The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-18
Keeping THE FAITH.



KEEPING THE FAITH
Rev j. Albert ROndthaler's Sermon al Tab
| ernacle Church, Yesterday Morning.
Yesterday morning there was large congre-
cation present at the Tabernacle Presbyterian
Church, on which occasion tbe pastor. Rev. J.
Albert Rondthaler preached most excellent
sermon on Keeping the Faith" His text was
the words found in Hebrews Ill IA:
For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the
beginning of our confidence steadfaSt unto the end.
| His opening sentences were when our Lord
came to the end of His earthly life He lifted up
His eyes and said: Father have finished the
work Thou gavest me to do When Paul came
to the end of his earthly life no said: L have
kept the faith 1t was for Jesus Christ the
Son of God, to finish the work; it was for Paul,
the man, to keep the faith. That states, in
short sentence, one Of the fundamental princi-
| pies of our evangelical Christianity. The work
| of salvation is completed accomplishments"
Let me here say" continued Mr.. Rondthaler,
| San earnest word In behalf of the preservation
| of the faith that has wrought into mind and
heart in the most impossible period of our
! lives There is scarcely any dissertation that
| seems so sad to me as the dissertation of the
earnest counsel of godly father and the sweet
| influence of Christian mother Can we easily
| cast away as Idle useless methods the
| things in which they believed and delighted,
| and py which they lived? And may go back
even further than that and speak with reverence
| of the faith that comes to some OF US through
| long ancestral line. We bear the features of
/ our fathers, we repeat their dispositions, we are
like tlfsm in hundred ways. Why should we
not also bear the impress of their piety and live
in the heritage of their faith, we do in the
inheritance of their natural qualities or their &C
| Qured property? Men and women in these
| ;Dae vh thIn RI at fait
run into decay from disuse when the saving
doctrines of evangelical Christianity are so light
| ly esteemed, when doubt is readily enter
tanned by nsidious arguments and willy inuen-
| does, is it not worth our earnest consideration
| to remember that when we let go Of the simple
trust in Jesus Christ as the divine Savior of our
souls we are casting away large portion of our
inheritance that has come down to us through
| generations of cody men and womenF
| ''There was no man that was further from be-
| lieving that grace in the blood than Paul.
| and yet, when he comes to write to young Tim
othy, he reminds him. with glow of enthusi-
asm of his inheritance of sainthood: When
! I call to remembrance the I'M
| feigned faith that is in thee. which dwelt first
| in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother, Eu-
nice, persuaded that in thee, also The joint
| influence of two generations is acknQwl-
edged by Gods word-it proved full blessing to
Timothy.
''Some men and women in this city can trace
lineage of tenacious adherence to the long
| tested, long proved doctrines of Jesus Christ.
| Shall we say it is nothingl Shall we cast it to
| the winds2 Can afford to do it? What value
| we set upon the heirlooms and memorials OF the
| past! The things that were In our grandfathers'
and great grandfathers' houses we preserve with
great care. But that which was more precious
to them than their furniture, or their books, or
/ their property was the priceless treasure of their
faith in Jesus Christ. In the joy of that faith
they lived in the comfort of that faith they died
And now shall we hold it at naught9 Shall we
| he froyn fha faif Of fofh nv
| new theologes and new fanciesg There Is the
ringing, true Christian manlIness in Cowper's
| lines:
| ''1TY boast is not that deduce my birth
| From lons enthroned the rulers of the earth;
| But higher far my proud pretentions rise
| The son of parents passed into the skies.
Though grace does not In the blood,
| though q saint may beget prodigal. and the
son and grandson of Christian may be
scamp. yet there are certain grooves OF spiritual
blessing, the fruit and reward of believing
prayer, the result of careful training, that have
their effect and we break away from them at
/ great peril.
"And not only looking back, but looking fo--
ward, too, is there rot something that we are to
| give to our childrenq What directness are we
giving to their attitude towards Christ? Do
| they often or ever hear us speaking of
! doubts-do they receive from US impressions of
carelessness toward time-honored aud time
| tried doctrines of our holy faith! 1t seems to
| me that these are serious questions for US to
consider In days when the word orthodox has
| become such bugbear to the world, and when
men are proud to boast that they are not held
| IN old leading strings
There is no part of the Christian scheme of
| doctrine that is merely theoretical, truth to
be accepted by the mind to lie there as in a mu
! scum of old relics. preserved in glass case
Every doctrine of Christianity is practical,
| formulated by the divine spirit for every day
| use in the world To hold doctrine as merely
| matter of opinion does not belong to tho
realm of steadfast faith. Only that will remain
| to you through all the changes OF life,
through all the pressure of events, through
all the .vicissitudes and trials of your
years, that you can turn into prac-
ical use and make it do some
thing for you Take for instance, that
| doctrine which to all appearances is the most
abstract of all in our Christian system-the doc
/ trine of the Trinity Reason it out in your
mind and you become hopelessly entangled in
| perpleXing contradictions | have yet to find
| good argument in books for the Trinity. But
! with reverent mien and with heart alive to all
| that God will teach you, go out under the open
! heavens, look at the wonderful care that writes
i itself in detail upon all nature that surrounds
you. Mark every movement-the rolling OF
planets, the fluttering of insect wings, the scud
OF clouds, the quvering light, the glory In earth
/ and sky and the fatherhood of God will come to
your faith as a sweet and blessed benediction.
Then come back to yourself-look within Mark
your weakness count the mean despeable