Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-09
HIS SUBJECT WAS MAN.
Rev. Joseph Silverman Talks to a Young
Mems Association.
First OF . Series of Lecture.-Evolu-
ton and Growth of Man-Mater.
falism Denounced Sharply,

spoke without notes and diverged from the
usual track Of pulpit oratory.
Inc audience Endorsed all that he said
with vigorous applause and hearty hand
snakings. He said that he had no apology
70 make for the weather which he had
Drought along. He took pleasure in speak
ing before the association, because he saw
IN 1t the beginning of new era in Judaism.
Inc world was fuctuating between rank
materialism and gross indifference. They
were sailing between ScyIla and Charybdis;
IL they Stunned materialism they were lost
In Indifference. Two Of the main objects
Of men were gain and pleasure. 1t was
notorious that the young people were being
drawn into these currents and were drift
Ing away from the higher ambitions and
Ideals OF life; they were being carried along
not by the current which they had created,
but by that created by their fathers They
| should rise above a sordid love for money
| which brought neither bliss nor pleasure and
even itself was ultimately prohtless They
should inculcate in their young the nobility
Of true manhood and true womanhood.
This was the aim Of true religion. This
| was the religion that was blessed in the
sight Of God. The world was full Of skep-
tfcism because 1t was full Of false re-
! ligion. False religion was everywhere. Men
had false idea Of the basis Of religion,
false idea Of God and false idea Of man.
He would not engage in a discussion Of
what true conception Of God is but he
would describe what man Is and from this
description they might safely build an
idea Of God.
What IL Mani
The materialist alleged that man was a
manifestation Of matter; an aggregation Of
atoms and a movement Of molecules. This
degraded man into the level Of trees and
stones 1t was not q comforting thought.
1t crushed out ambition and high thought,
and dissipated their admiration for life. For
them. the universe had neither heart nor
love. This doctrine was unscientifc and il
logical. The other doctrine was the theo-
logical one. 1t maintained that God created
HE, force and matter, made man, Lit the
sun and set the planets in their orbits. 1t
taught that the world was garden in
which man might play. This doctrine was
a source Of comfort and consolation. 1t
built up confidence between man and God
and made men fancy that they were FASH
Toned In HIS image. Science had shattered
these castles, founded on fancy and odilded
In the air. Astronomy had shown that the
world so far from being the pivot of crea-
ton was but tiny fragment of it, and that
man was not the center of life. Stars we're
coming into being and were lying every
hour. Geology proved that the age Of the |
world as narrated in Scripture was wrong |
Inc 0ou ol IneOloSy was q small ana mar |
row God; the god of science was the in
finite god. This thought was progressing |
When 1t began to creep into being the mon |
asteries shook as II by earthquake and the |
doom. They fought 1t with the bitterness |
of intense hate. They waged q war Of per- |
secution on Gallileo, Bruno and Copernicus |
Truth struggled for the mastery and error
contested every inch. Error died and truth |
lived. Man was not q special creation. God |
watched Ger and attended every nodicum
Of matter whether within man or without
him. All the physical and spiritual world |
was under the guidance Of God. The speaker
related the well-known anecdote Of Arthur
Schopenhauer. the pessimist- philosopher,
Il am a man, but know not what that is.
I'd give a world to know"
His Sphere.
The speaker said we did not know what
man was. but we knew the sphere he filed
and the relations he ought to sustain. He
showed that apparently there was rela-
ton between raw material and finished
product; no apparent relation between the
violin and its music, the birds and the air
the fishes and the water, the perfect picture
and the daubs of color on the artists
palette. Neither was there any apparent
conviction between the physical and spirit
ual world. The universe was simply the
studio of the universal Maker Chemistry
showed that man was made up of the eIe-
ments around him. The alkilis and salts
and vegetables and mineral properties Of
man. Man was what he fed on. There was |
2 relation between the organic and the
!. 'n nd anti; we, worlds: Man was a mammal .
prove that man was of an independent or | ,
anaIhed class The theory Of evolution was !.
susn; there was much hysterical oppose !
ton to 1t. but this disproved nor proved ,
nothing.
His Evolution.
The question which concerned US most !
was how did man evolve from the animal I
md how and when did the break called I
me missing link occur? The animal was q
'tretching out. always eager to see, to hear. I
o grasp food and improve its shelter. q
0ioseV aiheo 10 physical evolution was .
piritual evolution, but the latter was not :
developed in the animal, though II was
here. We are what our surroundinc. h
re. Inc same law that suggests selec I
lon OF species suggests selection of food n
" the same time that man was workino II
n;pitsi sa;s to his physical being his
mere came period when the sniritnai
hot ahead and the mind outdid the hrein
me ne spiritual Qualities advanced, and as 4
eeame an a nns,eS man man elevated it and !,
ne break came science cannot demonstrate
nd perhaps never win. The future deyeIe
pment Of man would be Spiritual
The man of the future would ba 90 90,
error to the man of the present as the man II
I the present was superior to the man c;
the past. Evolution would be in the linz
the soul. The chasm between the snirit tc
al and the physical world could never he
ridged However closely man was relateS c
D the ape. he was infinitely removed FROM n
: Man destroyed and improved species nf s,
nimal and plant life which God had given 10
g. Each era saw man approach nearer the
mage Of his Maker. Man managed The Nj
cry elements of nature. He harnessed the al
'rces of heat and gravity, and Cohesion p
nd well-nish hitched his chariot to the
IN Man was the lord Of creation. Man nj
ould progress In three ways: EmotionaIiv
lorally, and spiritually. Love and friend o.
nip could be explained only by emotion. IF ne
'lig1on expected a millennium 1t must look az
the emotional. The moral nature of ~
an needed development. and It would have =,
Religion had occupied itself too much 10
ith creeds and ceremonials, and with
,ok. Moral life was not a trine We need
ethical principles instilled into the Young
cart. Ethics were scarce Politics were si
cnewed by men Of morals because poIi- tt
cs were immoral, and they were immoral ,n
cause men were so. Men hungered too III
ucn Tor gains. Ethics were wanted IN the OF
lnday schools and churches We should a
y, Morals! Moralsv' and not sF'eithi NJ
atm! The third line Of mans deveIon. RI
emit must be intellectually. This was an di,