The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-23
THE CURSE OF THE AGE
THE REV.; j. c. SMITH SAYS 1T Is
RICH FATHERS, USELESS SONS.
The Best Legacy for a Boy Is nm In
heritanc6 of Sound Sense and
Earnest Ambition, He Says.

terOay mOrIslnS on Ine Burden Oh la
mascus.' He said
THE original meaning Of this word was
weight to, be borne, an oppressive load
demanding muscle for its support. The
word has never altogether lost this primi-
tive idea through all it's history. When,
therefore, the prophets employed the phrase
as they usually did it did sincerely denote
at least something heavy or languorous-
some sentiment that lay like lead on the
heart, some. prophecy which in some as
poets was as mournful as the lone sound
of bell from the church tower at dead of
night, or as the moan of little child in
pain you hesr as you pass house
mo doubt, there is this chord of lamenta-
ton in the old prophets, and We revere
them for that very quality. 1t is a cry more
or less muf1ed heard through all the poetry
of the early world. 1t indicated vast vein
of sympathy, a sense of the sorrow and
one-sided equities and savage sincerities
that tore the heart even when the earth
was in the dewey dawn of her youth.
Greatness is impossible without an ad-
mixture of tenderness. Only man with
soul responsive as a harp TO every appeal
of joy or woe, a soul gifted with exquisite
gentleness and incapable of selfish solitude
only a mani with such a soul has insight
into the drama of human life
A SYNOPSIS OF HISTORY.
1--WE err tremendously. however, If we
tie the WORD to it's earliest meaning. 1t has
grown to ir.clude something more exhilar-
ating. Like, all great words, its history is
a synopsis of general history. Slowly the
association lof something weary or melan-
choly became enriched with the partner
idea of joy or victorious effort. No longer
a mere tax or drain, 1T grew to involve the
suggestion Of courage that welcomed the
tax, of a starry hope that shouldered re-
sponsibility,; even the most CALLING, with a
lD1lr 81 tr.1a ffAxx ic hn fra rn
paving the ground and eager for the public
road. 1t is the dauntless soldier scorning
ease and counting the fiery delight of the
battlefield. 1t is the alert genius of the
financier, flushed with the prospect of some
new, enticipsg problem to be solved in money
circles. 1t is the brainy student aware of
to some lonS-established theory and thrilled
with the summons to go forth and meet
it and help to find fit home for the new
truth
Nothing lis so familiar as the conjunc-
ton of thesa two ideas which at first looked
unfrien0ly to each other. The law of
life is not escape, but education; not ale
Walton, but power TO assume obligation;
not to avoid danger nor to serenade it
stupidity, bsit to greet difficulties as they
troop to our dc, door wv, why dld Nature put
Now, the junction of these two ideas,
namely, butden and emancipation, is the
keynote to the prophets The d Wogd of the
No one pictures Moses or Isaiah as dropping
or morbid sbout the issues of life under the
imperial management OF god OF love.
Another ard opposite strain characterizes
the music of their symphonic gospel. Nor
can our Interpretation of Gods truth-of
providence, of immortality. of the atone
ment, of getribution-be abreast of the
Bible unless the detailed or itemized ideas
be swamp%d in the broad-iowing flood
whose sourae gushes out OF the heart OF In
finite love and whose torrent fullneSS moves
majestically toward the complete reign of
Gods will everywhere.
TWO GREAT IDEAS.
Look for: a moment at the amalgamation
of these two controlling ideas in the min
istry of Carist Here divine man.
sensitive to the least shade of error, sor-
rowful in lonely hours because of the
| hatred and, wrangle and contemptuousneSS
| that oozed out everywhere. Absolutely He
| was great enough to weep over human
| wrongs. Yet this was only one hemisphere
| of His worldwide sympathy. He was
| crowned with a faith that looked through
| every war to the higher peace WOE by the
| CORY or bioodless strife. He said that
doubt forced faith up to move higher
/ plane. He saw that agitation and billowy
! conflict were prelude to a sweeter and
more sacrificing character. He was there
| fore mai of sorrows, but underneath a
man of compelling and contagious joy. He
bore the cross of shame because He caught
a glimpse of the conquests lying further
| on. Therefore the medieval representa-
| tons in art and hymns of the mission of
Jesus & sad-faced. side-pierced, thorn
| crowned sufferer are one-sided because they
have left out the other side Of His mission,
| which was uncomfortable faith and sea-
| deep satisfaction in the final plan of God.
I'm literature there have been great
writers WHO illustrate the partial and the
complete IDEAL. Hawthorne is shadowy.
sepulchuras, autumnal, deep-toned as a
solemn bel sounding the knell of death.
He was the child of austere Puritanism.
! to whose firm fidelity our modern world
| owes a debt which forever leaves 1t a
debtor; On the other hand, there are the
crystal sentences of Emerson that chastise
! our nocturnal moods and tear the Grape
| from every, door. Across the water Tenny-
son was caaste, melodious but too gloomy
on the whole. He has hope. but the hope
! Is studied, elaborate; 1T is like the song that
comes when a singer is trying to sing.
3ROWNING'S VOICE.
Mr.. Browning. while equally bowed
down withithe weight of the worlds crush
ing woe, mas voice of assured victory.
| He sees God not in moonlight, but at high
noon, blazing out from every human event
calamitous or not He carries burdens and
from the exurbenance of his positive as
surance OF unbounded benevolence. He
| sings from overflow as the morning thrush
pours forth its spontaneous notes to re-
lieve its surplus. Young people should
visit no ca aacombs except once-n ten years
There is iao grim need Of pa wing Chris
tians. ancient and modern, are reducitie to
bone; Young people should steep their
minds in healthy, springy, inspirational
literature which is not blind to the seamy
! or frayed side of life. but breathes in every
line the creed that out Of evil comes good
| in time because God stands on guard be-
hind the World Often modern literature is
too nervous or dramatic to be wholesome
| or hygientc. Then another practical part
No sight is more stirring than young man
| hood taking up the burdens of proper
| normal life and conquering them. This at
titude implies manhood and makes more
manhood. The spectacle is certainly dis
| couraging of young people Tapped in luxury
TO elude hard duties or to shirk the chore-
| work that pertains to every honest pro-
| fession. This is the dilettanteeism that
| eats out the virile element. 1t is dry rot
| at the center. 1t leads from creative in
genuty and self-reliance to the opposite
vices of efeminacy;. 1t is the curse of any
| age when the earnings of the fathers has
accumulated the wealth under which the
lazy heirs die OF waste OF ennui. The best
| capital of man is a solid education.
THE BEST LEGACY.
''The bekt legacy for a young man is ar
Inheritance Of sane sense and earnest am.
bition to achieve his own success. Hence
the ideal Is often realized of young mar
| languishing on the sea of strenuous effor,
| with his nerves uninitiated by any de-
| grading habit and a fear of God that keeps
his soul free from smirch and when yol
ask frankly this young candidate for life's
honors whether the idea of burden is com
patible with the idea OF freedom and 10y
he will answer you that there can be nc
true heroic life of JOY that does not know
how to carry responsibilities with an un
Quailing fortitude. Let us close then with
opal unity color our thoughts of Christ OF
| Cod of ala life Even i'm heaven we canpo