The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-05
THEY LIVE AT ANTIP0DES
SOMETIMES THE CASE WITH PEO-
PIE THAT ARE MARRIED..
Even in a Church One Discovers Di-
vergence-Theme of Rev. j. Cum
ming Smiths Sermon.


our gospel be hid it is hid to them that
are lost."-2. Cor. iv, g.
The pastor said in part: Nothing is
more familiar in the development of the
worlds life than the sight of people drifting
apart from each other as birds that issue
scenes for their food. Two people may be
married and live at antipodes- Two neigh
bors may live poles apart because their
tastes ana ambitions are opposite.
"One man revels in sports. He devotes
mis- entire interest to the athletic passion
What ought to be mere pastime and side
issue to vary his life and tone UP his
health becomes an absorbing pursuit. Right
across the street is a man devoted to
science. He finds in his chemical labora-
tory an infatuation no other charm could
rival. These two men cannot very well
appreciate each other: at least the lower
type of man looks on the consecrated stu
If you enter the church, where people
are supposed to stand upon the same plane
and reciprocate the same congenial inter
eSts, you discover divergence. In the
same pew one elegant worshiper demands
his religious instructions through lovely
music and lofty eloQuence and right along
side or this artistic member sits an emo
tional gusty man who grudges the money
laid out on choir lofts and insists on a fiery
hard-hitting sermon with a few cribbed
anecdotes about dear Jane, who died young.
Over there is a woman who loves foreign
missions; across the aisle is a Grabbed sis
ter who has noisy or ungovernable urchin
waste precious dollar on long-haired for
eigners.
TWO GRAVES.
There are two graves on the Pacific
slope and near the sound of the breaker
beaten shores. In the one sleeps man who
was money-maker, a commercial expert
and enthusiast, with a wit for separating
people from their pocketbook amounting
to a sort of genius. Outside of that he knew
little and cared less. Beside him sleeps
twin brother who was fool in finances but
genius in love and dream, a heart as ten
der as woman's, soul as exQuisitely tenn
pered as sweet child's. Those two never
chimed. They were Numerically opposite
and constructed on such different princi-
pies that they were forced to move along
their own special paths The one died by ac-
cident in the full tumult of his victorious
career ana the other fell a victim to the
dreadest of diseases, and they lie together
as years before in childhood they lay in
differences. We would fain lift the veil
and inquire whether in the great realms
of light their discordant souls have long
ere this been attuned by the master mu-
stefan of the universe full of discordant
instruments that must be subdued into or
chestral harmony some time. The grave
yard startles all these silent inquiries to
wing and fiocks of strange questions in
evitably rise as we think of the human
millions that were.
1.-THE apostle turns this law to practical
account. He wonders why men do not i'm
mediately surrender to the infinite beauty
and Willingness of the gospel Here was
the story then fresh to human ears of
an ncarnate God, dwelling in lowly hui
man form to WOO our love and daring the
last agony of the cross to assure SHINING
men everywhere of the boundlessnesS of
His grace toward every repentant soul;
that was the new creed Frightening every
dark CLINE, Illuminating the mystery of the
heaven, jeweled with joy and emancipating
slaves. Why should such an announcement
Hp mt at
the tragedy of weary, cheated men losing
their chance of JOY and growth. Then he
made a discovery. 1t is old discovery.
| Something else must be considered besides
| the intrinsic attractiveness of the gospel
Human nature must be reckoned with. You
must have some Shakespeare in you, or
| Shakespeare cannot reach you with Ham,
| let or Othelo.
ITO American $40 gold piece has con-
| siderable attraction. Present it to some
untutored savage and he scorns it and pre-
| fers an ornamental fishbone. There is a
difference in human nature. A diamond
| throbbing and palpitating with light car
| rieS captive almost every eye. But eyes
| that see not, eyes not blind at all but with
no brain back of them, and therefore blind
| in the worst way, such eyes are undazzled
| by the rarest diamond.
1.-THE gospel comes from God and must
have the glory of it's royal source. Present
1T to thousand people and there will be q
thousand dlnerent receptions of it. One ac-
cepts the offer of grace from ignoble de-
| sire to escape pain. second receives it
| because the matchless sympathy of Christ
me fo, ana oy bs him third receives
| to be in the church. A fourth receives it
shrewdly- because it may be stepping
Governor or senator. Then some spurn the
whole faith. 1t does not touch them
| A PREDISPOSITION.
There Is such thing as a predisposition
toward God. Some men are born rich with
the most splendid heritages and nothing
| noble or self-sacrificing ever appeals to
such highly endowed natures without an
instant response. Other men are born cal
| lous, evil minded, suspicious, leathery and
the Hottest representations God can give
| Of Himself and His illimitable purposes of
| love are as wasted on such natures as the
| tropical affiuence Of sunlight on a petrified
| tree or a withered plant Surgical science
finds some parts of the brain atrophied and
| especially in criminals AS to the meta
| physical question how far such unfor-
| tunate types of human nature are to be
held responsible for their rejection of God
| We leave such questions to the Supreme
| Court. No man can dare to Judge his
| brother. We are all unmerciful to ore an
| other because we are almost altogether ig-
| norant of each others construction We
| simply state a fact everywhere manifest
| Here is free offer of Christ to all men,
| 1T would appear so evidently to be to a
mans advantage in every way to accept it
| that we would expect halo of popularity
| to encircle Calvary. And yet, whatever the
| causes may be, there are throngs who turn
down the offer and swamp their whole soul
| in the world. The world has mesmerized
| or hypnotized men and they cannot con-
| ceive the grandeur of the gospel.
In this sense the gospel is hid-hid as a
| vault Of wealth locked from the poor
| wretch who walks the streets starving and
| curses such wealth beyond his grasp: hid
| not because in itself II would shrink or
| skulk away from inspection, but because
| human nature is often devoid of the
| power of appreciation of the best things
the light Sometimes they even glory in
their reputation of the story of infinite
| love. Sometimes they seek refuge from a
| rebuking conscience in the plea that their
| reason is not clear on the subject Very
| often it is not. Very often there is un-
cloudsd sincerity in the attitude of post
| ponement. The spirit of God never forces
| a soul against its own light But often. far
| too often, the rejection or deferment springs
| from a hard, stony condition of the man
hood. They are blinded by the god of this
| world
| lone practical fact is that no man lives
| who has not better nature struggling TO
| assert itself within him. Another practical
| fact is that we are all organisms, creatures
| OF various development, and the feature of
our character depends on the sort of home
| we began careers in. A parent who
| neglects training child godward is guilty
of the gravest crime possible to humanity.
To prevent young nature from stifening
| or narrowing, to cultivate the generous
| and sincere instincts-that is the function
| of the home A parent is not a reproducer
| but educator, an inspirer toward Christ
| a helper OF the upper nature TO tiiumph
| over the lower On that education turns a
| human eternity.
|