The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-04
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
A TIMELY. SUGGESTIVE DISCOURSE
ON THE ERA OF sELF-HARM,
By the Rev. Peter Mcqueen, of tho
Day-Street Congregational Church,
West ~somerviIIe, Mass.

(To-day's sermon was written by a true
lover of athletics-one with whom physical
care is a favorite theme. DIR. Mcqueen at
tended tended the n recent Olympic games az
Mayor of Boston, presented 10 the King
of Greece and Mayor Philemon. of Athens.
memorials of the victories won by the
Boston athletes: bringing back recently the
reciprocal souvenirs from King George
presented last Monday TO the city of Bos-
TOM
DO myself no ~harm."-Acts xvi. IS.
The old saying that truth rs stranger
than fiction finds no better Illustration
than the life of the apostle Paul. Most
mems careers are monotonous in their
sameness. Unmoved by strong passions
and undisturbed by the sting of deep de-
sires, "along the cool sequestered wales of
life we keep the even tenor of our way"
Among all the vicissitudes or Paul's
wanderings, no episode is stranger than the
one from which came the words of our.
text. 1t was during his visit to Greece.
Though at this time Greece was under
the iron heel of Rome. she still retained
marks of greatness. Think of the scene
m~idnight-in Paillippi-where Brutus and
Cassius had fought and died-in a city of
respondent vice and historic wickedness-
the prison-the two voices singing in the
darkness, the trembling earth. the loosen
ing bands, the mad rush of escaping pris-
oners. the jailer's attempt at suicide. and
Pauls calm words, do myself no harm"
Did novelist ever conceive, or dramatist
ever put on the boards, its equal?
1 wish to use Paul's words for the pur-
pose of introducing some thoughts about
self. The word is so often uttered in
scorn. as the synonym of all that is base.
that 1 am moved to play the part of at
torney for the defendant and plead the
cause of Self.
There is a selfshness that is mean and
ignoble, and there is a selfishness that is
noble and right. Too often is the Christian
represented as a weak, fiabby creature.
without energy, a molluscous being, an in
vertebrate, and the makers of our hymns
have contrived to spread this impression
by using the word worm SO often. Now.
Christ did not come to die to save worms
He came to save the souls OF men.
Now, let us notice certain facts about
human nature and consider their corre-
spending facts in Christian truth. First.
I would ask you to consider whether IL
is not a jaudable and natural desire which
impels a man to make the very best and
very most of his life?
Ages ago there was war, when monsters
wallowed in primeval slime. And there is
war now. The pike swallows the sunfish.
the tiges eats the deer, the lynx kills the
oppits civ Il q ytI W ihio AbdL AhtA
live under any very different rule. Business
is war. Life is war. At every turn there is
struggle and conflict. Very few men adopt
"a business career as a sanitary or h~ygienic
measure. Do you see them adding up coll
umns of figures and writing up ledgers?
Well, they are not there for their health.
Neither are they doing business for the fun
of the thing. They act under the checker
players maxim. Move or I'll jump yea"
You know there is much talk now about
the evils of competition. There are many
who can talk glibly the vocabulary of So
cialism. If any Socialists read this. let
them note how to do away with COMPETE
ton. Just take all the men. women and
children living at present on this planet
and make over their natures. sap their en-
ergies, remove their ambitions, make them
content simply to live and breathe. Then
competition will disappear. but other things
will disappear, too, such as invention and
discovery and literary skill and artistic ca
cellence and all progress.
L say that life is war. The strong win
the weak fail. The mind of lightning and
the heart of oak succeed. What is the big
gest thing on the earth? Commerce? Con-
ceive of "a web which enmeshes men, from
the Eskimo who spears a seal to the saw
age who pulls a cocoanut, from the cara
vans resting beneath the southern cross at
night and OK teams creaking on African
plains to the freight car threading Ameri-
can forests and the dog sled speeding over
arctic SHOWS. 1t has its music, the ringing
of the hammer and the clank of the SHAFT.
the beat of churning steamer paddles and
the buzzing of ponderous fly wheels, the
clatter of the truck on the pavement and
the bay of the fog whistles. And under
meath it all as cause and motive. what?
Each mans laudable and natural desire TO
help himself, to advance and make the
most of himself-a strong. primal instinct
fbred in the very bones. thrilling I'm every
nervous chord, universal as aravitation,
and, like gravitation, taking many forms.
Everywhere men are striving and labor
ing. scheming. building, planning, wrink
ling their foreheads with care, clawing UP
their eyes with crows feet. erecting castles
in the clouds. sailing the seas. climbing the
mountains, painting pictures. digging
ditches, scratching the earth with pIows-
the toiler. the thinker. the dreamer, the
young man with his hopes, the old man
with his mechanical skill. the astronomer
with his lens and the writer with his itch
ing pen-aH obeying that instructive and
imperative yearning for success.
1t is everywhere. Go into the vilest city
slums and you will find that the clumsy
scheming of the street sweeper 10 keep a
a VI POih VH 40 an - VI ~
much interest to him NJ are to a politician
his own efforts TO gain the presidency. And
up at the top of the social scale 1t is the
same. More subtle. more refined. but alike
in nature--men culturing themselves with
education, identifying their Surroundings
with art and literature, broadening them
selves with travel. Yes. the desire to do
the best for ones self has made all civili-
cation, all progress.
1t has whitened the sea with sails; it
has cleared tho forests and sown the CONT
nents with lordly cities; it has measured
the stars and weighed the sun. The skill
OF the laborer who worked for himself.
made the steamship shaft which held In
the storm. Edison. In his own laboratory.
works for his own riches and fame. per-
haps. but his lights glitter upon Russian
SHOWS. flood across the waters OF Mediter-
ranean ports and gieam beside the great
lakes of America IL was because poor VIII
OF Avon tried 10 make a living over the
prompter's book and amid dusty theater