St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-11
Rev. S. G. Smith Treats Flo
quently Of the Subject
"Soeial Foundations"
AT THE PEOPLES CHURCH.
The Story Of Babel as Show
ing the Foundation Of So
cial Order.
THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN
Have More Influence on the
Structure Of Society
Than Men.


AT the Peoples church yesterday
morning, before an exceptionally
large audience, Rev. Samuel G. Smith
delivered an eloquent and powerful
sermon on the subject, Social
Foundations" taking his text from
Gen. IL, to 9. 1.-The Story of Babel"
DR.. Smith said:
1.-THE story of Babel. This literary
fragment, placed where it is in the
Bible, out of all real connection with
its context, is the barest outline of
a grand, old-world epic; yet it stands
in closest relation with the story of
Eden, that other epic poem which has
for its subject at once the SublimeSt
and the most tragic of all earth
histories. The first epic deals with
the unity of the race, and the break
up of that unity because of moral I'M
fitness. The second epic deals with
the natural causes of social disinte-
grafton. Logically, human unity
and social order lie at the begin
nings of history. Hence the pro-
found truth of these stories. But
in the process of events they lie at
the completion of human evolution.
These narratives may therefore be
regarded as inverted prophecies.
Wnen Shem, Ham and Japheth hath
completed their wanderings they
will at last clasp hands in a trinity
of hrnth
Tor themselves their city and tower
upon the plains of earth, and the
! Lord, beholding this work, will not
| scatter them, but will rejoice in the
triumph of his own children. And
| after man has fought, not with the
cherubim, but with the tripple-head-
| ed dragon of sin, of pain and of
slavish labor, and has slain it, then
| will the gates of Eden swing wide
| open before his weary feet, and he
shall rest at last in the new heaven
and the new earth wherein dWelleth
| Righteousness.
The stroy of Babel with its ac-
| count of a social breakup is very
instructive as showing to us the
foundation of social order Men are
represented as dwelling on a plain.
| evidently in the region of the Eu-
pirates. They are described as
working together with u common
| purpose-they would build a city and
a tower. They were found to have
the uniting influence of one Ian
guage, but they are described as
lacking moral and spiritual cohe-
slveness, for God was not in their
plan. They We're, therefore, scat
tered abroad upon the face of the
earth. AS result of the scattering.
their language was COMPOUNDED. the
social disintegration was complete.
and the
WORLD OF HUMANITY
| must begin again.
The root question of the most of
our modern political, ethical, econ
omic and social problems is found
IN the inquiry, What is society? The
theory of an external and mechan-
! zeal, theistic arrangement of society
which Powered in the doctrine of
the divine right of kings, was merely
an extension and specialization of
the Hebrew political creed. The
theory which lay at the foundation
OF the French revolution, and which
had dominant influence unon our
early American political leaders, is
that society comes into being by
the personal choice of the adult male
population. The theory does not
conhne itself to political institutions.
but attempts to account for a, social
| order. Government derives it's lust
powers from the consent of the gov
erned," is the political maxim. AS
to the general proposition it may be
SAID that women and children prob
ably have more influence upon the
structure of society than men. And
as to the political maxim, it may be
simply stated that if 1.-The just DOW
ers of the government" rest upon the
false conclusions of the governed,
the strong right arm Of destiny will
break them into fragments. AS a
matter of fact, there never has been
time when society has organized
itself with conscious deliberation.
This fact has led the way to a the
DRY of natural laws as the parents of
social institutions And we are
taught that there is a certain net
work of mysterious forces, though
what they are we know not, which
holds us in our places, and that the
power of human activity is con-
trolled, as the tides are, by the
moon, though the mysterious light
of this social moon has never yet
been visible on land or sea.
The wisest thought of the time has
come to recognize that the doctrine of
a genesis of society, as of man, must
furnish the final foundation for our
thought. All things grow. The
worlds grew from star dust. Life
grew from crude beginnings. Man
grows, and society grows.
Let us take some account of this
process. Groups of families find
themselves together under crude bnt
common conditions. They have com
mon physical necessities. Man is stIn