The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-21

losophy can crowd between and sound it's
discordant note. No man is utterly shut
up and helpless to whom a false view of
God and light has intruded; let him not
think he has done all until he has cast out
that also. When a man has done his ut
most and suffered his last pang, then is he
shut up to God-God and the man-these
four words confine the man self-conquered;
but within that hedge lies the universe.
Surely, it is a spacious prison full of light.
The order of nature is often the ground
of our complaining. Chaos ever seeks to
master order-"ever the darkness with the
light doth strive" Our natural limitations
are the incentives to expansion, to activity.
Hunger keeps the race alive. We are quite
comfortable until pressed upon, goaded out
of our ease. We lean from the upright if
the supports are not sharp and mercilessly
near; it is vain for us to kick against the
goads' which nature plies, and her hands is
supple and her arm is strong. I'VE are
doomed to be saved"
When we reach our true point OF view we
will see the trail by which we climbed,
though it was hid from below And yet,
when we stand upon the peak, we shall be
hedged in by leagues of air and distance
no man is more hedged in than the man on
the summit-and still we will not ask, why
is light given?" The beauty our eyes rest
upon forbids the question, or turns it to
thanksgiving
Jobs fault was due to a spiritual disease.
His complaining was rung from him by
physical pain and that tyrant, personal sor-
row. Many of our hours Of limitation are
due to narrow outlook. We see a wall
but it is not the boundary of the world.
To the adventurous spirit all quiet places
are dull, to the timid soul the commonplace
is a holy landau else calls for dangerous
enterprise. But to the man of spiritual
courage all inertia is an incentive to action.
Such a spirit, visited by light. halls it as
the instrument of discovery and the prophe-
cy of enlargement.
But if we have no spiritual discernment;
if light seems for nothing but to show that
God has hedged us in, then to such spir-
ituaI poverty will the question of our text
seem natural. 1t is only natural where
there is an abnormal and unhealthy spr-
itual condition To the sound sane soul
more health has come with struggle; his
ease has been refused and an athletic habit
has won it's way over resistance. Job had
not yet reached an athletic and robust con-
dition. his soul was sick in sick body.
What are some of the symptoms of this
abnormal state WHICH protests against
light?
A man is poor-not in spirit, but in purse
and all luxury, all ease and comfort take
on the form of crime to his jaundiced
thought. He feels personally injured and
defrauded. He thinks OF God as though
he were dead father who had made a
! will, unduly influenced, and had given the
bulk of his wealth to the few and cut off
the many poor So envy, jealousy and dis
content dance in his soul until there is a
taste of dust always in his mouth. He feels
helpless to better his condition and cries,
''Why is light given?"
The answer is very easy: the light falls
on the gold of one and flashes in the eyes
of another to show the capabilities of in
dustry, the treasures gained by prudence.
the Accommodations of thrift, and, alas! also
the impossibility Of changing the nature
of the heart by putting many things into
the hands. The inequalities of condition
made plain by the light make clear also
the inequalities of nature. The envy of the
poor is offset by the greed of the rich; the
jealousy of the ignorant poor by the vul-
garity of the ignorant rich. If there be a
brutal nature, the light VIII show it up.
| Whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Therefore God be praised for light! For
| the honest need below and the benevolence
| from above, which answers the prayer of
the needy, are both made clear. The stag
| nant heart, which refuses to be moved, and
the seething heart. which refuses to be