The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-06

cles or error, mankind will come back to
this sentiment and regard it as the immor-
tai expression of its faith and it's hopes"
rms was the cry of many centuries ago
the ever old and the ever new story Of HUI
manity In its seeking after God The Sa-
marian and the Jew are the undying types
OF men VINO have come to worship their
Gerizim or their Jerusalem in place of their
spiritual father.
1t matters not what it is that shuts them
away from God-their church, or denomina-
ton, or creed, or ritual, or system of theoI-
ogy or tradition or prejudice-whatever it
is that looms up before them as final and
absolute truth to which all men must yield
instead Of a ladder on which men may
mount to God--whatever it is, it stan Is as
hindrance to the souls of men, and finds
its true meaning only as it merges into the
great principle of Jesus, God is a spirit,
and they that worship Him must worship
in spirit and in truth
1t is always a weak and shallow thing
to rave against existing institutions or
ideas, as if they were unworthy of consd-
Grafton or regard. Such was not the Mas
ter's method. He taught the law of per-
spective and of development. He did not
waive aside the womans question as be-
and there gave 1t judgment and respect
The sad thing about it was that it en-
braced the woman's religion; it had grown
to disproportionate size. was not fulfilling
itself in a larger life.
Whenever, on the road to God, men are
stopped by any help, that help Immediately
becomes a hindrance. The church, the
creeds, the sacraments, the rituals-these
are surely helps to lead us into spiritual
worship; in their places they are essential
elements of the religious life of the COM
munity. But in so far as they come to
stand for pure worship. which is the union
of the human spirit with the divine; in so
far as they become to us the essential pat
terms into which all spiritual aspirations
must be molded-in just so far we are re-
producing in our own day the confusion and
the strife and the bitterness which dark
ened the hearts and blinded the eyes Of Sa-
maritans and Jews.
1t is not through this system or through
that not by this institution or by that, not
in this way or that, that all men are to
come to the Father-however sacred and
dear institution, and system, and method
are and ought to be-but the end to which
these things minister shall win many and
many a humble soul through means Ct
which We never dreamed. And, o, my
friends, when once the beauty and signifi-
canoe of this story is realized, these words
which speak of the universal relation of
man 40 God become unspeakably dear. The
tried and harassed soul turns from all the
misunderstanding and the bitterness of re-
ligious life to that essential spirit which
once, perhaps, drew his fresh young heart
so close to God that it seemed as though
he had realized the beautiful imagery of
the gospels-that his Master had come to
sup with him, and he with Him.
In the mage charm of that hour, when
every manifestation of God spoke TO the
soul, he came to know that il was because
he himself was a divine being; that because
God was revealing Himself not only in ma
ture and history, but in his own aspiring
soul also, that therefore the highest and
truest exercise of his nature was to wor-
ship the Father. He came to know that the
relations of life change; that the essential
and eternal must needs hold his deepest
love and win his greatest desire. One great
truth enthralled him; it was the revelation
that in his own soul was the responsive
chord that thrilled to every sound of the
voice of God
An then, perchance, there came to him
moments of enlightenment when his whole
being was illumined; for he heard the
words of the Master saying: For such doth
the Father seek to be His worshipers."