St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-13
Rev. w. S. Vail and the In
creasing Study Of the
Human Race.
Social Life Of the Primitive,
Man and His Present
Ir. Greatness.
The Grand Jury Will Com
me nee It's LaborS This
'sen- Morning.
Will the Alleged Registration
Frauds Be InveS-
tigated p?

Rev. W. S. Vail, in his sermon yes
terday morning before the Universalist
church at the Grand opera house said
one of the most impressive facts in the
study of the human race was the constant
tendency to strive by all ways to know
more of man. Poets and painters had
represented him as fallen an gel-one
to whom the gates of pearl had been
clOSed-wiO was in the midst OF dark
ness, wandering by stumbling steps to
an abyss of fire. Scientists had some
times tried to reduce him to an animal.
He had been compared to vapor diSSi-
pated by the morning sun; to the weav-
er's shuttle. to the flying horseman, and
Christ had compared him to a lamb that
had wandered away from the fold and
was lost in the mountains, and called
upon him to come back to the Father.
The interest in the study Of man is
still as active as ever, but the method of
it has changed. and he claimed that be-
fore full presentation of the case could
be made we must understand what the
exact meaning of the Book of Genesis is
to the.
Scholar of the Time.
Orthodox authority, by the fact that
it is not sympathetic, should be called
upon to help in the decision, and he IN
stanced the position of DR.. Lyman Alb
bott in his recent lectures, declaring
that an epoch is approaching when a
step i'll advance is to be taken, and ask
ing also that the matter he looked upon
without any attempt to cloak condi-
tons saying. An alternative is pro-
posed in the fact that positions, analog-
GUS to the one here taken, have been
given up when found to be untenable,
and therefore it was not necessary to
conclude that the legend of the early
history of man was correct.
They should take the attitude of
learners. They should throw off any
''Old Man of the Sea" who might be
holding them to special lines of thought
that they were trying to prove and re-
Ject all precOnceived notions; they
should devote themselves. as the knight
prepared himself for his service, by
vigil and by earnestness, to see what
could be aScertaned as the exact knowl-
edge we have of primitive man. He.
claimed that in his physical structure
man showed evidence of a much lower.
condition than even the lowest savage
now reached, and while we might not
feel that he was on par with the ami
NAL. his body bore all the marks of an
aboriginal life that was animal in
its condition. This statement was
illustrated by quotation from
Henry Drummond, the naturalist,
who is both scientific and orthodox, and
Who claims that man bears in his body
the remains of past race. 1t was fur
ther illustrated by the whale, which
forms an analogous example so far as
its physical history is concerned; and,
while he would not be dogmatic, he saw I
in this one of the 8f
Straws That Show 44O .,..A
which way the current conclusion must
run-the conclusion of a rise rather than |
a fall in the case of man.
The speaker took up the social life of
the primitive man, and explained the
meagernesS and squalOr of his earliest
home: described his dress, his words,
his conditions and his fight with nature,
and IL doing this went into detail in the |
rehearsal of what man had been accord 4
ing to the plainly written records which |
men have digged from the caves. In |
this connection he spoke of the rIdicule |
that was heaped on the stories of mans
antiquity, related the finding of the |
told by DR.. John Hall, and |
the fraudulent fossils that had been /
to meet the demands of a |
public sentiment. All this |
was OF little moment. What we had |
found was the condition of primitive
man.
And now, having made this study of |
the natural history of man, the speaker |
raised the question of its bearing OH the
religious tendencies of the time. 1t |
must have some influence. Will it |
strengthen the church? 1t would tend |
to turn our minds to the question of
what the purpose of the church was in |
its essence, and brought US to the con-
sideratiOn of the ideas that we're in coll
tiict today, and at last cleared the way |
for the statement of what all ideal
church would gladly do. Its end, the
production of Christian manhood; it
means the appeal TO love, sacrifice and
humanity, and not an appeal to fear;
its hope lay in the fact that the Infinite
Father is underneath all the heavlng |
and surging currents, and must win the
battle.
Here was where all men who advo-
Gated cause must rest. Patience must
mark on every step of their progress, |
and they must be content to come only |
a little nearer each time. They must |
be willing to see the work go on by |
waves of forward movement and waves
of reaction. But in all they will never
falter if they believe that underneath
are the everlasting arms"