The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-04

Most Luminous Mind in Bondage
to Some lettering Superstition,
Says Rev. ]. Cumming Smith.
SERMON ON NEW YEAR

At the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
yesterday morning the Rev. ]. Cumming
Smith delivered a New Years sermon from
the text, There Should Be Time no
Longer Rev. X, 6. In the course of the
sermon he said: This phrase cannot mean
the extinction of time, for it is fundamental
to our thought as space is. Nor can it
merely mean the humiliation of our sense
of time, as when in high moments of con-
sciousness the mere flight of time is lost
sight of when a moment crowds an eternity
within its ompass
THE phrase refers TO the divisional fea-
lures or epochaI characteristics of time.
There are eras. In the life of an individual
there is the period of the nursery, then Of
the boyhood, then of the manhood. and each
period is marked with its peculiar tenden-
cies and impulses. Underneath all, however.
there is the one organic and expanding in
dividual nature. There are epochs in a
State. Indiana's history is capable of sec
tlons-the early pioneer period, with its
sWampS and corduroy roads and shaggy
civilization and Indian encounters; a sue
ceeding era OF falling forests and drained
marshes and ripening laws; and the era OF
of trade followed the lavish supply of nat
ural gas, and then when i~nterurban lines
llltTSSCIeQ the country ana produced Il
modification in our urban and rural inter-
course. These are epochs, but under the
differences that disappear there are perma-
nent elements that constitute a single, ba-
sic, progressive life.
In some such way the phrase opens up
its bosomed secret to US. There is nothing
fragmentary or disintegrating in life from
Gods point of view. 1t is one complete
history of development, one stage contribu-
ting vital elements TO the next, some fea-
lures transient or decadent. but the deeper
life never broken or Interrupted. This is
the thought; and what a thought Ii is!
In a Northern village years ago l saw
a factory of woollens; and in the first apart
ment the wool was stained in hot watts, and
after being deep-dyed in different colors, the
threads passed through to a second room,
where they were cooled and coiled; then
they passed TO a third group OF hands,
where they were woven into different tex
tile fabrics or garments. 1t was one simple
process through all the performances. This
is the law of time, that viewless. subtle,
intangible element of time that sweeps so
noiselessly and yet with so much intensity
and radical achievements.
ONE CREATIVE PURPOSE.
From the origin of our planet through
successive cycles when fire or ice or water
governed the situation there has been one
illimitable creative purpose. From the birth
of our race onward historians may mark off
historical epochs characterized by some
v AAdoNC iA6 0NdAt VI dChtAOBlANAANs Odl
there has been one omnific purpose through
the ages knitting them or organizing them
for a triumphant accomplishment. At bot
tom there are no dates, nothing prehistoric
or medieval or modern or miIenial. These
are surface marks like bell buoys ringing
along the coasts or variegated flags floating
Ger houSetops. The V1ndrous submarine
life of the world; the mysterious currents Of
human ambition and life that run thrillingly
through the centuries and purify all shores
and all aeons-that is, the essential life
breathed by God and nursed into strength
more and more.
Now, Why not continue this argument
further along? Why should we be afraid 10
believe that our earth period is but one in
a hundred or million periods that are
doomed TO constitute our eternal drama.
That there are characteristics pertaining TO
the earth life that are destined TO be evan
escent and temporary, but that there are
profound Subterranean laws OF growth and
evolution that never can become old or pen
stoned off? Does not Paul distinguish in
his own sanity career between the temporal
that is seen and ebbing and the unseen that
endures? And of the unseen world does
not Paul refer to the solemn and unfading
experiences OF the deeper life here and now
and not, save by implication, for the next
world? Eternal is more than everlasting.
The one refers TO mere duration that has
no end. The other refers 10 the spiritual life
that enriches and hallows mere duration.
A mile is a mile, but a mile in Sahara is
not equal TO a mile through Broadway or
through the art galleries OF Florence. A
year is a year, but a year in Thibet is not
equal TO a year in Boston. Mr.. Emerson
simply reaches Jesus and Paul when he said
to an impassioned but slightly misguided
missionary: 'Eeternityi TX is either here or
nowhere. Jesus always emphasized the di-
vinity of the present. We are saved now
and here. We are conscious OF God here.
The Judgment day has I'm essential respects
begun and every moment the dread verdicts
are sounded forth from its everything trib-
anal.
Some friends living in hilly New En-
gland look forward eagerly TO a summer
time in the Swiss Alps. There they go and
banquet the eager senses on the magnih-
cence of crags and snowy peake and thun-
derous gorges. Then after the IN OF
visions they are ready for a return home