The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-15
in HIS PULPIT AGAIN
REV. j. CUMMING SMITH BACK FROM
HIS VACATION.
Interior of the Church Freshened
During His Absence-An Inter-
esting Sermon.

The Rev. ]. Cumming Smith, of the Tab
ernacle Church, returned from his vaca-
ton to find the interior of the church fresh
ened and he preached a sermon yesterday
morning on the text: BE we transformer
Romans xii, 2 He said:
''It is seemly to ornament earthly
dwelling places with every grace and pro-
per color Our velvet lawns and choral
trees and rich architectures do more than
vista to the imagination; they intertwine
the years of childhood with the loveliest
associations; they endear our present
abodes in such a way as TO mellow the long
aftertimes of life and if our hands use art
to adorn our gardens and Railways much
more should the house Of God, the true
home of all uplooking hearts, be invested
with every imposing form, and while a
church should be void of pomp and nude of
meretricious decoration, IL should be place
of worship where all that greets the eye or
ear should blend with the beauty and lavish
bounty of the Father of us all.
Again and again the artistic sense of the
apostle applies the figure of beauty. 1t is the
glory of God that He can change US. 1t is
equally the glory of God that He has so
made us that we can change ourselves. Re-
birth is in one sense the influx or emanation
passive. Indeed so far as capacity goes we
are all as passive as the organ. 1t may be
many toned in its sweep of music, but no
chord comes from all its delicate structure
unless a master hand moves upon the
keys Men have capacity for music and for
language and for valor and for finance and
every cradle is a heritage of powers, col
lection of sleeping possibilities. So far all
gifts come from God. The rebirth of the
soul is the turning of capacity into opera
ton. The secret and unspeaking author is
the Holy Spirit. The instrument is some
phase of the divine orbal truth that touches
the central man. The fact, however, is
nothing else than this, that the essential
divine nature vested in us all as the chill
dren of God and the heirs of His life rises
into the glow of action and response as the
love Of God shines upon us.
AS A MYSTERY.
1T is not a mystery. save as the awak-
ening of any capacity is a mystery. Men
were made to grow. and growth is change
The sneer of atheism the skeptical
smile of placid culture at the doctrine of
regeneration is out of place. The passing
of any germ or emboyo out into its activ
ity is as difficult to fathom as the soul
rising to it's God and clothing itself with
the garment of beauty The impulse is
divine. solemn, God breathed, but the rose
flowers out to its rich and queenly bloom
just as the breath of nature inspires il.
In either case the fact is plain and the
law is formal, but the explanation of the
law lies beyond our discernment. 1t is
supernatural, as Jesus told Nicodemus,
but the supernatural is only the natural
lifted above the sphere of our present
science.
Indeed, / hold that untold harm has
been done the cross, as much by robing
it in useless and cloudy mysteries as by
lowering ii so as 10 cringe to the world.
ITO change man is a truth of every
day. The mind rises from the poverty and
ignorance of early years TO the wealth of
science that crowns earnest and mature
years The patriotism swels and heaves
as the man changes. A man changes in
social sensibiities or arduous regent
honor. We wonder in these realms If
man does not change. And why should
man not change in his best and royalest
being, in the phenomena of conscience,
in the palatial chambers of faith and
alteration? Do men not adore and trust
hundred persons. why not adore and
trust God? Do not soldiers obey their
commanders? and sailors their captains?
and workmen their foremen? and followers
their lustred and magnetic leaders? Is
not obedience normal attitude in store
and home and even the low haunts of
crime? Does not everybody obey some
body? And why does reason reel when
men are taught to obey the Master and
to look on instant joyous obedience as the
key that unlocks the secrets of heaven?
I'VE have mystified religion. We have
alienated bright. eager young minds by
making the things of faith wear a look of
gloom or from of unwelcome. My own
Interpretation Of the law of regeneration
is that We are all born with the capacity
Of religion. No soul can be soul unless
the light from the sky comes upon it. This
distinguishes man from brute We have
bodies, but we are souls. However these
Unborn capacities require exercise and out
play, all capacities do, they die.
Hence thousands are spiritually dead, just
as thousands are aesthetically dead or
periodically dead. or morally dead. The
cure is exercise. When the numb limb,
when the unfeeling faculty. when the tor
pid talent, when the hidden, suppressed
love are stirred by due appeal to their ex-
ercise. they live.
Paul says: Herein 1 exercise (agonize)
myself to have a conscience void of Of
Tense. There Is no ascension of snowy
mountains by smooth elevators. There is
no attainment of heaven without the ardor
and continuity OF strenuous effort. How
imbecile our religion. how unenticing our
heaven, when you climate the sturdy law