The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-23
SERMON BY RABBI LEVY
SPOKE YESTERD4Y III CHURCH OF
THE MESSIAH.
His Subject: "Enrnest Life"-The Only
Life Which Tells In the World-Eyery-
thing In This World Depends Upon
Faculty and Nothing Upon Fate.

AL the Church OF the Messiah yes
terday morning Rabbi David Levy of
the Temple Mishkan Israel preached an
eloquent sermon on Earnest Life" He
spoke in part as follows:
Studying the history of the world and
the characters that play an important
part in the scene of its events, we are
drawn to the fact that these personages
are men of zeal and stability, and that
the works which made their lives mem
orable or notorious were the result and
| outgroWth of an earnest perseverance
| in the object they sought to obtain
| Wherever there is an important work
| to perform, a desire to be realized, an
end to be reached which man has at
heart be it good or evil, you will find
| that there is eXerted an amount of Per
severance, an earnestness of endeavor
which, if not always praiseworthy in
| its object is at least remarkable,
In this world of ours where every
thing depends upon faculty and moth
ing upon fate folded arms and indif
ferent heart lead only to failure. Vic
| tory does not drop from the clouds, nor
! does success spring from the ground at
our bidding. There must be work, not
as a mere daily routine, but charged
with an amount of earnestness, which,
careless of defeat and undismayed by
opposition, acquires new resolution and
power and stops only when success is
attained or death interferes. An earn
est life is the only one which tells in
the world.
ies 6n
young men that there is an atmosphere
of good luck-a spirit of happy fortune
attending the successful man. they look
upon the lives of the great men of the
world, and think that because they
were bred in the lap of ignorance and
misfortune, they attained prosperity
through the influence of some good for
tune and with no amount of personal
endeavor That feeling is very COM
mon and is sapping the lives of hun
dreds of young men to-day. Take the
successful men of history-not those
who pay five cents on the dollar, with
preference for I'VE, Us & Co.; not
those who thrive upon the misfortunes
and passions and the necessities of
others-but the legitimate business
man, and you find that his success is
the history of honest, earnest, work. 1t
is the idle and thriftless who believe
in chance and luck. The men who
worship the goddess of fortune are
those who live by gambling and bet
ting, and pay the devotion to the queens
and kings of hearts and diamonds. No
success is honorable that is not the re-
suit of honest work, and hence our
sages have said with great deal Of
truth, He that does not teach his son
a handicraft teaches him to steal"
LIE Dor Is test of virtue. In this age
o. ceaseless activity the man who will
succeed must be up and doing. He
must keep pace with the march of
civilization or be left behind. No man
of energy looks behind as he marches
forward And he is the successful man,
who, with an earnest purpose and a
firm belief in the result of honest en-
deavor, presses on to the dawnng light
before him, and finds his grandest OPP
portunities in the life of the present
The age in which we live is an age
for burning souls and throbbing hearts.
and the victories that lie beyond in
all the departments of secular and the
religious life can only be attained by
firm convictions and unflagging zeal.
Earnestness is the great factor in all
human achievements. The earnest man
who holds to an error is better than
the cold phlegmatic soul who has no
convictions on anything. If man has
an opinion of any value to him, let him
hold it. and asert it, and live up to it
with some kind of enthusiasm and
the ardor of his conviction will radate
and warm another life that is petrfied
and cold. Enthusiasm is contagious
All the moral forces put forth for the
Improvement of the race must be oper-
ated in the light of this truth. To en-
thuse hearts with the worth and sin
certify of our belief and conduct, we
must ourselves be on fire A truth
that is worth maintaining will not be
smothered the love that RACES in the |
soul will assert itself The deed worth |
the doing, ought to have the whole
heart And so religion-the philosophy |
of right living--ought not to be cloak |
to use at our convenience, not toy
which we can take up and put away al |
our pleasure. 1t ought not to be used |
on occasions, but should be carried into
every department of life, with an earn
estness and an enthusiasm which will
help JOY to be used with wisdom and
tend to make trouble the easier to be
borne If religion consists in a mere
passive assent to some creed, if it is
merely holy day garment to be used
in the public service on churcll-going
days-if a man can live life of I'M
belief and at his death can receive all
the honors of the religion and the rites
of the church whose teaching he turned
to ridicule, it is not to be wondered at
that so many men are entirely dead to
religious influence, or cold and indif-
ferent to religious convictions. What
we need in these days of materialism
and self-interest are men of earnest
souls, men whose hearts are on fire,
churches and teachers VINO stand for
political parties and secular
press that represent principles, men of
of earnest, honest pur-
ocse.
If the service of humanity is worth
doing, let us do it well. If life is worth
the living let it be earnestly engaged
H. If religion is a principle which has
any elements of hope and aspiration,
IL improvement, regeneration and pro-
essicn in its economy-if it be no
more than a moral police institution
ct us engage in it with some enthu-