THE BUyP'Ayi OREGOIsIAN, -POETLAD, 1905.
Man's Strange Ignorance of Self
Sermon Written for The Sunday Oregonian by' Dr.
Newell Dwight Hfllis, of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn
Special Fair Inaugural Sale
IS
Text "For we know in part." I Cor- xlti:.
Thou knowest -my downtlttlng and mine
uprising." Ft. 13K
DOUBTLESS -we are all agreed that
personal happiness and success be
gin with self-knowledge, a knowl
edge that Is at once accurate and exhaust
ive. IT we are to make the most of our
selves, we must know what we cannot do. '
we-must know what we can go. ana wc
must know what gifts we have for doing
that appointed work. Ignorance of these
things means at best a partial success,
or, what is more probable, failure. And
yet. strangely enough, having sought out
many secrets, having made many inven
tions, man returns to confess that he
Is unable to search out the secrets of his
own soul. Though his age be four-score
years, the wisest man has only begun to
learn skill in carrying himself when he
begins to die. Looking backward to early
life, what man can honestly say that
at 20 he knew what work was to be done
in the world, just what part of that work
he was fitted to undertake, what was his
strongest faculty, what the line of least
resistance, and where was the one path
appointed for his feet. And if the youth
knows but little about himself, how much
less do other men know, whether those
men be friends or enemies. Tour friends
have no exhaustive knowledge of you,
for their very affection will lead them to
overestimate your strong points and un
derestimate your weak ones. Your ene
mies do not know you, because their very
dislike will distort the facts In the case,
and lend a twist to the judgment. Tour
parents do not understand you, for though
the mother linger long over the cradle and
.pore over the child's face and try to Imag
ine what thoughts and secrets are hidden
behind that mask of flesh, the parent can
no more tell what 1s going on behind that
face than a watchmaker can tell what
the wheels and escapements are within a
case whose maker Is unknown to him.
Some One's Knowledge Xceded.
But llfo cannot be laid out on lines of
uncertainty and ignorance. If man is
ever to find peace and prosperity, .some
one must know him with a knowledge
that is exhaustive. Looking toward the
child, the parent can abide the ignorance
of the babe because If the child does not
know the way home, the nurse does know
with certainty. Looking toward the
school. If the boy Is Ignorant of
what is In books, the teacher
knows. Ignorant of acids and al
kalis, we rest In the chemist's knowl
edge. Ignorant of the laws, the merchant
can depend upon the knowledge of his
counsel. Going down into the ship, we
sail away In perfect peace, because. If we
are ignorant of the chaVt and compass,
he captain knows the course In which he
Is sailing, avoids each hidden rock and
follows the path which leads into the har
bor. And David affirms that one being
there is whose knowledge of man is not
partial and fragmentary, but intimate and
complete. If for the body the X-ray
has drawn apart the heavy curtains, and
made the flesh transparent, and shown
all the Inner secrets of the physical harp
that the physicians must keep in tune,
we can also say that the light of God
strikes the toul through and through.
A Reason of Hope.
The religious man is a pilgrim, journey
ing across the desert, over hill and
through forest. But tho traveler cannot
escape from the presence of God. He
toes before to build boot1! and shelter
from the heat, and follows after to guard
the pilgrim from enmity and danger. Then
the figure changes. The soul is a book,
and God is represented as an author.
Man knows other men as a chance reader
looks upon the outside of a volume. But
God knows these tablets of flesh and
nerve. An author. God is also an archi
tect. The builder draws his model. He
shows you every room and hall In the
house. In his plan all the parts are set
up before they are bullded. And man's
body, it Is said, is fearfully made, "and In
the book of his knowledge all thy mem
bers are written." Then, searching for
one more figure, the poet likens man unto
an exile. Once this transgressor dwelt
in his Eden. His life was a paradise of
beauty and delight. Tempted, he cats of
the forbidden fruit. Then, branded as a
thief, the ahgcls with the flaming sword
drive him forth from his garden of hap
piness and scourge him on the swiftest
ship across the sea. But though his
flight is as It were upon the very wings
of the morning, lo, the great God Is In ad
vance of the fugitive. He lays his hand
upon tho transgressor with the grip of an
officer. "If I ascend up into heaven, God
Is there." If a suicide I descend Into the
grave, God is there. In all the universe
there is no dark corner whither I may
escape from his presence. Unable to flee
from God, David says, we may flee to him.
