The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-21
A BRIGHT DAY SERMON
BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS CLOTHED BY
REV. j. A. MILBURy.
Service Preceded by Elaborate Mu-
steal Programme-Service i'm
Other Churches.

made up OF admirably chosen extracts from
the works of Rossini. Mendelssohn and
Haydn. In addition to the vocal numbers
Organisr Hansen drew from his instrument
some uncommonly sweet melody IN the
prelude ''Elizabeth's Prayer" the Wagner
Postlude and the March Triomphile from
Aida The most delightful portion OF
the service, however. was Dr. Milburn's
brief talk. DR.. MiIburn said, in full:
There are some days that are intensely
subjective, days that drive you in upon
yourself. Such day was yesterday. When
the rain came down and the sky was over
cast with clouds you went into your own
soul. 1t was a pensive day. a day of in
trospection and thought. a metaphysical
day, day when you were thinking about
the deeper things of the spirit. There are
subjective days. and then there are OBJ
jective days. This has been an objective
day, day when every force and form in
nature nave been tapping at your spirit and
saying. Get cut of yourself-out in the
larger world-and air your soul; come cat
and breathe in the magnitude and the
srlendor of the world; come out and meet
the infinite No matter where you looked
to-day you saw God; not trees, not stones,
not sky, but God in the trees. God in the
stones and God in the sky.
MADE PEOPLE BETTER.
This day has been an apocalypse, reve-
lation; 1t has lifted us; we are all higher
for this day, better men henceforth, better
women henceforth, because we have been
permitted to live this glorious, beautiful
day of May in the year of our Lord 1900.
AS our spirits have gone out. what has
this day said? Day unto day uttereth
speech To every man this day has spoken
a message-to every of you. 1t must
have. 1t can't be that we are so dense
that we have not heard the voice, that we
have not listened 10 the mlniStrationS.
What has this day said?
lit has said first of all, that the facts
OF this universe are spiritual. man shall
start in to tell me that the ultimate foun-
dalton of this world, of your soul as we'll as
the great matter world, is the atom. He
shall demonstrate 1t by the most closely
shall show you the subtle relationship of
he physiological and psychological man.
He shall show you the subtle dependency of
the spirit upon the body. He shall show
you how the physical man and the mental
man are articUlated. the one rising with
the other, the one falling with the other,
md ther he shall say to you that because
the spiritual varies with the material
therefore the spiritual is coterminal with
the material. What shall / answer back?
| can't argue with him; 1 can't reason with
him, because spirit is such an impalpable
thing; 1t Is such an intangible thing. You
lame the word soul, and when you try to
tell man what the soul is you are alto
gethcr lost You name the word spirit,
and when you try TO tell a man what q
spirit Is you are altogether lost. You name
the word eternal, and when you try to tell
a man what eternal means you are alto
gether lost. You cannot defire the spirit
world you can the matter world. 1t is
indefinable by reason of its very structure.
How, then, shall we know that spirit is
the great dominating fact? / think we
know IL on such n day this. L believe
the whole universe is a spirit. / believe
that the whole universe lives. This day tells
me this, and that the spirit principle is the
great commanding, the great dominating
force in this world. and i believe that the
spirit has been moving in the great body of
nature, in the great body of the universe,
through aeons behino US, and that IL will
move in that body for aeons to come, until
this whole world, until this gray earth De-
meath our feet, and all the trees and all
the material things and all the rocks that
We behold with our eyes the whole dense,
solid, stolid world of matter, shall become
TRANSPORTED and translucent. glorious as
the light of this most glorious day. L be-
ieve the whole material world Will be-
come sublimated, will become a spirit by
and by in Gods own time.
ORIGIN OF ALL THINGS.
This Sunday tells me that the origin
of all things is spirit. that the finality of
all things is spirit Life, life, love, and all
the drossness gone and all the grossness
gone and all the coarseness gonel Beauty,
serenity, radiance everywhere. from the
center to the circumference. from the cir
conference back to the center of things!
Another thing this day has told us, /
think, and that is the wonderful power
that inheres in gentleness Some days are
very, very stormy. They are like great.
big. clustering DULLES of men, loud
mouthed. staggering with a great deal of
braggadocio, coming upon the scene and
clustering as though they were going to
do wonderful things these days. The winds
howl and the rains come down wrathfully,
full OF threats and full Of the
spirit of coercion. These DAYS accom-
plish nothing Like all clustering things,
they accomplish nothing. Like all these
staggering forces of the world. they ac-
complish nothing-do nothing. Your winter
storm, what did il do? Simply beat hope
lessly against the rock. II never fed q
flower; ii never lifted a living thing to
higher life. But this day. this sweet. gra-
this day of rest. this day of beauty, when
every force has been so gentle every force
has been so calm, has been a day of DO
tency: has been a day of life. The trees
are living more fully for this day; the
flowers are blooming more sweetly for this
day: the heart of man is bounding with
a more expanding, conscious life OF Joy for
the sweetness and gentleness of this Sab
bath day. What power there has been in
the gentleness of the light of the sun in
the calm. the placidity. the repose OF the
infinite sky, How gently. how silently IL
has done its work, And Oh. my friends,
/ wish that you and L would listen to
this prophet that never errs. this prophet
that never leads US astray. this prophet
of nature. Let us cultivate this spirit of
gentieness. So very difficult is 1t not? /
find IL very difficult. and / know that you
find IL so difficult. We are so prone to be-
leve In faults; are so prone to be-
lieve in the hard word. Every once in
awhile find myself saying Il must be de-
mandatory. i must be coercive. I must
know wrath and Oh, it is a great mis-
take. The only thing that is effective in
all this world in dealing with men. in deal
ing with fellow-men. is gentleness-
gentleness OF action, gentleness OF judy
ment. Let US be gentle in our relations
one towards another. like this day: gentle.
like the sunshine: gentle. like the flowers;
gentle like the light and gentle like the
no censorious thing, doing no censorious
thing. pray for you a gentle habit OF
mind. Oh. my beloved friends this is the
one thing 10 seek for II doesn't matter
very much whether you are a man of
power; 1t doesn't matter very much whether
you are a man CT affiuence: IL doesn't
matter very much whether you are a man
of great and deep and penetrative intellect.
The world will get along without your
power: the world will get along without
your affiuence: the world will get along
without your mentality but IL can't get
along without your gentleness. without
your sweetness. without YOUR tenderness
without your love. Won't YOU learn to
be gentle. one towards another? Let us
strive for that. let pray for that and