The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-12
THE FOUNDER OF A RACE
j. CUMMING SMITH TALKS ABOUT
ABRAHAM. THE PATRIARCH.
He Was a Grand Old Chieftain, Es-
sentially Human-LessOns From
The Old Testament.

"Abraham'S Supreme Moment was the
theme of ]. Cumming Smiths sermon yes
terday morning at the Tabernacle Presby-
terrain Church. The text taken from
Hebrews XII, 10: And the temple Of God
was open in heaven, and there was seen in
His temple the ark of His testament, and
there were lightnings and voices and thun-
derings and an earthquake and great hail."
DR.. Smith said in part:
1.-The advantage of inspired seers in the
Bible was a close view of God. They lived
in the presence of sublime realities which
never dawn on the gross souls of clay. They
saw the beauty of everyday things as COM
mon men never see 1t. Most men are like
automobile racers who rush with thunder
down our finest avenues without any glance
at the sloping lawns or slightly houses; they
make so much noise and dust that they
never hear the sweet, beguiling music from
race through the world and never stop to
see the best or hear the best, and such men
venture from their vulgarity to despise the
opposite type of men with rich souls. How
can mud appreciate white marble?
ESSENTIALLY HUMAN.
1.-THE disadvantage, however, of having
been inspired to write the Bible is that be-
cause they were inspired we infer that they
were not human. We canonize the saints.
We read of their courage at the martyrs
stake and we fancy that they never wa
vered or felt the twinge of pain. They be-
come superhuman, celestial, translunar al
most, and, therefore, we lose the real secret
of their struggling lives.
Now, Abraham was a grand old chieftain,
an Arabian sheik, hardy, impetuous, chiv-
alrous, proud and ambitious to found a long
line of heirs, who should rule the world.
To make a seraphic being of such splendid
type of ancient robustness is to lose the key
to his life. Indeed, We say, pause moment
to observe that to love a good man Is
proof of good heart, but to overpraise and
Defy him, to lift him Up off the ground and
ascribe imaginary excellencies to him, is the
cruelest unkindness. You raise too high
expectations. He cannot live up to your
eulogies. You may bestow an overdrawn
panegyric on the dead, and that is bad
enough; but to exalt genial, lovable
neighbor to too high a rank is to doom him
to be disappointing to critical observers.
LAS proof of the undue loftiness and
vagueness of the Bible characters. 1t is only
necessary to mention the names of Abra ham
or Daniel or Amos in any circle of culture,
and then to see how little weight or charm
those names carry. They do not appear
concrete. historical or worldly. A mythical
element enwraDs them as the smoky haze
bedmS the autumn landscape.
"Of recent years the Bible has grown
more real and mesticated. Mention an
eagle or lion TO farmer and 1t excites only
an abstract interest: but tell him that an
eagle has swooped on his back yard, or that
a lion prowls back of the barn, and at once
there is the keenest intensity of interest.
You bring things near and the farmer real
ICES.
BIBLE SPARES NO ONE.
1.-The Bible is matchless for it's tender or
everyday realism. 1t paints human nature
just as it was and spares nobody. Its he
roes and heroines flesh and blood. not
ghosts or spectres or emaciated monastics.
So of it's theology. 1t is the unwilling of
a God close to US in nature and construct
i've genius, and We know Him as We read
the long, long story Of His treatment of the
Jews. To make himself more tangible,
more corporal and matter of fact, He be-
came incarDate and assumed the thorny
programme of our common history. The
entire philosophy, therefore, is a movement
of the infinite love downward with sweet
pressure upon our regular throbbing, care
worn world. He did not require to change
His essential self as the avalanche pressing
and grinding downward has TO melt into
pearly streams before the floral meadows
could welcome its down coming. The ava
lanche must change TO be acceptable God
does not need to alter or metamorphose
himself but only to exhibit His intrinsic
nature OF love and wisdom TO allure our
humanity. However, theology takes the
great concrete manifestat ions and mystifies
them, surrounds them with endless cobwebs
of Speculations until all the reality fades
from the picture. We turn the living per-
sons into skeletons.
Abraham was rare primitive patri-
arch with redeeming faults. We must not
put him too sublime a pedestal lest we
dehumanize him and lose the pith of the
story We read that he left his fathers
kindred, and boy / remember seeing
in a Sunday-school book picture OF every
body weeping and handkerchiefs were pro-
fuse, while as Abraham took his leave of
the old home and over in the corner was a
nervous angel that gave Abraham Scant
time for adieu.
Now the historic fact is that Abraham
was a born emigrant, ambitious to acquire
some territory elsewhere and lay the
foundations of clan colony fit for war
and destined 10 conquer the earth.
ABRAHAM A COLONIZER.
$50 far this was the natural condition of
primeval life. Abraham was a colonzer
by instinct. a Brigham Young, only per-
haps more dutiful, mighty chieftain with
far-reaching plans. The tendency OF higher