The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-29

IIhe verbatim report OF this sermon was FURNISHED
by Mr.. Andrew Adams, representing the United
States Stenograph Company, of ST. Louis. The re.
port was made with the stenograph."l
Rev J. H. Taylor, of Kansas City, delivered
two sermons yesterday at Central Christian
Church. Mr.. Taylor spoke without manuscript
or notes. Subjoned is report Of the morning
Discourse:
With feelings, beloved friends and brethren,
of JOY and somewhat, indeed, of sorrow, stand
| in your presence to address you to-day. A
pleasure it has always been in the past to visit
| indianapolis, and to meet with the brethren Of
| this city; but the memories that crowd in upon
me this morning when think of the dear hearts
| that labored with you in the years gone by, ard
| some of them that have ceased to be, throw a
| shadow over my soul l must not press this
| thought further.
| 1 wish to read in your hearing this morning a
part of the first chapter of John, beginning with
| the first verse: I'm the beginning was the
| Word and the Word was with God, and the
| Word was God. The same was in the beginning
without Him was not anything made that was
made. In Him was life. and the life was the
| light Of men,"
I select, beloved friends, this fourth verse as
the basis of our remarks upon this occasion;
especially the first clause: In Him was life. My
| subject, therefore, in brief, is that Of life We
are certainly in world that is full of the mys
| FERROUS. We are surrounded by the mysterious;
| and every subject with which we have to do is
| more or less linked in with that which is mys
| FERROUS. We may say with the apostle of DID,
| STILL 1--WE know in part only; and we prophesy
| or teach in part, so that no man who presents
| himself before the world is more than partial
| teacher. The most concrete subjects with which
| we have to deal are still mysterious. l ask you,
| what is matterl that most concrete thing which
| we call matter; that which is cognizable by all
| the senses. And yet who is able to answer
that question: Onansrt We know something
| know something of its elements; we may
speak of its dimensions, its impenetrability, its
| form, its color; but when you have given US the
properties of matter are you prepared to say,
| this is all2 Are you prepared to say that you
have absolutely determined what matter is, per
Sc, in itself2 We.speak of light. Who has de-
| fined light, that beautiful entity2 The answer
| comes back: 1t is that by which things become
| visible-it is that element which makes objects
visible. But when we still press the question:
| What is light in itselfg the mere answer that
| light accomplishes given fact is no answer as
to what it is in itself And so. then, we come to
! this important question, without which nothing
| in this universe is interesting to you or to me.
What is lifeg Who has defined it? Among
| all the various definitions what light has been
thrown upon the subject9-that which you and
hold as the most interesting possession we have
| What is life in and of itself? No man has ever
| given definition Of it. Mr. Herbert Spencers
| definition is but jingle of words. 1.-The contin-
ued adjustment of the internal with the external
| environment presents no definition. of this WOE
| derful thing we call life Take life in it's most sim
pie form. What is life in the blood here that
| courses through your veins? What is life in the
| grain of wheatl You analyze that You separate
| it into it's component elements. And you search
| for that mysterious something which you call
| life. 1t has eluded you when you have broken
| down the grain and reduced it to its component
| elements. No chemist, though he may tell you
| what are the components of the grain of wheat
! can recompose that grain and reinstate that
CO..
| mysterious something which comes up and pre-
sents its beautiful form, which we term life: we
it rise day after day in its glory, and yet who
| can tell what it means?
| Moreover, we may sometimes know things ap-
proximately by their antitheses. We speak OF
| light and darkness being opposed to each other.
| We speak of heat and cold as antitheses; and it
is possible that we might not form an adequate
| idea of light and cold if there were such op-
posite things as darkness and heat So when
| we speak of life itself we have its opposite in
death; death is the antithesis of life And thus,
bringing the two up and placing the one as op-
of life than without this called death. Death is
! the absence, say, of life. Looking, then, at
| life, we know what life does not what life is
We say, first of ALL life is great organizer life
stem; it builds up the leaf; it builds up the bud
| and it unfolds that into the beauti-
full blossom and flower. Life does that
| Wonderful is its working power. 1t takes the
| lCOO you eau changes IL Dy processes cdlloQ
chemical into chyme, into chyle, and then into
blood; transfuses it through the system, changes
it into bone, into sinew, into muscle, into veins,
into nerves-it becomes living tissue. Life does
that. Wonderful is its power in this transform
ing, that this very thing which you eat becomes
itself replete with the power Of life And We
| call this our nervous system.
Now, look at lfe and l am looking only at
what it is doing. have not discovered what it
is in itself. Death does the opposite of that. I
know it is the great dismantler of the ship
it; it resolves it into its native ele-
ments of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen This
| is deaths work When we pass this thought
still further we see the power of application
| that life has. You take this single grain of
wheat and plant it. 1t comes forth thirty forty
sixty, a hundred fold; you repeat that and it
produces a hundred fold again, until you have
filled your granary with life that once lay po-
tentially in the single grain of wheat that you
planted in the SOIL You plant an acorn, and
you have the great oak; it has thousand acorns
on it. You may repeat that and repeat it until
you have created vast forest. And all that
life once lay potentially in the single that
you planted. What a mystery here we have
marvellous, profound! AS / said then, death
does the opposite of that Life it is that beauti.
fes. In winter we love our homes. Death is all
over the Iand it has covered the earth with DESC
| lation Nothing is attractive outside of our homes
| We don't want to go to the mountains or away
to the places of resort. Spring comes; the earth
is clothed with its carpet Of green the trees are
laden with their rich foliage, and all around is
beautiful, beautiful The birds sing their sweet
songs in the branches, and we want to be away
from our homes; they would be prisons now: away,
out into the fields, and into the mountains far
away, where God speaks in the beauties of the
| living. You want to be there to see how nature
has clothed herself in this rich, glorious attire.
That is life. Life has done that and oh, how
beautiful and attractive is this to the eyel But
let death do its work. and it lays that in the
DUST it covers the earth with its dreadful forms.
And to-day, as look over this audience, see
life manifested in beauty and in intelligence.
How full of warmth, how full Of affection! We
want to be where life is, and not where death is.
Death has done its work upon the loved one.
Like Abraham of old, we say, let us bury Our
dead out of our sight. Death has taken away all
the beauty and all the glory that made the per-