The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 10, 1903, Page 6

THE SUNDAY CALL. ESTARS i - X N N X S WS N\ o —— = LR HAT was an interesting and impressive sight when the whole assem- they would not forsa the house of the Ls fuil sense of that word, you cannot build a character ‘four-square to all the winds """ that blow,’ you cannot make of yourself bly of lsrael, In unisod gpa; the Eternal would have you, ind with their therefore what you have a right to b bound themse! come and what it should be your ambition solemn covenant to become, unless you make use of the slon of God for your good. Religion i3 not optional to manhood. There can be no complete manhood without union with forsake the jocyug Christ. Unless your character is upreared in obedience to these seif-evi- inly great need of such dent laws of your moral nature you ars for the church and the house of God building failure and not success.” To aic Any, Whare s Sobcll siripency Tor Sote this building of Christian manhocc mak ch a holy resolution not to 00 Das given us the church, every tem : “ . plc of which should be a city of refuge forsake the church and the house of their g surrender to God ks Baa which is the strategic point with youn half the b. By « i we do not refer to the mate- men in life's baltle, is only rial sanctuary, but the corporate body tempt to keep one's self cleun believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We means to provoke the enemy from tritu Lded A young man will need all tne mind a spiritual temple buided e . e s S B alliances possible that he m YRS . - s & gy Then how foolish for a young r in which believers are “bullde main outside the church on the ¢ ge habitation of God throus live a Christian life wit S Such & body of b vers i church, that membes in it is uot an organized effort for carrying on (he ©seential (o inaintain Christian integrity, itk o it ol that in doing so he is more liberal than the church. which to him is too narrow w e important to young racn ... bigoted. There can be found within th ght reiation to and the the pale of the Christian church no worse ch? What scene is more beautiful or that stamp of a young man. fraught with so mcn interest to young To carry out this T in other to the home, to the church and 10 relations in life would all moral ‘ r the time of their recep- decency and law and bring about a reign of anarchy. What would become of the Ex rivilege and binding marriage institution if free love ‘should membership in the subvert What would become of the are or duty is more country of war if her soldiers slighte The great ma- shou way from all discip e r turn a m the tactics o1 the guerrilla ost absojute indiffe and bt This is the time when irds of the churca piaced upon law and order ' p to-day are females, and that . This is the time for per- f ¥ young man in the church there fecting organizat it is the day of country « voung women. Non-churchgoing unionism. The her men are neither wiser nor be trajned and disciplined win r ignering the church victories for the national arms. This is In trying to answer for the es safer for the soldier and better for the v of young men from the « country in every respect. Now, why the cause with the chu should a y ng man wish to leaa a Q) We often hear it said that the tian life without the church, when God rch has lost its grip upon the young gave it as one of his most potent allies? men. That may or may not be the lault i be folly for a soldler to expose of the church; it is more likely to be the when he could fight from behind fault of young men themselves It ild ) . or to fight alone when he t as proper and reasonable to say has comrades who are anxious to fight t young men have lost their grip upon with him. It is dangerous enough to h, and this would be DULting cross the desert or wilderness in com- the blame where in most cases it justly pany, but what must the dungers be to belongs—upon young men themselves one who attempts to go it zlon There is a lamentable ignorance amoug young men as to what the church is and There are mauny pretended reasons why young men do not belong to the church, the relation they should sustain to It. but the actual cause is their unwilling- They look upon the church as wholly of ness to submit to the yoke of Christ, their man’s planning and seem to think that fear of opposition, the unpopularity of the it is optional with them whether they church with the people of the worid. The unite with it or not real out and out Christian young man George T. Lemmon in the Eternal Bulid- never stops to argue the guestion of GheCourts ¥ kove Revived: HE varsities.are changing their chairs. we went to school wie were faught everything it was easfest (o Our curriculum comprised the largest possible number forget. Tt is high tinfe. When church membership; it is to him a duty which is far removed from the sphere of casuistry. It is not so much a ques- tion of self-interest as it is of an ex- pressed duty. He realizes that to refuse to identify himself with Christ and his church is to bring discredit upon his