The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-12
WHY RELIGION LIVES ON
NEW TRUTHS I'VE OFT TO THE
WORLD A. 81 PROGRESSES.
by Rev. y. Cumming smith
Related To u~aeckei'- scientific
Discussion.

Persons that read in the Journal yester-
day morning Mary Deans review OF Ernst
Haeckels Riddle OF the TniVerss" and
also heard the Rev. J. cumming .mith's
sermon on II Am Alpha and Omega az the
Tabernacle Church yesterday morning.
found a relation between the two discus
sions. When this was suggested 10 Mr..
Smith he said: 1t is an interesting COIN
cidence. 1 wrote my sermon before / read
Miss Deans article. Mr.. Smiths sermon
was as follows:
IF st. Paui's argumenfatiVe letter 10 the
Romans may be called the Gibraltar OF
the New Testament. the mystical apo
calypso OF John may be called the Adiron-
dacks. with shadowy abysses and heights
brooded with cloud and inky lakes.
Jesus appeared to me ola Ds seer an ~
pa.mos ane declared. am nipn~ anu
He Is Alpha. I'm other words. lie had
the truth that first woke the race toward
moved by the truth that dawned upon
them. Ii met their needs. The higher rev.
Citations We're withheld or postponed, but
the divine appeal 10 righteousness charmed
the national conscience. \ pulley must be
lowered 20 the coalbarrow 10 lift n. III n
fall short a fraction OF an inch it's value a.
a pulley ceases. However high a truth. IL
cannOt become a motor power unless n Is
lowered 10 our level to get hold OF the
But is the same Christ the Omega VIII
the gospel that awed the world I'm its dewy.
CreQu4OUS youth ana tnrlilcO the fpTllolS
roaming half-clad In swamps be able 10
reach the live modern culture? Ancient In
fiuences sometimes become obsolete: many
minds. some sincere. some insincere and
specious. admire the power Of the Incar-
nate God i'm Europe who at the same time
feel that that power must wane before the
science OF the next centuries.
GOSPEL AND THE BAGGAGE CAR.
Now this springs from the fact that
men see no reserve power in Christianity
! and the ability 10 hold back truth until IL
is due to the world. The gospel is like the
baggage car. the baggage man rolls ont
trunks and keeps back more trunks. and
if you saw your trunk turned out before
| YOU arrived at your destination you would
order IL back to the car.
THE New Testament. as every scholar
knows. shows a gradual and timely reve-
lation OF truth. The whole Bible docs be-
cause God knew when TO give bread 20 HIS
I'm a large sense the Christ left to the
Holy Spirit the function or bringing for
ward truths as the mind OF the world grew
ripe for them. There is more yet in the
Bible than ever came out OF IL. IL Is a
versatile book because IL has this reserve
Il saw some curbing laid ON a suburban
road the other day and IL looked like a
ditch or even a sewer II was several feet
below the road level. / asked the foreman
about the puzzle and he replied. when we
lay curbing we do not calculate on the road
as IL now is, we look ahead TO the future
conditions of the street and act accord
SChristianity calculated for the future.
II has appeals that are suitable 10 the
present situation. IL has appeals that now
would be premature. IL had "a message for
Europe five hundred years ago. II contains
h%un Ggnam Years me henese. Christ A is Omega on II
not, we may doubt III he was Alpha; at all
events the gospel would be a beautiful
"It is because OF this reserve power and
the facility with which il accommodates
itself to new continents and new condi-
tions that the influence OF Jesus is immor-
tai. 1t is practical TO be sure, but every
scholar has discovered a singular idealism
and impracticalness about the Sermon on
the Mount. Some forceful ideas in that
sermon no more fitted the raw half-savage
culture of the first century than the eagle
can feel congenial I'm a backyard. II Graves
the awesome elf lines.
VISION OF RELIGIONS DEFEAT.
Paradox it sounds. but philosophy IL il.
that the New Testament Is both very prac-
teal and very impractical and u~topian.
And it is so because il has the grow OF
growth. IL quickens a community OF crude
heather and lures them from their idols; IL
also is "a drawing power in Edinburgh or
even Boston.
times people who glance at the sur
face of church life mourn the loss of en-
thusiasm: at times we wonder III the con-
quests of science Will not eclips the dear
old story OF the cross. at times we feel
that the truth which can thrill low races
may grow dim and enete I'm the next few
centuries when intelligence will rise and
round out 20 her complete resplendence
ike the sun, and when we are haunted with
this CHASTITY specter We overlook the fact
that always God has exported. az IL were.
a grand half seen. half grasped truth from
the Bible To apply TO the new conditions.
1T is a treasury and there is economy
i'm emptying out its contents: and we for
get further that new conditions often daz-
gle us because OF their new guise. At heart
the world is what IL was. Trusts. monopo-
lies. strikes. anarchy. D~lgOtrieS in the
church. corruption i'm politics-these are but
the old passions. the ancient greeds crop
ping out in a new situation. Hence every
economic problem is an ethical one. Hence.
too. problems were not given to brighten
them and master them. The future GER
tainly wears an anxious and ominous look.
AT times the horizons are angry with low
toned thunder. Let US not be afraid. how
ever. OF the lurid outlook. At least let III
not fear If only the world grows toward
the Christ and therefore becomes masterful
enough to nurse the storms into peace or
the strength that leads 10 pOiSe.
when the Pacific express pulls into Dem
yer the Rockies loom up as N TO daunf II.
IL has had the power to draw the weighted
cars across the even. easy plains; but look
at those owning hills that lie before TT
tainty Of victory. In knows that the
Rockies began at the Mississippi: that what
appeared monotonous. foOrlike prairies was
but an arduOus and fOilsome ascent and
II knows that the same force which drew
the heavy train up that trying slope will be
equal TO the even greater task of climbing
mountain sides and skirting unmeltinG
SHOWS.
Ito match and overthrow the porten-
tous difficulties OF the next centuries we
need nothing more than more of Christ.
and a Christianized intellect and commerce
Is the only key that unlocks the future"