The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-10-07
CHRISTIANITY AGGRESSIVE.
Rev. II. A. GoOdwin's sermon mt Mad
A NJ. f.. Church.

Rev. T. A. Goodwin delivered a sermon
at the Madison-avenu NJ. E. Church yes
treday morning on christianity Aggres-
sive." The text: II came not to send
peace, but a sword Matthew xii, "a, and
HE that hath not a sword, let him sell
his cloak and buy one" Luke xxi, 80.
Said Mr.. Goodwin in part:
lone of the most damaging heresies
ever promulgated is that the religion OF
les for the life to Come. Not so. Its first
and principal aim Is to induce correct liv-
ing in the life that now is This secured;
necessary sequence; but If not. nothing
can atone for the neglect or loss. Akin
to this and little less damaging is the
that it's followers must everywhere and
always be men of peace, submitting
meekly to n and all wrongs The Christ
precept and example. He was all tender
ness when m;nistering TO the sorrowing
or the afflicted, but when the necessities
vigorously apply the whip, chastising by
physical force the lawbreakers of His
time. He always adapted his methods to
end to be accomplished. That His dis
ciples did not misunderstood Him when
He told them TO sell their cloaks and buy
swords is plain, for He supplemented
their vigorous use of that weapon by the
use of divine force to fell the mob to the
ground, thus giving us an object lesson as
to the Christian method Of treating mCbs
fire into them, not over them. Hence,
Henry Ward Beecher was Christlike, as
we'll as wordly-wise, when, in his Cooper
Institute speech in the days of the Ne
braska troubles, he a cargo
OF Sharp's rifles for the settlers, saying
there was more gospel In a snarps rine
ing with such %ruffians, than in a carload
of Testaments.
But while carnal weapons are to be
rscod xf~ornnc1u nm oil nrnnar noRa cinnS
the distinctive weapons OF the Christian
are not carnal, though they are powerful.
Little, however. did the disciples at that
annunciation that the Divine one came
TO send a sword upon EARTH. but they
understood st it later e on, on when When sailed cal fa,s to as-
ligions as they went preaching the pure
morals of the gospel and the sublime
corinth they preached social purity and
in idolatrous Athens the supreme and only
God. with as much holiness as they as
the Jews in their own Palestine, and
everywhere with such success that in re-
viewing the field they could say: Thanks
triumph in Christ" But all this was
achieved only through suffering. Stripes
and imprisonment and violent death await
s sain them mo sveTy tSem' for oq' th nepe had az t fnlis
adopted that sublime Christian aphorism:
Nothing is worth living for that is not
t Torth the ey ena f Of all t this w wsn to on be- peace
on earth, but ii was to be a peace that
had been conquered. the only type Of
which reigns at Crown Hill, the peace OF
death.
Christianity is aggression. It's mission is
not to stand and defend. but to go and
conquer. In doing this much more is re-
CURED than keeping the eye upon the prize
is not to be lightly valued. but the para
mount duty of all who would have that
prize in its completeness Is to nght the
good fight: hence ii is unwise to dwell so
much upon heaven and say so little about
earth and it's obligations when we would
instruct the people; l. is not what one
his character as a Christian. hence a true
follower of the Lord inquiries daily what
thoughts and in his life he repudiates the
popular notion Of the prayer, Thy will be
DONE Instead of wanting. grace to sub
grace and wisdom that ne may do Gods
will in earth as angels do It IN heaven
There is no place in the church for drones,
nor for those who simply contract TO be
happy and do the singing and shouting.
He was not a model Christian. though a
typical Methodist of that period. and too
much Of to-day. who about sixty years
ago left the Presbyterian Church in this
city and joined the Methodists, and who,
was getting along in his new church home.
answered.: First rate! Happy in the
Lord and IT only costs % cents a quarter.
and sometimes not that His tribe is
not extinct yet. Happily the era OF dogma
in the church Is past. This is the era OF
applied Christianity The church rightly
assumes that the gospel is to permeate
everything that belongs to man. Not only
is II to establish rescue missions
and orphans homes. but II Is to reg
ulate social and economic questions also:
The unnatural conflict between capital
and labor as ii is miscalled-the conflict
between employer and employee viii never
be settled until the spirit of the gospel
compels the employer TO render to. his
employee that which is just and equaf on
the one hand. and equally on the other
compels the employee with good will to do
service and this Christian ideal will be
triumph, TO applied Christianity. Parkhurst
ity than TO anarchy-indeed. IL will never
be reached in any other way. Just now. as
never before. Christianity is asserting its
The phenomenal condition of political af-
fairs in the city of New York owes its orig
in and strength. as IL win owe its ultimate
triumph. to applied Christianity. Parkhurst
and Roosevelt are typical Americans, bold
i'm their conceptions and heroic in their
methods. but they would be powerless IL
they were not supported by the Christian
sentiment behind them. But we are in
danger of losing sight of . the fact thai
among the brayest and best of that host
are thousands who had to sell their cioaks
the execution. They had long worn their
party cloaks and were proud of IL. but
when they realized that Tammany means
financial. and social. and moral ruin they
heroically exchanged them for the sword
or ParkhurSt and Roosevelt, and As q con-