The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-15
THE VALUE OF VARIETY.
The Manifold Variety Under Which God
Manifests His Power in Nature.
Uniformity Not Desirable-It Is Well That
There Should Be Variety in Mems
Forms of Religious Worship.
ermon of Myron W. Reed, Nov. 8.

TExr-Psam civ, 24th verse; "Oh Lord how mani
fold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them
all"
The word manifold is used by st. Paul in the
phrase, ''The manifold wisdom of God" Mani
fold is not good translation. The text is, ooh
Lord, how many-colored all Thy works, " and
st. Paul speaks of the "Many colored wisdom of
God All monotony is forbidden. mature"
says Emerson, lis mutable cloud which is
always and never the same. She casts the same
thought into troops of forms as poet makes
twenty fables with one moral" All things are
made of few simple elements, a very few in
fact out of dust but the dust is manipulated in
a mastery way. The natural world has not the
appearance of Philadep hia. Evidently it has
had another builder, whose wisdom is many-col-
ored By forest and stream there is no color and
no shade of color left out. The same material
now is hemlock and now is palm rock, and
moss on the rock One fixed style of humming
bird will not do. There are nearly five hundred
variations of that little tune made of feathers
and bill Even the pebble on the shore is an
individual and has his special characteristic.
The children are able, after coming home from
the beach, to allot the particular property in the
common bag of agates
A man naturally is as individual as any pebble
or plant. Goethe's theory is that the child
should be dressed according to his temperament,
and not according to the clothing store that his
clothes should express him by shape and color.
There then would be an added picturesqueness
to the street. One going on East gets tired with
seeing the tourist with his hat, with his grip,
with his stick. He is the same one-he is one of
a lot-and the eye is wearied with him. But
coming West, and there is presently variation
that attracts the eye. For all purposes of art
the blanket of the Indian bends itself moro
gracefully than the dress coat of the Minister of
the Interior The Apache is part of the land
scape of Arizona, belongs to it AS naturally as
the Sierra cactus and the Spanish dagger
There is no sadder sight on the plains than an
Indian with collar on.
But all these things are outward and are not
serious except they indicate an inward uni
formlty, that is a serious thing. The charm of
Bible biography is that each individual is new
one. He is on earth only once. The die is broke
that nodded him. Reuben says truly I'VE be
one mans sons but the eleven brothers are not
copies, one of the other in thought or action A
sermon on Caleb will not answer for JoshuaS
serve Ruth and Esther, the queen. Each Bible
character demands individual treatment. His
virtues We're his own and his sins. = III s.
Highly civilized life Is as monotonous
plowed prairie, as n she'll road l understand
from the papers that one universal form of wor-
ship is the dream of some earnest people, That
is not combination devoutly to be wished be-
cause 1t is unnatural, has no regard to the tenn
permanent and taste of the individual In one
place people meet and say How do you do?" and
shake hands. In another place people meet and
bow themselves to the ground seven times |
hardly expect any uniformity in the mode
of the expression of joy and grief, or of love and
reverence. Forms of worship are expressive of
an inward feeling, and what the form shall be is
matter Of temperament and taste. The sober
stiffness and severe plalnness of the Quaker
meeting house seems fitting to the people who
are assembled there. Their feeling of reverence
takes that form. but that can never be the uni
versal form. The song of the Methodist is good
for him. Our co!ored brethren may become
Episcopal or Presbyterian. but with race varia-
ton. Norman Mcleod said on his return from
India that the East Indian could be made Chris
tian but not Scotch Presbyterian. / do not
wonder at so many kinds of worship. am sur
prised there are so few. We are tolerant of all
of them. They have a reason for being The
the way in which thing shall be done The
emphasis is laid tbs clothes. But the
life is more than meat and the body
than raiment The assembled Christ is more
than the clothes left in the sepulcher. If a man
loves God and his neighbor he will show it, He
is to he perfectly free as to how he shows it,
Even the Lords prayer is not set form. after
this manner pray ye,' in this spirit of asking
But note that time changes the expression of
the religious sentiment. There is an age when
cathedrals are bnilded full Of strength and beau
ty. Religion expresses itself in gold, and vel
vet and paint. in pilgrimagcs and professions
Books of religious meditation are written. The
passive virtues are magnihed. Patience, long
suffering. resignation. 1t may be said that pain
was worshiped Crosses were not ONLY found
and carried by saints and martyrs but crosses
were hunted for and sins were invented The
Mexican 1ogging himself with cactus to please
God is a remnant of an old time. The trouble
incident to life not enough Fast
ing, scourging and vigils were rei
gious exercises. But there has come
change. Sunday is longer au unhappy dav
and reading psalm is not punishment Even
children are not afraid of God 1t is an indus
trial. practical age. and this is a free country.
There is no longer need for much resignation.
| noticed in Mexico that nearly all the glass was
in the windows OF the churches, and it strikes
the American that, if possible, less glass and
gold in the church and more in the houses of the
people would be better.
Religion has with us taken a practical turn.
and Christians inquire: whats the use?" In
stead of wringing their hands they work with
their might. No one now writes volume of
medtations, for the same reason that no one
writes poems like Ossians They belong to
time and taste which are not now in the world
to the feudal age
Monument building is weary work for the
same reason. But religion has not gone nor
poetry. nor memory of the dead. patriot does
not need pile of useless stone to remind him of
the services of Grant and Mcclellan wise
mar to-day in dying will prefer that his name
be linked with library, or school, or a hos
pital, rather than chiseled on the base of a sky
piercing, sepseless stone. Nobody to-day has
any sympathy with monk or a. hermit or any
love for pain. Florence Nightingale is type of
the modern saint She does something. The
Christian Of yesterday sat with Mary still in the
house The Christian OF to dav is busy with
Martha in much serving. The text today is:
eff man love not his brother whom he hath
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not
seem" And the love is being worked out
in little and in large ways 1t is in
vain to try to call forward and make
alive to-day the mood that reared the Gothic
cathedral. do not think that we wish it back