The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-16
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
NOURIsH THE WHOLE MAN, PHYS
ICALLY M SPIRITUALLY.
A short Sermon by the Rev. Frederick
+. Reese, of Christ Episcopal
Church, Macon, Ga.

A certain man made a great feast and
bade many: and he sent forth his servants
at supper time TO say to them that We're
hidden. Come, for all things are now ready.
And they all with one consent began to
make excuse.-Luke xiv, l6-lS-
Food is the natural want of our bodies.
Without it we die. With an insufficient
amount Of it, or with improper food, We
become diseased. The primary purpose Of
a feast, therefore, is to satisfy a natural
need.
Now, Christ says in this parable that the
gospel is like a feast, in that it offers pro-
vision for a natural need. Without it man
dies in his highest and truest life. With an
insufficient amount of religious ea~rnestness
or with a formal or superstitious religious
ness man becomes stunted and starved in
the higher elements of his being. 1t is not
that he cannot be saved from punishment
when he dies, but that he cannot be in the
highest sense a man while he lives. He re-
mains undeveloped, a partially formed
creature.
Tell me what you eat and I will tell you
what you are" runs a modern aphorism.
We talk Of brain food, bone-forming food;
muscle-building food, fesh-producing food;
we need also soul-muscle food, true-man-
Matchmaking food. The whole man must
be nourished; he must have a complete, all
round diet. Agur's prayer, Feed me with
the food that is needful for me- will be
that of every right-minded man.
In the tremendous conflict with evil which
every honest and noble nature endures, can
we content ourselves with limitations that
leave us conscious creatures. knowing life,
knowing ourselves, knowing death, but
LpnuFSfa1 ~ C0I a-1 - l41o Io-.1, o .Dn,
slider your own life, it's routine occupations,
its pleasures, its cares and anxieties and dis
appointments, its errors and sins and con-
scious imperfection, it's. sense of internal
conflict, its disturbed relations and its
dreams and hopes of better things, it's I'M
Quenchable consciousness of soul.
To most men life is a mechanical routine,
a struggle for bread, a tread-mill of COM
monplace duties-and to a large extent it
must always remain so. But take out of it
al the enriching sympathy of enthusiasm
for the betterment of mankind take away
all sense of responsibility to God, the grave
but Identifying convictions of the tremen-
dous issues that hinge upon the life be-
yond; take away its infinite outlook of spir-
itual hope-and what is left? Even with it's
most brilliant achievements, it's most ex-
hilarating ambitions, would it then satisfy a
man whose thought is high and whose as
pirations are after goodness and truth?
No, the profession of agnostlcism is the
destruction Of true life, a self-immolation
upon the altar Of scientific" knowledge
and methods. Without God life is an in
complete and unsatisfying business. He Of
fers us a satisfying knowledge of the origin
and meaning and best use OF life, and a
satisfying hope as to its issue. Without
the consciousness Of God, the faith in a
spiritual being and the dignity of a spiritual
destiny, life is a %drudgery without COM
pensation, it's cares unrelieved burdens. and
its sins and failures unmitigated curses. 1t
is a starvation lot cursed with a conscious
desire for that which is, on the agnostic
hypothesis. forever unattainable.
Hence, Christ likens His gospel to a
feast, that can alone satisfy the spiritual
appetites of man and make his life rich
in true character and happiness.
And they all with one consent began to
make excuse" The indifference of men to
their truest needs is not a new thing. All
about us are men, nay, we ourselves, living
on low levels, satisfied with low things.
while the world speaks to US with it's thou
sand tongues of opportunities for higher
and nobler being. The sensualist despises
purity, the indolent despise industry. the
frivolous despise sober thought and sane
happiness, the ignorant despise knowledge.
The solid advantages OF prudence seem to
be only stupidity to the insane and fleeing
delights of passion or impulse. Is it any
wonder, then, hat men should SO often
despise or ignore religion?
Somebody has said that this request to
be excused, like many another foolish
prayer. is ~abundantly answered. They are
az 49, . 5000
less life, going out in darkness, is the
answer. There is a remorseless vigor in
life, it seems. Men manage to get out of
life what they seek. 1t seems to offer graft
ncatton to ali tastes. Here is wisdom and
truth and life and love and high purpose.
and a growing wealth of character. There,
folly and self-will, and low-toned desire
ana a descending scale Of impoverished
manhood. Which shall we take?
1t is always We'll to remember thai 'the
absence OF a felt want does not prove the
absence of a need" Life is not measured
by the lowest wants. The world of beauty
still exists though some are blind; and the
world of rich music still exists though
some are deaf to it's glorious harmonies.
The world of spiritual reality, of God and
soul, still exists for those whose souls are
open, though a sordid materialism or a self
satlSheu earthllneSS can see it not.
One man in the parable said he could not
attend the feast, for he had bought a farm
and must go and see it. Here is the fasci-
nation of enjoyment. The world is certain
ly a fair place, and it is right to enjoy it.
The Lcrd made us. He made our environ
ment and He made us with the capacity
to enjoy that environment AS the scientific
gentlemen tell US truly, harmony with en-
vironment is the equilibrium of happiness
The trouble is not with the world and its
enjoyment. 1t is with us. It is a matter
of d~isproportion. If you and / were simply
bodies and bundles of nerve-centers adapted
10 the sensation-producing forces of a ma
terial world, it would be all right, we could
bask in the summer sun, and in the win
ter's cold die without thought and without
grief. But we are not. "A butterfly life or
a pig life no more fits Us than do a boys
clothes 1T a man.
The moon is a good thing IN its place.
But when it gets between the earth and
the sun, the earth is in darkness not the
sun. And so the world is all RIGHT in Sc