St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-04
THE DISAPPOINTED ONES.
Rev. William Wilkinson on Their
Need of sympathy.

Rev. William Wilkinson on Their
Need Of Sympathy.
In st. Andrews church last night,
Rev. William Wilkinson said:
In the very busy life many of us have
to live, there is grave danger of
our letting superficial views
of things Salty and deceive us.
1t is grave error to suppose that only
the so-called lower orders of the people,
or men who by death or great calamity
have lost wealth or suffered signal SOr-
row need help. In the history of those
of whom l speak there is no tragedy or
comedy, but one unbroken line of what
men call advancement in the eyes
of men who think that this life
is the most important, If it does not
end all life in man. l often see
and talk to men who in signal manner
exemplify all | now describe. They
are by thoughtless people looked upon
as fortunes petted children. Have they
prudence and self-denial through years
OF anxious, weary toll come to a time
when they can take life easy? Yes;
perhaps in sense this is true. These
men, in the poetic sunshine of youth.
set before them goal they fondlv sup
posed, could they and should they reach
it, would be to them happy song,
peaceful psalm, contented, lasting
Joy. Year by year, with eXpectant
eyes, they have looked into the
dim vista of time, and with glow of
hope which has thrilled their ssouls,
said, | am nearing the end have i'll
sight. In moment OF time, by some
mysterious turn in the wheel Of fort
une, truth gaunt and grim in all its
naked responsiveness. stands confront
ing them, and with all the distinctneSS
OF the forked lightning's flash. they see
it, with anguish they feel It,. In a
moment they perceive the eternal fact
that no man, of all the children of men,
ever came to the happy state Of salts
faction and rest they had designed,
pictured, hoped and intended by means
of gold. These men had left God out
of their balance sheet. The man who
has spent the strongest years of his best
manhood in delusive hope, in ideal
castle building, and found in age that
his base line is wrong, deserves, needs
the sympathy of all who can enter into
the bitterness of the disappointed soul.
I say there is not tramp III the dusty
highway OF life, who has no decent coat
to wear and no home III which live, who
more deserves kindly consideration
than the men picture now.
Take another man. Look at him. He
is in most cases likely to have vulgar
abuse, which never can do him any
good, which, in fact, may do him great
harm by placing religion in worse
light than that IN which he now looks at
it. refer to one who has slowly and with
deliberation cast away the religion of
his childhood-that religion which has
been sung at the cradle GA sighed over
the grave. For these men revealed re-
ligion is full of difficulties. They do
not understand its teachings Alright;
its mysteries confound them; its mira
Giles perfect them: things as they are
seen in the church do not improve the
case in their eyes. They see linen as
trees walking" but look for better
state of things, if. they know enough.
They say, 1--WE will not accept dogma;
we will not believe theological super
stitiOn. We will be free; we will fol-
low the lead of Science, and at her
shrine we will worship; at her altar we
will bow, and at no other. We seek to
know; we want gertrude. We would