The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-22
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
AN ARGUMENT IN SUPPORT OF BE-
LIEF IN UNSEEN REALITIES.
short Sermon by the Rev. Prof.
Henry X. Warren. President of
YanIxtOn College, YnnI<ton, ). ID.

''The things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are not seen are
eternal. IL Corinthians Nv, Is.
The philosophy of many people If what
they do is an index to their thought, Is:
"The things which are seen are real abid-
ing worth living for; the things which are
not seen are shadow, fancy, dreamland
Let practical souls grasp the realities OF
life and leave to Missionaries this unseen
world of which preachers pirate and women
talk"
Such was not Paul's philosophy. Our text
shows that to him the unseen world was
real abiding, a glorious vision daily be-
held; the material things, the seen world,
for which men all about him were striv-
ing, was unreal, fleeing, temporal. This
faith inspired his heroic labors, his amaz-
ing. self-sacrifice.
Some there are who loudly cry: wealth
and material possession are real; let us
enjoy them. Pleasure is a present boon, let
us have joy. The praise of men brings
gladness. let us win fame. The only i'm
mortality is the remembrance of mankind.
No living ear has heard the voice Of that
God Of whom you speak. No soul has come
back to us from that unseen world of
whose reality and eternity you assure us.
Wen believe in the things we can touch,
taste, hear. see and enjoy; these alone are
real and in these alone will we believe"
One speaking thus may think the state
ment consistent. But let us see. If any
one of us is inclined to doubt or deny the
truth of PauPs utterance, let him consider
for a moment some of the unseen things
in our everyday experience. for there are
such.
We say we live in the midst of an ocean
of air; that it presses us on every side
with tremendous weight which would
crush US as an eggsheIl is crushed in the
hand were it not for the counter pressure
OF air filling the spaces within the body;
that it rises above us many miles increas-
ingly rare, and at the bottom of this aerial
ocean we move about as fishes move in the
sea. But did you ever see air? You have
seen something of its effects. You have felt
Its cooling touch upon your cheek Of a hot
summer day. You have seen the trees bend
ing before the breeze and have noted the
clouds flying across the face of the sky
Perhaps you have watched the tornado as
1t passed. leaving desolation in it's track
But the thing itself you never saw Never
theless you do not question its reality.
We cast a stone into the air and it as.
cends slowly and more slowly till it comes
earth with increasing speed We say it is
the force of gravity that sends up it's in
visible lines of power, wraps the ascending
stone around and brings it back to earth
again. We say it is the same power that
draws the stream down it's sloping bed the
avalanche from mountain summit to valley
below; that sends out its lines of incalcu-
liable energy from earth to moon and swings
its measureless tons of weight round the
globe with such exactness that it reaches
any defined point on the second. We say
that the same force swings the earth round
the sun, the sun round some distant Gems
ter, that all the universe is upheld by it's
nightly energy; and yet who ever saw
gravity, felt it, heard it? We have felt the
effects of disobeying its laws, but the thing
itself is beyond the ken of sense. O We
who doubt the reality of the unseen. is it
not profoundly significant that the spheres
in their courses are guided by an unseen
force?
Again, we agree that every event must
nave time in which to occur; that in the
nature of things there is a before and
after to every occurrence, that actions
must come in succession. You affirm conf
IDENTIFY that before your mind awoke to
consciousness there was time, that after
VIII be time. You are confident that before
the morning stars sang together there was
time, stretching backward far beyond finite
comprehension; that after the hour has
come when the earth is wrapt in its wind
ing sheet of flame and the universe rolled
together as scroll there will still be time
stretching onward far beyond finite compre-
henslon But who of us has ever seen or
1eIt Tune? Who has heard the football of
Ihe passing years? What one of our senses
ever told us of it's tangible, material exisr-
ehce! Yet 1t is the condition and ground
OF all human activity; without it this could
not De. Have We not here another example
OF the unseen and eternal?
once more, 1t is obvious that every OBJ
Ject must have space in which to be. that
no two objects be in the same place
at the same time. If you state this in
philosophical terms it may not be under
stood by all, but even children comprehend
1t with the first perception of material OH
Jects. Even the babe discovers that its
hospitable little mouth can accommodate
but one chubby fist at time and the child
with his blocks finds it necessary to disnlaca
block number one before number two can
occupy the same spot. The youngest school
boy when crowded by his fellow will put
O"N HAS S4hON' protesting. Give me room
must have ROOM"
You have perhaps looked out at night
on the red planet Mars and wondered
whether the trees and grass We're red there
seeing no reason in the nature of things
why they should be green But, however
that may be, you are perfectly sure that
the red planets every object has its own
given space. Were you able to take the
wings of the morning and fly from star to
star TO the uttermost bounds of creation
you would expect to find space stretching
onward a boundless infinite way. Yet.
what eye has seen space? What ear heard
1t? What sense testified to its material ex-
istence? 1t is the condition and ground OF
all material forms. yet it is unseen. And
though unseen, is it not real. eternal?
but let us turn now to another evident
and noteworthy fact in the material world
1t IS this: In proportion as we so upward
from things seen to things unseen we fra
increase of power. Here is a substance
which in solid form we call ice; apply heat
and 1t becomes a liquid, water; continue to
apply heat, and it becomes a vapor. steam.
Which form of this substance has most
or power? The iceberg is worn away by the
potent touch of the waters in which it
floats. A thousand shores have suffered
from the encroachments of the sea. even
the granite cliffs are materially affected bv
tho ceaseless dashing Of oceans surges. Ana
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