The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-04
MIND YOUR BUSINESS,
DR., HURLSTONE'S TOPIC
Pastor of Roberts Park Finds Food
for Thought in the Passing of
the Old Year.
CHRIST POINTS THE WAY

Mind Your Own Business was the sub
ject on which DIR. Hurlstone spoke at
Roberts Park NJ. e. Church yesterday
morning. Text, John xxi, 20-23.
He said: '"Th old year, with its oppor-
t~unities and failures, its losses and bitter
disappointments, it's wrecks and catastro-
phies, its griefs and sorrows. its work done,
its victories and gains, its sweet surprises
and accomplishments, its joys and record
of service rendered to God and man has
passed into history. Our life as a dream,
our time, as a stream, glides swiftly away,
and the fugitive moment refuses to stay.
According to the Arab saying, there are
three things that come not back-the arrow
sent upon it's track. the spoken word, and
the lost opportunity. The book of the new
year, with its 365 clean pages, has opened
before us, and it is for us to remember that
men live in deeds, not years; in thoughts,
in feelings, not in figures on a dial A
careful study of our text may aid us to
fulfill the prayer Of the Psalmist: So teach
US to number our days. that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom.
THE anxiety of Peter the Apostle to
know what was to be the destiny of his
~fellow-disciple John, led the Master to say
to him: If L will that he tarry till L come,
what is that to thee? Follow thou me-
This was only another way of saying to
this ~impetuous, inquisitive, but loving, dis
ciple. mind your own business He re-
Dukes a too-busy exercise of the specu-
lative faculty. Peter was to watch his own
character. his own work, his own burden,
his own salvation. He had enough to do in
this. Christ rebukes the spirit Of idle Curl
osity, the spirit of obtrusiveness, the spirit
of exclusiveness, the spirit OF depreciation,
and the spirit of jealousy. He gives to US,
as to the apostle, admirable advice for the
new year. We are too prone TO neglect our
daily task to consider what this man shall
do We need 10 mind our own business.
The secret things belong to the Lord, but
those Things which are revealed belong to
US and to our children forever We need
the lesson OF the text. We often forget
that duty is the most important part of
destiny. There are mysteries in Providence
into which we would like to peer. Happy
the man who says: i do not ask to see the
distant scene, one step enough for me-
Useful lives are cut off. Men of great
power and influence in the church are often
smltten down in the midst of their useful
ness. The needed worker is taken. The
apparently useless linger on. The mother
less children are left, the widow, with her
little brood of hungry ones, must face the
cold world and fight for bread. Health
falls when most needed. A single mistake
plunses hundreds into eternity. A dispatch
is misunderstood. A rail spreads. An or
der fails TO be given. One act of reckless
ness brings untold agony to many homes,
and the mournerS go about the streets. For
some there seems to be unbrOken sunshine
and prosperity; others make no progress,
save amid storm and Distress; no ascent TO
heaven for them save with tear-stained
eyes and bleeding feet. And we are in a
dilemma between curiosity and obligation.
We desire to see why. We would ask, Lord
what shall this man do? But to us he, says:
What l do thou knOwest not now, but thou
shalt know hereafter If L will that one
shall be cut off and another shall linger to
old age, what is that to thee: follow thou
me. All things work together for good TO
them that love God Do not seek to be a
spiritual fortune-teller. God is His own
interpreter, and He Will eventually make
all his dealings plain. You need not seek
TO Justify the ways of God to men,
FRUITLESS PEERING.
Sometimes, instead of minding our own
business, we waste time in ~fruitless peering
into the mysterious doctrines of religion.
Drummond has well said: Science without
mystery is unknown, a religion without
mystery would be absurd The great facts
of the Christian religion may not be fully
understood, but their truths need not he
questioned. The Trinity, the Incarnation,
the Atonement, the Resurrection of the
dead, the Holy Spirits iniuence-who can
fathom the mysterious depths of these re-
springtide sun goes down and finds the
roots of the rose, the tulip and the lily,
and makes them blossom into beauty and
fling their fragrance to the breeze? Who
can tell how the Holy Ghost goes with the