OCR Text |
Show 'them, for all of which the ruling class' of Ruf-sla hated til in ihe more. No, in thinking of this man. rcmcni-lei rcmcni-lei lio liv-'l In darkest Kiisshi. nnd that to help those who, ImtlU.I y n-nenmee n-nenmee and oppiesxion, had no voice lifted for them, he pavo up wealth, social .-tandluK, all tlm friendship of eongeulal soals, and battle-won laurels. Remember, that fur them he lived as a peasant when he could have lived In stale. Itemr-mher, that all these years he was pci i-euted and annoyed by church and state. And jut he, the greatest llicrriry ability of his day, a man ot treat future by birth, wealth and atdlity, save up all that the multitudes arc en. wiling for and bore tin- Lontempl ol the leaders ol his race In order to help the oppressed op-pressed pea.-an.H. Do nut tercet, however, how-ever, that when he tonduuns the c tiurch und Mate that It Is nut the church and stale- of America, but of dr rk Russia. Hid great works. My Religion' and 'My Confession' and ' My Conversion" Conver-sion" are the bl.iipie cachings of the Christ as llie.-e Itin hlQp. have been ; , made real to hhu by a lifelong stiu:-.ie. stiu:-.ie. In his simple lalih he fuund his I'll, and when Russia and the Russian ' church come lo the light of the full i.bd free tiulh Ihe name of Tolstoi i will hold a largo dace in love and ier niory. Ills life bus ever been n great example ex-ample to ine of the iuberont power of the simple words of Christ, fur after af-ter sincerely Irving moral and economic eco-nomic menus of ret.irm. Tolstoi caroo to rdy wholly upon the dynamic of the truth as taught by Christ These go.ipcls, so little iea. by the mass of those who prolcss lo believe Iheni, became all in all to hlin. lie is but one more great evnmple of the power ii nd universality cf the message of the Christ wc love and woishlp. CHARACTER OF 1 COIHQISTOI "Toltstoi denied the Savior. Since It'll I he has been raiikcd among the I Pt.guns. Believers must abstain from honoring such a man in order to save their souls from the Judgnieut of Gi.'d,'" said Hev. J. E Carver at the Pret-byterlan church last night, "Such was the encyclical issued by and ordered to be read fimu the pulpits pul-pits of the Russian church to prevent a general celebial.cn "of Tolstoi's eightieth birthday two years a'o. And yet all th.. world felt a deep I -nse of loss in the passing of this i great tonl. Hie stoutest in all this I ' J-t'c is t;,o nliuosl uniu-i-ul verdict,1 when his sirenuom lue closed with hi." recent tragic ,eain. Somehow the iWOild. judging him by tho freshness I of his writings, had come to look uj.on hlin as young. A Russian in name only, he belonged to all the world, and bis words, as none otheri of the last lifty years, have been read by the million ol eeiy nation. IJt-ciolly IJt-ciolly hundreds of thousands of his bcoks have been printed in almost every language For years every thought he lias given to the public lias been given space In all the papers (f the world, an l though lew- of our city have ready many of hi books, all were Interested and many deeply grieved who read in our apcrs the ln-eideiits ln-eideiits of his death. So great was his hold upon the world that his own rulers, though they hate.l him for his views and burned thousands of bis books, dared not touch the man. What a strange spectacle to see this lean, whom millions looked upon as a sincere Christian, and who had suf-ie-ied and struggled long for a strict adherence to the literal word of Chi 1st in national, soc.al and personal l!ie, end his days under the ban eif the state chureh, as iiioied above, and de-nled a religious buiial! With Tol- i stol, as wi'h Huss, Savonarola and l-itlmer. this will only redound to his lame. I "If you have ever read many of his , writings, ycu know- that the genius of Leo Tolstoi speaks ror itself, aud If ou have not, 1 cannot portray it to you, for I am concerned tonight with poitrnvlng the life and I's environment, environ-ment, only to show tue depth of its religious faith. Tolstoi arose In a time of need, and out of the hard facts of a suffering people, as have all the religious leaders ed' the. paL He was lorn near the geographical center of Russia, In the region where the gl"omy forests begin to merge into Ihe rich wheal lands eif the south, in the year lM'R, in an economic environment environ-ment similar to that of the southern staie-s before the war. only in Russia the slaves were white, 1he climate redd and the bonds of slavery even more deadening, as they were landed ones. Ho was of the royal blood and ii herlied not only a large estate, but n name renowned for services to the frown. Educated at tho university at Kazan, lie soon became a leading so-clul so-clul figure in the new and old capital. He served lour years in the Caucasus i.:id commanded a battery at the siege of Sebastopol and other prominent engagements of the Crimean war Then for n time he was an under-gov-crnor in a province, but us his heart lu.d ever been drawn towards the op-presFod op-presFod of his people, he, In spite of protests of friends and kindred, resigned re-signed all national honors, and In a ', small provinrc established a tree day i and night school, acting a.; principal, ! leading teacher and Financial supporter. support-er. From university days lit- had been erne of Russia's leading llterarv eon- tributors, and now he commenced to wilte upon needed reforms in educational educa-tional and eeoiiejinle lines as he learned them from his bchool and position posi-tion as Justice. Then and there his lifelong trouble started, He was young, only about 35. He had been a -velcome and desired guest among the leaders of chureh, state and society. Now, when h? dared suggest reiorm anl urge It In the press, all turned to hale blm, and his school was eloscd by troops, his printing office and i.anual training department ruined cr.d he compelled to live In retirement. retire-ment. Then he turned from tho classes to the masse, and for nearly lift) years has written, ned only lor Russia, but tor the world, with u purpose. pur-pose. His writings all have a vivid, horrifying portrayal of "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap" with a large harvest Daslc and common com-mon moral religious and economic trulhs are clearly taught, while the Interest Is held by tho greatest liter-i liter-i ii ry talent of his day. Tho language and plot aro so fascinating that those vbo would turn from tho preacher are held by the story teller until they have had the burning truth of the morul fastened in their memory. For lubtance, hi? gambl.ng btorles have been most widely read by gamblers ; because of the perlect delineation, though In these 6torles he lashes gamblers and gambling unmercifully. lu IJnT'j a bofrsar vvoriiun one evening tcunht bhelter at the door of San-t.iioff, San-t.iioff, a peasant preacher who lived utar Tolfclol. She wus piven lodf;ln, bii.l In tho niornlriR, Ki-alin all bhe teuld from hr benefactor, went away. She vvus arrcbtcd und Sai-faleff Bent for. Why have you uirelrd her?' he a-Ked. 'She is a thief and should be punished.' they replied. 'Judge not and you will not bo judged.' Santa left a lowered; "we are all guilty at some point. What Is the food of condemn-, condemn-, liiK her? She will be put in prison, 'aid what advantage v) that be? It t would be much better to K ed and clothe her and let li r In the grace ol Cod.' Tolstoi heard of It, and went to bee the peamnt preacher. The remit was the formation of Tol-t-tol's religious views, which may be ; minimarlied In a literal following of j Thrift's word, Resist not evil," or I puKtdvo bubniltialon. He pave years . then to translating the gospel lulo the pea-tants' liuiguage and hpent the remainder of his life In helping and I Oelcndlui and teaching and feeding |