The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-05
THE TABERNACLE'S DEBT
1T HAS BEEN ENTIRELY RAISED By
SUBSCRIPTIONS.
Rev. Mr.. Smiths Sermon Yesterday
New Pastor of Third Christian
Church breaches.

Rev. J. Cumming Smith preached yester-
day at Tabernacle Church on the theme.
The True Unit of Force" He took as his
| text. Awake. awake, put on thy strength,
o arm OF the Lord Isaiah Ii, g. and
| Awake. awake. put thy strength, o
Zion" Isaiah Iii, 1. Mr.. Smith said:
In the first of these the prophet looks
abroad upon the sterile fattened time with
hopeless eye. and then cries out for God
OF illimitable resources to rouse the people
| from their stupor In the second of these
the same prophet catches CLEAN of Gods
reservoirs OF grace, always ready 70 MOOD
the parched land but choked by the bigotry,
] the sloth and avarice OF men. The one
picture completes the other and reveals ,ne
alone. but God and man together, forming,
as II were. one force. constitute the charm
and secret OF history And both truths
claim attention On the one side stand the
| still men who pray and then watch Tor
some mighty result and the result does not
on the other side stand men very fussy and
| hdgety and full of sounding schemes OF
nothingness. men who generally shit God
to the dim background OF history, and these
! men agitate but the agitation is shallow
and nothing comes of 1t. And both the over
plous man and the agnostic. need TO learn
| that only when earth and sky chime, only
when God and man act together can move
ments be born 10 lasting good.
God works with nature to produce a
cloud on many tinted meadow, but IL is
man that makes the farm. God made all
weather-excspt: perhaps, Indiana. put ~ Is
| the weather worse. God made electricity
but man made the automobile. God made
| the continent of America, but man, with no
mean share of Gods intelligence, made the
Constitution of our Union. In common or
| uncommon achievements IL is the blending
| Of the infinite and finite that Is the way 10
The whole subject of prayer has been
distorted so as to mean that man sa, sits in
| suits. Not so. Prayer is rather the up
ward appeal Of manhood in action; It is
ks nss MOVING ae n he
| they fire; it is our human earnestness ask
ing the reinforcement of divine earnestness.
| And only this symmetrical view can rescue
prayer from the worlds contempt.
! The question of inspiration is rid OF It's
artificialism when we join the minds Of God
ture, replete with human elements; II
| thrills and weeps and sings and warns with
| ity, and yet 1t shines like far mountains
with the illumination of God and the awe
OF The Ear ecbnea
| lions of criticism. higher or lower. don't
| touch the central truth of inspiration.
| wrangle over mere schoolboy matters of
| style syntax while the heart OF the world
demands the message of redemption; The
| mingling music of God and man at his best.
The question of the worlds salvation is an
swered- by the choral dualism OF, the old
save man. but God with man, God in man,
man in God. these two making one save our
zone of the truth? Are there souls still
wandering afar from duty? Are there ma
tons st yns IN "A n Wd wne c
Of God or, the effectiveness of Gods gospel?
Do you blame God? Back from the throne
e awake. n Awa Sss zion put on t0a thy
strength Are there social evils paralyzing
Il our community? Are there muffied villain
les and secret crimes in our high places?
Does the saloon laugh at the efforts 10 dis
| lodge IL? Are these human societies at
work to scourge ana drive out the demons
and the demons still plague us? And then,
when you realize the persistency OF evil,
then comes the old voice TO rebuke you:
Look up; look to man alone and no ad-
i made look to God iS alone and
God and fill God with man, and then the
cause bounds onward. Awake! Awake! o
How many historical movements of our
time die out in spasms because only
are needed, HoW msn nere refoT@er sOrG res
quire TO reform themselves. How many
enthusiasts are padded, one-sided. self
crafty talent and wondering that the worlds
wrongs go on incurred. How many skim
| deep agitators look to legislation to remove
cynical because mere legislation utterly
fails! Can laws change the heart? Can
| mlSerS convert mlSerS, or gamblers inspire
gamblers upward? We have met some men
| of fine culture who are Respondent about the
| race And they say, Look at the churches
trying TO pray the sin out Of the world, and
| the sin stays; then look at the frantic eff
forts of reformers to crush every vice, and
yet vice lifts its head In insolence; then look
| at the passion for culture, and yet our
literary societies do not purge our wicked
| ness: Is not the entire institution hopeessy
rotten? And then we strike the reason for
| these partial failures God alone and man
| alone cannot convert the world. Prayer
alone or culture alone cannot burn out all
| the corruption The universe is not organ
! lied on such a one-sided basis But try the
plan of the old seer; let God and man, work
itg with each other. go forward, and then
| sin must skulk away before the new
strange combination of power"
| The pastor congratulated the people on
| their generous subscriptions to remove the
floating debt OF 5000, which had ham,
pered somewhat their progress. He empha-
| sized two pleasant features. One was that
the people gave very gladly: the other was
| they gave voluntarily, without any fairs or
| auctions or melting appeals from the pulpit.
| He observed that church debts were devils,
| and pitied the pulpit or people who need a
| debt to spur them 10 their work. when a
| whole world Of needy causes cries for help.
| The canvass for subscriptions has united
the members in closer band of interest
| than ever. The board OF trustees have Sc
| cured the services OF John Scott as financial
| cverseer They hope thus to conduct the
| Lords business IN a business-ike manner.
| >