The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-03-15
VOICE OF THE PULPIT
INDIANAPOLIS MINISTER ON
THREE MEAsURINGs OF LIFE.
Its Length, Breadth and Height Dis
cussed by Rev. Frederic f. Dew
hurst, of Plymouth Church.

Ps. xxi. T.
All Of US, in one way and another. are
putting the yardstick to life and reading
its measurement. All OF US are Answering
the Question-What Is life? Our answers
vary because our standards differ. and
these standards are applied in different
ways: 70 some. life has only one dimenslons
TO others, two; TO others still it has three
length; length and breadth; length, breadth
and height; these are the possible measure
ments Of life; these are the forms in which
we are all working out our solution OF the
problem OF life. Life is valued for its dura-
ton. then. IN a better way. for its scope. its
acquisitions; then in the best way OF ell
for its depth. is richness and It's power.
The first test of life IL quantitative. Life
is valued for its duration. its length OF
days" The basis of life is physical: and
the test OF physical life is endurance. the
power to keep US knit together, organized.
efficient. Our first thought for our chEldren's
lives is the quantitative thought, the di-
mension OF length; regard for their bodies.
their health. We must give them a sub
stratum for living. and the substratum IS
physical, aud the test OF the physical Is
duration, length.
But the first measurement sometimes be-
comes the only measurement; then life Is
only existence; II does not get away from
the standard or the brutes. for with them
life and existence are the same. II the ami
mails could tell us what they want. they
would say: Give us length OF days: except
the few, out Of whose eyes flash limitations
of a higher type OF life-and these. per-
chance, would say: Give me my masters
love and the kindness of his hand.
Much OF the melancholy OF the world.
much Of its bitterness and despair is because
men have tried TO get the whole measure
ment of life by laying their yardstick along
this one side. The quantitative test falls,
however full; and men cry out-Life is not
worth the living. 1T is labor and sorrow;
it is soon cut off and we fly away"
But the consolation is that men cannot
dwell forever in this thought Of life; it is
ignorance more than impotence OF will that
keeps them in it. 1t belongs to the circum-
scribed life of the savage. to the first cramped
stages OF social development, Just as it
legitimately belongs for all time TO the first
stages OF the child's life.
But there comes a day when the world
begins TO open before the eyes OF man; IL
| stretches out far beyond the confnesaof his
tent, beyond the stockade of his savage COM
| munity, beyond. the walls of his isolated city,
| beyond the political limits of the country in
which he dweIls. Alexander comes and
stretches out the limits of the world and
gives other men something to conquer even
though he lies down in despair. The Roman
empire sends out her legions and wherever
their glittering spears invade, some new ex-
panse Of world becomes the property OF
man; Columbus wanders the mighty. silent
deep, and a world greater than Alexanders,
greater than the Caesars. comes in TO ex-
~,,z t1,o 1fco ~ n nfeoovoru haStpuQ
after discovery; invention prepares the way
| for invention; the art OF printing unlocks
the Bible for the millions, and through the
renaissance uncovers the buried treasures
of Greece; makes it possible for the idea OF
the thinker and the song Of the poet TO enter
the great, composite life. Facilities OF trav-
ell increase; men go and see what this great
world means. what it has TO say TO them in
all its moods, out of all the periods OF its
great. wonderful life.
And all this broadens human life: increases
its scope. lends it charm, interest. signih-
canoe. Life is crater and more inspiring be-
cause of all great and noble things that have
come to be the common heritage OF man.
The life of the frontiersman. with its hard
ships and privations, with the necessity for
the rude labor that builds the world over
again-how much richer, brighter It is be-
cause OF the ICdlg dCOCco Va ~ -t~~@
inspiring i'm art, literature. records OF travel
and the story OF the worlds development,
from the Alpha Of geology to the Omega or
human history. Life in this way acquires a
second dimension; man may not live longer,
but ne will live with greater interest in his
life. IL will hold more for him; it will mean
more 10 him.
But let us look once more. h gain is i'm
mense TO human life through this second
measurement, but 1t may become purely a
gain to the individual lfe- Its refinement,
breadth and culture nay be summed up III
the one word-acquisition. IL makes lie
mean something more than. the wheel0arrow
Put of existence, but may not make it mean
more than existence On a broad gauge, ex-
istence with added elements of charm and
interest. II will keep life from being sordid:
it will not certainly keep it from being en-
tirely and utterly selfish. 1t win not make
the life of the individual strike its roots
deep into the common life; will not make IL
send its hungry leaves out into the atmos-
phere OF the universal life.
There are two types OF people who illus
trate this incompleteness First, the men
of Tearing with whom learning has dried up
into scholastic pride and selfishness; pedants
who have run to seed; men at home in the
literature Of Greece and Rome. expert in the
logic and ~metaphysic OF distractions, but
who have no grip upon reality. no interest
in all this suffering, SHINING human life in
which God lives and acts. IL is the curse OF
a certain type of learning that it has Slapped
the spirit Of men Of human interest and
love. as It is also one of the hapriest omens
Of cur tine that the great gates OF the lock
which has just shut out from each other
the upper and lower waters OF the canal
are at last flung open and the knowledge
OF The ~cloister mingles with the need OF the
wayfarer and the toiler.
The other class is the selfish rich, the class
to whom life has disclosed itself in the forms
of broaiest culture: who have had the oppor-
tunities TO make life interesting and inspir-
ing; into whose lap literature. art and travel
are continually pouring their resources.
Now, there is no panacea for poverty:.no
quick road which is also a righteous road 10
equality in riches; no just obliteration OF the
eternal distinction between meum and
tuum. I am not for one moment entering
complaint because some men nave oppor-
t~unities and resources which other men
have not. 1 am now saying only one thing.
and would say that az solemnly and earn
estly as words can express ~. The rich
man, who. by abundant opportunity has
grasped up the splendid contents 90 fhis
marvellous world OF culture and knowledge