The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-02-17
TWO PULPITs
REV. J. w. COMFORT AT THE IRv-
INGTON DOwNEY-AvE. CHURCH.
Rev. G.. A. Christensen Proceeds 10 Be-
labor the Newspaper Men mt
st. PauTx Church.

At the Downey-avenu Church, Irving
ton, the Rev. ]. w. Comfort preached yes
terday morning upon Christ Leading All
Men," He based his discourse upon ST
John. x. Is. and read a revised version OF
the text-"Other sheep / have which are
not Of this fold; them also / must lead. and
there shall be one flock. one shepherd"
He said, in part: 1.-The truth that Christ
here stated is one that in every age re-
quires to be retold. and i'm every church re-
enforced. There is nothing over which men
are so exclusive as the kingdom of heaven.
Nearly every one constitutes himself a
door. and his own opinion a pivot upon
which it swings open or shut. You cannot
unchurch any man whom Jesus leads. The
Romanists may excommunicate Protest
ants, and Protestants may pay Romanists
back in their own coin at a high rate of
interest, but Jesus says, Them also L must
Lead
1T doesn't matter much who your earth
ly pastor is. Let him be any one from
whom your soul can be taught best the
This only is essential-that you are living
under the pastoral care of the Lord Jesus
Christ. for that is what II means. when
you say, The Lord is my shepherd and
that is what Jesus means when He says
OF others beside ourselves, Them also L
must lead Jesus leads men; He leads
churches: He leads the world. Jesus does
not look upon men as a hireling shepherd
looks upon a flock of sheep-so many to be
counted, so many to yield their heeces-all
pretty much alike, only that some are
black and some are straylng. You cannot
think of any human creature in whom the
Lord Jesus Christ has not a personal In
terest. His sympathies are larger than
ours. Jesus from the cross sees much
further than we do from the communion
table. When a mar has gone through a
Gethsemane his heart is wrung empty of
all self-love that it may be filled with the
love Of humanity. John Fiske last week.,
in speaking upon the .'Cosmic Roots OF
seemed to be a great waste of material.
Nature was a true Calvinist, TX saved the
one and damned the ninety and nine But
Jesus Is higher than nature. Jesus is no
Calivinist.- He saves the one, and He saves
the ninety and nine. and then there Is JOY
in the presence of the angels of God. Men
are better than they appear to us-or they
are worse. We seldom know them as they
really are, but only as they seem to be
from our sta~ndpoint-and most often that
is as far as we can get. from them. es-
pecially IL they do not adopt our peculiar
ideas Of God and truth. But Jesus knows
men as they are. He takes them not for
what they are intrinsically worth, but for
what He can make them worth. Our crime
against Christ and against humanity is
our constant demand that He shall lead
all men in one way: but that Is not His
purpose; nay, more. 1t is not in His power,
made as men are, that all should be led in
one path. The chief thing transcendently
wonderful in the fact of it is this-that,
while men are what they are and the world
is what it is. Jesus says as He looks upon
all souls, Them also I must lead:
How many things this explains, or,
selves free: If we did not encourage the
settled belief that God had no more
thoughts for men to think: no. fuller
very progress the world is making. Most
men are very small. especially. in the
Uranium, but that is because they live
upon a very small world-one of the small
est i'm the solar system-and a only
eyes for the earth. They seldom look up
to the universe that is above and around
them. You can soon measure the earth.
Eight thousand miles in a straight line will
easily bring you through to the other side.
a mere point is that-what a mere
speck in infinite space! All. but what is
stand the earth's relation to the SUM-? You
must not take it's dimater. nor It's cir
are very small measured by this creed
written or unwritten. but Christ, who
leads men as the sun leads the earth, does
not measure men by their creed. but by
their orbital relation to himself. By that
means He makes summer and winter in
their souls, and some men bear tropical
seekers after God are left alone. Jesus
says of every one, and of all, Them also
i must lead
THAI is what the church has too long lost
sight of, that truth seekers in every field
are divinely led. If hansen has found the
north pole, do you not think he has been
led by God? There is no orthodoxy or
heterodoxy with God. just as there is no
east or west in the sun. Orthodoxy is a
human invention-it has about it nothing
that is divine. Dean Stanly well says:
Have 10 fear of differences of opinion
when the heart is set upon finding truth.
Our God is a God of truth. and, therefore,
the honest search for truth can never be
displeasing to Him. Jesus leads all souls
that look to Him as their ideal, and His
Here is your creed at least it is mine,
and / IL to you as one of the
best that can be spoken. Four thousand
years have not dimmed it's inspiration nor
furnished it's beauty. and 1t may be the
creed of every soul here:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not
want; He leadeth me-"