The record-union., 1899-10-25
"RELIGI0N
TRIUMPHANT.'
Sermon Delivered by Rev. B Fay Mills at the
Golden Jubilee Celebration of the
Congregational Church.

Following is the sermon delivered by
Rev. 3. Fay Mills at the Congregational
Church on Sunday evening. the I'D, on
the occasion of the Golden Jubilee OF
that church.:
It gives me great pleasure to be IN
this city again, and to be able to bear
such witness as / may to the great.
glad tidings. And although L was
little late in getting here, l derived
good deal of consolation from the fact
that, if I had come fifty years ago,
when this church was founded, it would
have taken even longer to arrive from
San Francisco.
Those of US who have been on the
Pacific Coast, or in the world, for fifty
years, are none of us able TO realize
the period Of the world in which We
have lived. We are too near to it.
think it is perfectly safe to say that
there have been more discoveries and
greater discoveries, and inventions OF
more practical significance and power
in the last fifty years than in the
worlds previous history put together.
We all know this: it has become a
truis1n to us, and yet we do not realize
it. AS a college President friend OF
mine says: THE man will have to keep
on the run that keeps up with GOD"
When I was a little lad used to
climb up to the room under the attic
that dignified by the name Of study,
and there would lie upon my face and
groan in agony because l thought L
had not been born in an eventful age
of the world. thought: If l could only
have lived at the time Of the ending
or the beginning Of something-at the
time of the beginning Of Christianity
or in the time of the RefOrmation-or
if I only might have come into exist
ence earlier enough to have taken some
vigorous part in our Civil War for the
liberation Of the slave! When 1 first
looked upon the faces Of my children
I used to envy them, because OF What
I thought they might see in the days
that were to come. But L never lie
upon my face and groan now for fear
that may not live in an eventful age;
and never envy my children envy
myself. And I do not believe that any
of US can begin to appreciate not only
the marvellous developments Of the hu-
man race, but the increasing celerity
with which we are moving onward. l
remember, when I was in California
twenty-four years ago, that a train was
-'un here from New York City in three
days and a half-just about the regular
time now for the fastest train. only q
little less hurried. 1t was considered
almost a miracle, and I went down to
the railway in Oakland to see 1t go
through toward the pier; and I remem-
ber one man said that it took two men
tOs see it-one to say Here she coTnes!"
and the other to say There she goes"
But we live in that fashion nowadays,
and we are all aware that we have ar
rived at a certain point Of material
comfort, and that we viii not awake
tomorrow TO look upon the world that
we saw last when we went to sleep at
night. It is a new world ever day
and every hour of our existence.
But hear some one say that, while
there is no question concerning the
material progress, morally and spiritu-
ally, we have grave reason for alarm.
Now do not believe it There is only
one kind Of infidel on earth, and that
is the man who looks back when he
ought TO look forward, and who looks
down when he ought TO look up, and
who looks in when he ought to look out,
and who is not ready to fill his place in
the universe by lending a hand every
where. I believe that pessimism and
infidelity are exactly identical, and
am very glad that can speak tonight
what I trust will prove a word of great
good-cheer concerning the outlook OF
the present
A very good friend Of mine says that
the age is. broad, but that it is neither
very high nor very deep. / think he
is mistaken. think 1t Is deeper and
higher, and broader also, than any age
since man began to inhabit this planet.
We read Of the people that are wander
ing between a world that is dead and
one that is not yet born. I would not
put 1t in such g. fashion, even though
these words be Mr.. Arnold's. I would
rather put it in the words Of Mazzini,
that we live in one of those epochs
when an old world passes away and a
new world comes into existence.
And yet / know, because the form of