The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-10
ANArION SruNNED.
This Was the Characterization of tho French Nation by Rev. w. F. Dicker-

This Was the Characterization of tho | French Nation by Rev. W. F. Dicker-
 man.
 1 "Oh. wretched man that l am, who shall deliver me from the body of this 1 death ?'' was the text of Rev. MT. Dick ermans sermon at the Church of the Messiah yesterday morning. There IS, said MT. Dickerman, sense Of death | in the world so overwhelming that 1t Is | like the feeling of the ancients when chained to dead body. It was from | this custom of the Romans that arose | the language of the text. There is a | sense in which this is true of many souls. This want of hope--this increase l of hopeessness--is everywhere appar- 1 ent.
 l am now thinking of a nation without l hope--the French.
 l It has fallen to the lot of the French 1 people to point more morals, to empha- size more lessons from their own experi- ence than any other nation in modern | history. The age of reason--return to nature the social contrast, liberty, equality, fraternity
 1 All have had their opponents. France | has been the storm center, the trial field, for all the schemes for the betterment of mankind That active, restless, in quiring mind of the French has been ever searching.
 l The religion of humanity has failed l in France and there must be hope held out to these people which is based on absolute scientific authority. Mys-
 tichms and miracles they will not have; l they have long since said, What is the
 use of all these things when we know nothing of mans future estate itself? There must come to the French people l a belief in the future life in which vir-
 tue will be victorious and earths injus- fice redressed Stoiclsm will not suffice either, for it is too solemn for nation of feeling and impulse. The French rla- l ton has stood before the ocean of death
 and has seen nothing beyond. In poli-
 tics this nation has lost its enthusiasm. Even the once dear cause of equality has ceased to have it's champion and the
 only name in all France that raises a cheer to-day is General Boulanger's.
 There are no more Utopias for which a man would care to die and for which too
 many have already died.
 1 IOuilSSL iiiblOtlS tCNl liiC AoNh sol tASes
 ancient. source of inspiration, and the nation hassconne to be known as a gentle snarehists--a pious atheists. Love iii the modern French nation is
 not the idealzation of Plato, who enter l tained an exalted idea of that passion
 an opinion which it made shine out as \ heaven sent and divine, dimming all other senses; a divine reminiscence that
 made him think that he had always lived; charge worthy of a God. But rather their conception of love is that of Schopenhauer. It only serves as a means to the propagation of the race that human attractiveness, like scent of flowers, is simply given to insure this end. It points out the Elusive witchery of its nature; these are the delicate baits. Schopenhauer boasted that he had betrayed the ehivalrous conception of woman as a superior being. l Love has to do with the propagation I of the race. All the beauty, all the gar
 lands, are simply the screens behind
 which is the trap. In consequence of
 this idea there has been mighty fall-
 ing off of sentiment and thus the en- quiry comes, Why propagate the race?
 
 is the joyless vice from the decay of vir- ! tue.
 The minds of the French have turned
 to science and the great questions of ! free will, and ask, How far is man a mere automaton? Does the germ of i character come by special creation at
 birth, or is it deduced from the parents?
 France has settled down to the idea that there is a sort of determination
 that molds character The result is
 that the hearts appeals are silenced.
 The two great examples of people without hope are the Jews and the Chi
 nese. France is tending towards 4hem
 It is a gloomy prospect and one which l science must brighten, if brightened at
 all
 Theology, historic Christianity, have l failed and unless science comes to the rescue it is a hopeless one. But I want to say to you, friends, this morning, | that this spiritual death is contagious. | It is because of the failure of these things to arouse men that we see such religious apathy in our own midst We 1 have become impregnated with these ideas; our colleges and institutions of learning are full of them; and the only remedy is the absolute and unrnistaka- ble evidence that man is eternal And i you had just as well try to stop the Mi 1 agara with a prayer book or Metho- i dist Hymnal or smite the darkness with your hand and expect light as to think l spiritual life can be given tby evangelis- 1 tic meetings.
 i Oh God. give us the wisdom to combat | -hiet ca haG 1T cry out, "Oh wretched man that I am!''