The herald., 1897-05-31

ana unknOWaDle, Dut since Jesus ulSu
we all know there is a future, and we
must SO live that the Lord will be our
portion, and that the great region
known as heaven may be our home.
DR.. Wilde's subject for last evening
was MRS. Cain"
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
The Rev. B. E. Howard on the "Real
Man"
Rev. Burt Estes Howard preached
to a very large audience yesterday
from II Corinthians iv:1S, For the
things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are unseen are
eternal" The sermon yesterday was
continuation and elaboration of theme
commenced last week, which was but
the suggestion Of q profound and sig
nificant philosophy Of idealism, and Mr..
Howard stated frankly that his object
was to help his hearers to lift their
minds out Of the environment of
miasmatic materlalism, to press back
the transitory seeming things for the
sake of the real things that endure.
There are two worlds, and the one is
but the stumbling. stammering utter
ance of the other
| The world OF matter, which to our
slow, materialistic philosophy, is the
most real, is but the instrument through
which the unseen world, the world Of
forces and ideals. is trying to express
| itself to our senses. All nature is but
the persistent revelation of things that
eye hath not seen nor ear heard. Earth
| o; hv,t %Ho pIv - hat oi111 11o
invisible Life-force seizes for a moment
and makes into word, that it may
spell out for us some hidden truth about
1t and about ourselves. Nature is Gods
word. Evolution is but the untiring ef-
fort Of nature to fulfil her commission as
Gods prophet.
AS one has said: 1.-THE mute eloquence
of nature around us Is often most pa
thetic; waters murmur; winds
whisper and moan; grass and blossoms
and leafy boughs sigh back to each
other, like children who cannot tell what
they want. Sea moss and fern conceal
mystical secrets beneath their spread
ing fronds. Even the Shiny ooze of the
lake and the black coal in the mine hold
an essence of purity within them which
nurses the white life OF the lily and kim
dies the sparkle Of the diamond"
The still unfolding Of nature In flower
and tree, the silent shifting of the Skies
the noiseless glory of dawn and sunset
| in all these Life is ever making dumb
signs of truth which they alone per-
ceive who have the seeing eye, the ear
which hears. We who havesettled down
on the plane Of mere physical existence
live only in our eyes and the ends of
our fingers, rather than in our souls.
The real man is the spirit that burns
and glows in the heart of this physical
framework. in which his spirit for
little season tabernacles. This spirit Is
that strange force we call personality.
which gives each man his potential
| identity.
| Our language Is often more exact
than our practice. We speak of a mans
| impressing his spirit upon his commu-
nifty or his times. What is this but the
declaration that what is dynamic about
the man has become a factor of force
in the life about him? It is tacit con-
fession that the real man is the invisi-
BILE, potential something that cannot be
defined in terms of mere flesh and blood.
And yet, in spite of the fact that our
words reveal more truth than the phil
osophy of our deeds, we are all Of us
bound by the fetters Of rationalism, and
are rating each other by low and made
quate standards; and by strange folly
we ignore the larger and eternal reali-
ties of manhood and grasp after the
shadows. The aim of the world has
been too much directed toward condi-
tion, and not enough toward character
We have sought tooomuch FOR luxurious
environment and ease, and have not
sought enough that more leisure might
be obtained to develop the real man.
We have improved the tools with which
men work, but 1t is a question Somc-
times whether we have improved the
man himself.
The mistake Of the world is, that II
is measuring its wealth in cash books
and bank accounts. Yet ownership is
not control; 1t is capacity. And a man
is rich not when he has scraped to-
gether a little heap Of tinsel and dross
that he is permitted to control for a
season, but when he has gathered into
| the souls treasure house the great
thoughts that the worlds thinkers have
bequeathed to time, the priceless ideals
of pure minds, the holy wealth Of good
ness and mercy and truth and love, and
has cultivated the spirit which gets into
the root of life and grips motives and
convictions, and the great living
| thought centers and mental forces
which make the real man.
The secret Of life is the perception Of
the inspiration of all things with the
mighty spirit of Reality; and the soul
| that has thus come to see the spjritua |
is already in heaven, like the Master.
Spiritual things are real, and he has
already begun to live in its stimulus.
The passing Of soul that has learned
to see the real in the midst OF earth 8
forms is but the passing nearer to things
we have but dimly perceived 1t is the
blending OF life'S littleresses into God 3
vastness, quietly and softly, like the
shading Of night into day.
ENGLISH LUTHERAN
Rev. ]. W.. Ball on the Lessons Of