The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-09-28

salvation. The spirit which accom-
panies men who engage in this labor
ought to leave a deep impress upon the
people. The spirit of God awakens
which it is beyond the power of
language to express.
Unitarian.
Rev. Adelbert L Hudson preached
yesterday morning at Unity hall upon
1.-THE Great Forerunner, taking John
the Baptist as a type Of the true rela-
ton of all men to the past and future.
He said that John was the unique fig
ure in the New Testament. He was
the last and greatest of the old He
brew prophets; yet in this capacity he
is hardly known. His place in history
is that of the humble herald and fore
runner Of a new religious era. He does
not seem a part of the past, though
standing for a moment at its summit.
Ignoring his own vantage ground, he
points the people to a grander future
in whose triumphs he himself will
bear no share.
The people were eager for his leader
ship. They wished to restore the
throne of Solomon and David, and were
ready az word 70 follow him. But
when they called upon him to define
his own position, he disclaimed all
personality and power. L am Moth
ing" he said, in effect; Il am just a
voice crying in the wilderness. l have
no personal plans or ambitions. I do
not hope for any personal achievement.
am simply preparing the way for
greater things which are to follow"
What strange attitude for a strong
mi la n
most of the sons Of men! We are more
apt TO initiate the hero of ''Locksley
Hail." who declares himself THE heir
Of all the ages, in the foremost files of
time" This delicious sense of our own
exalted position in history is most
clearly typed, in the college graduate.
For him all the past has been one long
preparation for his advent. He is go
ing forth to a life of final achievement
In him all the imperfect efforts of the
past will be fulfilled 1t seems rather
depressing to turn away from such in
spring confidence as this and hear
John say that he doesn't expect to ac-
complish anything himself; that he is
only preparing the way for someone
else
And yet John is the one man in his
tory who has correctly estimated the
real significance of his own work. And
not only of his own, but of our work
also. We are all simply forerunners.
The really important work of each gen.
GRAFTON is to prepare the way for the
next. 1t is true that the successive
generations, as they come upon the
stage pride themselves over their own
independent achievements. But the
next generation throws these all aside
as obsolete, or uses them only as step
ping stones to its own victories. At
each step in human progress, the past
becomes a spiral stairway leading to
the browning glory of the present.
Our own generation takes especial
pride in its mechanical triumphs and
its advanced ideals of social life and
teresting features of the Worlds fair
was to wander through machinery
hail. and the transportation building
and trace the wonderful progress of
the century in mechanical arts. The
appliances of a hundred years ago
seemed very crude. They were the
great achievements of their time, the
elimination of mans genius. Now
they are quite useless, except as mark
ing one little step in the worlds prog
ress. But turn the hands of time for
ward century, when a subtler agent
than steam and more delicate appli-
ances than those we have. are doing
the worlds work, and our great Corliss
engines and Monarch locomotives will
have become in turn mere crude curl
osities out of the past, marking
single moment in mans control of ma
lures forces.
Or again, compare feudalism, as it
was a thousand years ago, with the
social and civil institutions of the
nineteenth century; and there seems
good ground for US to feel proud and
self-satisfied over what we have
achieved. But look forward a thous-
and years and how rough and barbar-
Gus will appear civilization in which
the scaffold, guillotine and electrocu-
ton room are used as aids to public
morals, where international courtesy is
expressed by means of torpedo boats
and Gattling guns. and national honor
is maintained by the killing and
managing of our fellow beings. With
what a sense of pity the people of that
far-off time will regard our low con-
ceptions Of the social organism, our no
tons Of the rights Of property, our
standards of liberty and justice. But
no doubt the considerate philosopher
of the thirtieth century will kindly adj
nit that, in spite of our worthless in
ventions and our low ideals, the crude
efforts of the nineteenth century civil
ization have not been quite in vain.
since they have helped prepare the
way for the final perfection of his own
time. So the generations come and go
along the unending procession of hui
man progress, each staggering awhile
along the line of march with a sense of
its Importance, then dropping out of
sight. And as each one goes, the only
thing of any value which it leaves be-
hind is the pathway it has beaten
down for the steps of those who fol-
low
Does this seem TO belittle human life?
It should not. The greatness of our
lives does not depend on isolated deeds.
Considered by himself. man is a tiny
speck upon tiny star. His life gains
all its worth through its relation TO
larger plan. Standing alone, our lives
are weak, worthless. insignificant. But
they take on sublime significance as
they become a part of the infinite pur-
nose which r1e,-x-a raS all life link in,