The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-08

object for its imitation; an object for its own
surrender and loyalty. IN order that 1t might
not perish from its sin. but that it might be
saved unto eternal life. There never was a time
in the history Of the world, from its creation
down to Cavalry, when any of the generations Of
man would have murdered Jesus Christ the
spotless, the stainless exemplar of all that Ia
high, and noble and pure, and Godlike in char
acter There never has been time in the his
tory of the world when, for His meek and pure
and lowly life and example. and His speeck
against the unrighteousness of the day, Hewould
have been crucifed except that day In which He
has been indeed the salvation of the race Of
mankind from that day to this And ever since
that fatal Friday. when all nature groaned in
the agonies of her dying Lord, humanity, by
faith in Christ, has been upon the upgrade, and
will continue on it until the millennial and
coming of Christ Cries of Amen.
TIC take Christ out of mems minds and out Of
mems hearts to-day will be to plunge us again
into that downward descent of mind, and heart,
and life that will end in hopeless anarchy chaos,
confusion and damnation. Why, you cannot
find anarchy with resting place anywhere
in the hearts of individuals or in the
hearts of communities, or in the hearts of coun-
tries where Christ is. and where Christ is re-
spected and Christs principles are adhered to.
Go to Chicago tonight and interview any one of
those men who committed those brutal acts of
anarchy in the streets of that city but o few
short weeks ago: go into any of the dcns OF
peace of society," and the rights of humanity
tonight and interview any of those fell spirits
who are conspiring against the peace and happi-
ness and concord of the world and every time
you meet with one of those characters you will
meet with man who has rejected Christ, who
despises Him to-day. and will not hear of Him.
Christ is the pivotal center tonight of tha
faith of all the intelligence of this world, and If
you take Him away there is nothing that Is
fixed there is nothing that is impregnable, there
,o% rvix- IN hoo rtcfv
anchorage; but be must 60 forever and ever in
darkness upon a wild and wayward sea, and
know not whittier he is drifting. And when
Christ asked these questions of His disciples, He
did not ask them just for the benefit of that
little company that had come with Him into the
coasts of Cesarea Philipp There is
evidence of inspiration in the record
of Holy Writ and the best evidence
of its inspiration is that in all the incidents, and
in all the teachings, and in all the words Of
Christ and in all the acts of Christ there ara
lessons for every age of the world, and expressly
for this age of the world. and when Christ asked
that question of His disciples, Whom do men
say that ann" and then turned upon them with
"Whom do you say that / ami" Christ put the
questions that are to be asked until every knee
should bow to Him. That question is a perth
nent, live, open question for every of US here
tonight 1t is question that we are here to
answer; that we must answer; that we cannot re-
frain from answering. l may put 1t to you from
this platform and you may sit there dumb and
say, II am not ready to answer that question:"
but, my dear friend, you cannot escape from it
that way. You are answering it, day by day, by
your life, sir, in the character of life you are
leading, in the character of the thought that you
are thinking and speaking, and in the character
of the spirit you are showing to the world. Ac-
tons often speak louder than words and it liz
not necessary for me TO have you come up and
answer categorical question in order for me to
know how you think upon subject. Let me
see how you treat it. If two men are
nominated for the governorship OF
the State of Indiana I need not ask
you to tell me who you are in favor
OF. 1 will just simply watch You. / will
watch your actions l will watch what you ara
talking about and how you are talking about
those two men. [ will watch in which party
procession you march will watch what bal
lot you are seeking for at the polls. will see
which ballot you vote | can tell from that
which man you are for, and can tell from that
which party you put your faith in can tell
from that what principles are in your mind and
what principles guard your political action. |
can tell the spirit that is in You as citizen and
a patriot by your action in all questions of pa
trotism and the discharge of the duties of cit
iz-n. In like manner, sir, / can tell what
your opinion of Jesus Christ is. and ! can
tell what the spirit is that is within you with
reference to Christianity by watching your life
and your actions. and the spirit that moves you
in the world; and / can sound every shoal and
depth of it, and chart it for you SO that you will
be obliged to admit it is true.
And what fatal delusion 1t is to any man to
think that he eau go into the church of God and
live false, sham, lying life and be regarded by
the world Christian when, in fact he is q
hypocrte whted sepulcher. You cannot do
that There are some things impossible In this
world 1t is impossible for you to deceive your
self about who you are and what you
1t is impossible for you to long
deceive your neghbors about what kind
of a man you are and what sort of spirit is in
you. And it is absolutely impossible to deceive
God. 1t is deluson of the devil that gets into
a man, and makes him masquerade and parade
his hypocrisy in the church OF God, when ha
knows at the bar of his own conscience and al
the bar of public Judgment of his neighbors,
and at the bar of God, he must stand forever aa
a liar and sham. You say, why. there ia
my neighbor Brown he has just joined the
church; he has made profession of Christ he
now says to the world: II have with.
drawn from the world; have given my
heart to Jesus Christ as my Lord my
Savior my Redeemer; / have gone into the
church of Christ: l propose to follow the pre-
cepts of Christ, and to conform my life to the
life of Christ" Now. your neighbor says: Brown
has done all that, and now propose to watch
Brown and see what Christ is. propose to find
out who Jesus Christ u.s. and what He is. and
what virtue. and efficacy. and value, and eternal
interest there is in man giving his heart to
Jesus Christ and conforming his life to the life
of Christ; / am going to see what 1t is-all OF it
by judging OF Brown ana Browns actions"
And there is no escape from the fact that
every man of US and every woman OF ua
who tonight, is carrying the name of Chris
tian' is on trial before the world. and
on trial as witnesses and testimonials
of what Jesus Christ is. Men will look at you
and men will look at me- and they will say, IF
Jesus Christ can save men. if Jesus Christ can
forgive mems sins if Jesus Christ can be the
means of the regeneration of man, if Jesus
Christ can impart His spirit to man 80 as to
make that man all that Christ was, to make him
more lovely and pure in character, to make him
perfect in his desires and in his thoughts. to
make him charitable, and loving, and just, and
tender, and true. and temperate, and patient, and
benevolent, and brothery, and kind. and all those
virtues, aud all those characteristics that were
in Christi il be true that to have Christ
is to be conformed to Him in all
these points. I am going to watch this
man who Processes to be the follower and tho
disciple of Christ and see whether 1t be true that