The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-08
Rev. DIR. Marine Opens His Pulpit Work at
COMMUNICATIONS Crucihed"
the Theme.
Rev. DIR. Mcleod, of Buffalo, in the
Second Presbyterian Church.
DIR. Dean at the Tabernacle-FarewelI Serv-
ice of Rev. DIR. Black-Services at Cali
fornia-Street and Grace Church.
CHRIST CRUCIFIED.


ing. He preached the following sermon to
crowded house:
"The Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucfeG."-I Corinthians i, 1928.
There is a strong and increasing tendency to
crown science as king, and to anticipate from
the wisdom of this world a golden age, while
Christianity, EN- bodying the supernatural, is re-
duced to the minimum influence, if not dis
owned. We have presented in our text this
morning an ilusJrious example OF what human
learning and wisdom unaided by the Christian
religion, can do for the race of man. From the
time the Greeks emerge into history their mental
activity attracts attention. In art, poetry aud
philosophy their high intellectual attachments
are acknowledged. In their social constitution
the Greeks were democratic, hence the currents
of intellectual life circulated freely among them.
Grecian orators, poets and masters of art sit as
securely their thrones to-day as they
did when Alexander was the cOnquerOr and
the Acropolis the glory of the world
The Greeks were pre- eninenJly religious peo~
pie. The same endOwments which qualified
them to excel in science and literature enabled
them to grasp religious truths, and rendered
them sensitive and susceptible to their influence.
There is no race OF men known to history whose
original nature was better adapted to secure
high attachments in the kno W ledge of religious
truth, or, when that truth was once gained, to
make it living power in the world. No other
nation reared temples 80 numerous and mag
nfcent or lavshed to such an extent the force
of genius upon their adornment or celebrated
with such splendOr of art and expenditure of
wealth the mysteries and festivals of their reli-
gion. Yet every student of history is informed
that this learned and gifted people, in religion,
deviated continually from the right, and built
their temples on baseless fances and dreams.
Thirty thousand deities-a rabble host OF
gods-each presiding over some func-
ton or passion in man, or some
phenomenon in nature, crowded the peninsula,
A few men struggled to stay the degeneracy Of
the race. Socrates attempted to bring them
back to the simple faith of their ancestors, and
he became martyr for the truth. Plato having
failed in his sublime reasoning, uttereduncon-
sciously a prophecy OF Christ: "That only a
teacher sent from God could lift the people into
the light of a true faith" Greece boosted of its
Intelligence and at the same time made Its very
deites minister to the sensual man. 1t laid
all nature and art under contribution to swell
the splendOr of worship; but it yelled the true
God and thus the wisdom of the Greek failed to
accomplish the spiritual elevation of man. That
knowledge is superficial and incomplete, and uu-
satisfactory, that seeks only to know what God
has done. The only satisfactory culture is one
that is broad enough to seek to know Cod
and to interpret mans relations to Cod.
The knowledge of the highest things, those
which most deeply CONCERN us, is not obtained
by mere intellect There are truths, and the
greatest truths, with which the soul has to do
that can not be apDrehended by the scientific
faculty in man. The culture that is only scien-
tifc lie unfinished narrow, and likely to be dog
magtic, if not Intoerant. The man who starts
out with an education, culture that has for Its
highest object the Improvement OF this world
who ignores the future, the unseen and the SUI
pernatural-must be failure, and we feel au-
thorized to say III the light of authentic his.
tory that he is a failure; and that what he may
be pleased to call his practical utiltarian idea.
or solution of the problem of life, will lnevita~
bly, be productive OF failures and degeneracy In
human society.
Again; fame will not satisfy the soul. The
fame of the hero, the orator, the philosopher the
pbl9m99roplst-in word, what the world calls
=, x5sn fame-will not feed the immor-
will not publicly acknowledge this while
living, because he is too proud but he will write
He will, like John Stuart Mill, record that the
homage OF this world is not worth having, and
that life is not worth all that it COSTS The man
who lives without knowledge of God, as he f5
manifested in Christ, and employs his time in the
acquisition of that which will be of no heavenly
use TO him, has made fatal mistake. The ten
dency of all that is humanitarian only, that is
educative only, that's moral and charitable only,
gravitates toward the grosser forms of material
ism, and already the rationaistc reputation of
the divine ana supernatural elements OF our
Christian civilization may be heard and seen in
the insolent demand and defiant threat of the
communist. To-day its devotees prone at
the shrine of Bacchus. 1t is a covenant with
death, an agreement with hell.
Never was the demand on the Christian church
so great now for men spiritually great.
Men to outshine the splendor, wealth and fame
of the world, as did Paul, Augustine and LII
ther Men to lead the people to a higher spirit
ual plane. Christianity never had more mag
nifcent opportunities than it has to-day Athe-
ism cannot hold mankind together in amitY, for
atheism not only impOverishes the human heart
but it acts as disorganizer of social unities.
Nihilsm is the legitimate harvest OF atheism.
There are only three forms OF Christian belief,
namely: the accommodation, the rationaiistio
and the evangelical. Salvation is by the sacra-
ments, or 1t is by culture, or 1t is
by faith. You never drag profess
tanlsm back to the doctrine of salvation
by the sacraments, while the gospel of salvation
by culture has proved itself to be utter fail
ure. church that lays intense emphasis on
what it does not believe is nursery of skept1-
cism and infidelity. This is no time for the
evangelical church to talk about doubts. This
is the time to preach Christ cruclfed.
That God does call some men to the office and
work of the ministry is indisputabe. That God
does set apart class among mankind to whom
ne IN Of tae New eap
These ambassadors of Christ who not only
are to preach the gospel, but to do nothing but
preach the gospel. These are men whose time
and talent, and education are to be LAID whole
burnt offering the altar OF sacrlf1ce. On a
dangerous coast, as the ship draws near the ln-
tricate entrance of the har0or, everything in
sight and sound, yonder tall headland affords
an indication of the course TO be pursued There
is something to be learned by the sound of the
water as it rippes against the sides of the YES
sell There is voice which no prudent seaman
dso6eys in the soundlngs ~h men reveal the
lighthouse is the guide, and 1t was
built for nothing else 1t was
made for that purpose, and that purpose alone.
Ii is true that every believer, in word, in faith
and in practice, ought to be a guide to them who
are ready to PERISH but ministers are to be light
houses That is their one grand business in life.
But Just as it is the government ouly that builds
a lighthouse. so it is God only who makes a real
minister of the gospel. Let us be clear upon
this point In constructing gorgeous church
sometimes the pulpit is made OF one solid piece
of walnut wood. Let the architect draw the
plan, let the carpenter saw and plane, let the
turner make it whirl upon the lathe, and the fin
isher polish 1t like mirror; but no saw, nor
chisel, nor sand-paper, nor varnisn, veneer
ing can make walnut wood out of pine. The
tree God only knows how to make. First, let the
minister be born of God, and called Of God,
then by all means avail himself of
the Indispensable qualifications of a liberal edu.
cation, and most thorough preparation for his
responsible work. The Christian minister Is an
ambassador for Christ. He speaks not for HIM
self, but for the power which he represents. He
must proclaim the word of reconciliation Ill
Christ's stead. The sea that stove the bulwarks.
aud leaped like tiger upon the deck, swept the
man at the wheel away to leeWarJ, put another
man. without consulting the fury OF me tempest,
promptly takes HIS place. On Southern battle
held, when all hope had fed, and disaster low
cred like the smoke of the cannon over the field
of carnage, young officer saw his commander
fall. Then came his turn TO fill the gap. He
could bear his own burdens, but how was he 10
stand III the place and make good