The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-17
LIES PROFANITIES.
Rev. owen Davies OdeII Cites Esau
rs nm EXAMPLE.

Rev. Owen Davies Odell, pastor of the
Second Presbyterian Church. took for the
subject of his sermon at the evening serv-
ice 'Life's Profanities." He cited Esau as
the type of the p~rofane person, told the
story of Esau's reputation of his sacred
birthright and exhorted his hearers to live
lives true to their innermost spiritual
promptings.
Esau was a profane person., he said. HIS
was not a mere profanity of lip, but a
profanity of life; not a meIe sacrilege OF
speech. but a sacrilege of character. Pro-
fame meant out of the temple of life, out
side the sacred place-a life lived upon the
pavement, not near the altar and the holy
of HOLES. A profane person was one who
repudiated the sacred things of life, and
such a one was Esau. He had not the
finer spiritual vision of his brother Jacob.
His life was careless, indifferent, and yet
he was not wholly an ignoble character.
He was the type Of the hunter-brave
shaggy. strong with the eye of the eagle,
the ear that never slept, the feet that
never missed a step. His arrow never
missed it's quarry. He was a wonderful
huntsman.
Yet, said the minister, Esau ~repudiated
all that was sacred, forsook the religion
of his fathers and lived only the life of the
animal. His nature was so completely
given over TO the purely physical that he
would give UP his sacred birthright for a
mere bowl of lentils, and he passed it to
Jacob, the spiritual man. Esau's was the
profanity of life, the sacrilege of character.
This was not a new story. 1t was re-
peated often to-day, said Rev. Odell. 1t
was so easy TO lead the life Of the pave
ment, outside the temple. so easy to repu-
date the sacred and sublime things of life.
so easy TO lead the profane life. But we
had a sacred history: We had inherited
sacred things; we were not We
had a spiritual ancestry as We had a physi-
cal. The spiritual lives of our forefathers,
the prayers breathed centuries ago, the
deeds of martyrs, the truths upheld by
heritage. TIL Puritans could not live here
to-day, they would be very miserable, but
they lived In this spiritual inheritance
When you repudiated this you were
wrecked. The worst profanity, the worst
sacrilige, was TO cast aside the simple yet
sincere faith of our fathers. 1t was all
right TO cast aside the n~arrowness of 1t,
but We should cling to its broader aspects.
The profane man looked on religion as an
external thing, wholly superficial. He did
not know the finer aspiration of the soul,
the reaching out after the higher spiritual
life. Religion rested upon the inward spir-
itual sense and the intuitive instinct, for
the sacred life was imperishable. Man was
at heart a religious creature. Stamp out
every outward sign of religion, raze all the
temples reared to God, destroy every line
of sacred writings, and tomorrow the
world would be as religious as ever. There
was a religious sense just as there was q
musical sense. Destroy all the musical in
in the world, destroy every note
every score ever written, and yet music
would live forever.
"All the tender impulses of life," con-
cluded the minister. 'all the finer instincts
are the soul reaching out after God. Ant
/ call on you to live the life of devotion
not merely to one creed, or to one form OF
religion, but to the inner spiritual aspira
tons of the soul. The kingdom of Christ Ii
to come in this world and your spiritua
life should be linked with it. The future
is to be what you make it in a spiritua
sense. You may be prophets and the IA
theirs of prophets. Be sacred in life, IL
thought. in purpose and in progress, anc
the future will be blessed by you and you
yourselves will be blessed"
There was a notable number of youne
men in the audience last night, and Rev
Odelrs discourse was directed especially
toward them.