The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-21
WELL In VALLEY OF BACA
REV. ALLAN B. PHILPUTT, OF CEN
TRIAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
He Draws n Lesson from One of the
PsaIms-A study of Human
Life.

Rev Allan B. Philputt at Central Chris
tian Church. yesterday morning took for
his text Psalm lxxXiv, 3, s: blessed is the
man in whose heart are the ways OF them
who. passing through the valley of Baca,
make it a WE'LL
He said: This psalm is pilgrim chant
for pious Israelites going up u Jerusalem.
Baca means weeping and stands for the
dry and toilsome desert through which they
pass. One must travel in Palestine to un-
derstand the blessings pronounced upon a
man who digs we'll. 1t is a dry and
thirsty land All wells and fountains are
known and sacredly kept. A saying of the
rabbis heaps a malediction upon the man
who throws stones in the spring where he
has slaked his thirst.
Blessed is the man, then, who. passing
through the valley of Baca, the long desert
waste, the leagues of dreary pilgrimage,
and makes a we'll. For hundred genera
tions he shall be remembered. How many
thousands up to this very day have stopped
at Jacobs well near old Sychar and blessed
the reputed maker of it there in the valley
of Gerizim How readily our text lends it
self to the Spiritual conception of life.
There are valleys of weeping, desert wastes
of human experience through which we all
have TO pass; fiery trials of temptation
barren peaks of loneliness in our journey
here below. 1t is not impossible that, as
We pass through, we may make the way a
little easier for those who are TO come
after The great majority of those who try
TO live with conscience and high purpose
find the way hard. There dry places.
restraints and denialS that seem iIi-requited.
1t is reassuring TO know that others have
gone the same road. dOubly so 10 know
that they found happiness and satisfaction
in the path they had chosen.
Baca 1t Is hard. and many go weeping
You have cherished certain desires for
yourself, but accident or fate has made
them quite impossible of realization. Or
your visions may have not been realized.
Life is not what you thought it The
world disappOints you; your relations in
life are unhappy. You go through desert
place. Do you know any who have gone that
same way ana yet have reaped strength
and power from il? Follow them; change
your feeling about life: make the things
strength; go deeper, explore the very Sc
crets of character and build upon enduring
foundations
WELL IN VALLEY OF BACA.
HE who teaches us to live simply and
truly under adverse conditions without
murmur or complaint digs for US well in
the valley of Baca. We become expert in
lodging trouble. The device can't serve us
always. Why are we afraid of life? The
best way is to march straight through the
valley in a brave, cheerful spirit, making
those circumstances which seem so over
whelming source of discipline and power.
1t lies within the province of every one
of us to make the way less hot and pitiiess
for others. Men boast of their stoicism.
They suffer and are silent; they press on
in desperation. But it is not enough to sim
ply get through ourselves. Let us do some
thing for others. Let us dig a well. Life
is not a desperate struggle; it is a school,
a discipline, a culture. We should live
gladly, buoyantly, triumphantly.
1--WE ask too much of the world. Under
these hot sands that scorch feet are
streams of blessednesS If we will but UNI
cover them. To do so is the province of the
Christian. IT is for who profess to fol-
low the Nazarene to show men how to get
good out Of evil and sweetness out of pain.
We have high warrant for being doors Of
the word Life is the great teacher. We
learn from one another. / get more, a
thousand times more, from men than from
books. Christ's gospel was first written in
human hearts. We cannot estimates our
debt to others for what we have and are
IL is very great. l rejoice that | have ever
found good men and women to guide me.
They have passed through the valley of
Baca and made it a we'll Sometimes il has
been a very simple, unpretentious one that
has given me refreshment and courage.
plain man is often the best interpreter
of experience. Every trial has in il some
fertilizing power 1t is for us to find that.
not for ourselves alone. but for the next
man who comes after us
THE question has always rested on the
heart of man whether human life is joy
Gus or a gloomy thing. 1t breaks forth
in every life and cOnfuses every genera
ton. That the question is never settled
shows how complicated il is and how much
the personal element enters into it. The
battle of the optimists and the pessimists
is ever on. The answer never will be
reached until we eliminate the personal
element and come TO some great doctrine
of life such as Christ taught. He put 1t
in immortal words: He that Saveth his
life shall lose it, and he that loseth his
life shall find it The prophet said of the
Gay of the son of man that the wilder
ness should blossom as the rose-words
beautifully suggestive OF the charm with
which Christianity invests unselfishness
and service. The Master himself said of
His words that they should be in every
man who received them "a well of water
springing up unto everlasting life This
is a world worth living in and worth living
for. One greater than we thought IL worth
dying for Let US SO bear our burdens that
they shall turn TO wings and inspire us with
q new sense of freedom. Let US so carry
our sorrows that light may come in 10 re-
assure US that it is Gods world still. Then
shall we share the blessedness of him who,
passing through the valley Of Baca, makes
il a well.