The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-08
REV. B. j. III. SHAW SAYS THAT Is
THE PROMISE OF RE-
LIGION
YET TO BE ACTUAL AND REAL
IN THE VAST REALMS OF THE
UNNNONABLE IN Ma
TURE.
Still Left to Mankind in the Posi-
bilities of Human Thought and
Human Nature.

Rev. B. ]. H. Shaw, of Leeds, Eng
land, preached on THE Promised
Land yesterday morning, for Rev. DR..
E. P. Ingersoll, at Park Congregational
church. Mr.. Shaw is a man in the
very prime of life who has had advan-
tages Of culture and travel. He reveres
the old, but sees the useful and pro-
gressive new. 1t is said to be probable
that Mr. Shaw may settle in some pas
torate in the West. He will be a dis
tinct gain to it's Christian forces The
sermon was in part as follows:
Mans life on earth is a pilgrimage,
a perpetual movement. We have 20
leave the cid home and go in search of
a new one. Movement is the necessi-
ty OF life. Life is growth, expansion,
and demands more room for the play of
its powers. Infancy quickly becomes
youth youth steadily unfolds into man.
hood; intelligence is quickened and
grows with the swift-moving years
The great moving and guiding power
will not let the human race rest. He
has put the ambitious, acquisitive ele-
ment in human nature, and it is by this
that God leads men forward to possess
the world. The mind Of man is evil
IDENTIFY made for progress. There is 4
restless passion to know, to find out the
secrets of the universe. And all this
activity is advancement. All re-
sistance to this modern spirit of ad-
vancament is a hopeless effort. A
man may for a time seem to resist new
ideas, he may be skeptical as to the
existence Of any other world OF truth
than that in which he dwells; but soon,
er or later lie discovers his mistake,
he finds out that the progressive forces
QY-A cs+Ts fc,. H. =,
his poor thought does not enclose the
infinite wisdom, that outside the small
island of his knowledge there are vast
continents where ne has never trav-
eled.
The call of God is to persistent in
tellectual movement and greater attain
ment. That is the purpose of God in
the gift Of our faculties. However
good the past may have been, however
much We may love it and cling to II.
yet the time will surely come when We
must leave behind the limitations Of
our earlier ideas and beliefs and go on
to find others nObler. Blessed are they
who revere the old, but who are ready
also to welcome the new, who recog-
nize it as the divine command which
bids them leave the low and narrow
valleys for the great open world OF
Unreasonable truth If we seem to be
driven from some home Of truth where
men have dwelt in safety and comfort,
there are other places awaiting U.S. and
kind inviting voices welcoming us to
their greater amplitude. When the Pill
grim Fathers left England they did
not leave all truth and goodness be
hind them.
The mind of today can no more dwell
in the simple desires and limited
thought of the past than the civilized
man can dwell in the rude hut Of the
10 I !,
capaciOus life. If man is to have a
country and home at all, then he
must discover them and conquer them
for himself. We cannot find refuge in
another mans house Of faith, it is only
large enough for the man who has
built it. If We desire to have home
that will stand secure and shelter us
when the storms of doubt and truth
rage around u.s. we must construct 1t
with our own hands. Every man must
create the world in which he is to live.
A man must dwell in his own well-stor-
ed mind and pure heart if he would
be safe and have peace.
This is a mandate full Of inspiring
hope. There is an undiscovered coun-
try. There are times when we feel
as if we had reached the limit and
come to the end of things We have
exhausted the world in which we
have been living and working, and we
want new one to satisfy our passion
for larger acquisition. We are eager to
see how great the world is and how
much there is in it.
1t is this seaching spirit in man that
is the great discOverer. When that
spirit moves us we pass from one realm
to another and find that we cannot
exhaust the riches of the universe
Think of all the worlds that have been
discovered by man, the worlds Of ma
terial wealth, Of art and science, Of
law and order, of beauty and wisdom
That is the inspiration for the voyage
OF discOvery-the promise of a better
country"
And as we obey the command we find
the promise is fulfilled. We have dis
covered some of the wealth OF nature
We have just begun our search into
that more precious world Of human
nature. The mind and heart of man are
realms of unknown extent; no one has
traversed their wide domains, or found
all he treasures hidden there. How
great the resources must be when we
think of all that wealth of thought
and feeling they have produced.
The Land Of Promise" Is still before
US. Notwithstanding our bold adven-
lures, our eager enterprises, our for
ward pushing life, our marvellous dis
cOVeries, we have not yet fully entered
into it. A home of beauty and joy has
not been found for every life. That is
the Land of Promise''-where every
life finds a goal which gives content
ment. Let US become pilgrims to go
in search of the highest, largest good
we shall prove it is not a vain quest:
a light will shine out from the heav-
ems to make plain our way, an unseen
hand will lead us to to the fulfillment of
every worthy ambition and noble de-
sire.