We may escape his justice by seeking
refuge in his mercy. Wc dwell, as It
were, in the very mind and heart ot God.
Man is an Insect, for one day spreading
Its iridescent wings in the sunshine that
comes from' him with whom a thousand
years arc as one day. God knows man
exhaustH-ely. And that perfect knowledge,
working with our knowledge- that Is frag
mentary, is at once the guarantee of our
present happiness and well being, nnd also
the- pledge of our future security and
character.
Man's Ignorance of His World.
How the fullness of God's knowledge
will be fuller if we consider man's Ignor
ance. Indeed, we see our own world pby-
slcal through a glass darkly. Some of
our scholars think that we will soon ex
haust the treasures of the world physical.
One wise man rises up to tell us that we
are reaching the limit of food production.
Anothor says we are wearing out the soil
of the temperate zone. Mr. Gregg, the
author. In his book on "The Enigmas of
Life" declares that man is a prodigal,
wasting the treasures of the earth, and
that we are now In sight of the end of
our bank account of soil and coal and
electricity. But it is only the dreamers
that use language of this kind. The
scientists who are studying things of roat
ter have joined the school ot prophets.
-So far from our world growing thinner
and poorer. Sir J. TV. Dawson, in his
geological history of plants, declares that
our earth is now in its Maytlme of fer
tility, and that the August of full splen
dor for vineyards and harvests lies In
front of us. Slowly, he says, the climate
itself must pass -under the control of
man. "As physical scientists," he says,
"we must now be prepared to admit tba
an ' Eden can be planted even in Spttz
Iwrgen; that there are possibilities In this
old earth ot ours which its present con
dition does not reveal to us: that the
present state of the world is by no
means the best possible in relation to
climate and vegetation. That thero have
been and might be again conditions that
would convert tho Ice-clad regions into
blooming paradise, and at the same time
would moderate the fervent heat of the
tropics, making the entire earth a gar
den. "We are accustomed to cay that noth-.
lng Is impossible with God, but how little
we know the possibilities that lie hidden
under some of the most common of his
natural laws." But Professor Dawson
was president of the Society for the Ad
vancement of Scientific Research, and
this Is the man who asserts that the
world is packed and crowded with riches
yet to be discovered, with energies today
unsuspected. TVe must not think that be
cause we have found medicines in the
bark of trees, and fires stored In the
anthracite, and how to control electricity.
yu niiutt anj-ining as yet aoout-me -ma-
den energies of the earth. Indeed, we
have only scratched the surface of the
earth. We are as Ignorant of pur world
as was Columbus of the continent on
whose shores he landed, but whose riches
of hill and vale and mountain he did not
understand even in his wildest dreams.
3Iun's Ignoarace of Himself.
Knowing little of his world physical,
how little does man know also of his
own body. Once it was supposed that
scientists had numbered the bones and
nerves and found out all the secrets of
the flesh and -sinews. But now, every day
emphasizes some new discover, that re
veals our real Ignorance. Recently a
physician was making a photograph of
his little child. When the plate was de
veloped, strangely enough, it showed the
face thick with some form of rash. At
first the man did not understand the
meaning of the singular event. But when
three or four days had passed by the
child developed a dangerous form of dis
ease. That which the eye could not see,
the light detected. The physician, who
supposed that he had mastered all of the
phenomena in connection with that par
ticular germ, found himself entirely
ignorant of some of the simplest facts
of the human body. And with that dis
covery comes another far more striking.
A biologist has been studying with his
microscope the Influence of the diseases
of childhood and fflth diseases upon the
growth of cells. During his Investigations
he discovered that these diseases stunted
tho cell, closed it as it were upon one
side, and thus dwarfed the growth of the
child. And biologists look upoa this as
Important beyond all compare. These
cells, stunted by disease,- explain the low
average stature 6f men. Looking forward
confidently to the time when these dis
eases of childhood are to be exterminated,
the scientist declares that men are to be
taller and stronger, and women to be
stronger and more beautiful. And this
prophecy is not based upon the mere
rhapsody of tho poet, or the dreams of
the enthusiast, bat upon tho hard facts
of science. At last the time Is come when
Ignorance concerning the body is becom
ing wisdom, and with wisdom Is coming
strength and beauty, hitherto unexampled.
