The Indianapolis journal., 1903-11-16
THE VERDICTS OF SCIENCE
PEOPLE MUST BELIEVE IN THINGS
THEY HAVE NOT WORKED OUT.
Sermon by Rev. Albert Hurlstone at
Roberts Park Church on
"Christ I'm Heaven"

III my rdtncT mousse are many HdHSlOilS'
II II were not so. 1 would have told you"
He said.
These words are from the Masters
memorable address in the upper room, de-
hvered the night before He suffered for us
men and for our salvation on the green
hill far away. without the city wall They
are words of comfort. They are simple
words. Sorrow demands simple words in
which &c express itself. These words i'm
press US with the open-mindedness, the
frankness, the candor OF Christ. In the
presence of separation and death He lifts
the curtain and shows the Fathers house
and says, I am going to prepare abiding
places for you; IL IT were not so, I would
have told you. The divinest, highest. pur-
est teacher Of the ages speaks to us with
authority on question that touches, soon
er or later, every human heart. For never
morning wore to evening but some heart
Old break. Let us not lose sight Of the
ence, in mechanics, we have tc receive and
trust In yerdicts which we have not worked
out for yourselves. And we do because
We have confidence in the competent au-
thorities. who utter those vefdicts Newton
speaks GO US on physics. and Herschel on
as reasonable to believe In Jesus when He
says, If 1t were not so, 1 would have told
you we have no higher authority here
he Is Che most competent to speak of
heaven. for, while others have guessed and
sEeculated and philosophical about that
bourne from whence no traveller returns,
Christ Gsme from heaven that He might
lead US thither.
Sermons about heaven are considered
Impractical, and are said TO be out OF
fashion,, The spirit of the age mostly con-
Germs it5eIf with the world that is seen.
But IL the mission of the church to re-
mind rsen OF the reality OF the unseen. The
seen are eternal There are more things
In heaven and earth than are dreamed of
IA our philosophy. Christians are some
times charged with otherworldliness.
Leave yther worlds alone; let dreamers
pursue fhe transcendental You are a
citizen OF this world; attend to its business.
and give your mind to the duties OF daily
hfe- Let us hear less about the mansions
OF the hlest and more about the housing
OF the poEr.' This all sounds very plausible.
But we must not forget, as Findlay has
heaven shere Is neither day nor life, and
without God and the immortal future there
Is neithef man nor duty. neither safe guild
ance nor worthy end for our present
path. This natural world is a part of a
grand universal system; its forces stream
In from wider regions; its tides and seasons
are governed from above The remarkable
thing Is that the 'otherworldly' men are.
on the whole and in tho long run, most
effective for the purposes of this world.
The mere utilitarian Is the most laundering
and Impractical of theorists. The small
minded man OF business. who never has a
thought iabove his office routine. proves
that. Ore needs some little science of the
sun and sthe moon to sail the seas or till
the grouAd, and some pious thoughts, some
hopes beyond the grave, are required To
give digfity and decent worth to earthly
loves AMI hopes No household can be
prosperopsly managed without purity and
soul-anee ton for Its basis, no state with
out Loyalty and virtue in its citizens, nor
can any iworld order it's affairs I'm happi-
ness that cuts itself loose from the throne
Of God and casts away the cords of His
holy law that bind the universe together.
RELATIONS WITH OTHER WORLDS.
Since. as we told. the relations on
which depend our light and dark, our
warm ard cold. our good harvests and our
bad ones are relations of this world with
other worlds. Is 1t reasonable, is 1t prac-
tical. is Il in harmony with safe modes of
thinking TO conclude that the deeper COM
forts OF the spirit. in the wider wants of
mental hunger, OF moral aspiration, of hope,
OF faith. there are no relations between us
and sources or influence higher than the
crust OF the earth? He that would. If he
could. CRIB and confine all human thought
within the human sphere, Is forced by
question OF bread TO confess that the
wheels which grind for the children of men
their corn are all turning in silence outside
OF the human sphere, not moved by water
power or wind, or steam, by children's cries
or dealers hopes. but nevertheless. i'm their
distances inaccessible, rolling round in man.
uest relation with the daily renewed hunger
or this needy family of ours. II man thus
depends on other worlds for his bodily
needs, Is 1T not reasonable to say that the
deeper wants OF his immortal nature can
only be satisfied as he rises to things
above ard comes inco conscious fellowship
with Hin. who said, In my Fathers house
are many mansiOnsY
Butler long since pointed out that which
makes the question concerning future life
10 be of so great Importance to us. is our
capacity of happiness and misery And
that which makes the consideration of it
to be OF so great Importance to us is the
supposition of our happiness and misery
hereafter depending on our actions here
He finds ithe whole analogy of nature the
whole present course OF things, shows that
there s nothing incredible I'm the general
doctrine Of religion that God will reward
and punish men for their actions hereafter
Hence 1t appears that 1t is folly for man
to leave out of his calculations the neces-
sary preparation for heaven. Our nature
Graves for certainty. some foothold and
anchorage In existence Some abiding
home. We cheat ourselves when we
think we have found ii here. The rich
man buys his land and builds his mansion
IN some lovely spot, away from the squaIor
Of poverty and toll. He furnishes ii to his
hearts desire. His barns are full his in
vestnients all secure, his business safe to
yield him without trouble thousands a wear
for many years TO come-tll suddenly the
voice or a forgotten God breaks through
his dreams Of ease: Thou fool this night
shall thy soul be required of theei and in a
moment he Is torn out of his pleasant nest
from house and fortune and gay friends
and hurried into world of which he had
refused TO think. that is blank night and
horror I'd him. How different when the
Christian meets death. For those who be-
leve In Christ, death Is not annihilation
but victory; not separation. but reunion
1t is not the souls extinction, but its birth
into brighter, purer, larger life. IL means
lease after toll. port after stormy seas :
home after changeless. perilous iourney-
tngs; the wayworn traveller enters the
Fathers house and finds rest refreshment
provision for the future, security When
the great soul OF William Mckinley was
fiuttering on the borderland and he said
1t is Gods way. His will be done not
ours and when he bade the world FORE
well, saying. Goodbye all good-bve I,
men and women everywhere felt that he
was simply going TO be with the Christ he
loved and served In the Fathers house
Without heaven to complete such a life
death would be incomprehensible: with
heaven TO crown ii all. then the greatest
life of suffering is completed.
A COMMON SAYING.
THE common saying that nobody ever
came from heaven TO tell us about IT is a
mistake. Christ came into this world not
as a native. but a visitor messenger
from another sphere. L go away He
says. to Him that sent me- I go to pre-
pare place for you. and / will come again
and receive you unto myself From what
Christ was you may Judge what heaven
will be. Christ was the soul of heaven
let down 10 us Our conceptions OF heaven
We nIlr 6eff M IL