The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-24
the church win not accommodate the
Rev. L. +. Dimmitts Text, ''The world
for Christ"

Yesterday afternoon members of the con-
ference listened to the annual missionary
sermon. Rev. Charles Tinsley presided at
the meeting and Rev L. F. Dimmitt pas
tor of the Broadway NJ. E. Church, of this
city, delivered the sermon. His theme was
THE World for Christ" and he took for a
text the words found in Matthew xvii IS
90: And Jesus came and spal6e unto them
saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and on earth Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost; teaching them TO observe
all things whatsoever L have commanded
YOU and 10, l am with you Away, even to
the enc of the world
Mr.. Dimmitt said that the fondest dream
for ages has been a dream of universal en-
pire. A universal empire of a material
kind has the dream been, and many times
have men set out to fulfill their dreams,
but they have never yet found power
enough to conquer the world and hold it.
The first thing needed in such. conquest
is the power, and in material way that
has always been lacking. Then Mr.. Dim
mitt found that, given the power, there
must also be a motive on the part of the
people subjugated for remaining ever loyal
to the conqueror. And, even should the
motive be there, there still remains the alb
solute necessity of furnishing sufficient
inspiration to secure the enthusiastic
operation of the subjects in effort for the
success and perpetuity of the kingdom. The
empire established by Alexander the Great
soon fell into naught for the want of this
motive and inspiration, although the power
to conquer had been manifested.
But Mr. Dimmitt argued that there is q
IG m
TO which there is sufficient loyalty to hold
the subjects, and which will furnish suttl-
remain true to the end This power. he
said, was Jesus Christ. THE greatest and
most potent natural cause " he said, in
all the universe has been the crucified
Christ. Paul's preaching of Christ and Him
crucited destroyed the power of the Roman
empire and ushered in the Christian Italy
of to-day. The speaker went on to show
how the gospel had the power to transform
all the civilized nations of to-day from
heathendom to what they now are. 1t was
not philosophy, and culture and learning
that had done this, for OF what value mad
been the philosophy and culture and the
learning of Egypt Assyria and China five
companed by the story of the crucified
Christ, were as naught as civilizer.
Said DR.. Dimmitt, by way of illustration:
"Archimedes once said: Give me a place to
stand and a lever long enough and l can
lift the world But he did not know what
he was talking about. Had the old man
been able to get a lever long enough it
would have been twenty-seven trillion miles
in length, and would have had its fulcrum
nine thousand miles from the earth. And
then, had he sat on the end of the lever
and pushed it down at the rate of sixty
miles an hour-down past Neptune, through
the PleiadeS skimmlng the milky way,
dashing by Orion, frightening the Great
Bear and making Leo tremble, rushing
past Castor and PollauK. down, down past
all these-he would have ridden a thousand
years before he would have moved the
earth an inch But when the Son of God
stoops from the throne and gets His omni-
potent arms under the old world-thoughit
takes the bloody sweat of GethSemane ana
the straiping agony of Golgotha-yet with
His feet braced against cross, planted on
the shores of time when the earth was
born, and with His breast pushing against
the rock-hewn tomb in the garden of JOS
eph, He heaves the whole world upward
from its darkness toward the light of the
throne of God
AS to the motive for calling upon this
power and working with it in the conquest
of the world Mr.. Dimmitt pointed out the
sufferings of the millions of Christians in
ages past, and referred to the five hundred
thousand Christians in Armenia to-day,
who are bearing prosecutions for the cruel
fed Christ The love of Christ was a suf-
ficient tie to bind all men to loyalty in this
work. This love of Christ is such as to de-
mand of man his life, his soul, his all.
There would be no trouble in the church,
the speaker thought, If all had clear Wis
ion of this love of Christ There would be
no road too rough, no task too great, no
burden too heavy, no service too mental,
no sacrifice too costly, If the soul abideS in
the undimmed glory of the love of Christ
When Mr.. Dimmitt concluded Rev.
Charles CraVenS was introduced and spoke
briefly. He is a missionary stationed at
Lucknow, India. He told of the work being
done by the Methodist Church in india and
especially of its efforts to emancipate the
women from condition worse than