. The Terra Incognita.
But how much less does man know
even of his own mind. Even great men
are Ignorant of themselves. What lead
er or hero or reformer has been con
scious of his own power? What mar
tyr during his lifetime has had the re
motest appreciation of his future in
fluence? The Italian poet dies in ex
ile, suffers a broken heart, and Is quite
unconscious of the fact that when cen
turies have passed all will confess that
tho great Florentine, In writing his
"Paradlso," has given form to the Ital
ian language and ushered in a new
literature. The great Genoese mari
ner, also, ended his career without
knowing that he had discovered a new
continent. Savonarola died without
suspecting that he had inaugurated
the overthrow of slavery of thought
and speech. But if the sons of power
understand so little of their Influence,
we need not be surprised that the com
mon people are Ignorant of thomselves.
Macaulay says that whatever he road
carefully he remembered accurately.
Lingering over the poem "with care, ho
henceforth remembered each line to
the A'ory end of life. Hearing a great
oration, years aftorwards he could re
peat It.' He tells us that he never for
got a face nor an event, nor a page
with which he had charged his mind.
But he also says that this power of
memory is within the possibility ot
every peasant, as well as scholar. He
thinks that the difference between his
memory and the memory of the stone
cutter who cannot even road Is a dif
ference In the stage of development.
Here is one August apple that for an
apple lb supremely large, rosy and ripe.
Here is another thatn this May day.
Is scarcely larger than a marble, is
bitter and unpalatable. The difference
is a difference In the stage -of develop
ment. That Is what Emerson means
when he speaks of "the unexplored
riches of the human constitution." De
spite the schools and colleges, mental
ly, the race is still in its childhood.
Ignorant of His Xoblcr Impulses.
Man knows still less of these dl
vine hints and suggestions found in
his nobled impulses. What Ingenious
youth but passes under the Influence
of hours of transfiguration? In these
hours of upheaval and disturbance
what resolutions he makes, what vows
he records, what waves of exaltation
pass over his soul! What possibilities
of happiness and character! In these
moods he . trembles, and Is afraid of
his own powers. Hearing the song ot
angels, ho hides, his treasures; like
Mary hanging over the child in the
manger, he keeps all these things hid
den in his heart. But when the cares
of this world have increased, slowly
those higher moods pass away, after
the manner described by Wordsworth
in his 'Intimations of Immortality."
and at last the glory fades into the
light ot common day. Later, if the
youth were to write for us the history"
of these luminous hours and nobler
moods, the record would be in terms
of retrospection and regret. Audubon
has a chapter on unclassified birds.
The naturalist tells us that those birds
that have the rarest plumage and the
brightest colors and the sweetest song
are rarest and most, exposed to attack.
Only a few nests exist In a region
bounded by states. Once, standing on
the river's bank, he saw the flash of
wings, and was ravished by a burst of.
song. But.- though he lingered la that
vicinity for days, this bird, beautiful
This Great Sale will continue the entire week and will prove a gold-lined
opportunity to many out-of-town shoppers as well as our own Portlariders.
Oval Mirrors
$7.50 Less
We always carry a
large stock of square
and oval full-length
.nlrrors in plain and
gilt frames.
NO. SS is like cut.
thick French plate
bevel glass. 19x
Inches, hung In pol
ished oak frame, easi
ly adjusted to any de
sired position. Regu
lar price, C7.S0: Fair
naugural special,
$30.00
There is one quite original feature about our advertising that
appeals to our customers, and that is: Our advertised bargains
are specific. Nothing vague and uncertain about them. They
carry the stock number, and the customer may, if he chooses,
go direct to the stock and identify each listed article. Hence,
customers know that when we advertise a cut price, the price
is cut indeed. Many visitors have taken advantage of this
sale to supply a furniture need at a great saving, thus mak
ing their stay in Portland one of profit as well as pleasure.
