The Indianapolis journal., 1903-04-27
CHRIST IS CREED ENOUGH
j. CUMMING SMITH SAYS CHURCHES
ARE NEARING THE UNITIES.
Scholarly Sermon Traces the Progress
of a Great Observation-Disclosures
of the Roman Church.

Rev. ]. Cumming Smith preached schol-
arly sermon on Nearing Unities." His
text was John Xxx, 1922. He said:
1.-THE disciples. skeptical and disheartened.
were gathered in a room with doors shut
when Jesus entered noiSeleSsly ana
breathed peace. He showed the wound
prints and assured their trembling faith.
Then came the command to go forth as
sheep among wolves. The command car
ried the note of aggressiveness and val
fancy. He breathed peace, and Immediately
ordered them forth upon difficult and bill
lowy career. There Is no disagreement be-
tween calm and conquest, between peace
and heroic advance. Peace does not mean
placidity, and still less passivity. Paul en-
joyed the highest peace, and what man
matched him for the militant and conquer
ing spirit?
There is as much peace in Niagara
plunging over the precipices as in Niagara
few miles above, where scarce breeze
ripples the CLASSY surface. There Is the
peace of the engine lying on the track and
the equal peace of the engine putting forth
every power in its thunderous progress.
All the parts of the machinery, whether
the engine rests or rushes, are perfectly
adjusted to each other, and the question
of it's being in motion or not Is altogether
aside
PAUL A TYPE OF ENERGY.
paul surely was a type of primal ener-
gy. He never could have suited the still
and supplicating cloister. He was man
of brain and will of iron. volcano in erup-
ton, cyclone, an original force in nature,
storming pagan strongholds. crossing seas,
conquering opposition, the embodiment of
tremendous, titanic power. But what peace!
What serene and assured air was his!
What unquestioning confidence in his Mas
ter's message. He carried peace because
peace means adjustment Of parts, the
sweet sense of harmony with God and our
calxyo olf ,r,atf tod
to his purpose and TO one part of him
Jared with any other part. This is the
glory of complete conservation. Give
part of yourself to God and the other un-
dedicated parts will quarrel. Give yourself
wholly and peace of the right sort dwells
in you. =. -
Savior breathing peace and unity. There
was but one church. So Is an acorn one
| till II grows into acorns many And few
years went by and found a church splin-
tered and fractured into many sects and
| these warning with one another Fresh
creeds were Matched every year. Fiery
| debates swept communities like prairie
| fires. Now. why?
1.-The reason is that human nature sees
| a semicircle much sooner than a circle
| A partial conception will always arrest
attention more easily than complete and
symmetrical conception. And then when
you add some pugilism to this love Of the
| incomplete you reach the instinct of sec
| tarianisrh 1t is perfectly plain. II had to
be because of human nature, and the
| church, especially in a fighting period, Is
/ nine-tenthS human and one-tenth divine.
Perhaps even this is too generous a ratio.
/ But good usually comes out of evil.
| These controversies brought out more
sharply some angles or sideviews of God s
| total truth which might otherwise have
been obscured. 1t was part, but a part
that grew toward the whole A sailor mid
| sea on raft sees but a part of ship, the
mere tip of the mast above the horizon; II
| the part rises and swells until the whole
/ sees
his signal of distress, in that case the part
even If only the tip is noticeable.
| GROWTH OF AN IDEA.
| This is the history Of the church and the
| philosophy of the denominations. Even the
| sun rises above the east in parts, inch by
inch, layer by layer of it's orb. Never de-
| nounce or disparage creeds, therefore. They
were born in sincere tumult and magnifi-
cent even if onesided or misguided some
times from our modern standpoint. Men
must think something and creed is just
| what a mass of men think, and every creed
joined to every creed harmonized mel
| lowed, rounded out to architectural full
ness is the Bible. Christ is greater than all
our ideas and ideals together, but those
| ideals even If unripe or ragged, have their
| worth as parts-just as each rung on the
ladder has it's value.
Now when some denominations are
weary Of bygone polemics and bitter here
sizes and are feeling their way toward a
| larger and more effective brotherhood we
| all welcome the happy sign. 1t means the
noon Of love. 1t means we are nearer God
as God is nearer us. 1t does not mean that
| the convictions of the past are set scorn-
fully aside or that the church Is drifting
| away from creeds to mere ethical or senti-
mental platitudes, but that she gathers ur
the dear deep truths Of the past and weaves
| them into truer and richer tapestry OF
| thought and converts them into practical
service. If 1 believe in God working through
| the ages toward final completeness l must
| believe that in this building up process each
age plays true part and one cannot mock
the other. Let centuries reverence cen.
| heroic days of old when men were knights
brave enough to fight for their faith even il
crude, just shows that a good deal of prog
ress nowadays is tawdry.
THE different branches of the Presbyter.
ian Church are seeking amalgamation, why
not long ago? Congregationalists anC
United Brethren and Weslyans are cropping
toward an organic union. There are some
differences between these bodies, but their
points OF agreement infinitely outweigh the
others. Better far see where men agree
than where they disagree In religion es
| pecially the telescope Is greater than the
| microscope that magnifies atoms. Wher
minimizes all the petty distinctions ant
| lay stress on unity. "One God and Father
one hope, one baptism, one Christ, the only
Savior of a lost world"
L
LEO, the First, and Hildebrand In tn,
| early fourth centuries mourned the divided
and discordant state of Christendom and
| like statesmen of amplest vision, projected
the scheme of Capitalization and unity IL
| Rome
''The church of Rome is just slow de
velopment from simple democratic govern
ment at the beginning and the desire fo
organic union sprang up naturally amid
| chaos of churches. This was the inspirin,
hope of Anselin and Ambrose and Angus
tine. After Luther disenthralled th
| church. the passion for controversy burs
| forth afresh and sects flew buzzing aroun,
| like tormenting horsefiies in a swamp ant
| usually the discussion turned on slight an,
| small pieces of human nature in the form
| of disputatious clergymen lowered up int,
| momentary Importance because of thei
| vehement opposition and noisy declara
| tions They were the bass drums and tn
| order of bass drums has not died out. TheI
| came a dearth of real religious feryor an,
| the church. wasting itself in empty specu
| lations and redhot over pinpoints of doc
| trine lost the apostolic zeal for souls, crop
| ing in darkness and wallowing in tn
| mires. Then came a reaction in the Yves
| leyan movement as reactions always com
4 from any extreme or absurd tendency 70
> the race is sane and returns to its centr
of gravity.
| enthusiasm the churches work to-day II
save men in body and in soul. to be on
| i'm the Christ thoroughly to merge ou
| aims in one to be a power in court an
shop and school and slums and priso