The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-11-15
A FINE LECTURE.
The Citizens Star Lecture Course
Brilliantly Opened by Geo. r.
Vending.
The Outlook FIattering For Most
Successful and Profitable
Course.

The Citizens Star Lecture course
was opened most auspiciously last
evening, albeit the weather without
was not of the best, and the cosy fire.
side at home was more inviting than
walk through the wet, slippery
streets. But within Normal hall all
was bright and pleasant, and a large
audience assembled to listen to the
eloQuence of the Hon. Geo. r. Wend.
ling, in his magnificent lecture on
unseen Realities" And the highest
expectations of the audience was not
in.the least disappointed. Mr.. Wend-
ling is an orator in every sense of the
word, while his scholarly attachments,
and the profound study he gives to his
subject, makes him the master of the
platform.
His lecture, "Unseen Realities, is
lecture describing the force and
strength of the Christian religion. In
it he paid high compliment to those
great students who looked upon ex-
istence from a materialistic stand
point, and said that while materialism
may have answered purpose through
the past, the dawn of the Goth CEN
fury would not be satisfied with what
it offered and would turn to the
spiritual view to greater extent
than ever.
He illustrated the materialistsview
with word picture of what he called
statue, endowed to the highest de-
gree with every sense of man, except
the spiritual. 1T was the highest
type of the animal, and nothing more.
1t had all the enjoyment of man less
that which the spiritual contributes.
Give him a rose and he could see
nothing more in it than your hunting
dog. The forms of the unseen reali-
ties contained within are lost upon it.
The most enhancing music, which
will carry the spiritual to the loftiest
heights, is nothing more to the statue
than an incoherent mob of sound with
no meaning whatever.
He alluded to what he called the
miracle in music. No one could tell
what it was. The greatest master
was unable to do this. There was an
unseen force, which often made the
most common song stir the greatest re-
sponsive feeling in the hearts of men.
He had heard the best music Of
Europe and Italy, rendered by the
best of masters, but there was nothing
id it which moved the soul as does
that American song, "Home, Sweet
Home" 1t was indeed miracle.
If one could explain all about
piece of common stone that he could
pick up in the street, he could ex-
plain the whole mystery of nature.
He followed with most interesting
analysis of the stone, commenting to
considerable extent upon the hidden
forces-the unseen realities therein.
In speaking of the agnosticism of
this 10Th century, he said that he be-
lieved that universal agnosticiSm
would mean universal paralysis.
Agnosticism simply looks into the fu-
ture and gives it up.
Turning again to the unseen reali-
ties he took piece of paper, which
he said was made of rags and across it
was traced lines with ink. The most
powerful microscope revealed nothing
but rags and ink, but there
was more than that, for the hidden
forces made it the greatest document
of the age-the granting of liberties
to more than 5000, 900 people.
He spoke of justice and it's work; of
the churches, schools and other ele-
ments of civilization, and said that
YOU could blot them out entirely, but
God and His religion still remained.
Only the known has been swept away.
the unseen realities have not been af-
fected and still remain.
In the closing portion of his adj
dress he alluded to those men who
touched the hearts of their fellows,
and the succeeding generations, and
paid glowing tributes to such men as
Wesley, Campbell, Luther, Calvin and
Dante, who accomplished or set in
motion great reforms through the
power of unseen forces.
All men, he said, wore a mask, and
are better and worse than they ap-
pear. No one would like to have his