The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-08

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thority Of the Bible to the effect that it
is difficult for the rich to enter the king
dom OF God. Let us try again. Who are
the truly great? Some will again answer,
heroes, generals, kings, conquerors. 9th
ers may claim that, as the pen Is might
er than the sword, the great writer's, po-
cts. statesmen, are the truly eminent.
Now If the angels of heaven were
summoned to search through earth for.
the greatest men, where would they go?
To the palaces, to Wall street, or the
Bourse?" The speaker did not think so.
The angels would be found where patient
men were doing their duty. Our ideas Of
greatness needed correction. If We want
to produce the best men we must keep in
mind the true idea Of greatness. In this
life on earth ordinary men have the bet
ter chance. 1t Is easier for the ordinary
man to be good.
There was a strange connection De-
tween success and ruin. Had the sue
cessful man not climbed so high he would
not have fallen so low 1t was, indeed,
blessed to be ordinary. Often high vir-
tues had their corresponding vices The
Idea was illustrated by the stalactttes,
depending from the roof sOf a cave, and
the stalagmites beneath them Patience,
for instance, was virtue. But pa
tience could be carried to extremes and
degenerate into fatal ineptitude. Thrift
was a virtue but If carried to extremes
it led to the vice of parsimony. Ambi-
ton was great virtue, and the speaker
would give nothing for man who had
no ambition. but this could develop the
pernicious trait Of unscrupulousness.
Bravery was virtue whenever 1t dld
not trend toward recklessness. The too
sympathetic were apt to become too
credulous, the one virtue, the other
vice. All along the line virtues had
their corresponding vices except in the
well-poised man Of moderation.
The astronomer ascertained~ his facts
by three observations taken at different
periods. In estimating the worth of o.
man the speaker would take a man at
three different stages of his life; first,
when he was thrown upon his own re-
sources, when he emerged from college,
or started life for himself. Second, when
he had made his first failure Or success.
Third, after his mental and physical
powers had begun to fail. - Then you
could describe the whole of that mans
orbit as surely as did theaastronomer that
of the planet.
Now, what should we do with our ideal
man next? 1 would, first, make him
humble. There are too many men imbuad
with one idea which they advance radi-
cally and with lack Of judgment. Egot-
ism produces much trouble for people.
For men willing to admit mistakes / have
great respect I love man willing to
say, IT have changed my mind" The
ordinary man should be humble, and also
patient. The good things of life do not
come quickly. In the quality Of patience
there are number of ingredients, hu-
mainly. hesitation. difference. charity and
trust. Every man should have a pur-
pose. The train of cars andathe spinning
top each had motion. The former got
somewhere, the latter wasted its mo-
mentum. The steamer pIoughing through
the waves was more purposeful than the
balloon that went up but to drop aim
lessly.
Patience meant clinging to our base of
supplies. In making the ideal man we
should not forget to make him agrees
sive. OF course he should look before he
leaped, but when he struck he struck
hard and right. In union there was
strength, and having been a football play.
er in his college days the speaker well
knew the truth of this motto. But union
ism might be carried to extremes. For
instance he had thought at one time of
organizing an amalgamated association OF
sermon makers. Preachers worked too
Eard for too little pay. He would have
minimum scale of $500 year, and only
two sermons. week. = 5e
And yet for the very reason that this
would be carrying uIiiorisnn to extremes.
there would be no amalganaateds assoeia-
ton of sermon makers. stcr-
The ideal man should be trustworthy.
For himself he would not trust one who,
did not realize his own weakness. Gen.
turtles ago there were problems which the
world deemed unseivable. The labor
problem had been one Of them. The edu-
cationaI problem was another. Centuries
ego it was not thought necessary that
ony one, save the very high and mighty.
should read and write. There Was also
the woman problem. They were once
sIs ves.- Now they were as free as the
men, and, some thought, fceer.
Rev. David Morgan announced that
Rev Herbert F. Stilwell. pastor Of the
First Baptist church, would address the
union members on Sunday, Jan. q, at
Assembly halls.