The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-09-24
Chapel Services.

Rev. J. H. Albert OBLIGATED at chapel
services Sunday. The anthem "Christ
Receiveth Sinful Men" was sung by
the choir, which was followed Ivy read
ing of the scriptural lesson, the first
chapter of Genesis. After Invocation
the congregation sang the hymn GLORY
be, to Jesus Name" The chaplain took
his text from the fourth verse of the
142nd psalm, and preached a sermon
on the majesty of the soul, of which
the following is synopsis:
When man contemplates the history
of the world, with its centuries of time,
it's endless chain of events and the
vastness of the universe of which it is
part, he feels, and feels with awe, his
utter insignficance in the grandeur of
creation. Yet there is consciousness
that all created things exist, and have
existed for him. He can conceive of
nothing in nature that is not in some
mysterious way interviewer with his
own destiny. This feeling is the con-
ception of the soul-the divine spirit
that exalts him above all other living
creatures and brings him in unison
with the purpose of his Maker. In
his sensual desires man differs but lit
tie from the beasts of the field. He eats
drinks and is fatigued and amused the
same as they, and in this sense both
merely live, and their bodies after
death form dust of the same heap.
But in man, the soul endows him with
emotions, reason and ambition which
lift him above the sensual to higher
realization of his being. The soul is
man himself; without it he would have
no aspirations above the pleasures of
animal nature. 1t is what implants
the religious feeling in his nature and
reverence for things divine.
A favorite trick of the scoffer at
Christianity and one whichis as disgust
ing as it is senseless, is to quote the
passages of Confucius, Buddha, Ma
homet and other religious impostors
who have fourished in the worlds his
tory and, expatiate on their moral
value. But what have their religions
produced in uplifting man, in emo
bling him with manhood and divine
inspiration of the future? Confncius
gave us the ignorance of China, Budd
ha the superstition of Hindostan and
Mahomet. the fanaticaI barbarism OF
Turkey. In position and resources
there is no richer country in the WORLD
than Turkey, yet today it is the curse
of the age. blot on civilization an6
the most rotten of nations. They have
the wealth, but no manhood, no spirit
which flows from the soul. In Amer
lea and Europe we have Christianit!
5 and with it manhood and WomanhoOd
s. the highest realities of moral and ma
3 terial life.
: In our work in this life, in on
e thoughts, purposes and aims, we ar
S actuated by the soul of our being, tn
4 controlling force that moves our sym
e pathies. affections and desires ant
unites them in a common impulse TO
: action, for freedom of mind and low
: of the pure. In our everyday lif
: there is altogether too much of tn
" business and too little Of the soul. w
y must take the soul into our work a
we'll as our religion. Thorean, tn
" great naturalist, lived in tendolla
;. cabin to study nature. Today, hi
! thoughts live in the hearts of thou
sands. Jules Simon refused the bride
of Napoleon III. to become cour
favorite, rather than prove false to hi
principles, and, though living in an al
+ tic, his works swayed France by tn
strength of their truth. 1t was tn
, soul in it's majesty soaring above tn
, vain glitter of wrong and proclaimin
the right.
. In closing, the chaplain admonishe
, his hearers to ever keep in min
s the one fact that when the day Q
final judgment arrived, it was tn
t. soul, and the soul only, that would b
4 weighed in the balance. Services ende
4 by the congregation singing the gosp'
. hymn, SIS My Name Written There"