cauzc. Tyere is ne aiternaative—‘He that hel men, kim will T confess before my Father which Is In heaven.” The owner of that Bible publicly confessed his vital union with the Christian church. Some young men séem to act as If it were not good form to profess to be as good as they really are; they make this as an excuse fcr pot joining the church: they dread be TN “He That Is Not With is not with me is against me.” Nothing short of his open and public enlistment will answer. We are told that the verse most heavily underscored in the Bible of the late Rear Admiral Philip —a Bible which was much marked and thumbed—are the word of Jesus: “Who- soever therefore shall confess me before an aria to the effect that love is the effu charming or else withheld. Truth is the residuum of the sciences known as exact. love, once upon a time, just escaped admittance. Me fs Against Me.”” ing called a hypocrite. This is » Kind of modesty which is not a virtue. It is said of young Sherman Hoar of Massachu- se who sacrificed his life for the sick soldiers during the Spanish war, that he would urge the young men at religious conventions of his churgh to break away from this erroneous notfon, and to dare to sion of two egotisms. Truth should be Among these sciences By way of compensation it seem to be as good as they really were. It was a saying of his, “Why should you not dare to be regarded as good as you really are?” To temporize or comprom- ise with your Christian calling means moral injury to yourself, great harm to your friends and neighbor, and impeding the great work of the church. Christ calls his followers to a positive life of goodness which dares to be Its best and to do its best in all places and at all times. There is no doubt some truth in Dr. Strong’s statement that the life of the typical church member to-day lacks con- tagious zeal, that it kindles no enthusiasm for humanity, that it makes no appeal to heroism: but where is there another institution that has required greater hero- ism or produced more real heroes than the Christian church? No young man need hesitate for the lack of an opportunity to show himself the hero in the church. To bear witness of his Christian faith will at times demand the spirit of the hero. It is said of Mr. George Moore, the English merchant and philanthropist, that he was a religious man, whose Christianity was a part of himself and went wherever he went. He was always ready to confess his faith in God and in His word. While dining at a friend's house one of the guests, who posed as a man of “advanced thought,” ventured the remark: “Surely . there is no one here so antiquated as to believe in the inspiration of the Serip- “Yes, I do,” said Mr. Moore, speaking up promptly from the other side of the table, “and T should be very much ashamed of myself if I did not.” Silence followed, but afterward while in the drawing-room the skeptic asked a lady, *“Can you tell me who the gentleman is 10 so promptly answered my Inquiry in the dining-room?"” English etiquette not permitting the introduction of the guests, they did not know each other. The lady answered, “Oh, yes; he is my husband, Mr. George Moore.” The skeptic contin- ued, “1 am sorry you have told me that s0 soon, for I wished to say that I have er been so struck with the religious sincerity of any one. I shall never for- get it.” Not only in witness-bearing, but in overcoming the evil with the good and in gripping with the old man within him- self and overcoming him will the young man find plenty of chance for effort and struggle and the hero. But of all other things what an opportunity for service and sacrifice does the church offer in the rescue and uplifting of the downtrodden socially and morally. From the ranks of the church come the missionaries and Chgistian workers for home and ' foreign fields. Behold the great army of student volunteers, unequaled in all history, and remember these young heralds of the Cross are the children of the church. taken. he had forfeited all claim to her regard. decided that the defe.se of a lady is knight be rehabilitated in favor and reinstated in grace. nrchy REV. FRANK K. BAKER The trouble is young men outside the church are not ready to live a life of self- giving for others; they are as a rule lov- ers of pleasure more than of God and their fellowmen. No young man Is ever fit to become a church member until he has become a follower of Jesus Christ, the supreme hero of all ages. Having be- come such a follower, there are many reasons why he should become a church member. Dr. Josiah Strong says: “If the church is not what it ought to be, which is true enough, then having become a gen- uine Christlan yourself, enter the church and help to make it more genuinely Chri tian. The practical question for you is whether you are man enough to become a genuine Christian—man enough to give up the meanness of selfishness for the gen- eral good.” Don’t be a religious tramp or a shirk. Become a communicant in some branch of the church. You are not so much dif- ferent from other folks but that you can find