The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-10
DIR. NJ ABBOTT.
His Education Was Begun a Hundred
Years Ago.


Leslie's Weekly.
DR.. Lyman Abhott's preparation for his
work began several generations ago, and
his extraordinary Intellectual activity and
spiritual vitality are explained by the fact
that he is using ancestral capital as well as
his own accumulations. His attitude to-
and trustful fearlessness; his manner of dis
cusSing and presenting them is singularly
simple and direct. 1t is, perhaps, within
bounds to say that he owes much, both
of spirit and manner, to an ancestry deeply
religious, morally clean, and intellectually
trained. The impressions of him which
some people have received from some news
papers are ludicrously far from truth. AL
though constantly in the view of a very
large public. DIR. Abbott is singularly devoid
of self-consciousness: He has a wholesome
effectiveness of spirit which keeps him not
only untainted by popular applause. but un-
disturbed by popular criticism: He lives in
and through his work: he is absorbed in it;
and he is so completely it's servant that, so
long as it is done, it matters little to him
whether it is done in his way, or whether
he gets praise or blame for it.
No man was ever more free from the
preacher; no man was ever more direct and
simple in his methods. His power lies
largely in this simplicity; evidenced in the
quietness, directness. and frankness of his
name and in the peculiar intimacy which
he establishes with his congregations. One
who hears him may differ from him, but
touch of professionalism either in
his speech or his manner. He
deals with MS congregation as ne would
with a friend in his study; he lays open
his whole mind. concealing nothing, evading
nothing. Congregations like this unassum-
ing directneSs; they feel that the preacher
is giving them not so much his surmises
and speculations as his convictions and
himself.
In that phrase lies the secret of DR.. Alb
bolts power; he is himself always, and he
gives himself always. The truth is to him
absolutely authoritative; he belongs to it,
and where it leads he must follow. His
nature and spirit are profoundly religious;
his attitude towards life is reverential. He
believes so simply in God that whichever
way he looks he sees God close at hand.
He has a prophets vision; while most men
secondary causes. he feels himself stand
ing always in the immediate presence of
the first cause. He is so 11uch more re-
ligious than most of his critics that they
think him skeptical. He believes oil that
they believe, and a great deal more. His
belief is so unQuestioning and comprehen-
think him heterodox. A very sincere man
who heard him. said, with a shake of the
head, expressive of doubt: DIR. Abbott be-
lieVes that God is with him as directly as
He was with Abraham. and that is dan
gerouS doctrine That is precisely what
d., Abbott believes. and that is why he is
one of the most religious men Of his time.
He believes that God is working Immediate
ly through nature, and that is why the
evolutionary idea appeals 70 him so DOVye'-
fully. He believes as few men believe in
III" Bible as revealing the Will Of God: but
no DISC believes in the Inspiration of TIE
race whenever and wherever 1t 1ec0g liZes
and admits the divine influence which en-
Velops it like an atmosphere. He believes
SO entirely in Christ as God in the flesh that
he finds no theological statement adequate
10 the mystery of a God who not only rules
but serves and suffers. He believes so en-
tirely that men are the children of God
that he accepts democracy, with all it's
problems and perils. as the latest step in
the divine education of the race.