The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-24
THE VOICE OF The PULPIT
BRIEF AND PERTINENT DISCOURSE
ON MAKING LIFE SIMPLER.
By the Rev. Samuel VI. CrOthers, ID. D..
Minister First Parish Unitarian
Church, Cambridge, Mass.

''Covet earnestly the best gifts Cor
xii, 81.
When we meet certain persons we feel
that they are suffering from spiritual and
intellectual starvation: there seems such
narrowness in their thought and feeling,
people who shut in without any
outlook upon the great world
But there are others who do not suffer
in this way, but who find the real difficulty
in another direction; not that they have
too little opportunity. but that they are
conscious of too little power and too little
time to make use of such opportunities as
come TO them. Their feeling is that of
those who are perplexed and bewildered.
Finding ourselves in world too large
for our comprehension, finding ourselves
challenged by tasks that too big for US.
the opening of a larger world comes to us
almost as a mockery So much to do, so
many things to learn, such an inintude of
possibility; and yet, when we come back to
our own lives, how little of all this can we
really take in! How small portion of our
heritage do we really grasp! OF all the
great works. how little, after all, can our
hands perform! The fullness of life. the
multiplicity of its engagements, the mag
nitude of its tasks-all these appall us.
The most pathetic thing about mod
ern life is the revelation which it gives of
multitudes who are overburdened, who are
tired even of good and great things. The
message that has come to us as if it were
a gospel is the great word, 'all things are
yours
Large numbers of intelligent people have
come to see some principles which are the
basis of universal religion. They have come
to see that God is not far off, but an in
dwelling power, and that the consciousness
of that power means life and peace. They
have come to believe, not in a special, but
in universal, relevation. People are seek
ing salvation from an unquet spirit. They
are perplexed, and they are longing for
peace. They are overburdened. and they
desire to be saved from weaknss and faint
heartedness. There is pathetic desire for
whatever ministers to peace Of mind.
WHERE WE FEAR.
We talk of freedom in religion of the
larger thought, of the wider horizon, but
in our heart of hearts we often afraid
to trust ourselves to the amazing variety
of Gods revelation. 1t is so easy to lose
our way. The strongest minds may indeed
rejoice in the thought of being, I'm God
head lost in Godhead found" but most of
really afraid lest we be lost, even in
a universe that we believe to be divine.
And if we are to have anything like free
religion, the untrammeled search for truth,
and the natural development of our spir-
itual life, we must meet this difficulty, that
comes to us when the world, even the spir-
itual world, seems too great for us. We
cannot know everything, we cannot be-
lieve everything, we cannot do everything.
How may we come back TO something of
the serenity that belonged to a more prim-
tive life and to narrower faith?
1 think we have already come to see that
the real difficulty in making a truly liberal
religion permanent lies not in the sphere
of the intellect, but in that of the will, in
the faculty of choice. Freedom means that
more and more of the realm of choice is to
be extended-in life, in education, in &C
ton. But this is mere mockery if we have
not trained ourselves to choose, and if we
have not some principle of our own for
wise and effective choice. 1t is a matter of
spiritual economy.
There is a very simple rule for every one
of us that reduces the perplexity of our
lives. "Covet earnestly the best gifts. -
Cultivate that "distributive virtue that re-
jects not merely the positively bad, but
that casts aside the lesser for the greater
good. Give up the vain desire of knowing
everything; ask yourself at every step,
What is the thing most worth knowing
What is most worth doing?' Do that, and
| ha oth
| BILE tasks remain undone. Learn to do with
out what is unessential. That is the condi-
ton of doing joyfully and effectively that
which is essential. The man in his work,
in his study, in his friendship, must bring
| everything to the simple test, rs this the
| best thing for me at this moment? L am
| living in a world where / cannot know or
do everything; L must choose. OF the two
| interests which challenge my attention to-
/ day L must choose the greater thing. Which
one is most worth my effort?" Step by
step that mans life and thought grow
| simple and he comes 10 be serene in the
midst OF all distractions.
| SEEKING LIGHT
| Suppose You ask yourself simply this
| What to me, is the best and highest con-
! ception of religion? What is the best gift
a man can have?" When you are looking
only for the best you pass lightly over
| wearisome controversies, but you come al
last to great utterances that arrest your
| attention. Take, for instance, the words
of the prophet: What doth God re-
| quire of thee but to do justly and to love
| mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?'
| At this your heart kindles. You say, 81
can believe that; that is true religion
ITO walk humbly before God is not al
| there is no religion; Il is not all that /:
| possible in human development. You have
learned the beauty Of a life that is clear
| eyed. as we'll as humble, but though lowli
| mes of heart may not be all. it yet is az
| important part. You love the men of true
humility, and long to know them better.
And do you go further. do you begin t
| perceive some new virtue or new grace
| The moment you perceive it, the momen
| you see that it belongs TO the best life, ther
| you begin to look for its antecedents. YOU
come TO sympathize with all the endeavor'
| after it that have been made, even where
| for the time, they seemed to fail.
1t is In that sense of sympathetic appre
| citation that all things ours. All things
are ours just in proportion as we ourselves
become inspired by a great desire for tn
best things. They are ours in their impuls
4 g..