The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-10-28
SOUTH'S FIT OF LUNACY
ROOSEyELT-wAsH NATTER 4
PASSING FURRY.
Rev. j. Cumming Smith Talks of the
OverpOwerfuI, Eternal Progress
of Public Religion.

The Rev. ]. Cumming Smith. of the Tab
ernace Church. preached yesterday morn
ing on THE Never-ceasing Cry" and the
text. Say not there are yet four months
to harvest: behold the fields are white"
He said:
Jesus spoke these words in dark and
Encouraging day; hope was low; faith was
at an ebb; the church was paralyzed with
Indifference; agnosticism charmed the
higher classes. and, looking abroad on such
a sterile condition, the Master said the
fields are white.
How shall we explain this remark con-
sistently with His intelligence? The an
swer is that He had the eye of spiritual
genius for the life under the surfaces lie
perceived normal wants and normal neces-
sites. II you saw large hotel on hre you
notify the companies that it is time to
bring their equipment and quench the
flames. You argue on the normal wants OF
men. There are guest sound asleep who do
not want the fire company; perhaps some
have been stunned by falling wall and do
not want the fremen; perhaps some are
daZed and stupefied by smoke perhaps a
criminal incendiary does not wish the lire
put out all these are abnormal appear
ances and do not in the least disturb your
tingush the fire. So Jesus looked out on
world that needed food as a babe needs the
breast, a bird needs a mate, as the
masses need the overruIe of statesmen He
saw that need. Atheists He saw, but they
were abnormal. AgnOsticS he saw, but
they Quarreled more with the forms or
mOlds of religion than with religion Itself
1ndfferentiStS Stalked on every slde ana
often paraded their proud unconcern. but
Jesus pierced the crust of their fashlonS
and heard muffled cry for God and
4 "a
Young men. do not judge by phenomena
within your own orbit of observation. YOU
hear loud, coarse braggers blot OUT eterlal
laws, but the laws continue ana the Drag
gers know it. Judge by the well-deep
wants of humanity. Hear not little court
of proud, pretty people who dwell IN sloth,
but put your ear to the ground ana near
| the race, as men near ocean hear the sepa-
| rate waves plaSh on the shore, but between
| lulls of waves they hear the eternal moan
or sob of the sea. Or man stroll at dawn
| in the woods and notice that a bird here is
silent and another bird over there Is silent,
| but these few mutes are abnormal, and he
| hearts the vast choral music of woodlands
| to the new day. The few dumb birds are
| exceptional; the race of birds greet the
! dawn. 1T is as deep and irreVocable as
| nature. Jesus saw that God was made for
| man and man was made for God and there
! could be no peace so long as the two mate
| lives kept apart. He saw this inviolable
| necessity. and transient SkeptlclsmS no
more troubled His seerlike vision than
! clouds crossing the summer fields hurt the
"The true preacher is always in order.
Times may grow slack and pewS thin and
hackers few; these are times likely or re-
action, and even these shove away new
| force and quiesence is often an unseen
| fermentation; soon the tide turns. and the
| story of God : love ana nOllneSS rOuSeS It's
! Old-time zeal.
Jesus affrms the ever-present demand
| for God. He does not discount the fact of
| seasons: in nature and in grace there is tie
law of rise and fall; tide and ebb; flux and
! refiux; commencement and elimination.
/ Dead though Jerusalem was Jerusalem
! was ready to wake when God came close.
| No city can be SO numb or fatalistic but
| fresh sense of duty may stir its pulse.
! This is our hope. Our hope is not a dream,
! but law as deep as the world.
They tell me men are so infatuated with
l. money or politics as TO refuse all religious
appeal. So it looks. do not doubt the
! harper of our time. Jesus would stand
amidst all this clottish, stupid worship of
mammon and enthusiastically say, The
| fields are white Men will echo this when
| they. like Him, hear the undercry of the
! world / argue that the farther men swim
out in a dangerous flood the nearer they
must be to the other bank; the farther the
! train goes through the dark tunnel the
| nearer it must be to daylight on the far
| side; the more men plunge into the world
| the nearer they must be to a reaction from
! the world which cheats them out of the
| deeper satisfaction of life. Hence expect
! revival just when the aspect of affairs
| looks most hopeless.
'.There is a case in point The great
negro race within borders is slowly
feeling its own need of uplift and energy.
! This emerging consciousness pleases Amer
lea. Our flag encourages progress; our
genius is elevation of people i'm intrinsic
qualities. \ hero rises and gives birth to a
broad scheme of industrialism TO spur his
| race. He is a hero-Booker T. Washington.
Our chivalric President asks our hero to
! dine with him. What act more seemly?
What invitation more accordant with our
| national beliefs2 The fields are white.
Then a little furry in some political quar-
tiers; then grave whisperings in drawing
rooms The gust of wrath will quiet down.
| America will applaud any President who
! entertains any savior of the race any edu-
| Gator redeemer of men. Flurries prove
| nothing but temporary insanity. The basic
! demand of the negro is development, labor
| and Bower. MOmentary lunacieS cannot
! suppress that fundamental demand Edu-
| Gators and missionaries hear il and go forth
on their God-given enterprise. For what
| are missions after all? Nothing but this
He who has must give TO him who has not
the penalty to him who has light and
| boards it is that he starves his own soul
and loses his share of Gods life and love
Scatter science; circulate the best things,
or. like mamma of old, they will rot in your
| hands,