The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-17

Great Success Reached Unless an
Intensity of Feeling Is Cultivated.
The Theory False That Cold Re-
serve Should Be Actuating Motive.
Rev George Eckman, y. D., pastor
of St. Paul's, one of the most promln-
ent Methodist churches of New York
city, and son of DR. ]. c. Ecl<man. late
presiding elder of the Wyoming dis
trict, occupied Elm Park pulpit yes
terday and preached two sermons, re-
markablc for their scholarly thought
and directness Of purpose.
DIR. Eckman was pastor at Norris
town, n. j.. when he received u num-
Der of calls to important churches. He
accepted that of st. Paul's, which he
is serving with eminent satisfaction.
Dr. ECkman is a man of fine per-
sonal appearance and has an excellent
method of delivery His preaching is
characterized with the impassioned
carnestness and conviction that gave
such power to evangclistic eloquence in
the earlier years of the century.
lie spoke yesterday morning to n
large congregation from the text: MY
heart is fixed, q Cod My heart IS
fixed" Psalm, lvii:7
In opening the subject he pictured
prince without n palace; poet with
out a patron; the scion of a noble
house whose literary genius had franz
cd immortal lyrics eXiled to the mazas
of desert. his shelter a cavern. He
then said:
WHEN HE is INTERESTING.
"a king is not as interesting, when
in his regal state, he rides amid the
hu2Zas of the pOpulaCe, as when
Whelmed in some disaster. surrounded
by rebellious subjects or in the midst
Of revolution. Alfred. the Saxon,
hiding in the peasants hut; Louis
Philippe cast ashore on Great Britain,
while his subjects are founding a re-
public of his kingdom; James II, ex-
lied to France and at the court of the
Grand Monardue, while a Dutch prince
occupied his throne, are more interest
ing than in their prosperous days.
THE poet is more fascinating when
his lines are in the crimson drops Of
his own sorrows, or ruddy with the
flame of his martyrdom. Ovid, on the
inhOspitable shores of the EuXine sea,
looking ever toward his Rome; Milton
i'll the darkness of a sightlcss impris-
Cnment and surrounded by political
enemies: Charles Wesley, writing SER
arhic stanzas while the mobs harked
like dogs at his heels, excite our SYM
pathies more than the poets laureate
amid the roar of popular applause.
Here is one said the speaker, "who
is both poet and prince, the illustrious
son of Jesse, of the royal line from
which should spring the Messiah. He
is a poet not transcribed in the history
of the world
Then followed a graphic word picture
of the poet in the darkness of the cav
ern singing in the rapture of inspra-
tion at the crucial moment. He had
found a moOring on the restless sea.
He had found the true centre of life so
that his equilibrium could not be dis
turbed. The all-absorbing passion he
felt must develop in any man the
nOblost manhood.
MUST HAVE DEVOTION.
All men must have devotion to some
loves, the very sxl in heaven is cX-
tinct." Bismarck said, 81 am tired
not sick. There is no complaint, but
uneasiness of life in which nothing can
give me pleasure" In a great pas
sion great lives are filed with Il mar
vclOus beauty and symmetry.
The pity of the age is that so many
waste these powers on infinitesimal
pursuits and squander all their souls
on trivialties Too many devote to the
brute creation the loving attention de-
manded by humanity The horse and
the dog are noble animals but the
genus homo also is worthy of consider
alton. The bibliophile, the numismatic,
the antiquary are noe useless. but it
must be conceded that volumes rich in
manuscripts of departed years and
coins and medals of remote Civiliza-
tiOns are insignificant beside the habits
of the human soul.
John stuart BlaCkie chose rather to
devote the remainder of his life to
righting the wrongs of the Highland
Crofters, than to occupy tho chair Of
Greek at Marlborough, declaring that
the dead languages are of less import
ance than the demands of human
brotherhood.
The speaker then said that all great
passions are akin. Any great purpose
develops character. Newton. Sir Joshua
Reynolds, and Schliemann in his ori-
| entail research, We're cited as illustra-
tiOns of the all-absorbing influence Of
great purpose and its corresponding
| development of character.
DAVID'S ABSORBING PASSION.
David was possessed with an absorb
ing passion for God. 1t gave him tran
| guilty and courage. Peter had that
courage on the day of Pentecost; Gus
tavus AdOlphus had it, when after
| battle he rected "A Mighty Fortress is
our God" the hymn of Luther. Will
lam Lloyd Garrison had it, when he
said, Il will not retreat an inch and /
will be heard"
1t was this passion for God that made
David the foremost maker of religious
poetry in the world. He might have
been a great poet otherwise, an Ana
creon, a Homer, a Byron, a Moore, a
Shelley, but he would not have been
the David whom we know. Had he not
been inflamed with devotion to God his
psalms would not have come down to
| US, for the Hebrew literature of his age
is all lost except that within the lids
of the Bible.
His poetry has been called the whole
| music Of the human heart. Lafayette
knew it and repeated it; Cromwell re-