a church modified to your taste, one that is wide enough, or strict enough, or pure enough, or sound enough. Rest as- sured that as long as you are-so imper- fect yourself you will never find a church that is absolutely perfect on the earth. Constantine is credited with having said to a self-concelted person, “Take a ladder and climb to heaven by thyself.” The law of nature that like attracts Iike is as trus here as elsewhere. If you have the mind of the Master you will be drawn to those of kindred faith for congenial fellowship. Young man. God cfms you! What will you do with that claim? Own it and give vourself to Him and you shall attain the perfect stature of a Christian man. “To attain unto the stature of the fuliness of Christ,” says George T. Lemmon, “is the glorious possibility that Is within our reach. Christ is God's ideal of a man, and such a man it is His desire to make of you by your surrender to His indwelling. The God-indwelt man is the only Christ- like man, and the Christllke man is the cnly perfect man. You must find God if you would find your best self; you must live in God if you would live well; you must be for God and for humanity a Christ continued in the world, or you miss the high purpose of God concerning you. You are deficient in manhood until you Lecome sufficlently transformed by the indwelling of love to image God to the world.” If you desire to help bring about in the earth the kingdom of God, which aims to make pessible that brotherhood of man for which we all pray and long, then work with the church in the unexcelled spirit of Jesus. Give yourself to the church in such a way that you will enable it to ap- proach nearer to its true character, and to fulfill the upward movement of its his- tcry. Highly estimate the church and your relation to it. EDGAR SALTUS The knight challenged the defamer. Thereupon the lady contended that Action having been brought tha court never illicit, and it was ordered that tha ‘Whicl,, the prothono- of subjects of which the least possible use could be made, No doubt they were desigried for our good. Yet we are unable to conjecture what diiference it would have made had they been intended for our harm. We are unable to recall a single one of them. Now, however, things are looking up. Oxford, for instance, is throwing out Greek. Here, generally, instead of the mummeries of the cla sics there are modern tongues and history in ileu of calculus. That is all very well. But the change is susceptible uf improvement. It is for this reason that the change in chairs is susceptible of improvement. The better advancement and future prospects of the youth of the land demand that universities shall throw out history and languages as already they are throwing out classics and calculus, and in their stead provide courses What's What. And what is therc but love and lucre? Those two little things are the motor forces of socie the fashions and the charm of medisance—we say mes onu Beside them, barring ance because it sounds so much more cosmopolitan than tittle-tattle—nothing counts. N nothing. Moreover, they are as potent and disintegrating as radium. Then, too, instruc- tion regarding them is really diverting. Students who take them up will not merely learn something; they will remember it. To be rich, for instance, seems complex. It is very simple. In an educa- tional magazine not long ago Professer Carnegie, Professor Depew and other sa- vants indicated the process. According to Professor Carnegie you must push. ners do not make a millionaire Professor Depew advocaled economy. A ar in the bank is worth two on a margin. Professor Mills advised not more than eight hours’ sleep. The other fellow must not catch you napping. Pro- fessor Clews recommended investments. We believe he has a few to sell. Now add all that up, and wealth, which looked complex, becomes as easy as ping pong. Love is different. To love and te be loved seems simple. Tt is an art in itself. An art dig we say? It is a philosophy. a theosophy, a pansophy in one. It is a science whereby the world, the flesh and the devil, the solar system, the uni- verse—including what little we know of it, and all that we do not—are reduced to a single being. Sometimegs to two beings. Occasionally to three. But though that number is 0dd, thers 1 o luck in it. Tt is dangerous, in addition to being inconven- ient. You never have a spare moment, and are obliged to lie like a thief. Two are less exasperating. Even with one carefully selected being your hands are apt to be pretty full. When that being is legally your very own vou will find it advantageous to confine your attentions to her. Anyway, it is generally admitted that it is better to have loved your wife than never to have loved at ail. Why? Because love I8 not merely a philosophy. It is a poem whose strophes age cannot construe and vouth cannot scan. Because of all subjects it is the most discussed and the least understood. Because it consists in the affection of some one else. Because affections are like fashicns, they will go out. Because the angel who at