The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-04
CAMP MEETING DAYS
CONTINUATION OF PROF.
BIBLE TALKS AT BETHANY.
Election of Officers TO-Day-COm-
plant of Poor Attendance-Exer-
cises at Acton-pentecost Band.

Everything was in a state of dead calm for
the most part of the day. However, fairly
good audiences ATTENDED the lecture of
Prof. Wiilett in the early morning and the
assembly address of A. w. Conner at II
o'clock.
Prof. Willett took up the second Of his
Bible talks, The Prophecy of Amos" He
said we should consider the sermons of the
prophets as mere fragments Of their life
work. He took up the sermons of a num-
Der Of religious teachers and showed the
thread of unity running through all of them
during an entire lifetime, thus showing that
each took a different view of the gospel
and made it the study of his life to present
it in varied forms to the people. Each
really preached but one sermon during his
whole life. But that is the characteristic
of all great preachers. The lecturer then
showed the unity of all of Christ's teach
ings.
The assembly lecture by A. w. Conner
was most interesting. He presented
the serio-comic side OF a preachers life,
and he so swayed the emotions of his hear
ers that they We're alternately in tears and
laughter.
Life is made up of light and darkness,
sunshine and shadow, smiles and tears, life
and DEATH" said the speaker. These follow
each other in quick succession, and the
minister is in a position to experience and
appreciate all of them. In the morning the
church bells toll the announcement of the
visit of the death angel, and the minister
puts back the heavy black wells of the
mourners and looks into their faces II
tells them the story of Jesus, and comforts
them, entering into their sorrow and weep
ing with them. Then he performs the last
sad rites at the open grave, and goes back
to his study with his heart full. There is
another furrow in his brow from that con-
tact with human sorrow, and q deeper one
in his heart.
''But in the evening the same bells ring
out again, but this time it is the cheeriest
music ever heard; it is the happy wedding
march, and q gay bridal party sweeps
across the floor. The minister performs the
beautiful ceremony that makes a heavenly
union here on earth, and he smiles and re-
joices with them, and his heart is light, and
he gives them his blessing. And this is
what life is made up of. The man of God
sees both the sunshine and the gloom, for
there is no heart temple so cheerful and
bright but that some shadow falls upon
it's portal" The minister compared the
preacher to an earthen vessel with a heav-
emily message. But . he remarked, these
vessels have the same temptations, the
same weaknesses, that other mortals have,
and are just as apt to fall, and, as Saman-
tina Allen says. bout ten times apter.'
TOLL SOME FUNNY STORIES.
Mr.. Conner told some funny stories of
the pompous, egotistical minister, of the va
carries of the church choir, of the funny side
Of the preachers family life, and closed
with a beautiful, pathetic poem on THE
Death of the Aged Minister" In the after
noon ]. 7. Legg was to have given an adj
dress on THE Sunday-school Session." but,
on account of the great heat, it was post
poned.
In the evening after the song service at
the tabernacle Prof, .Wtllett gave his sec
ond lecture on Character and Purpose of
the Bible" From any point of view the
Bible is the most important book in the
world" said the professor. In making
this statement one must not overlook the
fact that there are other sacred ~hteratures
which exert a wide influence over large
sections of the human race. The Koran
has a constituency and persistence, and as
a p~ropagating system, Islam, winch IS
founded upon it, takes rank among the
foremost systems of religious belief. The
Vedas that contains the precepts of the
Hindoo faith may be said to hold the lead
ing place as a literature in eastern ASIA.
The code Is COnfuciuS and the Zend AVeSta
are both believed to be sacred and are held
in great reverence by the followers of the
Chinese and Persian prophets respectively.
The day is past when any candid stuCent
of religious questions can overlook the
presence and influence OF these other sys-
TENS of belief. Nor is it possible lOnger 10
hold the view that they are vicious inn
positions upon human ignorance and super
stition, which was once the prevalent aLtl-
tude of mind on the part of Christians. The
study of comparative religion at the pres
ent time is revealing the high moral tone OF
much of this ethnic literature and is dem
onstrating beyond question that the ERECT
Of these various systems of faith upon the
people who accepted them has been marx
eddy beneficial. They nave served as the
stenning stones to higher truth. In COM
p~arison with these ethnic and stationary
religions. Christianity presents the person
of the worlds SAVIOR, for whom the prep
aration is recorded in the Old Testament
and whose life and ministry is given in the
New Testament. The vital CHARACTER OF
Christianity and of the book Whlch RECORDS
it's beginnings is emphasized by the pro-
gressive influences that have come from
the Bible during the centuries In which
Christianity has been in the world. While
it is not true that Christianity IS founded
on the Bible, since the Bible IS the record
of the divine activities when produced
Christiani : rather than itself the cause or
them. vet the self-disclosure of God to the
world is set forth in the book to such an
extent that that book becomes thereby the
rightful and necessary center OF all the
forces that conSpire TO further ChrlStlan
influence in the world. The spread OF Chris
tianity is indissolubly linked With the
spread of the Bible. 1t is therefore true
that Christianity is the religion OF the book.
CHARACTERISTIC OF THE BIBLE.
Viewed from this standpoint, there are
certain striking characteristics of this book
which may be noted. There is first to be
noted the fact that the Bible throughout
the extent of it's records discloses the pres
ence of God as acting in human affairs to
a remarkable degree. This activity is linn
tied largely to one nation, the Hebrews.
They were marked out for a special career,
and in that career God disclosed himself as
He did not in any other history. This may
be illustrated in one particular which is
apt to arrest the attention of a student who
compares Biblica: history with any other
history. and that is that in the national life
of the Hebrews there were produced more
eminent men than in the life OF any other
people; one might almost say in the life OF
all other nations combined.
"A second characteristic OF the Blble Is
that it deals only with the ~protoundeSt
questions. 1t does not concern itself with
more tina a few great truths which the
world actually needs to understand. Ihls
is the reason why to some people the Bible
is disappointing. 1t does not answer all
manner of questions. The endless specul1-
tons regarding the origin OF SIN are likely
to remain speculatiOns forever, for the tea-
son that the Bible deals with the fact Of
sin, and does not stop TO disclose the man
ner of its beginning. Such facts as that
sin is in the world and that 1t destroys If
it is not conquered; that God loves the sin
ner as much as he hates the sin ana has
made provisions in the gospel OF Ills son
Jesus Christ, whereby freedom from sin
can be secured: that Christian life is a pro-
gressive development of the divine life i'm