Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-09-15

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| crowded to its utmost capacity last
Sunday morning to listen to the fare
well sermon of Rev. Frank A. Pease.
The congregation was made up of
the members of the church and those
OF our citizens, irrespective of religious
beliefs who had formed warm friend
ship for Rev. Pease during his life of
four years in Wausau. They were
we'll repaid for their visit for there was
an excellent musical program rendered,
feature of which was the clarinet solo,
Gattschalk's Last Hope" by Miss
Wilson, but above all, it was pleasure
to listen to the very able sermon of
Rev. Pease which could not help but
prove a help and an inspiration to
all who heard it. His theme was 1.-The
Greatest Thing" taking for his text,
LIST Cor. 10 Gu. ID v He said in part
A spirit of rivalry among the Corin-
thean Christians caused the great apos-
tie to write a letter upon the subject of
love- comparing it with other gifts and
graces pronounces it the greatest of all.
Upon this subject poets have written,
but no poetic fancy can compass the
theme
Men are moved by the passions of
their nature, and held in their strong
grip, but love is the master passion of
the race, and yields much stronger
power over man than all others. Love is
the bond that unites the members of
the church, which is the Bride, and
hood, but disconnected and useless
members. These are gifts and graces
such as are mentioned by the apostle,
which are useful, but unless love is the
handspring of these, they fail of their
purpose. Love is not marketable, but
must spring from the heart, the spon-
taneous expression of the man. Love
bestowed can create no love unless
there is a corresponding sentiment
Often the church is carried away by
its admiration for talent and that which
gives it great prominence, while the
supreme thing, the paramount thing,
love, is conspicuously absent. The
greatest of all Greek writer's pro-
nounced a eulogy upon love five huns
dred years before Paul wrote this epis-
tie, and five hundred years after Paul
wrote his letter, Mohammed pro-
nounced his eulogv upon love, both of
which are beautiful expressions of SEN
timent, but neither of which compare
with this masterful exposition of Paul
to the Corinthians. Love is practical,
and satisfied only when things are
brought to pass. Maternal love in
spires the heart with courage, nerves
the arm with strength and fills the soul
with the spirit of self-denial. God
wants more than mere expressions of
appreciation from bis children, upon
whom be is continually bestowing of
the riches of his love. Love is light
and enables us to discover much that
science cannot penetrate. The spirit
of man is an unknown region toi
science
If you could know what is in the |
heart of man, you must love him, and
if into the hearts and homes of the poor
and oppressed of life we pour the sun
shine of love, their hearts will open to
us. The greatest thing in the world is
man, and the greatest thing about man
is his heart. Love is power. Men are
ever seeking for power. They want
financial power, political power, social
power, mechanical power, military |
power and intellectual power. There
is power greater than all these, and
this was revealed in the life of Jesus.
He loved men, and by the power of
love, drew men unto him. When on
the cross He cried, Father forgive
them" and that great heart cry has
come down the ages, breaking hearts
of stone, transforming characters that
were ungodly and vile, redeeming men
and women, and making them heirs of
glory aud blessedness at the right hand
of God Paul puts love above faith
and hope, and calls it ''the greatest of
these"
If we have this we have the measure
of the stature OF the perfect man. Geo.
Macdonald says:
..oh. the hurt, the hurt. and the hurt of love-
Wherever The sun shines, the waters go, !