FREE VIEWS OF
THE FAIR
Beautiful Lithographic Seuvealrs,
Showing the Great Buildings, Free.
To Portland's Visitors:
May your visit be one of greatest pleas
ure and profit to you. and may you carry
away with you only the happiest remem
brances. We are "at home" to all -who
call, and shall be pleased to supply freely
without charge whatever a beautiful
lithographic view of the Fair grounds and
buildings a fitting souvenir of your visit.
Many will, we trust, find it a pleasure as
well as profitable to visit our salesrooms
and inspect the splendid lines of furniture
there exhibited.
Refrigerators
$3.00 Less
NO. 316. Made ot
hardwood, with golden
oak finish; has ice
chamber 15x11x11
Inches, zinc lined, and
provision chamber llx
lSxlS inches Provision
chamber has adjust
able sliding shelf and
interior is lined with
white enamel. The
"Alaska" Is thorough
ly well made to meet
tho requirements of
the Pacific .Coast cli
mate, has been sound
ly tested, and has always given eatlsfac
tlon. During ths Fair sale.
$13.00
Wardrobe
$1.50 Less
NO SC Solid oak wardrobe, dust proof;
supplied with hooks, shelves and drawers;
high and roomy; nicely polished; has
caned top niece and makes a pretty and
serviceable ornament to the room. Reg
ular price. J15.S0; special.
$15.00
Round Tables
$4.50 Less
We have la stock a large number of
solid oak. square and roiind-top Extension
Dining Tables. iney are of the finest
kiln-dried, quarter-sawed golden oak, with
piano finish, of 6, K and 10 feet in size.
NO. can be extended to 6 feet. Is 4S
inches In diameter, has solid pedestal.
hand-carved claws; regular Of O A A
Inaugural spe- ,piO.UU
J2M0; Fair
rial price
Solid Summer Comfort Here
No. B223&-JU.
No. B401-??.
These are solid comfort givers at any time of the year, but more especially In the long, hot
days. The' are substantially built on Mission line, but are highly polished golden oak.
They are At for parlor, den or porch. The regular price Is -Ml; you save C: 3 7
51150 by taking them at this Fair Inaugural sale XJ
i l IBm BtPPTT Iff i
$21.00
Bookcase
and Desk for
3.00 Less
NO. 531. This handsome
Combination Bookcase and
Writing Desk, in golden oak;
always sells for 521. It Is
strcng and durable, '.beauti
fully polished and'' highly
ornamented. Packed' and
shipped for
$18.00
IlACE GRTAhtf 1
SI .SO ECRU CURTAILS 03c.
NO. Ecru L-t.cc Curtains of good
quality -and very neat In design. A cur
tain that sell regularly for ne
at, pair iJou
13.00 CLIITAI.VS 31.03.
NO. 10.CCS. Here Is a white lace curtain
of extra width, good strong net. that
sells all over town for JiOO; but as lead
ers at this special sale we are Ci ns
putting thenVln at. pair 1 y3J
SI.23 CURTAINS' 73c.
NO. VO. White lace, very neat pattern;
rctty for chambers and dining-rooms,
ells regularly for J 1.23 a pair; Tr
this week ' Jl-
3.Q0 KCRU CURTAINS $2.05.
NO. SSN. These Ecru Curtains for full
length 33 yards and net Is of very
handsome design. You make a saving
of P5e per pair by taking them during
mis ?Hie. ior iney arc goins flis
at. pair i,UJ
$17.50 Parlor Suit $4 Less
NO. laS. This three-piece Parlor Suit is upholstered in high-grade velour in
pretty, floral designs: very attractive and durable: frames of mahogany
finish, very gracefully cut and hand polished. This suit f -4 o -
sells regularly at $17.30, but at this Fair Inaugural sale It 7S I "i 3 I
Is priced at V E
Dressing Tables
$8.00 Less
NO. 651. This beautiful Dressing Ta
ble would make glad any woman's
heart. The ton of the table Is 2S inches
from the floor Just right for using a
chair: wood Is golden oak finish, hlgh-
1- toIIshHi. Mirror is French bevel
plate. 15x35 inches. Regular price Is
IS; Fair Inaugural special is
$30 Golden Oak Dresser
$9.00 Less
$20.00
$50 Dressers
$9.00 Less
NO. 001. A very pretty little Princess
Dresser, polished until It Is as smooth
as glass, has two swell front drawers,
with handsome brass trimmings, large
jval French plate mirror. 3Sxl7 Inches,
top 33x27 Inches: regular price $50; Fair
Inaugural sale price.
