The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-11-22
THE PERPETUITY OF LIFE.
Sermon of Rev. v. w Tevis, of Columbus, a.
Fletcher Place Church Last Evening.

Sermon of Rev. " w. Tevis, of Columbus, at
Fletcher Place Church Last Evening.
Rev. Virgil W. Tevis of Columbus, Ind, oc-
cupied the pulpit of Fletcher Place NJ. E. Church
last night, preaching to a very large audience
upon the subject ''The Lord God is a Sum-
This is figure" he said, "of wonderful depth
of meaning and exquisite appropriateness. AS
the sun is rhe center of our planetary sys tenn, 80
is God the center of the worlds thought and life,
the Infinite Being whose presence gives us light
and life, and hope, in whom we live, and move,
and have our being God is the author of
thought. He gave mind, with its wonderful ca
pacity and powers. To stimulate thought, God
filled the world with mystery. Tangled skeins
of truth lie as plentiful as grass i'll
sunny slopes of thought. God has
placed sweet pleasure in the heart Of every
mystery. He is the director of thought in q
great measure. In every truth He has placed a
hint OF himself. Every truth has merging from
1t lines that lead UP to God like the rays Of
light from the sun. The worlds thought is
necessarily confined within the present and fu-
ture AS to present temporal affairs, we are de-
pendent upon the Infinite for food, for the bless
ing OF health for the carrying out of the plans
OF life, for He is the giver of all good AS to
the future, God is the center, of necessity as
upon Him hang the issues of this life and the
possibilities of the life to come Society, to be
pure, must be founded upon and governed by
divine laws. The more Gods will is revered and
obeyed, the more closely will society be knit in
the bonds of love, and the better qualified to
elevate humanity TO higher sphere of useful
ness and happiness.
God is the source of light Light reveals
The Holy Spirit is revelator, revealing nan as
he is, aad as he must be, to attain sternal life.
He is the cause Of growth. Out of GOO there
may be sickly, pining growth, for latent en-
ergy cannot wholly die, and the Spirit, like a
flower in the shade, will reach out towards the
light. But out of God it cannot be robust or
manly and strong. AS the sun is the source of
transformation in nature, causing her to wake
from her wintry sleep and laugh out in flowers,
and blossoms, and fruit, SO a soul. under the
power Of God, emerges from the cherries des-
pondency of sin, out into the sunny realm of
broad enjoyment and satisfaction. As the sun
shines upon all alike, the murderer in his
cell well as upon the saint on his
knees in prayer, so Gods love falls upon
all men, The sun is the ultimate
source of all power. The sun made the coal
which makes the steam. 1t makes the wind
which fills the sails of the vessel. 1t brings the
water from the to fill the rivers which turn the
mill. So God is the source of all power, and
every moral force at work in the world, shaping
for veal the destines of men, may be traced up
to God. The sun shall have his day. and in un-
told ages to come shall cool and crumble away,
and the system Of which our world is part shall
vanish from sight. But God shall shine forever,
the Infinite Center of all thought and the
mighty source OF all life and enjoyment Dynas-
ties and thrones shall pass away, but He, never.
This assures the ultimate triumph of holiness,
and the perpetuity OF life and love forever