The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-22
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
Discomfort, RIGHTLY DIRECTED,
Is A DESIRABLE THING.
Short Sermon by Rev. John Mathews,
Odist Church, ST. Louis, Mo.

ments he has dissatisfactions. and these
pvophesy of something better than he has
ever yet attained.
Humanitys best is defective. Mans finest
structures are faulty. There is an energy
within which wal1ens him to seek a larger
and completer life. He has visions Of pos
sibilities which destroy the old contentment
Something lures him onward, as the tabled
goddess lured the Grecian boy by rolling
rosy apples along his path.
When God created man. He gave him
tastes for the beautiful in art, in music and
in nature. He also implanted appetite
for the divine; a sense which admires pur-
ity, and Graves that shape of heart which
characterized Jesus-a something which Gre
ates unrest over present attachments, that
clamors for the best good
Whoever says I want no more,
ConfeSSeS he has none.
Our perpetual discomfort with things as
they are is the main cause through which
we make them finally what they ought to
be- We look up and see in Christ qualities
which are ennobling. BY contrast and eX-
perience we learn our deficiencies and are
dissatisfied.
This is not an evil. 1t holds within itself
the very forces which make men and ma
lions great. 1t contains the very elements
which every newspaper points out to-day as
emphasizing the contrast between Spain and
the United States. You learn from all his
tory that the Anglo-Saxon race has come
to dominate the civilized world by such dis
content. This race would not let things
alone: it sought to mold and master them,
instead of allowing them to take their
course. The entire wealth and winning of
the world on the material side has come
from Just such men as these.
So, young man, when you feel dissatisfied
with your lot, when spurred on to be some
thing more than a machine for making
bread and butter do not be ashamed OF
the feeling; do not give up. 1t is the very
feeling which takes hold of mind and pushes
one on to the front The man who only does
as his father did never greatens. You are
to remember there is no finality in life;
there is always more just ahead-a wisdom,
a wealth, robustness, a point of power
not yet attained
There is, 1 know, a great hue and cry
over the restless spirit for fortUne and
power; but if the struggle finds and leaves
US honest, and it can do that, then there is
value in the aspiration. When a young man
tries to rise from an apprentice to a master
workman it is a commendable impulse.
When he seeks to rise from a clerkship to
ownership, that is a legitimate ambition.
AS Webster said, there is plenty of room
at the top.
NO FINALITY IN RELIGION.
Nor is there any finality in religion. This
is cause for gratitude even more. When
you see a block of marble half chiseled,
with, perhaps hand or foot peeping out.
no one can make you believe that is what
the artist intended it should be; it is yet
unfinished. When we look upon a man with
only one or two moral qualities, we do not
believe that is all God intended him to be.
God intends man shall become luminous in
moral acquisitions. luminous in a happiness
that makes life worth living. The under
class, content to creep, will never know the
satisfaction of vigorous pedestrianism, will
never learn the good of living
Science has been busy gathering up
truths and semi-truths. but there are still
many UNEMPLOYED regions in her domains.
Statesmen, from Lycurguss time to this,
have culled large wisdom; but there are
other fields yet untrod. In literature, with
all it's beauties, there are still greater
truths than any age has seen, than any lips
now teach.
Thus, in the moral realm, Gods truth is
many sided, and reaches on and on. inviting
broaden out, dissatisfaction stirs up his fac
ulties until his soul GRAY es to be changed
into the same image. He has caught a
glimpse of the meaning of of that Scripture
in which Christ says, Il, when / am lifted
up will draw all men unto me-" Such hun
gerings determine a mans status in the
kingdom of God. This led Paul to exclaim,
Il follow after
Our text makes it very clear that the
great-souled Paul had not only a GLIMPSE
but a broad view of his possibilities, and,
therefore, was unwilling TO live on a low
level. He had reached a plane so far above
the pleasures afforded by the senses that
he was ever after reaching for heaven-born
happiness, and yet he was not an all-round
character but he laid hold on forces which
were bearing him upward into qualities
which constitute completeness.
Paul advanced in spiritual vision until
he saw moral beauties in his Lord that
thrilled his whole being. So we see tints
of spirit and shapes of soul in Abraham,
IN Elijah in Isaiah and in Paul, which Gre
ate in us discomfort, and We cry out for
those finer casts of soul which will cause
men to see in US beauty of life which
will remind them of Christ.
THE IDEAL BECOMES REAL.
1t is said that the great Leasing, when
five years old. was sitting for his picture,
and the artist wished him to hold a bird
cage in his hand. No" said the boy.
paint me with a great pile of books, 1
do not want to sit" 1t was prophecy of
that aspiring mind which would work it's
way to the front rank of German think
ers. Thomas A Edison, when boy of
twelve, felt inward energies stirring up mis-
spirit and began his wonderful career con-
Quoting chemical experiments in a freight
car. Behold the outcome. If such can climb
scientific heights, why not the mind attain
great heights in the finer realm of the spir-
ttual?
There was a period in the history of man
cultivated man-when the highest ideal of
life was embodied in statues; their highest
conceptions of purity were chiseled in
marble. Paul, no doubt, had seen the
classics. He had read of them in Homer
and Hesiod, but these were only great with
out rival. Paul had seen Christ, and see
ing Him passed beyond the Greek ideal.
This vision of his Lord so ravished his great
heart, he reached after the mind that was
In Him. Upward. forever upward. was his
watchword.
The moral greatness of a people is always
to be- measured by measuring their great
ideals. In that era moral nature was poor
Men stressed physical beauty, great vigor
and great soldierly qualities. Christs COM
ing TO earth raised the ideal above all these
and men, seeing what is possible to human