Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-10-03
A SIMPLE SERMON.
A New Yorker Takes Article by Maine Woman
As Text.
AS a Text.

at often seems to me that the world OF
INV nirlhooa was Il simpler. more dlSni-
| fed more genuine world IMAM .nal ~
which our age OF progress mas .tus aHceE
| us today Ii was Il striving world tnen
os now a faulty, narrow-minded world
| vet many of Its common people were Jess
| radically common than TIE Same CLASS ol
the present generation. SIMPLY oetau ,k
| thew were more diligent students OF me
| Rible because they built and rounded
themselves more broadly on the influences
| and inspiraticnS OF that %onderIui Glass;
| ic."-Martha Baker Dunn In AtiAh'e
/ Monthly.
| Curious testimony men and women
give of the results of reading the Bible,
| wholly apart from any directly re-
upious influence. II would be worth
while to collate, if only as a literary
curiosity, the words of men who regard
| its lofty incompatible form OF express
/ sion as q guide TO literary perfectioH
| and put them beside those VINO use the
| story of the Good Samaritan as an
| incentive to humanitarian effort. IL
would be u varied and astonishing
| gathering, these utterances OF every
| type of human thinkers and doors, VINO
| bring forth their illustrations on every
| tonic. as from an ineXhaustible re-
pository.
Those to whom the Bible is only
| noble book, talk to you Of the "Hebralc
Poems: Ruskin and Talne and their
| Xix acknowledge with enthusiasm their
| charm and their influence, and COM
mend Isaiah to the student as Il won
der OF arloT and Imagery. The judge
| interlards his charge to the jury with
Biblical phrases, the phlanthropist
! strengthens all his arguments with
| Scripture quotations., and the play
| wright puts its time-hallOwed words
into the mouths of his typical charaE-
| tiers when ne finds himself at Il loss to
| ind impressive sentences Of loving for
| giyeness or fierce malcdiction where
| with to carry convictions to his audi
| tors.
But Mrs. Dunn. in her very original
and interesting paper on "Educatlon,
has been the first to bring forcibiy pc
| fore us the dignity and refinement I'M
parted by the continued use OF th'.
! Bible as n daily companions. Where
| cultivation and 4 high mental elevation
gets an intellectual impetus. the unlet-
| tered and the simple. while seeking
| solely for religious comfort and guild
| ance, receive that for which they did
| not look.
| What causes us to call people COM
| mon? / venture TO assert that the
| illitcratc Scotch "cotter" as he turns
| DER, wi patriachal grace. the big Ia
| bible, ance his fathers pride, his bon
| net rev'rentiy laid aside" does not
| come under that lowering appellation!
| Wherever human nature in its hum
| blest guise has been drawn to look up
1
which is yet unseen. it has been lifted
beyond and above the vulgarity which
| comes from greed of gain or even from
| ignorance.
| Leaving the Inany-sided discussion of
| the religious study of the Bible by un-
! enlightened minds. TO more fitting
| places and pens better fitted for so
| great a subject, l am eager that the
| underlying thought of Mrs. Dunn s.
i theory should reach as wide an audi
| ence is possible. 1t involves such a
| deep perception of a great truth over
| looked in both parental and school edu-
! cation. Knowledge alone, knowledge
| Of material facts. does not raise the
| standard of character. no matter how
| largely it multiplies power to enjoy and
| to acquire. 1t increases wealth and
| fits us for the use of luxury. but even
| knowledge of tine stars in their
| courses" does not make men and wo-
men noble with that inspiration and as
| piration which make it impossible that
| they should be common"
They need some vehicle of inStruc-
| ton that causes them TO love "Sim-
| plicity and purity" those Two wings
| which uplift q man; they need some
ten1er voice pleading with them to re-
! gard the whole scheme of glittering
pretension which lures women to adorn
| themselves with the dress and orna-
| ment that ane the clothing Of princes,
| as wholly ut variance with the beauty
| that makes the 'liiics of the field per-
| feet: they need message from some
| sphere higher than their own TO make
| il plain that greed and display and the
| fruits of avarice and deception are like
| leaden weights. carrying q man down
| as inevitably as they enter his heart.
| In one of those blessed spaces which
| fortunate city folk rejoice over as q
| back yard" visible to me ut all times
| in "unHhine or III storm, ] have had
an unconscious teacher through the
| past summer. Early in the Springtime
| neighhOrng little children began To
| plant ami water In this narrow spot al
lottcd to them. Their happy little faces
| were 4 pleasure and their absorption a
| pleasant contrast TO the noisy young
| combatants i'll the streets.
| The window plants of the past winter
were the chief things planted. but there
| We're also q few seeds.
| From these arose at last n strong
| lcaveu young SunnOwer plant; it.
seemed "a survival Of the fittest." for
the soil had not been enriched and the
children had gone into the country.
| Through the earlier summer the coarse
foliage expanded and the stalk
| stretched heavenward. 1t seemed to
| the lookcr-on to belong to natures
| common-fOlk, with clear tokens of its
| true place in the scale of floral values
| When one sighed for roses, it had little
| charm.
| But bye and bye its position changed:
| by some influence it had conceived a
desire TO look upward: 1t had dlscov-
| cred Its right 10 gaze at the sun. Other
| growths dried up and withered under
| the Scorching July heat: the sunfiOWer