The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-12-19
THE STRENGTH OF LIFE.
BY IAN MACLAREN.

a recent Sunday and the Tribune re-
ports his sermon as follows:
The famous Scotchman took his
text from Exodus iii, 2, and an
nounced his theme to be "The
Strength of Life" His sermon was
clear and calm, spoken without effort
and without notes, and was little
more than half an hour in duration.
DR.. Watson spoke substantially as
follows:
We may we'll ask what was the
secret of the life of Moses, and when
we have answered that question we
shall know the wellspring of his
power. Moses has influenced the
history of the world more than any
other man, not by reason of any in
nate refinement of his own, not by
,ason of his early training, but be.
cause he saw things that were invisi-
bic to the blinded eyes of those
about him. To others the skies were
as brass, but he could see the mama
that was to fall from them. To others
the rock was hard and dry, but he
could see the water gushing from it.
To others the horizon was without a
limit, but he could see the green
fields and the pleasant valleys of the
Promised Land. And why we're his
eyes 80 opened? Our text tells us
that. He saw that the burning
bush was not consumed, and in an
instant it flashed upon him that
behind that bush and behind
all other material things was the
Spirit of the Most High. The Jews
to other eyes we're as rebellious
a lot of malcontents as il was posi-
BILE to imagine, but to the eyes of
Moses they were Gods children. Be-
hind them he saw the Spirit of God.
To others was given the power of
sight. but to Moses came the power
of vision.
Every life that can be called great
begins its ascent from some particu-
lar moment when all in flash are
lifted the curtains that divide the
unseen from the seen and the soul
gets glimpse of the eternal. That
moment may come at various times;
it may come when stepping from a
scene of gayety out into the night;
the man gazes at the everlasting stars
and the curtains part and he sees the
Everlasting. Every one of us can re-
member such moment. That sight
is but momentary. We could not see
it always and live, but it is only the
memory of that vision that can make
the highest life possible to the sons
of men.
But you may say: "How can | be
sure of things l do not sect | came
into the world of sensibilities made
for my realization. What l see l
know. What else can | know?" 1t
is indeed difficult to believe things
that cannot be seen, and | am some
times amazed that anybody can deny
i. But it is not so difficult as it first
appears. Suppose that this great
city was destroyed by a vast calam
ity. You believe with me that it
would be rebuilt Why do you have
that confidence? Because we believe
that the enterprise, the energy and the
brains that have made it what it is
would repeat the feat we're it need
| full But we cannot see the brains or
the energy or the enterprise. Two
have loved through long years of
sorrow and toll and trial. Her hair
is white, and the beauty has long
been stripped from her cheeks. His
form is bent and thin, all shorn of
pleasant aspect. Do they cease to
love? Nay, rather they love the
more; but what they love they can
not see.
A picture of the Crucifxion has
been exhibited in many of the great
cities of the world. | presume you
have seen it here, for you have seen
every picture of note here sooner or
later. 1t shows an ordinary cross of
wood, and hanging on it a young
Jew-just an ordinary Jew, 10 ap-
pearance. About him stand the rab
BILE and the soldiers. You see the
nails and all the squalid details of
the execution. And probably every
line of the painting represents what
actually appeared. But does it please
you9 Far from it. 1t revolts you,
and in some cities policemen have
had to guard it from destruction by
mob. 1t is the product of sight.
But there is another picture of the
Crucifixion. 1t represents such a
wonderful cross as never was used
for malefactor nor for Christ. The
n