St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-23
TIPS. ON NEICHBORS.
Rev. S. G. Smith Delivers A
Pertinent Sermon At the
Peoples
He Enlarges Upon the Neigh
Dor AS A Factor In
Morals.
Every Well-Ordeped Home the
Center Of Moral Gull
tupe.
Influence Of Homes In the
Midst OF Abandoned Pop
ulatiOnS.

HC 4NOiShOOL oo AilOt-
als' was the subject OF Rev. s. G.
Smiths sermon yesterday morning at
the Peoples church. He took for his text
Roman xv-2: "Let each one of us
please his neighbor for that which is
good INTO edifying," and said:
Ii the command had stopped in the
middle-Let each one .of us please his
neighbor-we would have been ready
to give up this world or else our re-
ligion. And when we learn that there
is limit to his rightful claims upon
us-we are to please him indeed, but lie
is to- be pleased with that which IS good
unto edifying-there is still margin
enough of moral activity to employ the
best of us. The judgments which are
INDUCED with reference to the various
institutions and appliances of life
will depend upon the standard by which
they are measured. For twenty years
at least in Massachusetts every public
speaker was dwarfed because he was
compelled to be measured by Daniel
Webster. In the memory of many. a
hundred thousand dollars represented
an ideal fortune, but that was before
the multiplication of AStorS and Van
derbiits and Goulds. Pictures will sell
in st. Paul that could scarcely be given
away in Florence, because the pOpulace
are in possession OF the Pitt palace.
The Elizabethan era blighted the drama
in England for generate OnS because all
corners must be tested by the immGrtalS.
AS there are standards of taste, of
wealth, of oratory. of art, so there are
standards of morals which indicate the
character of systems and which deter
mine the value of civilizations. While
conscience remains an unalterable
factor in human development, the
moral judgments, which are the ma
terial upon which conscience works,
represents the variable element which
Makes Progress Possible.
1t was thus that Macauley in his essay
on Macchiavelli would teach us to read
history by fundamental principles and
to correct our opinions of men by the
environment in which they found them
selves. 1t is thus that the, supernatural
character and prOvidential mission OF
the great men whom we call Hebrew
prophets is vindicated. They do not
draw their life from their times. They
draw their themes from their times, but
their life is superior to their surround
ings, and they are able to give utter
ance to world-thoughts, to heaven
thoughts, and so produce a Bible and
become the teachers of the ages.
The divine quality of man can be
seen in the fundamental character Of
his moral being. The order by which
mans nature has aWaked is an indica-
put upon his activities. The savage
man begins with the primitive hungers
of the flesh. The body is imperiouS.
Iu order to work out his problem in
this world his life must be sustained.
Having satisfied his hunger, and found
for himself shelter, this son of God in
tine disguise of rough savage vindi-
Gates his descent by moral hungerS. He
must know and choose the right; he
must know and avoid the wrong. The
universal sense of moral authority over
him makes man moral being every
where. Out of this fact he makes his
ethics, his politics, his religion. Then
the reason asserts itself and man be-
gins the process of reflection. Having
satisfied his spirit with the good, he
seeks to feed his intellect upon the
true SO that philosophy follows after
religion. Having learned to think, he
then desires beauty, and 50 art is the
final
Development of Man.
There is something very suggestive
and full of instruction in this unfolding
of man. He satisfies the body. he seeks
the right. he accepts the true, he loves
the beautiful. The processes mingle
historically. but they show stages of
leadership in human development, and
mark the growth Of nations into epOchS.
He who is wise may see more of the
evidences of Christianity in such
broad outline of human evolution than
in many volumes of apologies for the
gospel. For, since God has made our
moral development primal, has lie not
by that fact made both philosophy and
art the servants and religion the guide
of man?
The standard of morals has changed
in various ages, and man has risen step
by step toward the height of his moral
judgments. Religion is reverence for
God; morality consists in the activities
growing out of reverence for man. The
primitive religions were not essentially
moral as we now understand the term.
The lpOlytheistic religions, of which the
Greek is the nobieSt example, were very
much inferior officially to the practical
life of the people. They had severe
statutes against murder, theft and other
sins, but in their temples every day
they did homage to gods who were muir
derers, thieves, adultererS, liars. The
morals of the people were very much
better than their religion. What would
we think of the state of affairs if Tam
many hall should become SO yirtuouS
that the college of the apostles should
seem to be scamps in comparison with
these political saints? Well, that was
the kind of dilemma that the piouS
Greek found himself in
Two Thousand Years Ago.
The evolution of the moral standard
in the Hebrew life is full of interest. In
the beginning the plan OF sacrifice was
borrowed from other religions and with
it the idea of substitution in morals. If
a man Sinned he must pay sheep, or
an OK, whatever would settle the bill,
but he escaped in his own person. The
moral elevation of the prophets burned
with Scorn against such compensation.
The Lord requires nothing but that
men shall Ideal justly, love mercy and
walk humbly with their God" Ezekiel
reaches the moral climax when he an
nounces that The soul that sinneth it
shall die" Begone all bntcherieS and
substitutions, the soul Of man is face to
face with his moral Nemesis.
The standard proposed By Jesus in
wolves complete SyntheSlS OF all former
spiritual effort. The gospel Is relig-
ion, but it is something more. 1t is also
an ethical culture. Thou shalt love the
Lord, thy God. The heart must be
nourished from on high, but in order to
show love to God thou shalt love thy
neighbor as myself. The final form of
moral life is positive. 1t no longer con-
tents itself with prohibitions, with neg
alive commandments. l. is living,
alert, active. From prudence it passes
into positive benefaction. The neigh
Dor, as a conditioning factor of life, was
not new thought in the world. Ali
statesmen understood that, The forms
of the government depended on the con-
ceptiOn. The ethics of the state were
built on the precept. Thou shalt pro-
tect thy neighbor as myself" This
mutually OF rights is the foundation of
political philosophy. Social life has its
neighborly precept as well, Thou shalt