The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-30
The TABERNACLE PASTOR
REV. j. CUMMING SMITH HEARD
AFTER SUMNER VACATION.
His Views on the Assassination of
President Mckin1ey-Subject of
His

The Rev. j. Cumming Smith, pastor of
the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church., has
returned from his vacation, and was i'm his
pulpit yesterday morning. He was at Buff
falo at the time President Mckinley was
shot and. as he said last night, caused
some discussion by prophesying that with
in thirty years three more Presidents will
be assassinated.
The lower classes are rising" he said,
land their way is violence. l believe it is
the result of the upper class paying no at
tention to the under men. This breeds
morbid, violent men like Czolgocz. and they
need not be Anarchists to be assassins."
In his sermon yesterday morning. which
was on God at Different Stages of our
Growth" Mr.. Smith said:
God entered the Jewish mind largely
through the door of the intuition. / men
ton this fact To clear away a trouble. We
nowadays find a difficulty as we read the
old phrases of the Bible because the Jew
saw God with undimmed eyes as the first
cause. while we see secondary causes. This
puts a smoky haze along the horizon as
We read the prophets. To bright young
minds i'm particular the prophets are mar
wells of oratory and ecstacy, but imprac-
ticable. They are stellar rather than ter
rene. The change is due to science. Our
whole caste of thought is scientific. We
are not to blame for that any more than
for our compilations. Go away for the
sun browns your face as an Indians. The
difficulty is law. The Jew saw God act
ing directly. TIL modern does not; at least
at first. The cure lies in the fact that God
works none the less because He uses a
thousand links of causes.
.Once the farmer worked directly over
the soil. AS the world marches on the
farmer employs multiplied machineries to
touch the soil in his stead. Still his brain
is as necessary as at first, and not an acre
of that soil is atheistic. 1t feels the pillow
and the reaper's heavy roll and it knows
that behind the pillow and reaper stands
the man without whom not a blade would
REIGN OF LAW.
1.-THE reign of law is at the bottom of the
reign of God. Increase the laws and you
increase the necessity and primacy of God.
And you read the old prophets with a
deeper joy while sure that your God may
choose to stand behind the screen and none
the less all boons come forth from His un-
seen, but not unfelt, heart.
LAS 1 travel over our country and read
between the lines in our current litera-
ture everything seems sinking into the
mists of agnosticism. Our one hope is
that the un~dercurrent of life always sets
toward God. The language in which we
couch our Christian thought is partly and
often u~nknowingly responsible for the
gloom. we use the name God with too
little recognition of the part the world
plays in Gods plan, too little heed to those
laws which are Gods delight.
ITO some people laws seem but yokes on
the infinite power. To me law is Gods
outlet; not a harness. not a restraint. not
a manacle 10 1etter HIS movement, but the
necessary channel of His unbOunded gem
ius and resources. Even God must escape
from himself to vary His eternal solitude.
This truth lets you guard your faith while
/ NO RGn NOlr science
Take development. Young life should
not be expected TO resemble mature life.
Some people do; They say the heart is the
same and the Holy Spirit is the same. We
take issue. The heart changes with the
years, and the youth must not be curbed
and patterned after the veteran. Let the
boy romp. why expect wisdom and eoui-
poise in knickerbockers? Don't scold him
when he slides down the banisters. If the
to make them strong. Let the boy play
out what nature put in him. Let the man
agement of the Sunday-school be juicy
with boys buoyancy and enthusiasm.
The law of development is not a freak.
but a law. We are old far too young.
Couples get married too late in life and
living. They begin with their fathers
schedule of expenses. They want as good
a house and as big a purse as his.
Il have admired the device with which
pole. / have only one criticism. 1t is airy
and therefore good for living purposes, but
Vicious example. The S~edglings s se's out
from as high a level as their fathers and
mothers occupy in their prime. Let the
dove cotes be brought down for a few days
when the youngsters are winging away 70
find their own cotes.
A NATURAL LIFE.
"A natural life is impossible without q
supernatural Inspiration. From God as
fount must flow a life force into the soul
which in turn works out into new forms OF
life. A moral man may be a spiritual
man; a spiritual must be a moral man.
and a spiritual man alone is a normal man
We are half made IL without the hand.
marks of the supernatural. Infinite love
unearthly in source, but earthward in IFS
travel, like sunbeams, is the secret OF
Calvary.
Some are as eagles when they receive
ii. These are sublime souls. Their DANCE
Is mysticism. Some are eager partakers In
the worlds tirele5s enterprises. Their
self-poised. staid. s~erenely practical
Thank God for the plain. prosaic people
who do not strive TO dazzle; for the plod.
ding men and women who are PASSED h,
as men look out for those who emit orig
inalities-or try to; for those who new,
surprise you with their insinceritv Inn
walk unoffensively along life's path How
precious such people, How dizzy anc
hysterical all our progress without The
constant influence Of men who can alwavs
be found true to God in the time of storm
never qualing under trials which wo,iG
daunt others OF more sparkle and perhaps
less valor. However, let us not fence Coo
in. Let Him work through no two me-
alike Let not the oak long 10 be a nine
nor the pine an oak. But let us pray thar
Whatever the bent of our being. God maX
dwell within us as He dwelt in Jesus. and
His love an everyday Inspiration"