The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-18
REV. N. S. HAYNEs's SERMON.
He Tells of Some Needs of the Mis-
sion Fields.

Rev. N 6. Haynes, of Chicago. occupied
the pulpit Of the Fourth Christian Church
last night There was a large audience
present and the discourse delivered was
powerful one. Mr.. Haynes spoke on the
subject: Some Of the Needs of Our Mis-
sion Field" and took as his text Acts xviii
G: These that have turf ed the world up
side down are come hither also"
such" said the speaker" was the COM
pliment that the enemies of the gospel UNI
Willingly paid to the missionaries who first
trod the streets of the ancient city of Thes-
salonica. In the divine purpose it is the
chief business of the church to turn the
world upside down.
1.-THE world-the field is the world, said
our Lord Nothing less than the conquest
of the whole inhabited globe to the truth
and righteousness and peace can satisfy
Christian ambition. But IN brlef address
your attention cannot be called to the needs
of the whole field Rather we are TO note
some of the needs of that part or the held
which our home society is striving 10 cuiti-
yate and occupy namely, our own great
country. We are ever pleased to hear some
of the prophets of these later days who
have spoken in visions of our land ana age
and of the coming years Five and thirty
years ago. when the war cloud hung over
our Nation, speaking of America, John
Bright said: Il see one vast confederation,
stretching from the frozen north to the
glowing south. and from the wild pillows of
the Atlantic westward TO the calmer waters
of the Pacific main; see one people ana
one language one law and one faith, and
over ali that wide continent the home OF
freedom and a refuge for the oppressed or
every race and every cline America holds
the future said Matthew Arnold. The
worlds center of gravity is now in the Mis-
sisippi valley.
sumed First. general knowledge OF our
national domain and its unequaled material
resources. Our 70,OO0OO0 OF people occupy
less extent than
whole of Europe, and II IS a natural base
for the greatest continuous empire estab-
lished by man To-day ours is the richest
of all the grelt nations-in intelligence in
property in vast resources in free institu-
lions. in mighty energies. in far-reaching
opportunities. in regnant influences. Amer
lea indeed. holds the future; for she will
lead the world.
In the second place, 1t is here assumed
that the pure gospel Christ preached. be-
Ieved and lived by every individual is the
one all-comprehensive and supreme need.
not only Of America but OF the VIII whole world
up the web of sin filled with all the cater
pillars of human selfishness and oppression
and Injustice and foul passions and fretful
nride. Ii is the divine answer to all the
hard questions of the age. and the divine
solution of all the difficult problems that
"Standing then. as we do. upon this ex-
allied height of revealed truth, crowned with
the opportunity of the centuries, with no
Savior but Jesus. with no leader but the
Prince of Life and the Conqueror of Death,
with no rule of Christian living but the
word of God. and looking out upon the vast
harvest field of Americas millions, what
we may we'll inquire. are some of its pres
ent and pressing needs?
NEEDS OF THE NEGRO.
Mr.. Haynes, continuing, took up the needs
of the negroes Said he: 1.-The last shall be
first When the shaclles fell from the
slaves, a third Of a century ago, in the fair
Southland there were 100000 negroes in
the United States. Now there are 100000
IL this third of a century the rate of in
crease has been more than 100 per cent
One-eighth of our whole population are ne
groes. At least threo-fourths of them are il
literate, and nine-tenths are comparatively
so. That superstitions. vices and crimes
should abound among them are only logical
results. Moral fruits generally grow on the
trees of intelligence. But ii is an encour-
aging fact that Christian education lifts the
negro out of crime in an unusual degree.
Educators who are deVoting their lives to
the uplifting of these people assure us that
they have kept most careful watch of the
lives OF their pupils after they have gone
out from their educational institutions and
that they have found only in the rarest in
stances even charge against the morality
of their former students. This is a re-
markably significant fact, emphasizing,
with a voice like thunder the Christian
duty, the social obligation and the patriotic
debt of the superior 10 the inferior race"
The speaker next turned his attention to
the needs OF the cities he said
The growth of our American cities Is one
of the surprising facts in our national his
tory. Notwithstanding the many millions
of our then unoccuped but cultural and
productive acres, during the first hundred
years OF our national life, while our whole
population increased about twenty-five fold,
cur urban Notwithstanding cities of
eight thousand and above-grew 1872 fold.
Many factors point to a larger relative in
crease in the cities in the future. unless
the federal government shall purchase and
operate the railways and thus eQualize and