St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-08
Rev. w. S. Vail Continues His
Sermons on Modern
Thought.
"LeS Miserables" as Much a
Sermon as RObeptSOn'S
"AtOnement."
Some Of Its Principles in the
Light Of Christian
Theory.
The Treasurer of the Bakers
Union Disappears With a
Shortage.

wv. W. -. ' al yOoISIudy liOiDlHS
addressed the First Universalist society
in the Grand opera house, taking for
his subject, Victor Hugo ON the Chris
tian Problem" He said:
We are studying the movements of
modern thought. Every man of genius
who has touched the problem at all has
added something to the sum total of our
thinking i'll this generation, or has
given an emotional impulse by his
work. Not only great preachers, but
great scholars who never stood i'll the
pulpit, and great poets, and great his
torians, and all the vast number of men
who are i'll any way connected in
thought and its expressions are
preachers i'll their own way, and WELD
a powerful influence directly or indi-
rectly on the minds OF men. Victor
Hugo is a great preacher. His book,
Les MiSerableS," is intended as much
for sermon as was Robertson'S dis
course on atonement. If it fails as
sermon. it fails of his expectation.
That was his intention when he wrote
1t, and when it was complete he felt
that he had accomplished his task. We
shall examine some Of its principles i'll
the light of The Christian theory.
Preliminary to this we may say word
about the man and his connection with
the theory here carried out. OF the man
the one word that expresses most is the
word genius. He was born to leave his
name on the scroll of honor. He drew
conclusions without the tedious proc
eSSeS that common
Men Must Follow
He saw things by direct vision.
He anticipated coming events long be-
fore they came above the horizon. The
king who lived Ill ease, the prosperous
Speculator who owned the handsome
mansion, the great men who gained the
applause of the world, were all unlike
him. They enjoyed ease, applause,
riches. He had neither. He was in
the full vigor Of life. He was under
cloud and curse. He had been un-
fortunate in childhood; injustice and
misfortune had been against him, and
he was now Soured against the world
and all its people. In the village he
was driven from the inn, from the pot
house, from the prison where lie asked
bed. from the kennel of the dog where
he sought refuge. AS a last resort he
applied at the house of the one man
who in all the community believed i'll
the existence of the germ of goodness
III human nature, Bishop Myriel. And
here we come to the first sermon OF the
story.
This sermon relates the TRANSFORMED
ton OF life. The person we have just
considered. He WAS far down in the
scale of humanity. The principle we
have also considered; it was the appeal
of love to the hidden germ of love in a
degraded heart. Vatican had abused
the hospitality of the only man who had
befriended him, and that man had for
given him. A new light shOne in his
life. and with a radiance that startled
him. A voice suggested new hope.
1t filled every nook and corner of his
life. The possible life of a philanthro-
pist,
Blessing Every Life
that came near his because the one
hope that hereafter occupied his whole
attention. He was like the man who
cOnceiveS the idea of discovering new
world. or the man who inventS an ap-
pliance that would ever thereafter make
the world better place to live in, or
the prophet who would eliminate wrong,
Or the boy described by one of our poets,
lost long time on the mountain, sick
and homesick, but revived by human
kindness, and leaving the cottage with
a new birth of humanity.
The author answered his own cues
ton in the affirmative, after he had
asked: SIS there not i'll every soul,
was there not in Jean Vatican especial
ly, primary spark, a divine element,
incOrruptible in this world and immor-
tai for the other, which good can de-
velop, illumine and cause to glisten
splendidly, and which evil can never
entirely eXtinguish?'
The next movement in the religious
experience of this man was of char
acter to denote this development along
the line we have mentioned. In fit of
reversion he. had taken money from a
boy and the silver from man. This
was moral alteration. In a first Of
fender it would have been overlooked.
In discharged convict it meant,
it he was detected, the galleys for
life. Another man was arrested in
his name, and the evidence prom
iSed to send him to the galleys. Here,
again, was cause for thought. In the
chapter entitled "A Tempest in Brain,'
the story is told. The question was,
'How can l find ease of conscience"
When he tried to argue that he was
rich and doing great good with his |
he laughed the bitter laugh of |
Scorn. When he tried to persuade him
self that he might carry the guilty |
secret and be at peace, his better self |
laughed again. When he said, II will |
go and save the man." there was pain
in the soul of the man, but there was
light and peace. In choosing this way, |
Victor Hugo said he was listening to !
and obeying the voice Of God. This is |
the highest type of
Experimental elislOn.
In wider application of this theme the I
speaker related love of the Eponine for |
Marius, giving the pathetic story of her