The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-26
SERMON.
THE INFALLIBLE POWER OF
GENTLENESS.
BY REV. f. F. BUCKNER.
Macomb. Ill.

"a soft answer turneth away wrath" Prov
CRIBS XIV. /.
The world where God has placed
us has apparently been governed and
guided by force. The names famil-
lar to us in history are the names of
lions that went roaring over the earth.
We read of Rameses, Cyrus, Alexan-
der, Caesar, Charlemagne, Charles
XII and Napoleon, and on the sur
face of history it would appear as if
the world and its inhabitants were
made for these incarnations Of force
to override and overwhelm. The I'M
thinking reader of history is apt to
be misled by all of this external dis
play; all this marching and counter
marching and battling which is TAX
ing place as his mind weaves vision
of the past. But our belief is that
these lions of the race have apparent
ly, and not really, shaped the spirit
of the ages. 1t is not the flood which
sweeps over the earth that determines
the course of the waterways. The
silent rivulet which quivers in the
sunlight flows it's channel and wears
away the foundations of rock clad
hills. What are the names of the
warriors of today? And how are
their deeds enshrined in the hearts
of the race Napoleon, the last and
perhaps the greatest of thousand
conquerors, is not living, inspiring
personality like other names who at
tracted only a thousandth part of his
applause. His name today is creed
shaken by the wind" We are in the
long run compelled to acknowledge
the power inherent in the silent infu-
ences forever at work. Man may
build his modern wonders and by
steam and electricity hoist his brick
and mortar to the top of the highest
building, but every summer in a
thousand forests the silent powers of
capillary attraction are lifting mil
lions of tons of earth and water, to
beautify the landscape and provide
for the wants of man. The internal
commotion of the planet may have
pitched the mountain ranges as
easily as man pitches tent or roofs
house, but through all the after
ages the sun has sent its silent rays
with the speed of the lightning, and
melted the SHOWS on the highest sum
mits. and the waters have run down
into the cracks and crevices, and froz-
en- again, and expanded and quarried
the rocks, and ground them into the
soil that enriches thePlains and the
sands which stretch along the shores.
The temporal powers of the world
may imprison the saints and prophets
of God, but did you ever think of
the perseverance of truth, how deter
mined. how infallible are its laws?
John the Baptist may languish in
prison and at last give up his life to
the lower forces of the world, but
the Herods and Caesars have no pow
er to prolong the life of superstition,
or to support the lettering pillars OF
paganism.
Our habit has been to extol certain
facts of history, and if not to extol
them to ascribe to them value to
which they are not entitled. This is
our fault. The world has many con
trasts if we halt in our thought and
Judgment and note them. We send
our children to those institutions of
learning that have had all the adj
yanta ges of large requests. Ii the
college or university has magnificent
buildings we say there is the place to
cultivate the mind; but in some OBJ
scurer school there may be man or
woman of rich personality, of un-
eoualled attainments, and who en-
bodies the full measure of Christian
love, who has the power to find the
heart of the boy or girl as Christ
found Nathaniel, or James, or John.
Those silent and unseen forces move
the world without being known or
realized. Some things we value,
some we adore, some we look upon as
indispensable aids and impulses to
redeem the world. How we strain
and sacrifice that the work done by
the Christian church may not be i'm
peded in its matchless progress. But
on the other hand there is a church
and a class of teachers we seldom
mention. Did you ever think what
rivers of wide channels parental love
is wearing through the universe of
time? The church has its prayers,
devotions, and sermons. But forever,
and forever, the love of millions of
mothers breaches to the lives of the
Young. What is the church and
Sundav-school doing compared to