Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-04-04
OUR MORNING SERMON.
Rv Rev. Prof. Henry K. Warren,
President OF YanktOn College, Yankton'
South Dakota.
STRENGTH.

Quit you like men; be strong.-Q Corin-
Men everywhere desire to be strong.
The world admires strength; IN all ma
tions and generations strength OF body
mind and soul has had mutitudlnous
seekers and myriad wOrshipers.
In rude and barbarous ages 1t was
physical strength that was exalted;
Hercules became a god intellectual and
spiritual might had few admirers. But
as men advanced in civilization, mental
ard moral force began to achieve their
rightful place in the thoughts and as
pirations of the race. We are never
theless far from that golden age when
in all hearts and minds they Will be
exalted to the sovereign place which is
their due When two human brutes OF
great physical strength can pound each
other and 10000 newspapers and mil
lions of readers eagerly catch up every
detail, we may safely say that physical
prowess is unduly exalted by multi
tudes even in this age Of boosted prog
Tess.
Some of us need, however, to be re-
minded of the place and high import
ance of physical strength. 1t is the
rock foundation on which the whole
superstructure of life must be builded.
Better no education and a stalwart
frame. than a puny body and college
training The fond and foolish ambi-
ton of not a few parents puts children
into the common schools who ought TO
be at home not able 10 read perhaps,
but playing, working, getting strong.
The eager ardOr of not few young
people forgets the immense importance
of a sound body.
But the keen competitions of mature
life draw heavily on physical and ner-
vous force; who digs in the trenches or
smites the anvil has not more need OF
physical vigOr than he who engages in
the wasting duties of business or pro-
fessional life Many a life fails of its
splendid early promise and sinks into
obsCurity and meager usefulness be-
cause it did not rest on an adequate
base of physical strength. What avails
a shapely bow and dlamondtipped ar
row. winged with eagles plumes. if
there be not strength to draw to the ar
rows head?
But physical strength, vital though
it be, is strictly subordinate, a means to
an end Ii may have its day of pride
and power but in a few score years at
the farthest it will go down in utter de-
feat. BY nature IL is minister, servant.
1t owns subsection to higher forms of
strength. forms so puissant and mighty
IS 10 rise above physical limitations
and almost spurn the bonds that link 10
L. hoe
philosophical system dominated the
worlds thinking for 2,0C0 years was
vertable pygmy; Pope was hunch-
back Lord Nelson the greatest sailor
since the world began. was little and
lame Julius Caesar. we are told, never
planned a great battle without a fit of
epilepsy: Milton was blind; those ma
iestic lines Of Paradise Lost" first
sounded through a soul that sat in
darkness. The world has many times
seen a regnant intellect triumph over
bodily weakness and assert its inherent
power. The men who have shaped hui
man history have been men of strength
of mind.
But in passing it may be well TO note
some misconceptions as to what is men,
tai strength. We sometimes hear that
knowledge is power" No, is is some
thing out of which power can be made.
The water in a steam engine will not
draw a train: only when ii is trans
formed into steam does it become a dy-
manic force. The atoms of copper and
zinc must be changed into electric fluid
before they will speak your thought
around the world. The mind is not
lar to be filled, but a plant to be nour-
ished. The inward life-fOrce of the
plant LAYS hold on the elements of earth
and water and air. and by its vital force
transforms them into IT'S own sub
stance. A mind full of facts is not nee
essarily strong; a walking encyclope-
dia" is seldom a potent force in his
community. Mental strength comes
only when facts are appreciated and
organized into the minds own being by
a law of its inner life. Mental strength
comes more when these stimulate to
original thinking and Independent ex-
ercise of the faculties
One part of my message is. therefore.
seek mental strength; it is fine gold
and hidden treasures. Read the great
books. think on great themes; absorb
great thoughts. Dare TO be ignorant of
the great herd of ordinary writer's and
the great multitude of common place
books. Shun petty pretty bric-a-brac
and mental millinery. wrestle with the
large questions of society, politics and
religion. When the mind is disciplined
10 think thoroughly. constantly. freely,
then it grows strong When knowledge,
the contents of books, the thoughts Of
other men. the observations and con-
facts of life are transmitted and spirit
ualized into power, then comes mental
strength.
But here again We find limitations.
Intellect is indeed immortal; it deiies
disease and death, and discloses the
power of an endless life; but it owns
subsection to a higher force. A man OF
great mental power may be admired,
but his influence may be slight compar-
ed with a man of stainless integrity and
rugged worth The brightest intellect
may yield to the omnipotent sway OF an