The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-13
Mr.. MILBURN RETURNS
HIS SERMON ON THE LOVE OF SELF
AND OF ONES NEIGHBOR.
A Unique Service at Roberts Park
Church, illustrated by the
ChOir-At Plymouth.

morning by a large congregation tie
preached from the text found in the thirty
first verse of the twelfth chapter of
Mark: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
myself" In part Mr.. Milburn said:
In the consideration of these words of
our Master the first term is generally en-
phasized, the love of our neighbor; but
Christ tells not only one truth here, but
two, in that He tells us that there is run
nlng alongside of proper social love also
true self-love. We are to love our neigh
Dor, but we are TO love our neighbor as we
love ourselves. The teaching here is that
there is just and proper egoism neces-
sary to the fullness of life of any man.
But we must be careful to distinguish be-
tween egosm and egotism here. Egotism is
wholly bad; 1t is a frivolous, foolish thing.
think there is no sight more offensive to
balanced spirit than the sight of a man
or woman who overmagnifies himself or
herself. Such sight as that is both pitt
able and iudicrous A conceited person is
always an enormity
And we must be careful to distinguish
egoism, not only from egotism, but also
from selhshness, for selfshness is the root
OF all evil, it is the basic principle of all
SIN. Every vice, every baseness every OBJ
hqu1ty OF the human spirit can be traced to
selhshness as an Interior root; Selhshness
Is the cardinal, central sin of all life. Christ
Jesus came to this world not to approve,
bur to denounce. selffishness, to make it
hated and abhorred by every good man and
every lover of his kind
BY egoism we are to mean simply a due
appreciation of self, a right estimate of
appreciation of our gifts, talents and possess
Sions; 1t means rating of ourselves at our
true value, belief in ourselves, and that we
nave some meaning here in the economy OF
the Infinite. And egoism so defined is not
only not vice, it is a virtue-a virtue sane
toned by our Lord in His words Love thy
neighbor as myself And not only has this
virtue the sanction of our Master; it has
also the sanction of the great secular lead
constant message of Thomas Carlyle to his
generation He says: Throw out from
yourself the cant of self-depreciation; stand
upright, hrm-footed, and let the world know
you to be man. Be true to yourself, to
your own opinions, to your own sense of
what is right and fit; be in all parts of
your. being justly and reasonably self-ap-
preciauve. And one Of the most pregnant
essays that Emerson ever wrote was on
young man and every young woman ought
to read, and an essay which, if we were to
incorporate it into our daily living, would
make the lives of all Of us more powerful,
more interesting and more beautiful /
think Emerson, in the midst of much erro-
neous teaching by virtue of his passion for
eplgram, has said nothing truer 10 the world
than is contained in his essay on self-re-
lance which enjoins upon us the duty to
stand up alone against the world If need
be, which makes the spirit Of accommoda-
ton contemplate, and which makes the in
dlvldual mind the test of truth and right
eousness. He says: Believe your own be-
hefs. Believe not because others believe
put be obedient to the heavenly vision with
in your own mind and heart. Do not stoop
act on convictions; do not follow blindly
but march forward with a steady stride
your own man and your own sovereign L
say that is a good, healthy message for any
man to appropriate to himself.
FEEBLE INTEREST IN GREAT TRUTH
interpretation is an essential element
in vital and fervent Christian life Men
OF the world wonder why there is so little
reality, so little intensity, so little mani
festation of life within the Christian
church. They see men active and intense
elsewhere; they see them active and in
tense in politics; active and intense in bust
ness; but when they come into the house
of God they behold, for the main part, but
languid, feeble interest. Vital truths are
being published in every church in this
city. and in every other city, every Sunday
wonderful truths sublime truths, truths
that exalt and ennoble humanity, truths
that deepen and enlarge the horizons of
life. truths that illumine time with the
light that brings the eternities near and
into touch with time, truths that appeal
to everything noble and grand in the hu-
man conscience, to all the affections and
all the loves and emotions of the human
heart And yet, though honest in our faith,
we have but a feeble interest in these
truths. l do not much wonder at the
formality of Christianity L wonder at
its perpetuty. l wonder that it continues.
/ wonder that its flame does not futter out.
/ wonder that it is not rnoribund l Won
der that it dominates life as it does domi-
nate life to-day, when | reflect that so
much of our modern religion is so little
personal, is SO little part of the individual
Freedom and life go together. Individ-
ual biography tells us this, history tells us
this. The reason that England is more
vital than Russia is because England is
more free than Russia; the reason America
is more vital than England is because
America is more free than England; and
the reason why an American is more vital
than an EngliShman is because the Amer
lean is more free socially, is more free
everywhere than an EngliShman. He is not
locked up in tradition as is the English
man, in social custom as is the English
man, and therefore he is more vital. more
interesting, more himself more a person
atty, more force. And so it must be with
our spiritual life. The dreadful and worst
Journalism of the Roman Catholic Church
is necessary consequence of the HE
rarchy; the languidnesS the easiness, the
spirit of laissez faire of the Protestant
Church, again. is a necessary corollary of
the subordnation of the individual con-
science to the teachings of system For
it is utterly impossible for a hundred thou
sand men, or even ten thousand men, or
may all believe in the same doctrine of
election, but each man will believe in his
own way. They may believe implicitly and
humbly in the atonement offered by Jesus
for the sins of men, but each man will
have his personal view of that atonement.
He cannot think of 1t just as some other
man thought; he cannot adopt all that
some theologian has said about it; he must
have. if he would live an honest, VITAL con-
Sc1ent1OuS religious lie, ms own religious
outlook. 1 believe that each man should
constitute himself his own prophet, inter-
prefer and theologian. believe it is a
great heresy and a great indignity to hui
manity to believe that God Almighty has
called only prophet here and there.
There is an ism wrapped up in every
man, and that he must be true to 1T, that
he must seek for his own truth his own
way, that he must think out his own view
of the word of God, that he must get his
own conception of the Savior of men, he
must seek his own personal salvation in
his own way: otherwise his faith will be to
him a burden rather than an inspiration.
This is the reformation that is to be
wrought out in the near future in the
church 1t is the reformation of a spiritual
egoism; it is the reformation of a spiritual
self-reliance; it is the reformation that
shall teach man to stand upon his own
feet and pray to God in his own way, that
shall teach man that he is a priest and q
king before the Infinite. Then we shall
have a religion that is really religion.
Then we shall have the enthusiasm of the
apostolic church once more. Then we shall
have a zeal that will leap to a line within
the boundaries of Zion"
Rev. MIR. McCuIIOch's Old Lecture.
At Plymouth Church last night was given
the first of a series of illustrated lectures
on THE Mission of Christ" The lectures are
being delivered by Miss Anna Taylor of
Irvington, a teacher in the Manual Train
ing School, and they are illustrated by
stereopticon reproductions of the concep-
tons of Christ by the masters in art The