St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-11
MYSTERY AND HOPE.
Dr.. Smith, OF the Peoples.
Delivers an Eloquent
Easter Sermon.
Corporate Immortality" Dis
cussed in a Strikingly
Original Style.
Personality Has Been Power
fully Modified in the
Last Century.
The Reality OF Human Life
and It's Varied
Phases.


lie SAID. AS we uTdW near W EdotCl
which represents the mystery and hope
OF the Christian religion, we do well to
make a study of some other forms OF the
thought of Immortality before giving
ourselves to the Joy of the historic
drama, bnrdeDed with the message,
Though We die, We shall live again"
In recent years term has come into
use both TO soften the thought of an
Inhalation at death, and to account for
the instinct which yearnS toward the
future within US all-the phrase, Cor
pOrate Immortality. The meaning OF u
IS, that though the individual perishes
AT death, he continues 10 1--we III the
race. and he has no Immortality outside
OF the common life Of humanity, 10
which he bequeatbs his influence and
being.
The idea OF personality has been pow
erfully modified in the last century.
There have been developments III phil
osOphy, history. sociology and science,
which have already affected, and which:
are in the future TO affect, perhaps still
more impressiVely, the conception or
the nature OF our individual existence.
Hegel has taught us to see in history
the continuous unfolding OF the inner
life of the whole race in which process
nations and ages are less significant
than the Irregularities Of mountain and
valley on the eartlrs rOundness. When
events vanish the
Individual Ii Gone
Compile has given us a new view OF the
unity and greatness OF the race, and
the word Humanity, baptized with the
1F ha r0uninftnn ricnc IA
a higher Significance. Herbert Spencer
and his school teach us how dependent
are all processes of life on their inherit
ance from the past. and continuous they
are, save for change OF environment,
and the word Evolution binds not only
humanity but the whole of life into one
bundle. Then come our new social
teachers, who seek to make our instlt3-
lions the Interpretation of the solidarity
of humanity, broadening our view of
those forces which would modify the
intensity of our personality. Instead
of interrOgating my own consciousness
TO find out who or what | am. 1t seems
needful to find my answer Ill the COM
mon life of my fellows.
All of this is in harmony with the
deep message of the gospel which is yet
to call its witnesses from all fields, and
to stand as the interpreter Of the final
and most comprehensive science. Long
before these modern thinkers, Paul
taught how closely the life OF the race is
inw0ven when he said that God had
made of one blood all the nations, and
he showed the type OF perfect society
LII his famous picture of one body III
winch all the individuals are but mem
bers. Compile would teach that human
ity is
Like Stream,
the waves and eddies may disappear,
but the crystal deeps rush on. But far
truer and profounder is the thought of
the apostle who knows that the JOY of
living belongs to man. and so the indi-
vidual is not the mOmentary phase OF a
dead bulkineSs like the wrinkled shin
ing OF the stream, but like eye or hand
or foot, a real part of the body of hui
mainly.
There are many considerations that
give impreSSiyenesS to the idea of
corporate immortality in the Pauline
sense. First. humanity is continuous.
We begin where our ancestors left off.
We cannot unmake our past, which we
did not create, and which is the largest
factor i'll our experience. We only really
live as we truly inherit our past. inter
pref it into our present. and bequeath it
10 the world as its future. Otherwise
We are rebels, aliens, iconoclaStS, mar
plots, and most singing Of all eplthets
when truly used. heretics.
The reality of human life is our COM
mon life with our fellows. Put man
on desert island. Fit it up with all
the material comforts of civilization,
so that it is only desert because he Is
alone, and the man does not really live.
do not refer to his sense of pain from
his isolation, but to the decay of his
faculties because there is no proper ex-
ercise OF them. lie was made 10 use
speech, but forgetS his language be-
cause he has no normal exercise of it.
He was made To love, but his heart con-
sumes itself because there is no
object Of Affect on.
For activities he needs association
and help. Such man speedily reyerts
to Savagery and becomes the wild man
of the woods of tradition. Human life
is corporate life. The final reality of
a man is his contribution to history.
You DO not discover his personality in
the common activities by which the
mechaniSm of life is maintained, but in
that movement, great or small, by
which and through him the common
life of the race is enlarged. The poet
is not seen IN the rhythm or rhyme
which he uses in common with the rest,
not in talk about birds and sunshine
and love OF which the whole brother
hood rave, but in his use Of these COM
mon elements of his craft. so that he
manifests afresh the unfolding and ell
larging lite of his kind.
The eXcellences of existence consist in
individual Subordinati0n to a higher
unity. a cliff of stone has no difference
between its parts. 1t is solid; it may
be homogeneous, undivided. But if il
is to become temple its unity must be
broken up; it must be divided into
parts which are not harmonious in
themselves, but only find themselves in
the higher grandeur or the completed
building to which each part is made
Servile.
SO Is Life.
The very lowest orders have no
organs TO speak Of Any part is the
same as every other. There is no dis
elimination in a mere aggregation OF
cells. But the higher the organization
the more completely are the different
parts Disseminated for particular uses,
yet all ministerlng to common lie.
Now the church is made the symbol
of the universal life of man. The ideal
church has varied activity and CON-
pick organization to give to each type of
man or woman some fitting activity, so
that the church would be something less
If any member was left out. Only if
this is true of you, have you ever really
joined the church. And when the
wierd dreamer of the Book of Reyela-
ton makes the kings of this world cast
their crowns at the feet of Christ. So
''liying for Christ does not mean idle
and selfish emotions, begotten by
thoughts of his service for US. but it
means such union with him that it be-
comes our life to minister, so that all OIL
our strength, intelligence, virtue, be-
comes part of the common possess
ions of the race. We live for Christ
when we dry somebody's tear, appease
some hunger. brighten Some hu-
man ignorance into knowledge.
The unity OF God involves the
unity of his administration. so that
people need not wonder how they can