The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-09-05

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us rejoice in life, In God. in the memories
of the past, in the hope of daysto come"
Condition Of Success in Religious Life.
Yesterday was devoted to the elderly
members of the NJ. +. Church in the city at
Madison-avenue Church. Rev. L. A. Good
win. ID. d., the oldest Methodist preacher
in the city, both in years and in ministerial
service. preached in the morning and led
al experience meeting in the afternoon, at
which were nearly q hundred persons,
mostly three score and beyond. tho Oldest
being ninety-three years of age. Col. John
w. Ray led IN the Singing at the experience
meeting. using only the old familiar songs
that were In uee on such occasions q half q
century ago. This feature of the meeting
added greatly To the zest OF the meeting.
The morning sermon was founded upon
Heb. XII, "a. "For he endured as seeing HIM
who is invisible The preacher said Moses
was q success. No character in history
stands out so conspicuous. BY so much as
We would initiate him IL is well TO study
of him and think about him nothing is SO
striking as his endurance. The purpose OF
his lite "a formed probably In his
childhood while under the instructions of
his mother. He conceived the thought of
leading his kindred from their
the magnitude of the undertaking, or of
the steps by which it was to
he achieved. But that was not TO be ma
terial. He had consecrated himself to the
work. trusting TO his God for developing
the steps as time and the work progressed.
From the beginning he encountered dill .
~cnlties. but he shrunk under none OF them.
He endured the rejection which he met at
his tirst movement towards emancipation,
and with equal fortitudeshe endured his
forty years of lonely life in exile, and later
the forty years of leadership from Egypt TO
Canaan. Endurance is not lnsenslbIiity TO
pam. but It Is heroic bearing mp under pam
and Opposltion. Endurance is not dash.
Dash is seldom success; endurance alwaysls.
At least two things are essential to en-
durance. First. a conviction that the work
in hand Is worthy OF you. and OF sutficlent
Importance to You and to others to justify
your lay ing down your life for 1t If neces-
sary. No soldier can properly endure the
hardships and dangers of soldier life unless
he feels that the cause for which he is n
soldier is worth dying for. In short. moth
ing Is worth living for that Is not worth
as q good soldier until his heart is SO en-
listed that he can die for the person or the
cause he il interested in. Secondly. there
must be q conviction that God
Is Interested In us and IN our work.
CARS sorrow she endured because she
could say with condolences: Thou, God
seest me-" In all the vicissitudes of the
life of Moses he endured as seeing God.
His faith in God. and his belief that his
work was for God and for others sustained
him. This thought has q special applIca-
ton to this occasion. Here are some Chris
tians who are touching the century mark
of human life, and many with a Christian
experience of more than q half century.
Life has not been all a heydey with them.
They have not been exempt from
the common incidents of an earth
ly existence. but they have met
these with that heroic endurance
that has Kept them in the path of duty and
the path of peace all THESE years. And
now. If we could analyze the force that has
kept them in their Christian life, no doub
the central influence would be their keep
ing of God before their eyes. They have
endured as seeing God. who is invisible.
the lesson to the younger is easy. In
every sorrow and in every conflict let the
faith of.Hagar be your faith: Thou, God,
seest me-"