The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-10-14

meeting, Young men and women. when
you make friends for life. be sure your
friends are Christs friends.
Consider again the intellectual advan-
tages of the Christian church. The Chris
tian church is organized about the truths
OF the Bible. and no man can boast or
of the contents of this book. For while
It's teachings are pre-eminently spiritual,
they embrace, as well, the facts OF his
tory. a study OF Jurisprudence. the science
OF medicine. and furnish the finest rhetori-
cal examples TO be found In the whole
range of literature Simply as a book it
is the mos wonderful and widely circu-
lated OF n in the world. In Russia, last
year. although there the price of
a Bible is unusually high. wing
TO the fact that they must all
copies were sold; and from 1880 TO 1891. more
copies of the Bible were sold throughout
the world than had been published previous
to that time. The Bible has been trans
lated into 354 dialects and languages. 1t has
given TO the world a religion and a civil
zation. Take out OF Europe the buildings
cities would. in many Instances. lose their
only fame. If you tell me the great
galleries of art would still be left | would
painting and piece of statuary and then
call for your estimate of the boundlesS
vacancy. If you lake away all Christian
literature and music 1T would be impossi-
bic to state the stupendous and irfeparabie
loss. Shall we, the favored ones, standing
at the dawn of the twentieth century. the
heirs of all the ages. bend with eager haste
ature, of art, of this highly progressive
civilization round about US, and while we
praise the streams shall we despise the
fountain from which they flow? But the
third line of influence of which / would
speak is the spiritual influence of the
Christian church. The topmost nature of
man is spiritual, and herein lies his true
dignity. The object of the Christian church
is to lift men to the level of Gods thought
and TO make them what God intends them
to be. There is no nobler inscription in all
the world than is found upon General Cor
don's tomb in st. PauPs Cathedral. London.
/ do not wonder the crowd that always
seems to hinge there. read II WITH reverens
faces. These are the words descriptive OF
the great General: Who at all times and
anywhere gave his strength to the weak,
his substance TO the poor, his sympathy to
the suffering and his heart TO God That
should be the motto of every Christian.
Third, the future destiny of the Christian
church. Every thinking man must nave
noticed that great changes have been tax
ing place in our religious thought and work.
The methods employed twenty years ago
will soon be obsolete. The church or the
future will be broader in thought and vast
w wider and more varied in work. The
church must reach out for the working
people. The central thing is the gospel OF
Christ. but most of Us have never realized
how broad and universal is that gospel.
Ii touches every relation OF human lie.
IL the pulpit is to reach the next genera
ton. IL must zeal WITH QueStlOuS tndt arc
burning in the hearts OF men. Dear friends,
what have we done for the church OF
which we are members by the grace OF God.
/ am sorry for the man who loves the
church in general so much that he has no
hearty support for any church in particu-
lar, like one who loves everybody so well
that he has no time to provide Tor ms
own wife or children. AS you entered
the church this mornig, did you realize how
deeply every one of us is indebted to those
I'm whose places we stand to-day. Goo
bless the men who have toiled and strug-
gled for the good Of his church. Many
are over yonder-but not far from here to-
day is one snowy head, with trembling
limbs that once were strong and elastic,
waiting the coming of the boatman to
carry him over the river that hath no
bridge. And they all, those here and those
yonder, cry in the words of the Scottish
chieftain, We are not dead; we are look
ing to see you do your duty Let us answer
hack. with Gods help, we will love, we
will work for. we will give to Christ and
the church.