The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-17
HE REPLIES TO A BISHOP
REV. j.. CUMMING SMITHS SERMON
AT THE TABERNACLE.
He Refers to the stands taken by DIR
Hills, of BROOKLYN. and Arch
bishop Ireland.

al OplAAIlActtt AODnC OAN VI 80
lures laws" His text was, II will restore
the years the locusts have eaten" The
sermon was in answer TO the recent utter
ances of Archbishop Ireland, and Rev.
Smith said in part:
1.-The prophet stands on the edge of a
new era, a transition period from a long
~leanness and languor to a period fertile
and bloomful. The reason for the pro-
longed barrenness was that the people
turned way from God, and as a conse-
quence God was reluctantly compelled 10
turn away from them, just as the hack
man. eager to drive you. is forced to turn
away disappointed when your signal is a
refusal.
History moves i'm circles largely. Our
own times are partly parallel 10 the old
prophets. A protracted drought and des-
titution have made terrible havoc with our
religious life. But a change is coming.
We could predict by the laws OF nature
that famine must prompt a season of full
ness and that the most heightened winter
must yield to the sweetness OF June, and
that hard and stingy years In trade pave
the way for prosperous treasures Inc
world cannot remain down in the ditch.
We can argue that the man who wears a
coat shining or threadbare at the elbows
must soon appear In new garments. We
strike a law of the resiliency and buoyancy
OF all Gods forces which may lapse for a
time into torpor, but are destined to stir
themselves again.
DR.. HILLIS'S LETTER.
"Dr. Hills. of Brooklyn. has written a
letter mourning the drowsy. sluggish re-
lious life now prevalent, and from the pull
pit Of Beecher sounds forth a call to the
church to bestir itself for a deep spiritual
culture. His letter finds an echo over the
world. Archbishop Ireland, from another
standpoint, laments the leaden apathy of
the church. and as a remedy would re-
store the church to her old prestige and
authority over the worlds life.
ITO my mind these two authorities are
a little astray. i cannot see that the re-
ligious levels of our time are lower than
those of bygone lays. Seers and saints
nave always felt their ages slow-footed
and irresponsible to high things. But L
do feel that each age opens new doors and
that an age may be called dead when 1T
refuses to enter the new doors. We are
not worse than our fathers, but We are
not equal to our chances, as our
children shall see and blame us.
What are the causes of our Inertia or in
difference? Beyond a question the Wild
cat theories concerning the Bible nave Gre
ated a suspicion abroad that the Bible is
a laundering vessel. For this widespread
suspicion or uneasiness L do not blame
either the people or the critics. L believe
too much in an honest transparent exam
ination as the very best method in the
long run of quieting the fears of the peo-
pie and provoking a fresh study of God
words and Gods ways. But / do modestly
impeach the pulpit for not showing the
people that criticism rarely cuts into the
arteries, that criticism works with the
outward garb of the word of God, and
that both the liberal and the conservative
stand together on the simple. immovable
messages of the Father to His children.
Realities are unaffected and unhurt. Let
the pulpit have courage to proclaim these
deeper principles and not court a shallow
brilliancy by airing doubts. A tree does
not make the mast, nor the branch the
switch; strip off foliage and twig, and the
central trunk makes the mast that holds
the undertaking sail, and the clean
branch makes the skin smart. Gods lit
e%rature, extending through various epochs
of human development, and also allowing
a noble luxuriance of poetry to beautify il,
is capable of a simple synopsis, a reduc-
ton to a few controlling truths that har-
monize men with God.
SUMPTUOUS LIVING.
I ""Then, too. a period of commercial sur
pluses and endless gayeties and sumptuous-
ness all along the line cuts the nerve of
effort and benumbs the religious sense.
No man can be too prosperous and watch
the stars. He learns to love the world that
! feasts the eye even while it starves the
heart. God sinks to lower and vulgarer
ideas. God drives and conscience suffers
its atrophy. We need some strain to keep
our life alive; we need the pinch of adj
versity to warn us of a deeper and for
gotten life. For some years the American
people have been flush with success and
an undoubted tone of materialism has
crept into our methods. Even authors,
who once wrote because bursting with
genius now too often write to order and
how sterile grows their verse, Society is
gaining etiquette at the expense of ur-
banity. Children are INDUCED in a pro-
granme of gayeties that leave nothing for
maturer life to entertain them with. The
simple cordialities of the heart are in dan
ger. Politics are dyarfed into machines.
church settled down into a fashionable
circle! Are pulpits stilled? Is Gods word
toned or twisted into an easy nothing? Is
hell glozed over? / make no charges. j
know too deeply the courage of the minis
tiers. / simply affirm that we often drift
unconsciously and perhaps In our anxiety
have hurt the heart of God. Then comes
inevitably penalty. Then comes self-will
and vagrancy;- then comes bankruptcy In
the exchequers of our deeper devotements
"One cause, too, glares out at us. The
church has left the control of benevolence
to other bodies and in many cases il is but
a meeting house to hear a sermon and the
preacher must race after people to coax
att&AA - 0NAa RLSkGI
diplomacies prevail. Can there be any
tremendous revival while the church grows
cool to the side of our Lords life thai
wooed the poor and the slave? Do no,
small, desperate churches. wedged in every
where and doomed to ply every article &c
swell revenue, drain our higher life? ]
want rivalry, but overrivalry weakens the
cause and cramps every earnest minister
Is mere oratory, so often sublime and SC
often swindling, the main feature of q
church founded on Christ?
SO crippled is the church with debts and
small methods that the mighty crusades OF
reformers are in poverty. The prophets OF
Israel were statesmen and reformers be.
cause the church had not then forgotten
her God-given charters.
RELIGION AS A NECESSITY.
However, the common sense of the world
swings back from extremes. Manhood and
w~omanhood would affirm religion TO be
necessity. This is our hope. 1t will com,
pei the church to revise her methods so fal
as they fall short of the spirit and scope
of her one Master. 1 have written Il
some authorities that our General Assem-
bly, devote one day in the very center o.
its business to the one grand aim of foster
ing its spiritual enthusiasm. hardly ex.
pect the committees to carry out the sug.
gestions because there is so little larg,
craftsmanship at headquarters sometimes
We are so coated and incrusted witt
technicalities that we are afraid TO stir.
However, a fallow field means a field re
turning te its early, original wealth. Hare
times force back good times. Shoddyisn
in society ushers in a simple and unair,