The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-25

He was a man of fine feeling. He was a
man OF exquisite and perfect charm. Whal-
ever else We may doubt in Christ-we may
doubt His divinity. we may doubt some
part OF His message, but we cannot dOuDt
the beauty and the serenity and the grace
and the charm Of His personallty-He was
refined. Now / want you all 10 live In the
spirit or this refinement. II Is OF the very
heart of Christianity. and | am intent l
believe that no man can be a Christ man
who Is a rough man or a crude man, and
that no woman can be a Christ woman VINO
Is not a beautiful woman, lovely and TAR
and sweet, not only in his or her mleu'
but in the thoughts that they think and in
the life that they live. Cultivate renne-
ment. o make the house OF God a house
where we shall find women prlncesses ana
men princes, women queens and men kings.
Now one more thing wish TO say, ana
that is this. that If you are going TO bulld
the church magnihcally, then you must
lift IL UP TO the altitude Of the spirit. We
must live in the spirit. Very obvious, you
say? No. not at all obvious. hold that
there are very few churches in Christen-
dom this day living in the spirit: We are
living in the senses, some Of us. We ENJOY
the ritual, we enjoy the liturgy. our hearts
go out in beautiful music and others Oh
us live in dogma, In propositions, In postu-
lates. We are willing to affirm the SOW
ereignty of God, we are willing TO afhrm
the divinity of Jesus Christ, we are Will
ing to affirm the trinity. but we do not get
beyond that-our religion is a dogma.
RELIGION OF GOOD DEEDS.
''Others there are that believe in a re-
ligion of good deeds, of services, they be-
lieve in helping the poor. those who are
unfortunate and weary and tired and worn,
they believe in religion that goes out
through the Flower Mission, that goes out
through the kindergarten, that goes out
in the various forms of charity in this COM
munity, but they do not know much about
the religion that is TO be found only in the
azure, the empyrean. There is a religion
that is far above the Senses, far above the
intellect, far above the conscience and that
is the religion that Jesus of Nazareth
brought TO this world and proclaimed
when He said 'God1 a spirit and He must
be worshiped in spirit and in truth. You
must rise above the body, you must rise
beyond the poor circumscribed forms OF
thought into all the fullness of the white
light of the FatherhoOd, the religion or
the spirit. And how many are hungerlng
for it, And they are not finding IT in the
church of these days, and, therefore,, we
find them wandering away. They are
forming churches by themselves or organl-
cations that are somewhat analogous to
the church. They are forming a sect called
spiritists. You can laugh at spiritism.
Only shallow people laugh at sptritism.
Only ignorant people laugh at spiritism.
The thoughtful man no longer laughs at the
spiritist. That man is reaching for a truth
beyond the truth that he can find within
the boundaries Of the visible church.
5 also they are going off after the
osophy. What does theosophy mean? 1t
simply means mans search after the IN
finite, mans search after the great, shore
less, boundless heart of God, it means that
man will never be satisfied with a part, he
will only be satisfied with the great whole
and with the great ~totality of the Fathers
life, and of the Fathers love. And SO they
have gone off and founded that sect called
the Christian Scientists. Why? Because the
Christian Scientists, whatever their theory
may be in regard to the healing of the
body, whether it be right or whether it be
wrong, have found a great spiritual secret,
they have found the secret of the heart 5
rest, the secret of the hearts repose, and
they have wandered from the church be-
cause. while they have been seeking the
kernel. the church has given them husks,
and / want this church to rise and | hope
you will call a pastor who is a man of God.
THE HIGHER LIFE.
81 am so sorry l have not led you on to-
wards that higher life more effectively
than I have, but 1 hope and 1 pray that,
whoever your pastor may be, he may be
a man of conviction, a man who beholds
God and who m with God, and /
want this people to be a praying people, l
want you to believe that there are moments
when the clouds are separated and when
you can behold your Father face TO face
and eye to eye. L want you to believe In
the beatitic vision, that there is such a
thing as the soul, your soul and the soul OF
the great eternal, beating i'm perfect unity
and synchronistic, the one with the other.
And now L want to say TO you good
bye after ten years of sweet and happy
service. / want to say to you now good
bye. You have been kind to me. You have
been good TO me. You have been loving TO
me. You have been most patient, most
gentle. L have known my faults, L have
known my trippings, but you have all been
so tender and l owe you nothing but good
will, L owe you nothing but love. | love this
whole city. 1t is a great city and a sweet
people and a loving people and a hospitable
people within its boundaries. My heart goes
! out with real, genuine tenderness 10 In
dianapolis and with yet greater tender
ness 10 the people of this church. There are
faces here that are past now, that are
gone, that / shall never forget.
Dear Mr.. Spann, so gentle, so tender, so
like a father 10 me. Mr.. Butler, so inspiring
and so often my support in prayer service.
Mr.. Ayres. as strong, as noble, as upright,
as good and as godlike a man as has been
my privilege to meet. And Mcbride, loving,
gentle Mcbride, whom / laid away yester-
day-'dust TO dust, earth to earth, ashes
to ashes'-to sleep his longtime sleep, and
may the peace of God be with him, and
may the peace of God be with those who
have gone long before. And Mr.. Chislett,
dear and tender TO me, and though they
are in the eternities around the great white
throne my heart yet goes out to them:
II owe thanks TO every officer of this
church, to every elder of this church. to
every deacon of this church, to every trus-
tee of this church, / owe you thanks and
L am conscious Oh my ODllSdllOu " CdNn OAt
of you. You have been very kind, very
thoughtful and very considerate.
REPORT OF MINISTRY.
"But know you will not misunderstood
me when I say there is one man whom
feel it is my privilege TO know, who has
lone his work so quietly and who has done
his work so obscurely that he has not got
the recognition that he ought to get by
you all, and l want you TO know what he
has done for this church and in a silent
way what a power he has been in this
church, and that one is Mr.. Charles F.
Sayles: and one Of the best business mer
OF Chicago told me that his report of the
ten years of my ministry here was one OF
the best reports he had ever seen OF any
church I'm this country.
81 want you to go away as / am goins
away, not sad but glad. If L had not lovec
YOU, If YOU had not loved me, If / had no
been kind and true TO you and you had MOI
ungraciously of you-and l defy any maj
to stand up and affirm that l ever have
spoken an unkind word of any one of my
people-and If you had not been kim Il
me then indeed / would go away sad, weary
weary of heart and crushed, but because
you nave been so loving and so kind anC
because / nave reciprocated your love
go away rejoicing, i go away thankful Il
God that He has given me a larger spher'
i'm which to operate. thankful TO God be
cause I believe that a new leader will leai
this church on TO yet greater things. Ant
NAV YOU rise from strength to strength
and from victory to victory and from grace
TO grace"
Faw~4.st4 49,.