twenty appeals at thirty h been known to appall. At the opera now and then you may, if you are in luck, hear Cherubino ask was codified. What is more to the point, the code became law. Judgments In ae- cordance therewith were' rendered in. courts open and plenary. In 1%7 these courts are to be revived. They are to be revived for the pleasure, it may be, but certalniy for the instruction of visitors to an expost- tion which is to be them held in ‘Milan. You may have wordered what we were driving at. There s the reason of these remarks. There, too, is a tip for St. Louls. There also, perhaps, is the model of the schooling which the youth of our country lack We inject that “perhaps’ because we are skeptical by trade. But we live in hopes. Meanwhile, Milan being remote, 1907 far away and St, Louis uncertain, a summary of the instruction may contain a few hints, The elements of this instruction are rumored to have originated in Broce- liande, a country which, as everybody knows, lies somewhere within the confines of the Arthurian myth. By whom they were evolved is undetermined. But it has been authoritatively suspected that they were cradled in the manuals of pure courtesy with which chivairy was famillar and which society has forgot. Anyway, they once existed, and existing fiitered into Provence, where a parila- ment of peeresses did them over into a pandect of which the statutes survive. of commentary we may note that licit means Here are some of them. By way lawful, and illicit the reverse. There is nothing like making things clear. But oyez: it is illicit to kiss and tell It is illlcit to love any one whom it would be illlcit to marry. It is illicit to love two at a time. It is licit to be beloved by two, by three, by any number. 1t is illicit to be open armed and close fisted. It is licit for a woman to love her husband. If she can, It is illicit for a lover to do aught that might displease his lady. Jt Is licit for a lady to be less circumspect, et cetera and so forth. These statues, always candid, sometimes are profound. Taey disclose an understanding of the heart and its subtleties. It was over matters of this deli- cate nature that the courts of love claimed—and exercised—jurisdiction. The judges were dames of high degree. At times, in cases of tort and even of fel- ony, the lord of a fief possessed the right of justice, high and low. But there are crimes now which the law cannot reach. Tt was the same way then. Tlere were, and are, contentions which no mere male, however enflefted, may adjust. It was to remedy this defect that the wives of the seigneurs erected tribunais of their own. Their strength was their weakness. They were pretty and that appealed. They were patrician and that appeased. They took themselves seri- ously, too, and thet must have been very satisfactory. Moreover, if not always clement, occasionally they were quaint. Here is an instance. A confidant charged by a friend with messages of love found the young person so much to his taste that he addressed her in his own behalf. Instead of being repulsed h!s advances were encouraged. Whereupon the injured party brought suit. The prothonotary of the court relates that the plaintiff, having humbly praved that the fraud be submitted to the Countess of Champagne, the latter, sitting in banco with sixty dames, heard the com- plaint, and after due deilberation handed down the following decision: “It is ordered that the defendants be henceforth debarred from the frequentation of tary avers, was done. But how? Thére is the beautiful part of it. To the Courts of Love no Sher- iffs were attached. Judgments were enforced not by a constabulary, but by the community. Disregard of a decision entailed not loss of liberty, but of caste. In the case of a man there was exclusion from the field. Entrance was denied him at the tournaments. In the case of & woman the drawbridges were up. Throughout the land re was no one to receive her. As a result the delin- quent was rare. 8o, too, was contempt of the jurists. Such were the Courts of Love. Women then did more or less as they saw fit, and it was in order that they might do what was fittest that these tribunals were established. They had another purpose. In guiding the affections they educated them. Women were admonished to love and instructed how to. They were taught, we will assume, that they who please generally fall to please pro- foundly. They were further taught, we will also assume, that to please profound- ly a woman should never let herseif be wholly known. Even in her kisses thers should be mystery. Moreover, they were taught, or ought to have been, that when to mystery there be added uncertainty, and the two be sufficiently fused, then the party of the second part is not merely profoundly pleased, but com- fortably perplexed. The poor devil does not know where he is at. For of all things mystery and perplexity disturb the imagination most. Of all factors in an enduring affection the most potent is imagination. The woman who leaves 2 man nothing to botfer about leaves him nothing to dread. Inconstancy