St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-05
MANKIND'S MORAL GROWTH
THAT BROADENS INTO THE
HABIT OF RIGHTEOUS
NESS.
WORLDS SPIRITUAL WEALTH
Is the Aggregate of Moral Habit
Among Men and WOm-
en-.

II
star arise in your hearts" Wher
the maiden hears the love birds sing.
ing in her heart she makes excur.
S1onS to the kitchen to learn to cook
Her mind is empty of everything but
desire, her dainty hands grasp the
cook book and she proceeds to make
a cake by rule. She measures anC
weighs and counts, milk, sugar
eggs, flour, spices, and proceeds tC
compound the awful mixture. Oh
course the ingredients of the first
few efforts are generally wasted
but She is something nearer being a
cake maker. She is walking by the
light Of the scripture of cooking
until the inner light comes. When
her mother makes a cake she does
not measure or weigh, she just
guesses things off, but by a strange
miracle the guesses are certainties
and the small boy wants just one
more piece of mothers cake
The new clerk in a bank carefully
compares signatures, notes the up
strokes and the down strokes, the
loops and the shades, and after he
has figured it out he is in a delight
ful state Of doubt as to whether the
is genuine or not. But the
experienced cashier looks at it and
without considering a single detail
sees at a. glance that there is some
thing wrong, and throws out the
Check.
This result, which we call the
benefit of experience, is familiar in
all the affairs Of common life, and is
tie effect of use by which the fac
ulties become well nigh automatic.
Parents and teachers guide the
young feet by rules and admonitions,
waiting with patience for Self-adjuSt-
nent, self-knowledge and world
which will enable the de-
veloped soul to walk by the light of
the eye of God.
In like manner the apostle de-
scribes the law of Moses as having
been a schoolmaster to bring us to
Christ 1t must be recognized, too,
that civil society as at present or
ganized plays precisely the same
part with reference to the individual
that the law Of Moses did in the de-
velopment of the Hebrew nation. 1t
is the civil code which furnishes
procedure, without which, in the
present crudely developed state of
mind, the Christian law Of love as
exemplified in religion and eXpCund-
ed by the church would leave society
but
A TANGLED WILDERNESS.
Not alone did Hebrew Jurisprudence
powerfully affect the history of law,
and the evolution of social Institutions,
but in the statutes and courts of mod
ern times the actual function of
Moses and the prophets is definitely
preserved for our growth and guild
ance. But within this network OF rules
and precedents which make up the
scripture of social organization there
is a kingdom within a kingdom. 1t is
that moral force which may we'll be
called the inner light of society. AS
this light grows clear and strong the
rules themselves suffer beneficent
change and the activities of men come
into happier form. The moral sense
demanding the abolition of slavery
came into violent struggle with the
letter of civil scripture and with inter-
probation of sacred scripture. Theolog-
ians proved the necessary degrade
ton of Him, who by the way was not
the father of the negro race, and SO
argued the everlasting righteousness
of slavery. In vain did the evangel OF
Jesus plead for universal human rights
against a low moral tone hopelessly
mired in social and ecclesiastical tradi-
tons. 1t was not SO much a better
exegesis as it was a better man that
brought in better theory This
stronger inner light of the race which
freed the slave has abolished dueling
raised the position of woman and
strengthened all the Sanctities of life.
The world does not proceed by sys-
tematic progress, and the present
temporary carnival of crime and sui
eide resultant upon transition to
other moral and religious standards
will by and by give place to deeper
and truer morality than the world has
ever known. AS the sacredness of the
body and it's fundamental relations to
soul growth and mind activity, taught
both by the gospel and science, has re-
duced drunkenness, modified licen-
tiousness and increased the length of
human life, so a new and higher view
of the sanctity of life and the divine
purpose in the world will make suicide
abhorrent and more and more en-
throne the moral nature of men and
arm it with strength to resist the
criminal impulse. The glare of a far
off hell or the glory of distant heaven
will be more than compensated by the
steady shining of
THE INNER LIGHT.
Let US approach a little nearer our
subject in a clearer unfolding of it's
religious and personal significance. At
the time this epistle was written, prob
ably not by Peter at all, but by some
disciple of his, the New Testament as
a book of collected documents with
sacred and universal authority was
not in existence. The word of prophecy
made more sure and described as a
light shining in a dark place, doubt
less referred to the Old Testament.
This word of prophecy was to be
needed until new light should come.
and that is described as the dawning
of the day and the rising of the dav
star in human hearts.
The New Testament Scripture con-
sist of two parts: A recoci of facts
sufficiently complete and exact 10 fur
nish an historical framework for
Christian history; and secondly, the
of these facts in har-
mony with the intellectual develop
ment and the moral and spiritual
standards of the early Christian
church under the guidance of that
divine Providence which rules in the
Of this world. The large sur
vival of the letters of Paul indicates