$21.00
$5 Parlor Stand
$3.50
NO. S7S. Made of
golden oak. hand pol
ished. 16x16 inches,
very neat In design;
regular price, $5; In
augural special,
$3.50
$20 Parlor Cabinet
$ 1 5.00
NO. 205.,, Hand-carved mahogany. 5 feet
8 inches high, base 44 Inches wide. 10 draw
ers, lined with nollshcd maple, heavy
French plate oval mirror. 47 Inches high
anu.19 inches wide, solid brass trimmings.
Regular price, 500; Inaugural special price
only
$41.00
Nv. 211. A very beau
tiful parlor ornament;
mahogany, hand pol
ished, bevel French
plate glass. Regular
price, $30; Inaugural
price -only
' $15.00
a
THE STORE
THAT TRUSTS
THE PEOPLE
I. GEVURTZ
SONS
173-175 FIRST ST.
219-227
YAMHILL ST.
as the birds of paradise, never came
again. Not until years had passed. In
another state, did he catch another
gleam of the Iridescent wing, and then
but for a moment. And this experi
ence -interprets unto men those rar
and occasional hours when God overtures
the soul to enter upon the higher life,
sends intimations and prophecies ot
what man may be. But these are the
great hours, and elect, nt life. - Mis
understanding, men sometimes despise
the nobler moods. They explain them
by saying -that speaker works upoa
my Imagination. He wrought upon
my feelings. In these times of mental
excitement man is scarcely responsi
ble. He stirred in me a tide of feel
ing that heaved In my soul like a sea.
In my highly strung condition I felt
as if it would-be very easy to slough
off ray sinful habits, to break away
from my sinful and passlonful life.
But all that is now past, it was but a
passing excitement," But to how lit
tle purpose has such an one considered
his own mental and moral processes!
What! Take the glow out of the mind!
And the enthusiasm out of the heart
and of the will? You have taken tha
light out ot the sunbeam: you hays
taken the sweetness out of the song;
you have taken the tenderness out of
a mother's toneryotj have taken the
passion out of Patrick Henry's ora
tion: you have taken the pathos out
ot Abraham Lincoln's life.' It Is only
in these highly wrought hours, and
moods that great work is ever done.
In an hour of stacy the poet writes
his noblest song, the artist 'paints the
dlviriest face. and. listening to a seven
fold hallelujah chorus, Handel sees the
heavens open, and completes his sym
phony. The excited houp. the unreal
hour? No! A poet said that sleep was
the full brother to death. When you
are awake, you read the book, you
listen to the conversation of the
friend, you plan some enterprise. Fall
ing half asleep, the book and the
friend and the new enterprise seem
only as shadows, mere figments ot the
brain. Later, when sleep becomes com
plete, then you are dead, and book and
business cease to be. Now. in the
nobler hours, when aspiration strikes
the soul through and through, the soul
Is fully awake. In sodden material
hours of life man goes toward uncon
sciousness and death. Strange, there
fore, that men are ashamed of the
strengthening of that which is best
within them, and that they are proud
of the proofs of hardness, callousness,
decay and death.
Ignorant of Our Fellow Man.
Man Is equally Ignorant of his fellows.
Every life is sacred. The soul dwells
in its own sanctuary, and has Its holy
place. Into which God alone can enter.
Men hide their lives. They do not like
to wear the heart upon the sleeve. There
fore, the tragedies upon our streets of
which we are Ignorant. Therefore, hero
isms which are quite unsuspected. What
fidelities among the poor! "What battles
are fought and what victories gained by
one who stands close beside us, whose
heart history Is unread. If we knew our
fellows as God knows them, w hat-harsh
ness would turn to gentleness and love.
What enmities would become friendship!
