The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-08-06
The Afternoon Session.

At2 O'Clock the Tabernacle was again crowded
to hear Rev. A. Marine, of Greencastle, preach.
The exercises were begun by cornet solo by
Mr.. j. b. Cameron and music by the choir DIR.
Marine took for his text, Luke xvii, 20 and 81.
1.-THE kingdom OF God cometh not with observa-
tion; behold the kingdom of God is with
in you," and in the course of his sermon said:
We stop thinking OF our origin when the ques-
ton of future arises IL matters little whether
man borr in paradise or some primeval
forest. But the means of his advancement and
development. He must advance along the
parallel lines of the intellectual ana the spiritual
At one time find the religious sentiment of q
people expanded and made the supreme quality,
until it has developed into superstition and
caste. People then turned away to the oppo-
site extreme and declared their trust in nothing
except the material. Again, there the sys-
ten OF scholastic theology that tried for 5000
years to explain thousand spiritual mysteries.
The people could do nothing but tnrn aside from
this. and scholastc1sm went down under the at
tacks of Martin Luther and other re-
formers But there was a great step
forward To-day we believe in the correlation
OF forces. We would have the world run neither
by Huxley nor Moody. and in this is the triumph
OF civilization. Christianity is a silent but SUI
preme power. and IT. is not on the decline, as is
insisted 10y superficial observers. The wicked
and fnf3my of tho age are coming to the
front brazenly, but We do not see the silent God
like forces working in the opposite direction.
We look out on the 6etthlnR sea or humanity
and see only the scum which has risen to he
top. There are many evils threatening our pub
lie welfare as well as our private morals, bnt
there are some things that cannot be shaken.
There are certain things that are for humanity
and cannot be overthrow. God Is In history,
and In all the great events there we're elements
that put the race forward With unfaltering
trust ascrbe TO the Divine those causes by
whioh human destiny is determined. Any con-
clusion drawn from the present condition of
things unfriendly to the advancement of man.
kind Is untrue. Progress IL Inevitable. Progress
is the realization OF the possibilities OF man.
There is such thing with God, for He is per-
feet and always perfect. 1t is the intelligence
ami will of people that are progressive. The
fixed point toward which man tends
upward is God, for in Him we live aud move
and have our being; in Him there is life and lib
erty and happiness for us all. Material progress
cannot Salty us, for we were not made to be
satisfied with It, One feeble step toward God
lifts man infinitely higher than all the vaunt ted
progress of the nineteenth century. Christianity
alone reveals the possibility of spiritual birth
and growth aud development. There are topics
of thought that machinery cannot affect. There
lie a world of benuty and harmony not to be de-
strOyed by the hum OF industry. There are
more weighty calls than the demand for food
and raiment. A man must hear and answer the
call that appeals to his conscience and to his
soul. With people Christianity is an
opinion; with another an impulse rhapsody;
with others crystallized eeceutricity. Man ia
not Christian until he hears the voice Of God
and responds TO it. We will never he united
until we stand on that common plane, The