The San Francisco call., 1897-01-01
A Dissertation on Life, Suicide,
Homicide and Various Sins
and Crimes.
An Immanse Throng Gathered to Hold
Watch Night" at the Close
of the Year.

its stead other voices were raised in sacred
song.
Professor Martin Schultz rendered PEN
fields "Cujus Amman" as an organ vol
untarv. Stearns' Father in Heaven
was sung by Mrs. W. E. Mayhem. Miss x.
Roberts and S. Y. Wood. Miss Ester
Needham of OAKLAND sang Vannah's solo
for oontralto abide With Me-" Gou-
mods soprano solo, "Ring Out Wild
Bells" was rendered by Mrs. Martin
Schultz
Bishop Newman preached the watch
night sermon. 1t was a great effort and
held the congregation spellbound 10 the
close.
The text was from James iv:14: "What
is your lifeT' The following is synop-
SIS:
Life is gift OF God; the beginning of mans s
immortality, the connecting ink between the
past and the future. 1t is a period of prepsra-
ton, also period of termination.
II is O grand thing to live. Whether in the
ephemera of an hour or the eagle of d cen tury,
the flower OF day or the yew tree OF thou
three score years and ten, life is glorious
fact,
Lie is everywhere; it Is the only thing of
which God seems prodigal There is life in
the earth and on the earth, in the sea and on
the sea and throughout the vast expanse of
the atmosphere. There is life in the fungi, in
luC lltuSuy III LD6 DtOOO-EdlQ, IN I0e Qre IQdI
sparkes on thesummer sea, in the notes that
, dance n the sunbeam and in the dewdrop-
Aurora's diamond. Give the microscopic
more light and he viii reveal the exiS Stence OF
more life. II is not possible to conceive of
life devoid of grandeur. Whatever may be the
misery incident to existence, to live is prefer
able to anninil alton.
Among the mysteries of life is what scholars
call the lease OF life. No general law has yet
been discovered either IN the animal or vege-
table kingdom fixing this limitation. The
lease OF life varies n animals and in plants.
In some il is song, a thrill of love; il others
e. IL sweeps through the centuries. The average
life of q rabbit is eight years, that of dog
twen ty-iour years, that OF the sagaeious aud
docile elephant $50 yesrs; the raven that
scroaks his coming lives through the century,
and the whale century and a half. The
grains OF wheat taken from the hands OF a
mummy terminate after 5000 years of cap
Iivity. The somber cypress fourIshes through
eight centuries, the cedars through 1000 years,
the yew tree through three mileniumS There
is at Calaveras, in California one OF the
gSeqGoia Gigantea-or big trees as they are
sometimes called-that is 450 feet high and
100 feet in circumference. That tree sprouted
when Solomon was in his glory; il was in its
prime when Rome was mistress OF the world;
IL stood in its majesty when Christ was a babe
in Bethlehem
what iife is is one of the deepest of all mys-
teries. The answer has bsfied the chemist,
the biologist and physiologist, VINO have
toiled in vain on this splendid theme. But
the heart OF natures mystery has defed all
research. Bichat may say: Life is the sum
of the functions BY which death is resisted"
herbert Spencer may say: Life is the con-
tnuous adJus tment OF internal relations to
external rela tons" Aristotle may say: Life
IS the form OF ORGANISM; but still we ask,
What Is lifef' Blchat merely tells us that
lie is not death; Spencer simply gives US the
signs of life; Aristotle gives US q tact, not
definition. In q general sense we may say that
life attests its presence by certain signs.
AS We now understand, life is ivefold-
vegetable, animal, immatcrial, spiritual and
eternal. Life in the vegetable kingdom is in
dicated by secretion, absorption and reproduc-
tlon- When applied TO animals its indications
are sensation, motion, proereRtion. Ascending
the scale TO the higher animal-man-and IN
addition 10 these characteristics Of the lower
brute creation are the higher attributes ex-
pressed by intelligence, YOIltion consciousness.
That which we call the imm aterial is differ
entieted from all lower forms of existence by
attributes which never characterize matter.
