The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-09
THE THREE VACCINATIONS
SUBJECT OF REV. j. CUMMING
SMITHS TABERNACLE SERMON.
Incarnation of Jesus Throws Light
on All the Problems Overhang-
ing World Progress.

yesterday morning on the text. 1.-THE Three
Incarnations," taken from Revelation XXI,
/ to 4. Mr.. Smith said:
ut is perfectly consistent with our rever-
ence for God and our appreciation of the
exhaustleness of truth to attempt a little
synopsis of the Scriptures, and for this rea-
son. The Bible is characterized by a COM
prehensive simplicity. 1t is an organic
unity. 1t is triumphal procession OF
few controlling ideas that grew out of the
deepest abysms of the universe. AS the
acorn into the oak, as the seed germ into
the ruddy and burdened apple tree. as
the infant colony into mighty republic, so
evolution stamps all the works of God, and
the Bible Is not an exception, but an exam
pie.
"Thete are three successive purposes in
the revelation. The first is the effort of
the diVine mind to unveil and unshroud
itself, so far as practicable. in a concrete
human. statement. This effort lasted about
twenty centuries. To establish His central
indestrnctible unity, to put the government
Of the world and all connected worlds on
the basic pillars of one creative mind in
opposition to the idea then prevalent OF the
reign OF many gods, multitudinous deities
enshrined everywhere, in sun and moon
and weed and sea wave and sea cave and
night wind and storm-that was the first
CONTINUOUS purpose of the centuries. 1t
was campaign of education to uproot
polythe.Sm and institute thesm The Jews
were originally idolaters in the fine generic
sense Abraham and his ancestors origi-
nally Worshiped images, not as substitutes,
but as stepping stones to the Invisible
Being, just as man holds as sacred the
locket IN which some sign of the love of
| his life us treasured. Better far be an idol
alter than make the unseen universe vac
uity and blank space. Better far block
out few acres In sterile desert than try
| 10 make a farm on air or SubSiSt moth
| ingnessi
UNITY OF GOD.
Now. the whole current of revelation in
the early books sets toward the enthrone-
ment Of the unity of God. And with this
truth the unity of the world keeps con-
genial company. There is no dualism any
where. There are no two deities, one white
and the other black; one the author of
| good a9d the other the fountain and de-
| signer of evil. Satan is sub and
| errand runner. From one wood at
the dawn fly forth birds of many notes;
some with sweet melody and some with
| harsh screams, but the wood as the start
ing point is one. From one God all the
streams of creation issue. Good is the posi-
| tive element and evil is but a negation
| of good as shadows but the absence of
i
for gooe in one mysterious way. A child
| can follow this argument 1 doubt If a
| true Con is not as clear to a sunny, con-
fiding Child, radiant with all the untainted
NAL and PERHAPS stereotyped minds of
college imen. We grow so complicated
with OUT years that God. so simple in the
| love, siRks down into dmneSS like the
sun behind q thick wood.
1 First; there was a march or movement
Il N a ia N
a hundred collateral truths cling to this
| one truth. Then there slowly came a sec
! ond tresnenduous inspiration; Ii was the
| tendency TO go further than crystal state
| ments about the perfect unity in heaven
/ and to incarnate His living personality
and to incarnate in human form. In this
function; Of the prophets who fore
| shadowea a Messiah, born a babe in
Bethlehem. This second incarnation rested
on the truth not only of the condescend-
| ing tenderness of the infinite leadership
to enter our life from cradle to cross and
| thus Woo our hearts, but of the far more
| element in our earthly life that made the
life of Christlike the meeting of two con-
genial nstures. We are divine. We have
| bodies, but we are souls. 1t was therefore
| an honof to God to clothe himself in our
| nature fpr season, to multiply himself
| as II were, just as the plant reproduceS
the soil or floats in the breeze to seek a
| new homie. The hymns therefore err and
| a rigid theology equally errs when ii banks
overloks other phases of the Bible that
| affirm the universal element OF goodness
vested in men.
LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT.
1.-THE Incarnation Of Jesus, therefore.
throws light on all the problems overhang-
ing our progress, but on none more than
on this; that man is the son of God
by spiritual creation; that, however far
he may swallow in the mire or blemish
himself, Just as naughty children dressed
in fresh snow-white clothes by a proud
mother or nurse will go forth and forget
all the clean garb and plunge into puddles
or staining weeds, and however far
some races may desecrate their virtue
and riot lin evil, that, nevertheless. they
| cannot dxpunge God. He built himself
| into theiH nature at its very constitution,
just as an adroit manufacturer of glass
| globes orr fine linen paper will weave the
| name of Ehe firm In such way that you
ticle istelt. Now, all this line of reflection
| leads irresistibly to the third and final in
carnationl The first is God expressing him
self in aly the orbit of His magnificent be-
ing in human language or photography:
the secoHd is His manifestation of His
| enulgencG in the personality OF Christ; the
| third is che Icing effort to establish him.
self. His attributes. of love and holiness in
| humanity universal. This is the ultimate
| purpose kept constantly in view through all
| the ages pr an unfolding revelation. 1t is
| one unifid purpose that may brook some
| obstacles sor a while, but must override all
difficulties ultimately and subdue world
This is the meaning Of the millennium as
| the objective point; and we are perhaps on
| the verge; of a God-reigning era that will
| crown the labor of struggling centuries
pushing forward toward ideal realizations
1T is evident that nothing of essential
truth in bygone ages is lost or can with
| levity be showed aside. The Old Testament
in its central constructive principles, is car.
ried forward into the new, and Jesus hon.
ored Moses and his colleagues and all The
peerage OF prophets as He honored His owl
disciples. why? Because 1t was one pur.
pose onei regiment OF valiant conquerine
principles tramping through all the book:
and all tile world wherever there is prog
ress toward the divine. Hence reveren
men are essentially conservative on prin
ciples, while they may be radical on mere
technical statements or forces.
AGE TOO FLIPPANT.
"Our aae is too hippant with seriou.
ideas. Wd treat them as nut-hunting boy.
on these Afternoons treat hickory or wal
nuts; theI crack open the shells and films
them areaessly aside. They are after tn,
meat. the kernel. The boys are right. Blu
adults treSt shell and kernel the same way
crack them, pry them open, and then throw
both SHELF and meaty center away. Anc
| then this 5lip-shod. vulgar class Will stru
about andi crow from the fences and boas
of it's liberalism. Ii is libertinism. 1t ends
| in bgotry land egotism. 1t is the prostitu
| ton of Thought and the farewell To rover