The Canton times., 1902-05-23
REALITIES OF LIFE.
Sermon Of Rev. Frank Crane, OF the
Peoples Church, Chicago.
ze Says the City Is Composed OF
Ssllosts-TeIIs What Constitutes
the Real Things-AH visible
Things Are But Signs.

At the Pe0ple cHuicH IL
Rev. Frank Crane recently preached a
sermon from the subject 1.-The Keal'
ities." He took for his text the fol-
lowing:
..For we look not at the things which are
Geen, but at the things which are not seen
aor the things which are seen are Temporal
hut the things which are not seen are e'eA-
Mal."-II Cor. AIS.
Have YOU ever seen city? Have you
ever seen the great city OF Chcagof
AS you enter it upon the railway traln
you behold miles and miles OF cars
standing upon interminable tracks
chat cover the earth like STRANDS OF
gigantic cobweb; you behold huge
grain elevators, modern pyramids to
the glory of commerce; factorles'
whose myriad windows make tne"
Hook like thousand-eyed monsters. lou
walk the streets and gaze up at grea1
office buildings, each containing
restless cityful of people. You hsben
90 the din in the streets, the rush Oh
elevated trains, the clang of cable cars
the rattle of wagons, the inchoate cry
of newsboys and venders, all meltlng
into mighty roar as OF huge ca ID
ract But-have you seen the city!
No! for the city is composed essen
italy of ghosts, invisible, Intangible
soundless. The city is the wrestling
place of souls. If you could see them!
They are hoping, fearing, praying;
some are drowning their tattered SEN
.Sibilities in wine; some are growing
straight, sweet, fragrant as lily;
some of them have faces like horrld
devilfish, moving in fierce ugliness; they
are despairing, rejoicing. Ii you could
see these invisible flames we call souls
you would perceive them running to-
gether sometimes in strange mixture
of fires, making confagrations we call
N panic, strike, revival of religion.
You read in this Bible that no man
hath seen God at any time: l say unto
you that no man hath seen city at
any time. For the reality is always in
visible, silent.
Have you ever seen home? Yonder
Is a house that is called a home. It's
walls are of granite, there are French
windows, Persian rugs, lace curtains,
food imported from every cline, beds
of carved mahogany. draped with silk
and spread with fine linen. Do these
things constitute a home? No; for
have been in the parlor and found it a
human cold storage vault; in the din
ing room the inmates poison them
selves day after day upon suspicion and
'estrangement; in the beautiful beds
all night long there toss wretched
creatures who look now at the ghost !
of dead desire grinning at the head Of
the bed, and now look and listen at the
raven of despoiled love that sits and
Scroaks at the foot of the bed
Where is the real home? 1t is where
hearts ease is. 1t is not where we lay
off our clothes, but where we lay off
'our cares. The walls of real home are
mot built of granite, but of truth and
loyalty. Unpleasant sounds, the fric-
ton of living, are not deadened by rugs
laid on polished floors, but by forbear-
lance, by patience. The curtains that
screen the sacred household gods from
the eyes of the curious are not of lace,
they are woven of discretion. The
food in the real home is not meat and
drink, but unselfshness and thought
fulness; these sustain love. The bed is
not prepared with down and damask,
but with ga conscience void of offense
toward God and toward man." The
light of the real home is not the sun
by day nor the electric globe by night,
but it is love, shining always in dear
eyes, burning always in true hearts,
clear and lambent, unextinguished by
any gusts of passion or misfortune.
Peace and security are not there be-
cause of an insurance policy, but be-
cause of simple faith in the good God
who watches over Israel and neither
slumbers nor sleeps. You cannot see
this kind of a home unless you look
at the things which are not seen and
are eternal.
Did you ever see a man? Many a
specimen of the genus homo, Carlyle's
forked radish, walks about who is not
n man. 1t takes more than whiskers
and clothes to make man. If YOU
would make man upon Gods plan
you must first take, as the fundament- |
nj ingredient, courage; courage to do |
his work faithfully, through all dis
couragement; then, patience to go on |
through defeat; then, strength to |
efand always for principle and to de-
spise policy; then, largeness of heart,
so that he may do no mean thing; then,
gentleness to the erring; then, loyalty
60 friends and fairness to foe; and last |
of all, you must make him to be good |
friend with God. Such a man may be
b,rnd1,ool, Hid l.oe lzksl