The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-29
PUBLIC MIND ENSLAVfD
REV. j. CUMMING SMITH DEPLORES
LACK OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM.
He Says-The Sycophantism of
Newspapers.

morning on the theme: 1.-The Fallacy Of
Pharaoh" Exodus TX, 80. He said
"Boils are disagreeable. frogs hopping
on the floors. flies buzzing and biting.
crawling through the food; these were
hard to bear. The people of Egypt groaned
And %is the Will phsroa Mos
ed that change of heart and change of
policy on the royal part would abate the
disasters. He would not yield, however;
he only recoiled from the torture of hail
and locusts and perpetual darkness over
mantling the land.
THE shrinking from pain is no part of
real religion. To love God is religion. Fear
may play its part In world where every
action issues from tangled and indistin-
guishable motives. When a man enters
politics his motives are complex. When
man marries many subtle motives govern
and urge as one. When man grows seri-
Gus over the burden of life hundred con-
sderations may concertedly act upon him;
fear may be one of these; fear may be
legitimately one of these; but fear itself Is
not a part of spiritual life. 1t is but a
stepping stone or an accessory. To love is
religion, but opposites often work out each
other. Foes often turn out truest friends.
In medieval theology the Dantean de.
partments of the smoking underworld OF
woe Mortified the souls of millions that
would have been proof against any nobler
appeal, and even In our tropical modern
time with its balmy spirit of tolerance
toward all and its making love the primary
of all forces, even to-day the motives of
prudential regard for consequences may
lawfully sway thousands In fact men
insure their lives from a grim calculation
Of consequences. Leather-skinned wretch
es swallow quinine to elude the horny
clutches of ague. Self-interest is legiti-
mate. Escape from any form of hell may
operate in certain temperaments. 1 only
plead that pine and oak can never be the
same. and when you want a panel or man.
tel OF oak you may use some pieces of
pine as prop or filling. but the mantel it
self cannot be pine If you want an oaken
one. Fear and love can never be the same:
Whether the modern pulpit has overlooked
the feature of punishment here and here
after and has swerved little too far from
the austere flaming methods of earlier
proper balance is difficult. Equipoise is the
last culture; l only, suggest that the
lurid futures, and left out of view too
much something infinitely deeper the force
of infinite love.
STUNNING HE'LL NOT SEEKING
HEAVEN.
Pharaoh wanted deliverance from Shiny,
slippery frogs and creeping vermin without
a surrender of himself to the will of God.
| 1t Is escape from torture or inconvenience
| he is after, not an exemption from sin.
How many still seek to avoid punishment
rather than a positive choice of obedience;
| shun hell rather than seek heaven? Phar-
aoh resorts to Moses instead of God, whom
| overawed by the glimpse of the infinite
1t sought mediators. Priestcraft easily
| sprang from a subsoil of pteous ignorance.
| Only taught and sincere souls can push
| past all mediums and dare stand before the
central throne of the universe. If a father
sits on the throne what interpreter can
match his tenderness of welcome? If a
| father holds the sceptre of resistless gov
eminent, what sinner can doubt his will
| lingness to forgive? If father dominates
w har hear yholyr cd in
row cannot unbosom its every grief?
1T was the outstanding and obdurate
willfulness of one man that sent the demons
| OF plague and misery over Egypt. No doubt
| his implacable courtiers or money-mailed
magnates advised Pharaoh never to I'M
bend to the majority of heaven. But these
| were few in their palaces The people suf-
fered enough to relent and allow the Jews
their well-earned emancipation. But the
king refused. When monarchy obtained
| such a one-man decision was frequent 1t
seems appalling to our free time bristling
with its Municipalities. But do not let us
| delude ourselves with words. Often, far too
often, few words and even a single mind
| may dominate a circle or determine a
party. Our papers tell us some multi-mil
lionaire Is racked with rheumatism in
Paris or his daughter is winning fame in
| some fast automobile in Washington, as If
| the fact were momentous for world to
know! And 1T is grayely whispered that
| to level of equity some one massive i'm
| perialistic party manager has spoken a veto
ana the party trembleS in its Sickly SUBJ
| serviency! How often one man potent in
wealth or swollen with shallow importance
| may retard whole empire struggling to-
ward better laws! There is no such thing
| as popular government yet 1t is coming
| America is nearest to that ideal. But it is
wondrous how patient the pubic are. The
people are long suffering. as mountain
mules, and as the yelling driver lays on the
| snake whip the poor dumb brutes only pull
the harder for the coward and tyrant
FREEDOM THE ESSENTIAL.
"Often in a home some single domineer-
| ing person who cannot brook the shame of
! a surrender, will retard the entire circle.
Sometimes a timid parent would sooner
handicap three children than irritate one
| spoiled child. Let us not be Pharaohs in
our limited realm Of life If we have re-
| sponsbility and power, let us remember we
must give account to God. If we have the
| controlling vote in bank or a newspaper
| let us not use it to thwart God or suppress
| thousands crying for emancipation. The
| average Egyptian would have voted for the
| Hebrews to go forth to their own land long
| ago, but the one naughty king and a few
| courtiers continued their harsh bondage.
I'VE all crave talent, but talent is oppres-
| sive. We all desire influence, but how fear
full when influence is misdirected. We pur-
sue money but what responsibility wealth
has, especially when in our time we allow
Where is God Where social I
ligion? Where is the vividness of future
| judgment? OF course Pharaoh blamed
| Moses for the thunderstorms of wrath
| rolling along the Nile. He even blamed
| God for the scourge. He spared himself
| any censure. And the same desire to shift
responsibility is still with US. We blame
| Providence for many a death when our
| friend brought on his own death by break
| ing some of the laws of health. Or the
doubling youth will blame the brilliant ora
| tor or author for his skepticism when he
should blame himself for FORGETTING his own
| birthright of reason and allowing any
| sparkling writer to rob him of independent
J thought. We blame our neighbor when we
| ought TO aim the arrow nearer home.
I'VE cannot possibly shake off the truth
| of our clear cut personality and separate
| responsibility. We may swing with the
| crowd because 1t is so much easier to be an
echo than voice. so much easier to chime
| with the majority than to stand with the
| minority that is right; but no crowd with
| which you choose to blend to gain a brief
| truce can blind the soul to the fact that il
| must explains its own course: and as time
| wears on the soul finds a rot in itself and
the same crowd dances past, hooking its
| lonely agonies. The lesson is simple The
| call of God is for the separate and indie
| pendent soul, and to that soul to obey and
| surrender to the one Master Not negative
| but positive is that call; not fear but love
| is the care of the new life; not mere extri-
cation out of ugly situations not mere
| quenching of flames nor stopping of
| plaques, not mere exemption from prob
| lem but a choice of God. love of holiness
| others the life of Jesus
FIRST FRIENDS CHURCH