St. Paul daily globe., 1894-06-04
GLOBE MONDAY MORNING.. JUNE 1871.

good thing; that this is better even than
it was years ago when first came to
love it."
We know how this is with all true art
and with all true literature. There are
certain volumes which we call classic,
of which we do not ask ourselves
whether we enjoy them, as If we were
testing the books themselves, but whi h
we hold before us always as touchstOnes
of our own tastes. These classic books
of the world are classic because they
have been continually challenged; they
have been criticised, not by one man,
but by thousands of men; criticised. not
according to the needs OF one genera
tiOn, but by successive generations.
The greater part OF the literature of the
world fails in this test. 1t has its brief
season of popularity. and then is for
gotten.
Now, when we come to our religious
thought and our religious life, we must
come to have a deep respect for this
feeling which men everywhere have
manifested for that which has grown
long familiar and which has stood the
test of that familiarity, not sinking into
contempt, but gathering new meaning
and new sacredness. ''rell me the old,
old story" the gospel hymn declares.
and there is reason for that, because
whatever may be the origin OF it, it is
better told. 1t appeals to that which is
deepest and most universal in the soul
because 1t has been told SO often.
| have tried to preach that message
here III ST. Paul, the message of per-
fectly free religion. but l think l have
never preached it, at least. have never
meant to preach it as if it was anything
new. l have tried to preach it as SOme-
thing that was the ancient gospel of the
race, and l have come more and more
10 ind 1t linking me more closely than
ever before with the remoteSt past. My
quarrel with dogmatic and conservative
religion is not that il is too conservative,
not because it makes too much of the
historic, too much of the past of human
ltY,but because it does not make enough
OF these things: because it is content
with so limited traditions, something
local, something, after all. recent.
conscience, reason, love, these are
the things which are eternal. and com-
ing In contact with these things and
making these things our own, we can
share their immortality, we become
conscious workers with the Eternal,
forgetful of ourselves, and lost IN that
end which alone justites life. And we
do find some things which seem SO nee
essary, SO beautiful and lastingly hu-
man, so truly divine, that we may say:
These Old things, these constant laws,
these perennial inspirations, these COM
ing into our mind bring with them
calmness and peace and lasting JOY.
These are the things which never can
be taken away from US, because mani
tested in various forms they retain that
perennial youth. And the effort of all
rel!gion-not of one branch of it or of
one sect of it, but of all religion
When it is vital-is this per-
petual seeking Of the permanent,
the eternal, the eternaily true things
which are at once ancient and ever
new. Aud whenever we come ourselves
through our own experience to find
these things, there first comes to US this
sense of newness, because it is new to
us. and when we See all about us the
footprints OF the past, we know that
at this same fountain the men of old
have come, and from this have been
drinking their inspiration: and it is
when we come to this last discovery
that we find our true fellowship. begin
ming with those we know and including
every religious soul in the past and all
that can come in the future.
He who finds these things. though for
moment he may seem to stand alone,
finds himself always with The conscious
ness of new discoveries, of friendliness
and of fellowship.