The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-05-31
o1SUNDAY TH0UGHTSDo
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MORALSHo MANN Frs
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IL A CLERGYMAN


What with the discussion of the open
ing of the worlds fair on Sunday, the
Briggs question, the Russian treaty, and
the Geary law, the churches have their
hands full nowadays of practical issues.
The pulpiteers do not live in the clouds
or at any rate, have no need to do so. Cues
tions of immediate moment press for set
Element, and the here and the hereafter
intersphere. Rightly viewed, the 40
called antithesis between the secular and
the sacred does not exist. The most
beaten and familiar paths lie under the
awful shadow OF the infinite. All service
is temple service, when the heart is
Christian The progress of religion in the
soul of the individual is salvation; but the
worlds salvation is through secular pro-
gress. Christ Himself said that the
kingdom of God is here and now, Gin"
men and among" men. What an oppor-
tunity the churches have in our day and
in our country to domesticate heaven on
earth!
II, as Markham said. every mans life is
a plan of God, then each of us needs an
Amounted eye to see this plan. an ener-
gized will to co-work with God in its COM
pletion, the spirit of self-surrender in the
work, and the indwslling Of the Holy
Ghost.
Where there is love there will be GER
vice. Love lives to spend and be spent
on behalf of the beloved. 1t finds its
heaven in self-sacri6ce, and its he'll in
inactivity.
As TO burdens, they cease to be such
when We bear them as privileges. Who
would regard the carrying of 5000 in
gold as 9 hardship
When the churches are quarreling the
devil goes off on a vacation. For then
ministers and elders and deacons and
vestrymen are doing his work.
The substance of the gospel has been
expressed in four words: We are to sub
NIT admit, commit and transmit.
Those who imagine that heathenism is
dead in Japan had better consider the
vitality now being shown by Buddhism
in the erection in Kioto of magnificent
temple at the enormous cost OF Sll ,0O0.-
600. The world over the money test is a
good test Men will pay for what they
vaIue-and pay in proportion to their
valuation. When a people as poor as the
Japanese will raise such sums for their
diving faith, it cannot be quite dead. Better
not just vet set the day for the funeral!
But tits a great thing for Christianity to
secure the privilege of free competition
within the Mikado's empire. Time ana
its own fruits must snow Its superiority.
When man bows before God, self-depre-
citation is a duty. It's no impeachment
OF our worthlness to say we are bare,
naked nothinRs before God. The attitude
OF the publican becomes the best OF It,
Some thirty years ago two Tartar chiefs
came from the borders of China to st. Pc
tersburg to study the Russian language
and learn something of European man
ners. A German missionary. who was
tranelating the new testament into their
native tongue, engaged them to aid him in
his work. As they went on with their
labor they asked him many questions
about Jesus and the truths he taught.
When the translation was finished the
two chiefs seemed reluctant to leave the
missionary.
Have you any questions to ask, my
friends?" eaid he.
None" was the answer; "but we wish
to tell you that we are converted 10 the
religion of that book. We have lived in
ignorance and been led by blind guides.
We have read those books which tell Us
about the religion of your country, but
the more we read them, the less we un-
derstood them, and the more empty our
hearts became. But in reading this book
about Jesus it is very different. The more
we read his words the better We under
stand them. 1t seems as though he him
self were talking to us. Now we know
how to get our sins pardoned, and where
to find the help We need In serving him.
Eras of great culture and material pros
perity have very seamy side-as the
highest mountain throws the longest
shadow.
Igrant, says one, that there are men
and women who sing poetry and live
prose; wheeIbarroS Christians, who never
go without being pushed, and who are
very easily upset.
An esteemed contemporary remarks
upon a new version of a portion of Genesis
found in q modern infdel production, to
this effect: so man created god in his
own image; in the image of man created
he him; male and female created he
them !" and admits that this atrocious
caricature expresses an undeniable truth,
both theoretical and practical. As an
actual fact, all the ethnic religions are
man-made, and they bear the distinct
traces of their makers handiwork. Their
gods are simply deifcations of men, and
often of the worst features of human nat
ure The different tribes have made their
own gods, and nowhere more distinctly
than in the mythology of Greece and
Rome. Jupiter and Juno and
Mercury and Minerva and Venus
are simply what their worshipers
thought they ought to be. In the
scriptures alone do we find the true and
reasonable doctrine set forth that God
made man in his own image, and that