The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-13
AT BROADWAY M. f. CHURCH.
DIR. Tippy on "The Consciousness of
Eternal Life"

At Broadway M. E. Church yesterday
evening the chorus. under the direction of
Professor Willard A. Beck, gave a fine
programme of Easter music. In the morn
ing the pastor, the Rev. Worth M. Tippy,
spoke on 1.-The Consciousness of Eternal
Life" He spoke in substance as follows:
There is but one theme for Easter day,
that of the endless life. 1t has never
grown old and never can grow old, any
dying year. The belief in the future life
| Is one of the most persistent and pre-
| cious hopes of the human soul. 1t is kept
strong by the power Of God, like the other
| elemental things of life and of nature.
1.-The conviction began dimly. We can
| with difficulty realize that the ancient He
| knew so little of personal Immortality;
| that the Pharisee, holding passionately to
| the resurrection, was always more or less
| bafiled by the critical skepticism Of the
Saducee, when he attempted to prove the
resurrection from the sacred writings. The
conviction of future life grew upon the
| obscure that Paul, the Pharisee, writing
| to Timothy, could say in an exutant salu-
| tation that Christ hath abolished death,
| and hath brought life and immortality to
| light through the gospel as though before
| the Master they had been hidden away In
| dark place.
| of the thought and experience of the world.
| and old ideas are continually clarifying and
STRENGTHENING their hold upon men. In
| this way truth is continually breaking upon
| the horizon. i speak an exact truth when
| say that instead of losing its power the
| conviction of eternal life has steadily
grown upon the consciousness OF human
| fly until il has become a well-nigh univer-
| sal belief, and to great multitudes prac-
| teal certainty. This Easter morning you
doubtless feel as did the I gsam M s,Ia in
but time escapes!
Live now or never!
He said. What's time? Leave now for
dogs and apes!
| Man has forever.
GROWTH OF BELIEF.
1.-The causes for this growth Of belief in
| the future life are many. 1t is an intui
| ton yelling up from the foundations of
| being We cannot bring ourselves to be-
| lieve that either we ourselves or our loved
| ones can really die. 1t seems inevitable
| from an adequate theory of knowledge. A
| conviction of II grows out Of the intelligent
nature of the universe, and of human in
| telligence that can discover secrets of the
world and think after the thoughts of the
creator. 1t is stimulated by mysterious
| spiritual phenomena, which remain after
| all the frauds of mediums are exposed:
| phenomena which occur in multitudes of
| homes where there Is no knowledge OF
| spiritualism. 1t received tremendous
| impetus by the resurrection of Jesus, the
| evidence of which seems to me conclusive
L
/ "And vet the heart longs for certainty
| A moment of present demonstration would
/ be more assuring than hours or reasoning
| and volumes OF historical evidence. That
| Is why so many inouiring minds and so
many distracted souls turn 10 the mys-
| teries of spiritualism. This brings me TO
| what l most want to say this morning.
| III is that there is possible for each of US
| TO have a personal demonstration OF eter
| nal life that will satisfy the soul entirely
| independent Of such phenomena.
Il 10
| even carelessly the teachings of our Lord
| that He lived in the momentary conscious
ness of God and eternal life as though by
| an inner vision He saw the realities Of the
| unseen universe.
assures every believer the same conscious
| ness of God and Of eternal life that He
| possessed.
There can be no question but that the
| early Christians so far into the first CEN
| tury as the New Testament books take US,
| eternal life. Indeed sometimes feels
| that the invisible world to which the
| Master had gone was TO them more real
| and absorbing than the world Of the senses
| about them.
| 1--WE NAV enter into this consciousness of
eternal life through the resting Of the
| soul back upon God in loving. confident
/ obedience. i say unhesitatingly that We
/ may be as sure about IL as was the Master.
| Those mighty elemental spiritual facts are
| when the disciples evangelical the world.
| We may. like them, live in the daily JOY
/ and freshness of the life that never ends
/ and like men building a cathedral to stand
/ a thousand years, We may build the state
| ly mansions of the soul IN the kingdom of
| US.