The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-13


I'VE must be born again. To speak Of death as
a stream dividing this heavenly land from ours,
is poetic misconception. Life Is continuous
here and hereafter Here the growth is from
faith to faith. there from glory to glory; but it
is all by the same spirit, the spirit
Of the Lord Life here aud hereafter is
one flowing stream, death but bend in the
bank which sets the current heavenward. Each
wave of JOY here has its answering ripple there,
in the fountain of living waters, where Gods
tall angels stoop to drink. This thought of in
finite growth, succeeding spiritual birth, is the
grand ideal which fills up the consciousness Of
every earnest Christian. And around this NOV
ing SOUL and attendingits journey, are to be seen
all the results which the world calls progress
Christiananity which reveals the possibility and
supplies tae methods of progression, is the source
OF all improvement; change culture, prosperity,
and devotion are the constant attendants, and the
world grows better, happier every day, because
of this power and process of Christianity to
make man godlike. Christianity is Gods grand
est thought, coming to us in the message OF
the gospel, whereby the inward man is enabled
to enthrone righteousness, and thereby making
redeemed, regenerated man superior To the an
gels and akin to God.
Now, just as there is progressive system in
any other department Of knowledge in nature
and in mind, by which we can ascend from the
simplest facts TO their complex connections, and
from these connections to congratulations which
we call laws, SO there is progressive system
of truth in the Bible. Religious knowledge must
be progressive, but this does not necessitate the
making Of new revelation book written on
geology quarter OF a century ago is worthless
now. except as milestone, far behind, to show
the progress of later Investigations. So of chem
istry. botany and astronomy; yet these do not
necessitate the idea of a new creation The
atoms, the affnities, the planets the rocks and
the stones are the same they have been for
thousands of years, but our requirements in the
knowledge of these are perpetually enlarging.
There must be some fountain OF
spiritual knowledge. The oracles of God
are the only source of that knowledge.
Our knowledge of matter is gained from the
study of the properties of matter. Our knowl-
edge of the laws of mind is gained by the study
of the human intellect our knowledge of spir-
itual things by the study of Gods spirit. For
physical science the material universe is the
field for mental science the intellectual conStitu-
ton of man; for spiritual science the mind of
the Spirit in the word of God. But these things
OF God are spiritually discerned. And here the
apostle gives an apt illustration. taken from
the laws of mind: 'sFor what man knoweth the
things Of man, save the spirit of man which is
in HIM" 1t is profound truth that man can
not understand human nature without devoting
some time to the study of himself-his own per-
sonal nature. We cannot understand what man
is simply by reading history. We cannot under
stand the things of man, what pertains to
humanity, by common observation of each other,
for In society human beings, to greater or
less extent wear a mask; and even If
they are frank they can communi-
cate with each other only through language
and gestures and actions. which most made
quately show the real thoughts and purposes of
humanity We cannot tell what humanity is,
except by the study of ourselves, and only from
experience are we prepared to appreciate others
Mental philosophers have long since arrived at
the conviction that conscience alone must be
studied to reveal to us the nature of humanity.
There is and must be divine philosophy in
Christianity The historical facts which the
o1eA1r
which it is the life and joy of the spiritual man
to contemplate and appropriate. Sin and
the remains of sin prove disqualified
ton for spiritual knowledge. This di-
vine philosophy is distinctly apprehended
only by a renewed and sanctifed intelligence.
The Holy Spirit re-enters the spirit Of all who
believe in Christ, and abdes there, and becomes
the light and lie of mans spiritual nature.
Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. The
natural man cannot reach them by his mental
powers. 1t would be as wise to attempt to grasp
perfume or a rainbow with the hand, as for
natural man to attempt to take hold OF spiritual
realities. Those not quickened by the Holy
Ghost of necessity carry forward all their plans
and acts as though they had no spirits, and there
was no spirit universe. They cannot of them
selves pass the mysterious margin where the
spirit world meets and embraces the physical.
Men try with great zeal to satisfy themselves
with range to which the rejection Of the Holy
Ghost restricts them. AS compared with each
other the horizon of the life of one natural
may be far wider than that of another; one
may be confined to a circle scarcely wider than
the ken of brute, another may roam the
earth with the naturalist and with the philoso-
pher, acquaint himself with the intricacies of So
cial and political economy, and with the astrono-
mer range the maZes of the material heavens,
vet both alike confined to the domain of
sense. The material universe at best is but a
system of swathing bands and nurseries
for Gods children in their infancy
The man of learning, mastering the languages
and laws of other countries and times, and fit
ting up his life with the wisdom and culture
of the world, although further on, may be yet
but child Of nature, and as really the
savage whose only possession is his bow and
his blanket, and whose future is always within
arrow-shot of the present hour. They who
sink the deepest shaft into human wisdom. or
mount the highest pinnacle of observation.
weave the greatest webb Of wisdom most skill
fully-grand men though they are-may be work
ing from the base line of nature in which, as
yet there is no spirit The savage and the sa-
want are islanders alike around whom sweep the
great untraveled sea of spiritual forces. One
class of men may build houses of bark play with
the pebbles on the shore, feed on the spontaneous
productions of the land, and vegetate like weeds;
the other may gather all the beasts and fowls
and name them, sift the sands and build palaces
of god and in rocks and sea lines and
old ruins read the history of their islander pro
eenitors. And yet they are all islanders alike.
having no commerce with the world beyond, and
no ladder to reach to the heavens above them
All greatness stops on the highest peak of their
island home, or on that obstinate shore line.
All labor, all sorrow, all joy, rooted within
sea-girded land. That island is their cradle and
their grave 1t is not my intention to belittle
natural life, but simply to affirm that those who
go no further are like colony on St Helena or
Cuba, with ships to go or return.
On the contrary, to leave all figure of
sneech this natural life is of great value 1t gets
up forms for the spiritual to lodge in it affords
a.theater for an inferior yet immensely moral
discipline. It includes homes, families, friend
ships. governments, personal interest and lauda-
Bile ambitions 1t affords objects and powers
which serve as symbols of higher truths, and
they form the highway on which celestial truths
may at last come to our very doors
We hear much said about progress; it is the
magic word of the nineteenth century. 1t has
given its distinctive character to this age 1t is
the solution Of all problems. the key which IN
locks every mystery, the incarnation which,