is the result. The brute turns to pastures new. But the woman of whom a man is never sure has him crasy about her for the rest of his wretched career. He feels that he could cut his throat for her. When a man does not feel that way he has no feeling at all Maxims of this fastidious morality were, we assume, without effort, handed out In the Courts of Love. Since the latter are to be revived in Milan, why not also at St. Louis? The more the merrier. Besides we need them badly. In the: days and in this part of the planet love has degenerated into a game. A very pretty game at that. Only when you are old enough to play it properly you are too old to play it at all. In which respect it is Inferfor to bridge whist. That is all wrong. The principles of the sport should be taught at school—if not at St. Louis—with a post-graduate course in matrimony added. For it is & matter of common notoriety that through ignorance of these things the youth of the land have been obliged to go it blind, and many of them to Dakota. What is worse, the statistics are full of people who marry again and again before they begin to know how. All of which a proper course of sprouts would obviate. And vet again it might not. Human nature is curiously invariable. With or without Instiuction in these matters, always has it preferred its own way. Babylonian tablets recently disinterred show that thousands of years ago it was quite the same that it is to-di Since then knowledge has increased, but not wisdom. In matters ethical and cardiac we are not a bit more advanced than were our elders In the reign of Assurbanipal. Love to them was quits as alluring as it 1s to the rest of us and equally deceptive. They had their ideas on the sub- ject, as we have our theories, and then as now these ideas and themes amount to just so much bosh, or—more elegantly and exactly—to three months of adora- tlon, three months of introspection, thirty years of toleration, with the children to begin it all over anew. the ladies who stand about to tell him what love is. swer. Not because they are rude. Still less because they are ignorant. The ladies make no an- But because Mozart did not care to have them disturb the innocence of the lad with RULY it is the little things of life that weave about us the tangied threads of destiny and make or mar our livcs, not as we would wish, but as circumstance de- crees. Many pay too lit- tie heed to trifies, and the heart may break and one's career be spoiled by some insignificant incident of which nothing was thought at the time, but when the consequences become ovi- dent then the misery of it all seemed to engulfl one like a cloudburst of fate. A careless word oft estranges friends &and unrivets the love-links that Time has patiently forged into the mystic chains of love, and though the touch be as light as = 2ephyr, yet the cords are broken and life darkened by a pitiful shadow where 2ll before was sunshine. Those who happen to be born without tact, or who cultivate a candor or brusqu- ric mode of speech, wound those who iove them most with a careless disregard that leaves its markings for a lifetime. Love that uses such piain and unvar- nished language in stating facts deal wound for which there exists no paliiat- ing circumstances. Because one loves you is no reason that the barest, baldest facts should be stated In the barest and baldest fashion. To tell one after dealing such a wound that it was done because they love you is very sorry proof that such a love ex- isted. Love should be too kind and con- siderate to do or say that which might bring the tear of hurt pride to the syes of the beloved. There may be times when it may be imperative, but*such occasions are rare and only excusable by the time and place. Plain speaking is seldom polite, often being more than offensive, and where people love one another consideration should be the rule, not the exception. A careless word, tactless and -unpro- voked, has severed many a friendship that otherwise would have endured even beyond the grave. Love is of gessamer weave, so dainty, 80 fine, so delicate, that a rude touch, a rough word, a chilling tone, or the toss of the head, all and each may serve to break the dainty threads and toss aside the delicate tracery that has taken years of patient love to weuve. The hearts of husbands and wives that have beat In unison for years are chilled and crushed not by the “heavy blows of fate, but by the little things perhaps the offending one forgot almost before it was uttered, but which left a sting that all 0\ ‘A honest people.” Here is another case: do anything publicly in her praise. the tearful pleading and efforts at recon- ciliation were powerless to obliterate. They will often bear in common the sternest flayings of life’s struggie, to find, after the passing of years, the cords that bound them cut by the merest trifle that both in thelr hearts regret. A great loss or a greater sorrow raises into ac- tivity the noblest qualities of man or wo- man. Each will rise superior to the most poignant thrusts of fate and endeavor