The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-12

criticism is not to destroy the Bible. but
to remove the fictitious elements and make
those old seers walk the earth like real
men.
AS Abraham Travelled he necessarily en-
countered all sorts of difficulties; but pio-
neers have always been too sturdy to be
swung from their course by obstacles. And
Abraham had the vision of the city eter-
nal, the race which should spring from his
loins and perpetuate the principles of
righteousness. 1t was vivid vision that
cheered him in the darkest hours. All
great men have lived by the invisible that
would become visible. Obstacles are not
always unwelcome to daring frontiersmen.
Often they excite valor and brush away
the routine of common events BY and by
Abraham came to a sheer wall of granite.
He could not scale it. He could not tunnel
it, nor find any escape He expected to
found an empire through his son Isaac.
God gave him that solitary hope. Then the
some God told him to slay the son and still
entertain his patriotic hope of race. 1t
was a fiat contradiction to common sense.
1t was telling a man to cross the gorge
and yet pull down the bridge first Abra-
ham ,quailed; He was human and the com
mand must have dazed him. After tortur-
ing moments he rose to the exigency Of
fered to slay his only son; the knife
cleaned in the air. And To- it found no
sheath in the breast of the outstretched
boy. An angel arrested the fathers arm.
1t was Abraham's obedience just where
obedience touched the most sensitive CEN
ter of his life.
Now in every mans life there is the SEN
sftive nerve. He can endure thousand
setbacks, but when Providence draws
keen edge of steel across his cherished idols
or deep-harbored prospects, the case is al
together different. There are some men
very Indifferent to the breath of fame, and
so long as you do not calumniate them as
to imperil their chance of livelihood they
are not hurt by any whisper of deprecia-
ton. But suppose you touch them where
the nerves center in a love of money and
they spring at your throat like a quick
tiger. They care more for their boards
than for their families or their gardens or
their reputation; They would so, sell their
where. Now the real strain of life comes
to such a man when he is forced to part
with the wealth he hugs to his bosom.
SELF-DISSECTION.
eff you want to dissect yourself and dis
cover exactly what sort of a man you really
are under all the masks you may wear, just
ask what you would sooner part with, or
rather what you would keep to the last If
everything was to be wrested from you.
and then you will gauge your character.
You would be surprised at the critical
analysis Of yourself and perhaps shamed
at the naked revelation of your controlling
affection.
''Then suppose the command came from
heaven that in order to save yourself you
must abandon your favorite pursuit or tear
down your dearest idols. Could you do it?
Did Abraham do it?
1T is plain as day that the willingness to
surrender our complete selves to the will of
God is the ideal of a Christian. A man
may be saved and yet reserve a hundred
sources of self-feedng and self-pampering.s
but he cannot be a complete or effective
Christian keeping things back and offering
only fraction of himself to God.
IF, however, ne gives up all his dreams
and ambitions in a conservation to the new
Master he does not lose them. Abraham
offered Isaac, but he did not lose Isaac. He
possessed Isaac ever afterward and never
before. A millionaire offers his millions to
God and then God hands back those mil
lions to him to use as banshee of wealth.
The artist offers God his imagination and
God returns it enriched and gloriied to the
artist to use for the highest purposes
''This applies closely TO the young men
whose ardent life God covets and calls for.
They do not give up everything, but rather
get back everything to use for the highest
ends of life. They are ali the more thor
oughly thmselves when they become
Christian. And surely our mighty land
needs young men of Christian ideals as
never before There is no room for a cow
ardly or sef-gorging christianity in these
strenuous times. And when the sacrifice is
made and the choice of Christ is fixed there
comes the supreme opportunity for charac-
ter The very sacrifice becomes stepping
stone to moral greatness and eternal
growth. May we all have such a call from
Cod and offer ourselves n Him