The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-05

GntIOn hesteruay MOrntns-Ihe sum-
 jcct Was GA Root of Evii''-The Pro.
 gress of Centuries, and the Accom-
 pRnying Changes i'm Human Nature.
 Rev. William J. Mutch, pastor of the
 Howard avenue Congregational church
 preached the first sermon of series
 which he will deliver during Lent to a
 large congregation yesterday morning
 The subject of the series is 'Under the
 Rod"-(Human nature under the rod of
 Gods discipline.) The subject of yes-
 terday's sermon was "A Root of Evil"
 The text was I Samuel 1S:9; And Sam
 uel eyed David from that day forward" "
 The sermon in part was as follows:
 Human nature in the rough is as raw
 a material as refiner ever looked upon.
 A few thousand years serve to alter the
 names of it's qualities and defects; but
 the material itself remains unchanged,
 except that certain examples show the
 results of prolonged experiment. Some of these results appear in the better in-
 stitutions of our day, and perhaps in
 more thoroughly proved and tested in
 dividuals; but some of the results ap-
 pear also in the worse institutions and worse types of character which have
 also been evolved.
 According to the nature of the raw
 ioJ md +I,a ha processes to which the material is sub
 jected, be it manufacturing, reducing,
 refining, or cultivating. When human nature is the material and the result to be achieved is character the process is one of discipline. It is an elaborate and determined course of discipline through which the divine hand is leading us. In every course of discipline there is hope and Encouragement, there is judgment and sitting. Every school room illus trates the possibilities of achievement and failure, which appear in their per- lection in the larger school of life.
 Sad and dreadful as the crisis is which falls upon Ananias, it is full of instruc- tion for all the members of that little community who are the foundation stones of the new church of Christ The declarations of judgment upon failure are needed as object lessons in the dis cpline of those who are looking on, for discipline is a social exercise, and its suffering must be in sense vicarious
 If evil is but good perverted, or if it is as Emerson says that ''All evil is merely privative, not absolute; it is like cold which is the privation of heat" vuo ctiI pt,1I nj, of and not a remedy What we want is q power that can warm the cold; which can correct that perverted root of character which issues in all those diffi- culties which pass under the common name of evil. If we can locate one of those perverts in the vtals of character, perhaps we may work together with God for the splendid aim of setting it right
 Saul ranks as the first king of Israel, but he is not the sort of king which we think of when we use that word. The chief business of the time was fight ing. For that business as well as among his fellow men he was head and shoulders above his fellows, and this is what made him king. Yet in mind and spirit he was but a child It is a mark of maturity and of mental and moral poise not to let trifling circum- stances irritate and disturb the paS- sons. Children are such because they lack that boise. Without discipline, childish traits become confirmed, and the result is manhood in stature, with | ill-balanced and rash temperament, settling more and more into those quail aact hn irto of yirctl Corinthians Such a chieftain or child | of the forest was Saul, the son of kish.
 He is the first leader to unite few of the Hebrew tribes; but his leadership | and prowess become an old story. Saul | hath slain his thousands' has been the | rallying cry of his followers, and he | has been blandished by it. But new times bring new events and new heroes for fckle hearts to follow, as we have seen even in our own time between the sinking of the Merrimac and the sink ing star of great admiral Tn the fortunes of war a young and brilliant leader wins an unexpected victory over the old time enemies, the Philistines What wonder that even the women lance and sing welcome to Saul and David as they return from the cam oaign; and that they add a verse to the ,ld war hymn for the young leader who vas the means of winning the victory. has little courtesy, and the demands of rhythm are memorable, and 70 the song runs:
 Saul hath slain his thousands,
 David hath slain his myriads."
 Nothing is more natural than for the mind and heart of the ting to rave in anger and be supremely ealous of David, and to say what more s there for him to have but the king Iom itself?
 It is perfectly natural that Saul hould eye David from that day for yard. But it is the fault of every child f the forest that he is natural and 'nly natural. Nature needs the refin- ng power of grace to turn it right and eep it right. A heart perverted to ealousy from childhood was the root Of he greatest evil which befell the first i ing of Israel. A natural tendency it nay have been but none the less fatal ecause natural. It required tke au ( hority of a strong spirit and well dis iplined will to subdue 1t and hold it in z heck. In the absence of this he was filling to be carried to any length that l jealous heart might prompt. Music night soothe him for moment but he 2 ad not that within him which could r Orrect the root of evil Jean Paul says |