St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-22

PULPIT ELOQUENCE.
Interesting Sermon by Rev.
Samuel G. Smith, Of the
Peoples Church,
TO A LARGE CONGREGATION
On the Topic. "The Squan-
deped Parrimony OF Chris
tianity.
TO A LARGE CONGREGATION
THIS GENERATION He SAYS
Is Wasting Much Of Its Inner
itanee--HoW 1t Will Leave
the World.

! Rev. Samuel G. Smith delivered, with
his accustomed eloquence, the follow
sermon at the Peoples church yester-
day morning: 1.-The Sauandered Patri-
mony of Christianity" The text was
Kings, XII, IL, u and 13. Said he:
When David died, Solomon found an
ample throne awaiting him. Neigh
boring tribes had been conquered, and
there was peace abroad. The internal
economy of the kingdom had been set
tied, and domestic order was assured.
Wealth had been amaSsed. Not only
was there an abundance of treasure,
but vast stores of building material
had been gathered for temple and
palace. And David, the man of war
and the man of affairs, conspicuous
in his vices, but also great in his viz
tues, went down to his grave as full
Of honors as he was Of years. Solo
mon began well. There were visions
and prayers and promises. The tenn
pie completed, the nations religious
unity seemed assured by the services
of a great national cathedral. Com
merce flourished, and the provincial
tribes of Israel were consolidated into
a cosmopolitan nation. The Tyrian
sailors carried the Hebrew traders
on seas both east and west, and mer-
chandise rare and curious was found
in the baZars of Jerusalem. Horses
were brought from Egypt, and. among
other things, ivory, apes and pea
cocks were brought from Tarshish.
The monarch of the people who had
had been runaway slaves from Egypt
four hundred years before demanded
and
SECURED THE HAND
Of the proud daughter Of Pharaoh in
marriage. Kings delighted to do hon
or to the son of David, and queens
made pilgrimage to his palace of wis
dom as to the holy shrine. But the
glory of Solomon was the ruin of the
nation. With his alliances with
strange nations he also brought in the
worship of strange gods, and incense
to Ashtoreth and Moloch filled the
very aisles of the temple Of Jehovah.
With the strange merchandise from
foreign ports came also strange and
corrupting vices. With the magnif-
icence and glory of the absolute mon
arch were mingled the groans and
tears of an oppressed people, whose
slavery was made more bitter because
their purple-ciad masters We're men of
their own blood. Solomon began with
his dying fathers blessing; he de-
parted leaving to his son a ruined
and broken kingdom. He was in many
respects the greatest man of Israel.
His reign was the Augustan age; but
no name is less honored by Hebrew
posterity. There are no aspirations
for the return of his splendor What
the people long for in all the voices
of the prophets is the throne of his
father David
Here lie tremendous lessons for our
modern Christianity. We, too, have
received our Inheritance from our
fathers. The Christian forces had freed
themselves from the debris of old
world empires to subdue the savage
strength of new and ferocious peoples,
and to create a new world of opinions
and of manners, and they succeeded
in their tremendous task. A divine
life has been given to art, new voices
have spoken in literature, and religion
and philosophy
HAVE JOiNED HANDS.
The material forces of the world
have also yielded to the Christian peo-
pies. Merchant princes found uni
versities with material equipment
which would be the despair of mon
archs. Stately year books tell the
strength Of the various denomina tons,
and enterprises of missions and char
ity command vast resources.
1t is easy enough for spectacular
oratory to show the glory of modern
Christianity, but we may well ask
with what weapons did our fathers
win their victories? What is the real
which they have left us?
And are We increasing that patrimony,
or are we wasting it without care or
fear? The great struggles of former
times hegat great heroes. Through
fierce opposing ranks did our fathers
break to drink cup of cold water
from the wells of Bethlehem. To our
time do not many of their struggles
seem wholly robbed of meaning? Are
we able to understand their moral
earnestness and their heroic devotion?
Are we not content to enjoy what we
have received, while we shrink from
stress of either soul or body?
Only in the early part of this very
century there was a man named Will
berforce in the English parliament
who was the idol of society, the favor
lite of women and the pride of politi-
clans. But one day the plowshares of
Gods truth drove through the pleasant
gardens of his soul, and he awoke to !
his need of stalwart growths of moral
purpose. In this state the sigh of the
slave came to his ear and thenceforth
he fought down English greed, it's
jealousy of France. and its pride of
commerce, until not a slave ship car
ried
THE ENGLISH FLAG,
and as Isaiah foretold Christ so did
this man prophesy Abraham Lincoln.
Where are the men in our political
life today who are meeting our present
problems in the same spirit of devo-
ton and heroism? ''But there were
three great virtues which belonged to
the Christianity of our fathers which
We need to ask whether or not we are
The first of these is the sense of
obligation. Time was, when the word
duty sounded in the ears Of the Chris
tan like the voice of trumpet to thu
eager warrior. You may tell me that
the old fierce sense of duty was born
Of belief IN the material hell Well,
is it because we have become SO much
wiser that we have also come into a
time of soul paralysis? Is 1T not pos
sible that the beauty of holiness may
become to us an appeal deeper, holier
and more vital than belonged to the
hopes and fears of the earlier time?
The church can never be great in its
influence over men until the sense of
obligation is stronger than our love of
ease.
Another virtue which we inherited
from the fathers and which we are
fast dissipating is the virtue of en-
thuSiaSm. 1t is no longer well bred