The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-23
FROM THE CITY'S PULPITS
'.THE PORCELAIN OF HOPE" By
REV. j. CUNNING SMITH.
Rev. g.. l.. Macintosh on the Present
NaferiaIism Thoughts in Ser
mons of other Ministers.

The Foregleam of Hope" He said:
LAS the mountain sometimes rises out
Of storm into the higher air of calm, and
the clouds are broad on the still summit,
and the pines are ~stirless in their heights,
even while the tempests rage down at the
base, so the imagination of Isaiah rose up
and out of a time of anger and belliger-
ency. and on the serene heights of prophecy
he saw the Christ whose reign would
sheathe the sword. He was emboldened
to this hope because the hope was founded
on Christ, the worlds great power. But
the process is sluggish. As organisms as
cend in the scale they evince a larger and
more elaborate equipment OF desires. The
eagle Is superior to the pollywog, and the
lion to the titmouse or Jellyhsh In the
superior in the n OF their wants. For
the same reason the civilized man is super
Tor to the british savage. who prowls
about like a tiger TO appease his belly, and
then sleeps after d~evOuring his victim. The
lowest type of man is almost carnivorous,
and would be altogether so II IL were not
for the divine quality dwelling deep in
his nature, that refuses to be totally sup
pressed. This CLEAN of holy possibility is
the basis of education and missions. This
dim, dusky fact is the ground OF our hope
FOR our racial ascension, for mere eagles
or bears could never rise to the point OF
rounding a college or holding a prayer
~etlng-th might possibly evolve so Tar
as TO equal Wall street.
IF. therefore. each creature fnds its
proper place according TO the endowment
OF desires. il follows that desires are not
necessarily evidence of a glUttonous or UNI
godly temperament. Desires are not TO be
set down as wicked and animalish In them
selves. Indeed, the theology that makes a
mere pincushion out of the Bible and picks
out here a pin of a fact and then another
pin OF a fact to prove that we want too
many things, or to prove that carnality
consists In a natural outreaching toward
the gratifying objects of the world is n
theology misguided and misanthropical. 1t
is the theology of the monastery, the creed
or the Sallow-faced ascetic. Men are born
with needs of many sorts; it is his glory
over all, creatures that he is versatile and
opalescent In his talents and ambitions; and
to condemn these grave imperious and per-
sistent necessities of our nature; or to re-
duce the munificence and ardor of our being
to a pure absence of desire or negation
of passion as the creed of Hinduism would
do Is to make out God a poor carpenter
when He constructed our wondrous life.
TOUCHING LIFE AT MOST POINTS.
so far for the general philosophy. A
many-sided citizen craving the best things
and going to many fountains to Stake his
innumerable thirsts is the man who touches
life at most points. He has more furnaces
of enthusiasm within him. He has more
hunger for the complete satisfaction
- - AA1o - = y hHdNh 4 1
the multiform activity of our cities and
consequently he has more equipoise when
you seek advice. The man dried and sun
baked as a brick kiln cannot advise you
in your stress or sorrow. The man meagre
and unfiery can never Command the conf
dence or young men who larry mettle and
passion In them that may easily lure them
TO ruin. The passiOnless type of a hu-
man being may resemble the marble statue
in snowy Wilderness and cOldness and sto-
niness, but marble sculptures never can
helm one stormy nature IN he nalT1 A Dhor-
isee devoid of desires, benumbed and stat
ueSque can never correct our excesses.
because his very, pride stings us further
into our sin and his distance from the
temptations of our normal life seems TO
mock our feverish natures.
However, ii is time to say that desires i'm
themselves possess no ethical quality. We
are like a menagerie; if the beasts break
loose from their cages and kill. thew are
guiltless because they act out the nature
God gave them. For the tiger to cut the
jugular vein and draw blood from his auiv-
ering prey is as right in itself as for the
lark or thrush to sing or as for the bee to
within us. neither blamable or commend
able in themselves, but better be the
aviary Of singing birds than the menag-
erie of untamed beasts, and the manhood
enthroned over the fierce elements to guide
and curb t~hem-that has ethical quality.
When the little child nearly claws the
kitten to death 1t is not one bit to blame,
but the parent who sits by and praises the
child even in this teasing piece Of cruelty
is condemnable. A child is born fuII Of
little animalisms that must be managed.
and how often the parent is the partv man
aged!
The Bible represents man as dual with
an under nature of animal demands that
connect with the material world and exc
cute so many social and necessary offices.
but also with an upper nature OF reason
and responsibility to control all wild and
jungle passions. This constitutes the an
guish of history. Though sixty or a hun
dred centuries have swept over us since our
birthday as a race, yet how much foxy
cunning, how much bloodthirstiness, how
much venom, how much backbiting and
snarling and brutality still remind us of our
barbarismi Will the race ever outgrow its
vindictive qualities? VIII wars cease? Will
brOwbeating and deSpOtism in all its mod
ern nicely and refinement OF meanness ever
die out? Will this eternal competition, man
against man. high up in arms against the
low, labor and capital throttling each other,
trusts starving out by polite process the in
dependent s~truggler, will these vultures of
rapacity ever vanish from our world? And
If they would not be quelled at any future
time, is not the planet too CORY to let us
believe that a gentle God sits on the
throne?
A TAR OF HOPE.
However, the Bible rises always In our
gloomy moments like a star of hope and
assures US that the plan of God is TO
breathe into man a demand for the better
things that make for peace; a demand for
the millennium of reason and brotherhood
which Jesus came to reveal as the haven
toward which the world steers. Things are
heading for more pacific methods. War is
on its last legs, and the more governments
tax the people to support armies and navies
the sooner must come the time when the
grooming peoples will refuse to carry the
burden. Human nature is patient as an OK
until you overload IL, and then ii is a vol
cano. In churches mild and medicinal
methods are ruling instead of harsh dog
mas and packed courts branding heretics.
Audubon societies are increasing. Every
thing that emancipates, everything that
brings on the era of genial and manly re-
spect and trains man to guard his every
brother from fraud or wrong; every such
thing betokens the movement of Gods love.
To treat Cub in a friendly manner. and
not as a few magnates I'm their greed NAV
suggest: to show the Philippines our AMIGA
BILE attitude and close the war Just as soon
as the interests of a lasting and effective
peace will permit, all these things are be-
nign and suspicious. They augur the mill
lennium. They gladden. the martyrs who
behold the struggle still going on. Govern
ment is ripening into some form of social
ism or partnership; but let not socialism
tries 10 mend. Ideal schemes need ideal
human nature TO carry them out. And let
us bear in mind that il is a heresy to saw
that God alone and s~ingle-handed is the
cause of this undoubted progress toward
balmier and human eras. 1t is God work.
ing in human souls so that they come TO
think with Him and 70 re-echo His plans
this is the secret or all progress Not God
alone and apart-fOr that theory reduces
man 20 a piece of putty or clay: not man
alone, because this only swells his pride. as
II he were a little god, but God in man and