law. That law carries the author in
spite of himself to the logical conclu-
sion. And being. spiritual law it is
gospel truth. The ancients said that
they grind exceedingly fine" This ex-
plains whyShakespeare carried Macbeth
down the grade to the gulf. 1t explains
why Lady Macbeth, having a different
nature took a different road,
but went over the precipice
also. 1t explains why George
Eliot, with apparent violence to proba-
bilities, brought Tito Melema TO the
hand of the man he had wronged, by
the side of the Arno, and it made Ro-
mola say to the little boy that though
this person had been petted and praised,
and for long time eluded the hand of
Nemesis, still misfortune overlook
him." 1t is the one truth written Oh
the face Of nature.
The sermon closed with an appeal to
keep the fundamental idea always in
mind; that our day of Judgment was
continuous, and our punishment was
likely TO come through our conscience;
that when we felt our ''honor grip"
that was to be our border" that we
were to take the principles of Christ
and follow them as commas no mai