The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-12
RUSKIN HIS THEME.
REV. DR., HILLS EXPOUNDS GREAT
ALTRUISTvS DOCTRINES.

Al the Peoples church last night DR.
Hills spoke on Ruskin. The large audi
tor1um was well filed, and the audience
followed the lecture with the greatest in
terest.
DR.. Hills spoke of the great principles
that Ruskin has taught. modern society
the oollgat1on of wealth to poverty. look
ing upon the rich man merely .aS a stew
art In charge of the wealth that belongs
to the poor man, and0which has been in
trusted to ethe rich to manage and ad-
minister for the welfare of all societ
II was In pursuance of this principle that
Rusk1n started the great modern al
truistic and philanthrepfc movements.
such as the diffusion of the beautiful. to
give the common people an opportunity
to enjoy the beauties of works Of art
ana to carry the idea of the beautiful
into trades and manufactures and the
homes of the poor. In the same spirit
Rusktn started the movement Of college
and university settlements and organized
the first university extension ccurse
Wealth is the education of the hand A
ton ofelron7 is worth SIS, but manufacture
ed into watch springs it is worth S25 OO0
Art is the education Of the ear and the
eye to see and hear and observe, and the
cunning OF hand and, brain to copy what
God has thought out and represented.
painter or sculptor merely copies All
fine arts copy Gods idea of the beautiful.
All inventions merely copy some idea
OF God in nature, as the telescope is
fash1oned after the eye of the OK, and
the microscope after the eye of man. The
artist is the man who sees the beautiful
III nature and copies it as the inventor
comics the useful.
Beauty is soundness, strength and obed-
lon
babe in the arms of the Sistine Madonna
is based on no secret but health 1t is
health that transfigures it and makes it
revelation of beauty 1t is conformity
to GODS law that makes health. The
babe in the arms of the Sistine Madonna
is beautiful because there is not a drop
OF impure blood in its veins. That babe
was Gods idea of the beautiful. 1t was
the work of the artist God And one
day the painter Rafael passed by the
market place and happened to see the
babe in the arms of it's mother and was
So struck by its beauty that he decided
to make copy and preserve for future
ages this beautiful idea of the artist
God
All this universe is but one grand eff
fort OF God to express his idea of the
beautiful He has made nature one
great store house of beauties for those
them, and the one great masterpiece of
the artist God is man. He has fashioned
him with all the cunning of His hand
put not satisfied with the product, excel :
lent as it is, He is working on him day
and night, generation after generation, to
make him better expression of a high
Ell idea of beauty and perfection. God is
not harsh and severe. He loves His
handiwork, and the biblical declaration
that God will visit the sins of the parents
on the children and children's children
to the third and fourth generation is
not threat The law of heredity is
not curse. It means that the failings
and shortcomings of the race shall not
be transmitted beyond the third and
fourth generation. The Lord by the
working of His laws in that length Of
time will wipe out those flaws in His
handiwork, while the health, strength,
beauty and virtue of, those that live by
His laws shall be Inherited in an ever
increasing degree from father to son for
all generations to come.
OF course it is understood that man as
an expression of Gods idea of beauty