The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-27
OF THE SILENT PARTNER
DIR. j. r. ID. JOHN TALKED AT CEN
TRAL-AyENUE NJ. L. CHURCH.
God Is a Partner with Man In the Ma
terial worId-J. whitcomb
Brougher's RcmarkA

DIR. John p. ID. John. OF Greencastle,
preached the sermon at Central-avenue NJ.
e Church yesterday morning. the topic
being THE Silent Partner" He said in
part:
THE omnipotence of God supplements
the finite strength of men In individual,
family, social, national and worldwide life.
In every step We take. in every act Of our
lives, We may, If we Will, be Joined with
God and expand our weakness into strength
by drawing upon His infinite resources.
God Is not a partner with men in the abuse
of his laws. but in their right use. He al
lows Self-centered men TO use His omnip-
otence, for without limits IL is open to all.
but God and human sel1shness are never
In copartnership- He holds up a stand
against their debasement of their misappro-
priated power for unworthy uses. But in
everything God would have us do, He re-
inforces our finite endeavor with His in
finite power and is truly a partner with US
in such work.
God Is a partner with man in the ma
terial world. Man never produced a grain
OF wheat without God. The chemist may
make "A grain of wheat which his brother
chemist cannot tell from a real one; but
the soil and air and sunshine know the
adherence. 1t viii never grow. How ut
teriy helpless is the h~uSbandman without
the cooperation of his unseen partner, in
the mysterious operations beneath the COW
ering of earth. III the rains come not. the
StCd DtIlSlGSs IL lUt sun SHlnt HOl, l1tIe
is no resurrection for the buried grain.
But God keeps His part of the contract in
His partnership with the farmer. He goes
down into the soil on the sunbeam and
kisses the orman seed awake. He rides
through the mellow earth on a water-drop
until he finds the thirsty atoms of the
newly awakened grain, and moistens their
myriad tongues until they sing an anthem
of life unheard by human ear. but as ma
jestic in the ear of God as the music OF
the spheres. oh, the pulses of life in that
der the touch Of God, How they divide
and subdivide, How the living forces
within seize the dead molecules that per-
meate the cell walls and wake them into
life! How the tender rootlets reach out in
the darkness for moisture and air, seizing
the inert atoms of the soil and converting
them into living fbers; throwing their tiny
fingers around the imbedded pebbles and
bracing themselves for the storms that
shall beat upon the stem when il reaches
upward into the light and air and droops
under the load OF leaf. flower and heavy
ear. From field to factory, from factory
through all the material avenues of life.
the story is the same-God and man bring
all good things to pass.
This partnership exists in the world of
spiritual forces. Here is the most sublime
spectacle of cooperation in the range of
human activity 1t is cooperation be-
| tween the finite soul of man and the in
finite soul of God in the higher and wider
fields of spiritual achievement and progress.
All the progress Of the human race has
come through this divine and human part
nership. God has been present with man
In the evolution of society partly by virtue
of His infiexible laws of social progress,
and partly by the direct outstretching of
His arm when the right was in danger.
TIL great law of racial progress is
founded on the love of others and the love
of oneself; the love of others for the sake
of God. who is our common Father, and the
love of oneself for the sake of others,
through which self-love, though not selfish
| love, we increase our power of helpfulness
TO others. Society cannot advance while
it's individuals recede. 1t cannot be set
forward by an act of Congress while the
individuals set themselves back by an act
OF their own wills. 1t cannot be legislated
into virtue by wholesale, while the in
dividuals legislate themselves into vice by
retail. So the progress of society depends
on the character of the individual, and in
every battle he fights for his own virtue
| and honor, God fights with him."