The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-28
RAGGED EDGES OF LIFE
SUBJECT OF SERMON BY THE REV.
j. CUMMING SMITH.
IncOmpleteness of Chance for DeveI-
Opment Argues There Must BE
Further Career for Man.

The Rev. J. Cumming Smith, of the
Tabernacle Church, preached yesterday
morning on 'Life's Ragged Edges" His
text was, "HencefOrth there is laid up for
me crown of righteousness Tim. w. s.
He said:
1T is the aged Paul who speaks We ex-
pect mellow utterance from mellow ex-
perience. The period of dash and breezy
fragmentariness of thought yields TO the
period of mature opinion and solemn peace.
Henceforth-the very word sounds stalwart
and fearless. He stands on the verge of
the mysterious oftentimes without a
touch of dread despair He has received
from his Master the assurance that all high
life goes on after death as the bird con-
tinues its flight after passing through the
shadowy woods the pearly stream
continues its flow after running under the
darkly bridge.
but more The veteran bears scars, and
scars often afford nvincible logic. Some
times they are marks of shame and vio-
lence. Sometimes they proofs of
military MILITARY S Sf memgS 1 bs are
scars lead out into the truths of
infinitude. His career had been thorny
and bitter. While he was being martyred
outside the walls of Rome in a place where
felons and the scum and offScouring of the
world paid their last debt to violated
justice, inside the walls were men rolling in
splendor and opulence who had broken law.
Paul. a saint and hallowed thinker, was
treated as a criminal. These magnates who
had wrung their wealth too often by OPP
pressing their fellows were favorites of
the very masses they may have wronged.
The good too often fall and the wicked too
often rise. This does not prove injustice
at the bottom of events. 1t only proves
that justice requires a long time to work
out its plans. Finally every soul must
stand where its inherent excellence de-
termines. In other words, the unfinished
justice OF earth demands a further life to
complete and vindicate itself.
But further. Paul discovers an unfin-
ished growth, an interrupted progress in
his life This is a separate fact: Even If
the experiences of his life had been as
smooth and gliding as a river through sum-
mer plains, still the fact would appear
that there was a possibility within him
that a lifetime limited such as ours is
and ever broken as ours is could never
satisfy. II is a crime TO hew down bush
ere the rose blooms out upon it's branch.
And yet the cruel incompleteness of our
life's growth has always given life the
aspect of a long journey just begun to be
suddenly terminated, of a poem with the
most part unwritten, of a symphony
stopped before expressing its meaning or
passion, of architecture arrested mid
way between foundation and dome. The
powers of man cannot be bounded except
artihcially. What poet has sung his full
na svstem? What statesman h as' Voiced
the last law for a people? What saint
has fathomed God? What soul has ex-
hausted the possibilities of love? This
world is too crude TO be the whole.
OBLIGATIONS IN HEAVEN
cit is the problem of the eaglet. II you
look at it, with its shaggy, unsghtly ap-
pearance, it may seem difficult to believe
it capable of easy fight in the higher air
or circling around the mountain crags
To the surface judgment II seems too mean
a bird for so lofty destiny. And yet,
on the other hand it is still more difficult
to believe its destiny is the eyrie; it is
overgifted for the eyrie; it has too much
strength of eye and wing TO let us believe
that it must be bound by the cave where
il was Matched or fledged. So of man.
Sometimes it is difficult TO believe him
worthy of an everlasting career However,
the impression is created by a surface
glance at him. He is overgifted for earth
alone. He has instincts affiliating him with
the farthest sky: lie has possibilities of
grant but which too often earth stunts and
interferes with.
'.The fact of our possible growth lies at
the foundation or all our hopes of life
TO come 1t is growth that makes heaven
welcome. Too often the thought is of a
crown to reward faithful service. But the
metaphor has been misused. A crown is
less an emblem of reward than a token of
new power and responsibility. The king who
mounts the throne and has crown placed
on his brow enters upon imperial duties
and assumes fresh obligations unknown be-
fore Too often, therefore, people have as
ISOLATED with heaven ideas of dreamy rest
and sumptuous pleasure and unenterprising
repose. Such a heaven cannot hold the love
and enthusiasm of the worlds richest life
There is scarce echo in the new Tesla
ment of any future save one that carries
on the nobler qualities of the life we know
here so rich and earnest and thoughtful
Such forms of life here never fail to evoke
our praise and when we paint the coming
world with these colors of DEVELOPMENT and
truth, then the other world rises into
charm.
the present Too much sadness hangs on
US. Too much raggedness marks all eff
forts. Too much tragedy darkens our por-
ton even when we view il with cheeriest
eye. We look for another sphere where the
powers here too often blighted and dis
CCuraged may have a sunny cline to flower
out to their fullness
The argument is DID, but the great
things are old. Every literature is tender
with the sigh of the soul over the unreaIi-
zation OF its hottest dreams. The Bible
never gushes over the present conditions
as if they were final. Real truth
never needs 10 use cosmetics. The
world is raw. unfair uneven, full OF los
tie and polite ferocity and muffled dscep-
ton and struggling sncerities. IL is nascent
and embryonic at its best: If il were the
best we could reach then all lights are but
snares and our dearest hopes are but
tricks OF nature 10 spur TO effort with
pretty illusions.
LIFE AN OPPORTUNITY.
THE lesson is surely timely Love life.
portunity for growing into a magnificent
period. Never stoop TO let the world en-
slave you with its money and momentary
embellishments. Value men not for their
pocketbooks. but for their possibilities;