St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-23
THAT Big REVIVAL
Forms a Theme for the Ser
mon Delivered by Rev.
Vail.
1t Will UnlooSe a Great Pow
er Upon the People
Here.
Whether for Good Depends
Very Much Upon Them
selves.
Danger From the Religious
Excitement Attending
RevivalS.

1t is safe to say that different peopl e
put different estimate on the value OF
this movement, and that this different
value is produced by their point of
view. their preconceived ideas, and
their belief or disbelief in the machin
cry itself.
Nor can one escape the feeling that
comes when we contemplate the indi-
vidual opinions of people who are inter
ested. And contemplating these indi-
vidual details one is moved TO conclude
that he should expect to hear just what
he does hear in the way of remark. For
if there are people who look upon re
vivals as Gods appointed method OF
work, and if the city has been long
without a revival, L should expect
such people to look upon such
lack as mark Of Gods dis
pleasure, and should expect them to
feel just as the soldiers at Lucknow the
dangers of the situation-eXpect them
to see visions of skulking enemy, of
failing provisions and a surrender Of
forces, of cruelty and Of death far from
home. And as those men literally
danced for Joy and cried in their glad
ness when the young girl heard far
away, long before any one else could
make it out, the music of Sir Colin
CampbelPS pipes and gave the soldiers
to understand that life from the dead
was III the thrill of those tones, so
would | expect that hundreds of women
in this city, weary with their Vigils,
hundreds of wives and hundreds of
mothers, will naturally look upon this
movement as the coming of deliverer.
And then others will look at it in less
intense way, and to them it will be like
the coming of spring, when buds will
burst into bloom, when birds will sing,
when June airs will kiss the cheek-it
will be to them the hope of milder,
better day.
And not less honest, not less sincere
is a large and growing class who feel
sentiment of nameless dread at the
mention of the coming revival. In a
vague way 1t seems TO suggest to their
minds an epidemic or terrific Sc0urge.
Without knowing exactly why, without
trying to analyZe their feelings, they do
not believe that unmiXed good accrues
from revival. Given a person with
this feeling, can readily understand
that he looks upon it with distrust, just
as he would be agitated in seeing man
carry the red flag that announces small
pOX. He expects an upheayal, but he
firmly believes that all things are TO go
to the worse and not to the better. l
readily see then that there must be a
lack of confidnce on the part of some
and supreme confidence Oh the part Of
others.
The Power Embossed.
And, in view of all this diversity Of
opinion. | want to fix your minds on one
phase of the problem. | want to teach
that power will be Embossed IN this
city. That power may be for the good
of the city or it may not, as it is wisely
or unWisely directed. but it Is sure TO
have some kind Of an influence, and that
influence will be felt for some time to
come. And, in order to establish the
theme of my sermon, in order to show
as would like TO show that we need to
care for certain precautions. to use
force wIsely-that is, we need to inocu-
late ourselves with certain ideas before
this time comes; [ will ask you there
fore to follow me through the steps of a
theory of the action of the mind under
emotion that may take somewhat wide
range, for the problem is not simple
one, but touches many others on more
than one side.
Now take the picture Of men in the
ton. 1t may be our colonial friends
who are moved to rush down and throw
the tea into the bay; it may be our old
Athenian friends who nave been listen
ing to the eloquence of Demostehenes
and who are rising with swelling
| muscles and hoarSe Threats to declare,
I'VE will go out fight Phillip" No
matter, it is body of men so aroused
! that if they act at all they will be ruled
by their aIl-pervading emotion. And
what do you find? You find them quick,
inhammable as oil, tense, strong, dam
| gerOus. You find them spasmodic, I'M
| patient, dashed by their inner heat to
the point of action, whether the action
be Intelligent or blind. Their fury Is
like pent-up waters. and must have an
outlet.
And In this condition of emotional eX-
| element they are liable to go right, but
| just as liable to go wrong. They are
| capable of the Drofoundest sacrifice, but
they are liable to practice the worst
cruelty. And here, without claiming
to be original. let me borrow from sci
| ence a thought that l believe throws
| light Oh this problem. Let me state it
| as a probability. If men are developed
by very long life on the earth, and if
in the course of that long history they
are subject TO improvement and the con-
| Sequent changes that improvement
should bring in its train, it is reasona-
BILE to believe that some senses and fac
ulties that were useful in other days
are now supplanted by other faculties.
There are birds that show the remains
| of fins. Man himself has the rudimentS
Of a muscle for moving his ears, a
muscle rendered useless by his develop
ment and its nOG-uSe. In such being.
who has developed some faculties and
lost others, it would be natural to sup
pose that we might find two sets of
senses-One that belonged to the far
past, and one belonging to the
| undeveloped future-one degener-
ating and one developing. 1t
would be reasonable to suppose that be-
fore man had spoken and reasoned by
the aid of language he was possessed OF
the power of communicating his
thoughts to other minds by the instincts
that belonged to those times, and that
| this endowment became less useful as
he developed, until at last he sunk so
low that he no longer realized its exist
ence. But, if man has it, an excite
ment OF sufficient power may awaken it
by throwing him into his former state.
And If this be true it will explain to us
why man may have remarkable gift
and bad character for his abnormal
condition, allowing the theory true,
might carry him back to his animal life,
where it was possible to dispense with
speech; but, resurrecting that life, he
might easily resurrect with it the nom
moral sentiments that belonged to that
period of his existence. And in other
cases where men nave unusual powers.
and with these notably bad character.
we might be reasonably sure that these
powers were reyerSlonS to the primitive
abnormal type, and always dangerous.
Possibilities of Good.
On the other hand. we are moved to
look at the side that is good, and to give
it at least as much Importance, and we
believe far more. And, looking at this
side, we repeat what we SAID in the be-
ginning-that If man has senses that
| belong TO a mast age he also has senses