The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-26
ADDED COMFORTS
MAKE Discomfort
Rev. Fl. V. Givler Says Opt
mists Must Not Close
Their Eyes to Facts.

Rev. H. V. GivIer declared in his
sermon at the First NJ E. church yes
terday that greed, dishonesty and do
nestle felicity are growing more preva-
lent from year to year.
For lions sake, I will not hold my
peace and for Jerusalem's sake l will
not rest until the righteousness thereof
go forth as brightness and the saliva
ton thereof as a lamp that burneth,"
was his text, taken from Isiah. He
said in part:
ut is no disparagement for a man
to see the wrongs of society or the sins
and follies of men, though some will
call him a pessimist for it. Optimism
is a proper attitude, provided it does
not blunt the judgment or befog the
intellect, but he who cannot see evil
where 1t exists in It's open shame Is
unfit for moral leadership, and cannot
be a vital factor in the religious his
tory Of the times.
''The Jewish nation was in need of
Tight because it was honeycombed
with wickedness, and the same cause
has invariably produced similar results
in all lands and all ages.
"The religious leader who would I'M
dertake to renovate society must I'M
derstand the cause of the trouble and
believe in God for a remedy.
THE startling information is just
given out that the moral disorders Of
society are on the increase. Though
the nation expends $600,000,000 annu-
ally to combat crime, it is not able to
cope with it, but dishonesty, injus-
tice, greed, domestic infelicity and hu-
man discomfort are growing more
prevalent from year to year; and SO
serious is this state of society repre-
Sented to be that specialists are ask
ing that means be furnished them for
- a. A
lean society to find out what are the
causes underlying these alleged acts.
TT is well known that the educa-
ttOnal advantages, social amenities, in
dustrial progress and the economic
conditions of the people are greatly in
advance of former times, and yet pub
lie and private discomfort are singu-
larly prevalent, which is quite as sig
nff1cant' as the matter of the increase of
crime. The inventive spirit of the age
has multiplied labor saving devices
and conveniences; but If this latest
revelation by a scientific specialist is
to be credited, then it follows that our
comforts have made us uncomfortable,
and the increase of life's blessings has
produced a nervous strain which has
decreased the pleasure Of living.
Such an investigation as is suggested
can do no harm, and it may do much
good, but whatever the results may
be, it will not change the fact that
mems chief source of comfort has al
ways been in the religious life on the
one hand, and that neither the moral
force nor the domestic felicity of life
could be measured by circumstances
on the other.
"The purpose expressed in the text
was never realized and the prophet was
slain for his trouble, but the primitive
Christian chu1 CHI demonstrated the
practical utility of religion by con-
structing a new order of society in
the midst of Pagan influences and ira
dit1ons, making that new society out
Of people whose entire history and an
cestry were pagan, and from the start
maintaining it at a level so high as to
cause some to doubt its very existence
now.
Nor has there ever since that time
been a period Of darkness through ir-
regularity and vice that has not been