The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-26
Memorial sermon by Rev. Hudson.

Memorial Sermon by Rev. Hudson.
Unity hall was filled with SYM
pathetic audience yesterday morning
TO listen to Mr.. Hudson's sermon on
1.-The Ministry of Pain" The service
was in memory Of Mrs. A. T. Schroe-
der, and was most beautiful and i'm
pressive. The organ and platform
were banked with cut flowers, palms
and smilax, the offerings of her friends
and neighbors, and Mr.. Brigham sang
that most touching thing, '"rhe Holy
City"
Mr. Hudson took as his text, Mat
thew V, 4. Blessed are they that
mourn. for they shall be comforted."
This, he said, was the. great paradox
of life. who are the happy people?''
we ask. And Jesus answers: 1T is
they who mourn; they whose hearts
have felt the touch of sorrow, whose
lives have tasted pain" A strange
answer. Surely this is not the sort
of happiness men seek for.
Ana yet as we look beyond our own
narrow little lives and observe the
life around us, we find pain every
where as most important factor. 1t
is useless to speculate on why this
should be true. 1t is quite vain to ask
whether the universe might not have
come into being with pain and sorrow
banished from the start. In nature as
we find it, pain and existence are in
Separable. We cannot avoid the one
or the other. We are here. Pain is
here. Sorrow is here. And all that
we can do is to ask in what way this
pain and sorrow are to be made help
full in working out the problem of life
The speaker said that there is an ex-
ternal view of the ministry of pain
l.. - H. ~ i
this time. This is the recognition of
pain and death as necessary factors in
tie general processes Of evolution The
leaves that are falling SO thickly
around US are dying to feed the new
life of the coming springtime. They
are types of a universal truth. Life
evermore is fed by death in earth and
breathe its breath something must
die"
What he wished to consider was the
ministry of pain in the inner growth of
each individual life. Here we meet at
once personal difficulty. The value
of the ministry of pain, like that of
every other ministry, depends very
largely upon how it is received. Sor-
row may strengthen and ennoble hui
man life. 1t may weaken and embit-
ter it. 1t all depends upon the atti-
tude of the sufferer. In all that is
said upon the subject this distinction
must be kept in view
1t will help to clear our thought if
We narrow the question to this: In
what way is it possible for pain and
sorrow to bring happiness to human
life? But we shall make no progress
whatever unless we assume that the
greatest happiness will result from the
development of our nobier and finer
capabilities. If this is not true, then
the life of the lower animals, with their
blank contentment, is to be preferred
to that of the self-conscious soul OF
man with its refined possibilities of
pain. But if human happiness and
soul growth bear any close relation
then it is not difficult to find a value
in the ministry of pain.
He first considered the value of pain
as means of discipline. We first
come into consciousness of life like
raw recruits, with all our powers un-
disciplined and unadjusted. Pain is
the drill sergeant who takes us in the
awkward squad and fits us for the
ranks The little child plays with fire
or grasps some heated object. and is |
burned. Then it cries out in anger
at the unexpected suffering. 1t re !
peats the experiment with a like re- |
suit, until at last it learns to shun |
the fire. 1t handles some sharp in |
strument, and 1t is wounded. Again
the cutlery. and again the lesson. So |
step by step it learns the simple laws |
of living, and so, through ilfe, like |
wilful children. who must have their |
way, we learn life's lessons at the |
hands of pain. AT constant suffering |
we constantly protest. But in tie !
pain that is past we recognize the |
value of the lesson.
Another value of pain is its power to |
refine and sweeten character. mex |
pe1ssnced youth. even when most |
wholesome, is apt to be somewhat |
rough and boisterous. 1t stamps into
the vestibule of life, rcugh-shod and |
thoughtless. Then pain. suffering and |
modification come, with their correc |
tive words Of warning. The nature
is chastened and refined, and enters
LIES inner chambers with more If
grace and tenderness. One of our
greatest modern philosophers SAYS that
whenever he sees a face in which an
unusual sweetness and tenderness is
exposed, he always feels inclined TO
ask: What have you suffered ~
Another use of pain is to deepen
the significance Of life. Our lives are