to uphold one another in bearing such trials as come to both jointly, while after displaylng the most marked nobil- ity in meeting such blows, these same couples will find themselves estranged through some trifle to which neither the one nor the other couid trace the origin were it to save their lives. Perhaps the sins of omission have greater weight and leave behind more dire consequences than the sins of commission. Love delights in thoughtfulness. The most trifling thing done in the kindness of the thoughtful moment is often of greatest import when love sits in judg- ment. ‘When those who have once loved are separated by death or otherwise the sad- dest reflection comes when the memory can recall no thoughtful favor, no act unrequested or unsought, that had been simply the tribute of lcve and love alone. Husbands are often sadly negligent in A knight was commanded by his lady not to say or 1t so fell about that her name was lightly Chelittle@Things of Lifer this regard, and even as lovers fail to attach any importance to the dainty at- tentions that carry so much weight of meaning as messengers of love. A sweetheart who never thinks to send the woman who loves him even a flower or a trifle will be equally neglectful of a wife. Excuses are varied and multiple where a man is credited or rather credits himself with being too busy to think of little things. When birthdays and wed- ding anniversary dates are forgotten and no reminder comes to mark these mem- ory milestones along life’s journey, the wife who holids In her heart any regard for her husband {s hurt by the omission, and if she really loves would rather have him remember their wedding anniversary by some little souvenir than any other day of the year. There is a world of sentiment behind the present that marks the date of an en- gagement or some particular day the memory of which has been treasured and held sacred in the heart of a wife or sweetheart. 1t 1s not the Intrinsié value of the Tt that estimates its worth In the wife's eyes, but it is the happiness of knowing that she was remembered, and In the thoughts of the one beloved, despite other cares, and that her name was the sweet memory prompiing the gift. 1f one cannot lavish presents there are hundreds of ways of showing love. A If the proposed revival of the Court: tions of them at St. Louis, can alter that them at work. note or message is within the reach of any one and the woman whose lover or Lusband cannot afford trinkets of value would often have her heart materially lightened by some trifle that told its own little love story. ’ Parents also are often too indifferent to the little things that make the home life of a child happy or miserable. Many have toa_little constderation for children and fail to study the nature that responds to kindness or those that must be ruled by sterrer methods. There are many heart-hungry girls who cannot go near their own mothers without having something disagreeable to dread, and yet they prate so relentlessly of mother-love! en so many are but the embodiment of selfishness and are con- ticually pricking all the seasitive cords of a child’s nature by the little things that amount to nothing save as they are vred as thorns in the sensitive flesh. A big quarrel can be forgiven and a peace patched up between the offending parties. A great wrong may be forgiven cr condoned and love, though with less confidence, be restored. A crime may bé ccmmitted against one and yet be sur- rounded by circumstances that arouse sympathy to the extent that conditions are overlooked, and the offense and its consequences mitigated, but with the lit- tle things that prick and hurt and worry s of Love at Milan, with possible {llustra- sort of thing we, for one, shall long to see AT E : TH>SON MSMARRK and annoy and cannot be forgotten will not be apt to appeal for forgiveness. These who have become estranged will often in moments of confidence tell how there came a tiny rift in the cloud. infini- tesimal in the beginning, but that it grew until, hardly knowing how or why, it widened the breach, parting the cur- rents of two lives never to meet again. A coldness springs up, how or why or when it would seem impossible to deter- mine, but which is felt rather than un- derstood, and the day follows when the breach widens and, searce knowing why, the love we prize most dearly in life we realize is slipping from us. Explanations ouly make matters worse, but the heart- ache and the unhappiness are all there and lite diverges into cheerless, rugged byways. A certain amount of. ceremony is often a safeguard. Many people are more sen- sitive than we reckon upon, and if the feelings are once wounded by an unkind werd, a neglected request or an act of thougktlessness the effects are far-reach- ing and it is hard to forgive the one most dearly loved for the neglect that we feel love should have guarded against. The great things of life ean take care of themselves, but the little things must be guarded sacredly that they may grow Into the greater things that crown life when love holds sway.