The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-17
REV. j.. A. MILBURN's SERMON.
A Man with n Heart Cannot BE Happy
Tribute to w. n. Jackson.

81 do not believe that there ever was a
great or a good man who has been a happy
man from a mundane point of view.'' was
the declaration made by Rev. Joseph A.
Milburn in his sermon yesterday morning
at the Second Presbyterian Church. and re-
peated by him last night. "a man is
deader in soul power than a brute VINO will
look out upon this Travelling world with a
complacent eye" continued Mr.. Milburn.
'For the great multitudes the world is a
treadmill all the way from the cradle to
the grave. No man who has a heart can be
| a happy man. But, while that is true, it is
also true that we may enter into the
blessed and glorious realm of spiritual
joy
Mr.. Milburn preached a forcible and elo-
ouent discourse last night upon the rela-
ton of Christian service to Christian ex-
perience and joy. His text was the
twenty-eighth verse of the tenth chapter
of Luke: THUS do and thou shalt live
He sal. in part:
There are two elements that go to make
any large, full Christian experience, and
the first element is the element Of con-
temptation. Every maj who wants TO
know the things that pertain to the divine
life must be first of all a dreamer He
must be a seer, he must mediate. There
is no reality in Christian experience except
in so far as Christian experience is made a
reality TO us by thought, and therefore
every man who is honestly and sincerely
seeking the kingdom OF God will court
solitude, he will demand and insist that
there shall be certain seasons when he may
be alone with his own soul, when he may
lift up his spirit to the infinite spirit, and
when he may by prayer and by bordering
bring his soul into attune with the eternal
soul. Every earnest Christian will seek
solitude and every earnest Christian will
insist upon a certain amount of silence in
his own life. Every man who is a man of
God is what we used TO. in the old times,
call a contemplation, a man who lifts his
eye up, his face up, his spirit up, in search
of light. But this is only one part of the
Christian life; there is another, and Jesus
Christ has given US this other in the text
1 have chosen to speak to you about to-
night. Christianity is not only a thought,
II is an action. 1t is not only q meditation
and q dream. IL Is a life, and our Lord
draws us 10 himself only In order TO send
us forth, full of His love for humanity.
into the world to bless and TO do. So that
second half of the Christian life Is the half
of service, not a larger half than the other
half, but quite the half. Ii is a hemi-
sphere. as faith is the other hemisphere.
and the two hemispheres make a world.
the two hemispheres make a large,
rounded buoyant. beautiful, Christian life.
Action is a of Jesus Christ. not
only by word, but by amp There never
was such a dreamer as Jesus, never one
who loved solitude more. never one who so
courted the hilltops as Christ did in prayer.
| Whenever He had a great work to do, Jesus
Christ always went first TO baptize his
spirit with the strength of His Fathers
life. He prayed long. lie prayed deep, He
prayed hard and He prayed high. and then
from the mountain top He went down into
the world. after. prayer TO do His work
This Is his example 10 US. He is the great
doer. the supreme deed. In fact. His life.
And action is OF the very genius OF Chris
tianity. Jesus was so fun of the spirit of
action. of the spirit of good, kind. blessed.
! beautiful deeds that to come near Him