Recently, when a gentleman stepped from
a ferryboat, three or four small boys
fought over his hand satchel. One little
fellow, with flashing eyes and clenched
teeth, brushed aside boys much -his su
periors In physical strength. The gentle
man, following the boy. meditated upon
his extreme avarice, the eagle-like flash
In the child's eye when he pushed his
fellows aside, the covetousncss that would
make him a miser. Suddenly the gentle
man changed his mind, and decided to
go In another direction, and therefore
took his satchel, gave the boy a nickel,
at a point just In front, as it happened,
ofsthe boy's miserable home. Taking the
coin, the child dashed up to the fruit
comer, exchanged It for two oranges,
scampered across the street to where a
woman sat la a window with a little
wan-faced girl upon her knee. With tears
ot delight the boy dropped his oranges
upon the sick child's lap. How utterly
cruel and harsh was the man's judg
ment ot that boy. It was not the flash
of the eagle's eye In the boy. but It was
the flash of sympathy that shone in his
eye. It was not avarice that burned, but
love that prompted bis eagerness to carry
that satchel. And men judge their f ellow
men as. harshly and unjustly as that man
Judged the little boy upon the street. Did
we know our fellows as God knows them,
instead of unsh'eathing our sword against
this roan whom we count an enemy, we
would flash the sword in bis defense, pro
tecting him perhaps and lifting the shield
for sruardlnr. Oh. if Sarents knew what
hidden treasure' Is in their children, Iff
teachers understood their pupils. If mer-.
chants knew what ambition and ' honor
were In their clerks, how would all judg
ments be reversed! To the end of life the
great heroisms among men will remain
unsuspected by our fellows and known
only unto God.
The Duty or Self-Knowledge.
How shall wc explain men's careless
ness and endurance of their own sin and
shame? They are Ignorant of them
selves. "My people know not; they do
not consider." said the Lord. But God
knows". From "him there are no secrets.
Though your soul be like a book whose
covers are locked Tor your fellows, God
reads all the writing on the hidden page.
This explains the difference between his
judgments of sin. Little wonder that he
speaks of sins like scarlet, and of trans
gressions as red like crimson, but he
would not wish the death of any, but
rather that all should turn to him and
live. Leaving the study of God's knowl
edge over against our Ignorance, it Is
enough for us here and now to remember
that he knows us altogether. We are
scholars. Ignorant, but he Is a teacher
that is wise. We are children feeling our
way across the continent, but he Is a
leader who knows the way over moun
tain and desert. We are soldiers, who un
derstand not the method of .the campaign,
and he Is the leader of the hosts, who
wuTat last bid us encamp with banners
of victory- His providence goes before
us to prepare the pathway. The angels
'of his mercy- encamp behind us. to re
cover us from transgressions. The angel
of his bounty-is upon our right hand, the.
angel of his goodness stands at our left
hand. God himself encamps round about
those that love him. and makes all events
conspire for their good.
A SPINSTER'S TRUST.
Maidens With a Contempt for Fall
ing: In Love.
Pittsburg Dispatch. .
There Is a Spinsters League in Bris
tol. England. It owes its existence to a
visit which the secretary paid to a mid
land town, where she found such a
league flourishing.
When she returned to Bristol a meet
ing was held at which those, present be
came convinced that spihsterhood is
the road to happiness, and the follow
ing rules were adopted:
First All members must have attained the
age o IT and not exceeded 30. must wear
long skirts, and dress their hair In a be
coming manner. Members are Invited -to ren
der their appearance as attractive as pos
sible, but to be maidenly In their conduct
Second Members are compelled by the law
oC the society (a) to be entirely proor
against any charms (?) of man. (b) to have
a -wholesome contempt ot falling In-love,
and to abhor marriage for themselves.
Third Members ,are also compelled to In
troduce th society and the advantages
thereof to all -whom they suppose may fall
victims to the delusions referred to In clause
two.
Fourth Every member must be In a po
sition to maintain the rights of the society,
viz.. Healthy, strong-minded, and able to
earn her own living; eo that "Ithere "will be
no- necessity for 'members to embrace mar
riage as a-means of subsistence.
The - secretary mournfully; admits
thatconverts are not being made very
rapidly.