St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-30
The Members Of the Peoples
Church Make a Great
Showing.
Subscribed $4,000 to Clear
the Church of It's In
debtedneSS.
DR.. Smith Delivers a Sermon
on Gods Money at
Interest.
Spiritual Forces Breed Every
Good Thing in the Ma
terial World.

At the Peoples church yesterday
morning DR.. Smith delighted the con-
gregation by announcing that he had
received cash contributions to the funds
of the church amounting to $1,000,
which would pay off the debt on the
organ and all the floating debt of the
church. Mr. Baldwin pulled out the
stops of the great instrument, the con-
| gregation rose to their feet and sang
''Old Hundred" with much earnestness
and feeling to express their joy at the
result. DR.. Smith stated that he had
never known money to be given more
| generously or more cheerfully. The
| sermon by DR.. Smith was Goods Money
| at interest,"" taking for his text:
"Thou oughtest, therefore, to have
| put my money to the bankers, and at
! my coming should have received back
mine own with interest" Matt. XIV: 81.
The story from which this text is
| taken, translated into modern phrase,
runs about like this: Jesus was seeking
| to deepen in the minds OF his audience
| the SenSe of obligation to so live as to
| use in the best way all the gifts of God
why" ne would say, I've stand in re-
latiOn to God as laborers in the employ
of capitalist or as trustees in charge
of funds. Suppose man should call
in certain persons and give to them his
money before gong en Journey. He
gives to one $1,000, to another 1000. to
! another 81 1000, according to their ability
to manage the money. When he comes
back be wishes to have his legitimate
profit. The first two have doubled their
money; the third has locked his up in a
safe. Naturally, the money IS taken
from him with the rebuke of the text,
and is now .intrusted to the man who
has the sl0,OO0."'
1t is not easy for us to conceive our
relation 20 God in the sense in which
Paul conceived it and Jesus revealed it,
He does not stand related to His works
as builder to his house. The builder
found his materials provided for him.
He erects his house and then may 90
away anil leave it, or ne may d e, and
the building remains unframed. But
the relation of God to His building is
vital: Were God to die, His universe
would fall into chaos, for it has order
because of His WILL it has plan because
of His mind. it has beauty because Of
| His grace. He ,Sustains all things by
His constant presence and energy.
When the light can get along without
the sun, or the perfume without the
flower, or the song without the singer,
the rain without the clouds. or the
| trees without the earth in which
|. 80 -. They Are Rooted,
|. then can we, get along without God.
Our relation to Him IS essential to us.
This being the uatnre of our relation to
| Him, The ground ct our obligation is
not fardO seek. But would conceive
that obligation in no narrow spirit.
God is the broadcast and most regal Soul
! of whom we may conceive. His inter-
ests are the most manifold. We serve
Him .soybena we seek to do His will
But His will is, not limited to morals and
religion It IS. His will that the bouiTte-
Gus earth shall be mastered, that mines
shall be filched of their wealth, that
cities shall be builded. books written,
music and all forms of art created.
| God cannot be- enriched by anything
we can de; but He can be realized.
ror himself in terms of the
finite, and IN all this labor
we are workers together with God"
4 His will eanRet be accomplished until
every secret of thought and power in all
| the universe is brought out into the
light of reality. But we think God. not
as artisan or artist, but we think of Him
as holy and good, because he has
( crowned our knowledge of Him with a
sense of His moral projections. He In
sists also on this order in the develop
ment of civilizations. No civil nation
has ever risen higher than its moral EN-
! pire. The lowering of the spiritual
forces among any people is the bar
| rometer in which the discerning eye
may read the prophecy of
/ Gods storms.
No community can rise higher than
the realization of its moral conquests
|. will warrant Whether we will or no,
we must seek frstthe kingdom of God.
All moral effort also stands vitality re-
lated to all material effort. There is not
good prayer meeting in any cOmmu-
nifty but helps every stonemasOn to put
in an honest foundation. The sense of
proportion must be sought in our diSpo-
Sition of our resources. The current
thought among the better class of peO-
pie seems to be, Il will manage my af-
fairs according to my desires, and if /
have any surplus of time or money. or
strength will give part of this to my
spiritual life" But our relation to God
is so vital, our spiritual interests are SUI
preme, that this order is precisely the
inversion of every lesson of life from
either the Bible or any other deep
thoughted history. The supreme in
rerest of every man, woman and
child is the moral interest, and
the supreme concern of every commufi-
ity is its moral forces. The churches of
| st. Paul are vastly more necessary to
| its prosperity and its peace than the
| Wood Harvester works, or all the
manufactures and banks combined.
| For the spiritual forces will breed every
| good thing in the material world and
out of the uplift of human souls have
| been born workshops and fleets and
sciences.
If the West side were filled with fac
tories, and from Seventh street fill to
/ the prairies. and there should be no cor
| responding increase i'll the moral and
! religious forces, the time would come
when one might as we'll live in Sodom
| or Gomorrah, or Chicago. We are at the
dividing of the ways. The problems are
| still In our hands. May it be given to
the leaders of our strength to see the
| facts clearly and to save us
From Our Perils.
No man does his duty to the cOmmu
| nifty in which he lives unless he aids in
its spiritual work. Mr.. George has &
good deal to say about the ''unearned
| misunderstanding thereby the own
ing of real estate which remains unlm
proved while its value is enhanced by
the toll and life of others. This in
crease in value, Henry George thinks
is not earned. do not intend to dis
| cuss his theory. 1t has much weight IL
London, where large holdings are free
from taxation. but it may have a differ
ent force here, where the vacant lot:
help to pave the streets, lay the side
walks and maintain the municipal gov
eminent. But about the fact of an un
earned increment in morals and re
iigion there can be nu question
The churches : and the variou:
moral forces of the community
make it inhabitable. Very few people
would be willing to live where there i:
no church. But what right has any
one to the benefits of spiritEsi life il
town who pursues his own selfish way
and has his moral being kept alive by
| a