The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-30
OF THE KINGDOM
DIR. STANSFIELD POINTS TO SOFTEN
ING EFFECTS OF GOSPEL.
fuence OF Christ's WOrd-New
Standards of Conduct.

At the Meridian-street NJ. E. Church
yesterday morning the Rev. DIR. Joshua
Stansield spoke on THE Spread of the
Kingdom" He said:
1T is significantly true that we do not
to-day measure civilizations by the num-
Der of their monuments, the beauty of their
palaces or the grandeur of their cities, or
possibly We should be bowling before the
obelisks of Egypt, the acropolis and archi-
lecture of Athens. the Coliseum and more
modern structures of Rome, the mosques
of India or the Moorish temples and struc-
lures of Spain; but no. Again, while
We admire the symmetry of the acropolis
at Athens, or the Coliseum at Rome, back
of all their marble pillars and matchless
masonry we see the writhing bodies and
pinched souls of countless humans, and the
the moral deformity and diabolism of him.
self and of his age-are made known to us
in the weird t%orchlight of burning bodies;
but the one figure which will remain in
our memory as a benediction will not be
the bloated form of an emperor, but the
bleeding body of n dying Telemachus, as
he stays the brutality and murder of gladi-
atorial contests. We may spend months
of time and much of money in visiting the
mosques of India and the East. and while
we may admire the Moorish and Moslem
architecture at Mecca, at Delhi, at Jeru-
salem, or in the Alhambra at Granada
architecture III which we may frequently
see, artistically entwined. fine portions of
the Koran and other sacred writings-and
while here and there from lofty minarets
we may hear, with clockwork accuracy.
the faithful called to prayer, We will not
scorn their sincerity, but rather our hearts
shall weep over the ~harshness. the heart
lessness, the mendacity, the bigotry. the
cruelty and the rapine of their civilization.
These standards of judgment in our ma
! tional and personal life nave been given US
by Christ, the King of truth.
Similarly in our estimates and treatment
Of individuals from the lowest point of our
civilization, war, unjust, brutal, unchristian,
hellish as it is, has been by the kingdom,
so that we have to-day n code of ethics
for civilized warfare, and the last rec
orded world victory saw the conquerors-
a Christian nation-America, furnishing
| free transportation for oppressive Span
iards from the scenes of their tyranny
back to their OWE land and home. Your
cannon may roar from the pride of an
ancient empire, Spain, or from the sides of
the mammoth vessels of a Western republic;
warships from the first nations of the earth
may steam dangerously near to each other.
but there is one vessel that can run in and
around such enginery Of death unarmed and
uHhurt. She needs no modern armor plate
to screen her, she needs no gun for her de-
tense. The Solace, as she enters Manila
harbor flying the red cross, has full right
| of way over all the carnalities of the bay:
she knows no enemy. Freighted with medi-
cine and with messengers OF mercy she
knows no nationality, no country. no race
except the human race. Her ointment and
her healing Is for man. The lamb Is on the
! throne