The Indianapolis journal., 1902-01-27
soUTH-sTREET BAPTIST.
Rev. j. A. KnOwltOn, the Pastor
breaches an Interesting Sermon.

breaches an interesting sermon
The Rev ]. A Knowlton, pastor of the
South-street Baptist Church, preached last
night from II Chron., 81: Xxx, Xxi-"And
thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah,
and wrought that which was good and
right and truth before the Lord his God.
And in every work that he began in the
service of the house of God, and in the
law and in the commandments, to seek his
God. he did it with all his heart, and
prospered' He said:
"The reign of Hezekiah fell in between
the reigns of the Kings Ahaz and Mnaas-
sch. Both were bad kings and the Whole
drift of life and morals was downward.
with idols, with everything detestable in
the sight of God. An evil king can do
much to debase his people. Such men were
between them. A good king can DO much
to raise the standard of living and lead his
people into prosperity
There at least four or five things
within of directing nature or power. Any
one of those may be the great factor IN
determining the life. There Is reason
We cannot stop to analyZe it, but we know
it Is the faculty of Judgment Of discretion,
of sanity. 1t is the highest determination
of our life for good and not for evil. Judg-
ment may err because all the facts neces-
sary for deduction are not known; but II
they were known, then judgment would
rightly deduce and point the best way Of
doing. There is perhaps no greater eX-
ample of good judgment that Socrates.
When he had not half the light of many
men to-day when the sky was obScured,
when the truth unknown, he came as
near 1t as any man in the long genera
tions.
Beside reason there is conscience. 1t
is useless to tell What 1t is The defini-
tions might obscure thing already
known by its workings. Now, whether
conscience is a separate faculty or whether
it is the highest reason, or the concensus
of all the faculties, will leave; but as
we know what it is in operation, that is
enough. The question might arise, shall
a person follow reason or Judgment or
BOTH in the case of conflict? Which is to
be supreme? You may go against Judg-
ment but never against conscience. All
moral feeling and principle are violated
when you strike conscience. DIR. Wayland
has given as good law as anyone whom
L have ever read. If there is a doubt about
a thing, he said, do not do it.
There is also purpose. A person deter
mines upon a certain thing. There is a
way he determines TO reach a goal. He
pushes on. The only thing with him is TO
accomplish his desires. The purpose may
be good or bad, but ii controls Judas had
a purpose to sell Christ and he did 1t.
Paul had purpose to persecute all Chris
tians, but his purpose was changed TO the
rescue of sinners. to the preaching the
gospel. The good and bad can be seen.
There may be a good purpose and bad
way of accomplishing it. Loyola had a
good purpose in bringing all the world to
Christ but his means were bad. He said
the end justified the means, or in other
were right in accomplishing the good end.
Such means, violating human conscience
and principles, make crime right and con-
founds human effort, and society becomes
demoralized.
DEFINITION OF ANIMALISM.
There is beside animalsm. We mean
by that anything of the animal nature.
Gluttony is animalism, so is intemperance,
so is anger. so is lewdness. All of those
things are of the lowest order and easily
make a man a beast. All of those things
are of the lower order and easily make a
man a beast Who can give himself to
lewdness without becoming a bruteI So
ciety, home, life manhood, purity, right,
conscience, religion go down when animal
ism assumes sway in the life. Savagery
and the slumS, the den and the pirate 5
burning and murders are the results. Life
and principle are of no value, the satisfy
ing of passion everything. The world is
too full of such people to give any illus
tration.
Besides all those spoken of there is
heart. The heart means affection. Love is
without doubt the greatest single prin-
ciple in human life. 1t lies at the base of
all good deeds, the bright, the happy, the
religious. A man lacking love is not a
beast, not a brute, but a fend. / can con-
ceive of nothing in the world but Satan
lacking the principle of love. A man is
Satanic then. When there is love and in
angelic. John had love and he stood the
highest of the disciples. Paul gives one
chapter on charity or love, and the great
est is love. John said God is love.
Reason and conscience should rule, but
love should direct them. HeZekiah did all
his work with all his heart, with love, and
thus he became a great and good king and
the blessedness of his life went down to
after ages
There are several kinds of aid outside
help, upon which we rely in doing our
work. The first we might mention is
training or education. While that is not
entirely outside, yet make every
endeavor to obtain the best instructors and
rely upon them for the direction of our
minds we may say that education is in a
great measure from the outside. When
the Scotch lad. as in many cases. will go
to the university. live upon oatmeal por-
ridge for four years for the purpose of
securing instruction from the most learned
men of his time, there is much to be de-
rived from the outside and that is one
of the great things in determining our
work and the accomplishment of our pur-
pose.
There is also money. To-day there is
no greater outside help, perhaps, in plac-
ing us in the way of doing what we desire
than money. 1t buys the way to almost
everything except honor and heaven The
power of money may be seen in the men
in higher station the rule of corporations,
in the places or position and trust Occu-
pied by men of means. The Senate of the
United States is to-day made up largely
of men worth their millions. The reason is
those men can gain anything they desire
they helped by the all-purchasing pow
er of this mundane sphere. If one desires
10 accomplish a work, establish anything.
found any institution. money will do all
The third thing Is trends. The infu-
ence of a powerful friend one who is IN
authority, one who can help. or the many.
is one of the mightiest things in our work
l have watched things in the ministry for
nearly a score of years, and l have come
to the conclusion that the great mass OF
men in my profession obtain positions
through friends. If there is one thing
would advise young man starting out I'm
the race 10 obtain, IL is friends. The most
common men, as we esteem things. have
reached places of great prominence
through no other means, so far as one
could determine than friends
HEZEKIAH'S EDUCATION.
"Hezekiah had something of educa-
ton such as was in vogue in his day. He
had also money when he was king, he had