Life spiritual is that harmonious relation in
which man lives communion with his Gre
otor, while life eternal is Immortality OF
istence in bIssfulness OF condition. But
whatever may be our definitions, life seems
10 be an importation "a her than n crea tion.
There IS bat one life in the universe-the life
OF God. The Scriptures are accurate IN the as
sertlOn that ''in him IS li1e which has depth
cl M aning to command our keenest thought
and widest research. The old Hindus enter-
tslned this loitier conception OF lie as an i'm
pertation. and said that all human lives were
parts OF the infinite lite. and as drops of water
return 10 the ocean, so ali souls return TO he
Infinite Father by bsorption. Underlying this
description there IS deep thought, but by
them misunderstood and misapplied, ior ali
impaired lives, whether OF man or OF angels,
will retain their individuality forever.
The Scrlptural history is that after mans
body was formed the Almighty inflated his
lungs and set his heart in motion by breath
ing into his nostrils ihe breath of his animal
life, AMI added theTeunto that which We call
the SOUL which is the ehangeless, immortal
life of man. This is the final conclusion of
Darwin and Wallace, compelled 10 this con-
clusIon by Mivart, Christian scientist. It
may De that some scholars, commonly called
atheists, have been misunderstood. Huxley
would say that protoplHsm Is the basis of life,
whicn is fact; and TyndalI has said that all
lie is from anteeeGeDt life VIII ieh is an xpras-
sion OF the highest truth.
But life is of immense importance primarily
70 the individual, secondly to society at large.
To the individual it is the beginning OF his
immor tality, given ior the noble purpose of
seltdevelopment and Tor that probation from
NAlen ne is 10 enter upon the exalted state of
his bllssful eternity. Who can contemplate q
thought so sublime without placing the high
esi value upon our mortai existence? And as
TINS lie radiates the darkness OF death It
nEsnes Its corruscAtions upon the materiadsm
o. lie day and lights up the tomb to the great
Dryono To the individ ual-life is the unfold
His o4 MS character. /; is the accum ulation
0I nose forces which enter so largely into his
ueselhy, and to destroy such lie is TO inter-
IuPs me great process of nature and cheat
maH ol MS inaiienabie rights
among civilized men there are two estimates
VI .Ee I'm poftance and value of human exist
Sl, SnCe, Que Ol vanity and contempt, the other OF
dlgnlty ana power. The former estimate is
largely due 10 The deplorable fact that some
OF our best poets and essavists nave given ex-
preston to thoughts gloomy and contemptu-
Gus. w.
ST. Paul gives more exalted view in those
memorable words, For me to live is Christ
and the Masters conception Is higher than
the highest when he declares HI must work the
WORKS OF him that sent me, while il is day:
the nlght eometh when no man can work"
IN Its grander aspect life is a web lime ia a
shuttle, man is a weaver. f'My davs a re swifter
than weaver's shuttle" The princfple OF ac-
uon IS the thread in the,wep; but two things
are true-that which enters into the web will
teappear and nothing win reappear that has
NOT oeen placed tn the web by the deeds of
In our tapestry of Iife we may weave forms Of
5Isuce, truth and holiness; of faitn, hope and
Snatltyi OF saints, angels and God aud that
tapestry may cover the walls of one mansion
Vi olesseoness to excite the wonder and adj |
mlFatlon OF saints and angels But in that
.epeslry we may weave the form of silenus
n4tn the ears OF an surrounded with lanph-
ing setyrs and dancing girls; of Bacchus hold |
Ls ~ MS hand the wine cnp with swollen |
S1eeAs' Dloated body, accom- panied by the |
oacchantes, frenzied and disordered chant
ing the song Of the drunkard and faI
ro~eo oy the tiger of destruction: of Mars |
teezIng with the blood of his fellows eyer az /
ruea with that horrid retinue ciamor
Waro, olseord, fear terror, shame. death. of /
ciTdie dily, iehing The arrows of Apollo and the
,eo ne Weo VIII be all the man makas n 7.
-' N"' siways appear what we are weaving.