The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-04
let the GOLD DUST twins do your work"
SAFE DEPOSITS.

TO their native scenes and this reflection oc-
cupies more and more their minds in spite
OF some differences. New England hills
and Alpine precipices are really alike in
their granite formations and sublime pic
lures. The same reflection connects the
here and the hereafter. The human heart
has always looked ardently forward to the
heavenly conditions. II is now second
nature 10 do so. Nevertheless there is
a profound error. If an angel could return
and uncurtain the other glorious world ne
would not dim it's glory or discount its
peerless attachments or ecstacies. but he
would warn us that New England scenery
and Alpine panoramas are the same In all
essential particulars, that no man can live
with God there who does not live with God
here, and that all the hysterical visions
that darken this world and degrade it's ma
jestic meaning in order to overcolor the
hereafter, are heather at the core.
IF this be true, then one very practical
consequence follows. We are all slaves to
a hundred strange halucinations.
SLAVE TO SUPERSTITION.
Even the most luminous mind is
in bondage to some lettering superstition.
Jesus came to disiIlusionize. to emanci-
pate. to change chaos into a simple spirit
ual order and in His teachings we discover
that death cuts little figure in the eter-
nal programme of events; that death is an
everyday, normal fact reigning in every
realm, and that therefore we must not ex-
DGCl utdln MnCn IL SIlhtS vi ~ HldhG dnY
magical or revolutionary difference in our
inherent constitution, hat five minutes
Of we may think reverently) after death
we will be practically the same as five
minutes before; that our character possess
es a solemn continuity and that therefore
the atheisms Of the faiths, the mean
ness or the generosity, the black. leprous
hatreds or the sweet charities, the fierce
ness or the sacrament devotion that make
us what we are must at least for a while
continue to be our pronounced features in
u orc aFnHn
"Our present will be carried over, not like
baggage which we can drop at any mo-
ment. but like food or air that has become
an integral part OF our being. 1t is not
correct TO affirm that this world is proba-
ton, but il is correct to affirm that every
moment is probation. We are molding and
manufacturing ourselves IN every thought
and theory we eSpouse, in every line OF
action we lay down. whether in business or
In private scenes, and In every friendship
we ayow. If we pressed this truth home to
ourselves we would apply few more DELHI
erations 20 our daily choices. and the
frigbtful looseness or casualty of our con-
duct would warn us OF the fatal terminal
tons. This is not a doctrine Of a sect or
q speciality of our creed. Jesus never or
ganized a church or drafted a creed except
in the higher sense) He stood as inter-
prefer OF God the Father for all His chill
dren. He simply opened up the heart OF
the universe and appealed TO our universal
experience. If you study His conversations
with Nicodemus at midnight (which was
nOOllluG III the DAdLG u nlNllE hQALrfs w
with the woman at the well OF Samaria, or
with the cautious Thomas. who deter
mined that he would never be inyeigled
into any infatuatiOn, you viii discover that
everywhere He probes the heart and every
where He touches eternal realities IN force
around us and within Us now ana every
where He insists that We are ~discrowning
ourselves when We shut out the light or
God.
when a man becomes converted he be-
comes normal, and not an oddly. he
comes TO be what he was meant TO be in
the divine order, just as the orchard be-
comes itself only when bending with rudy
fruit.
Christ then makes the supernatural just
as natural and lifelike as II We saw II
every day. Il this catholic sense He is the
away into damp caverns. / could be an
Eplscopalian about as well as / am a
Presbyterian. My cradle was Presbyterian.
Therefore / continue the Generalization OF
nv swaddling clothes. But both churches
are Welding 10 the leadership OF the spirit
Of God and blending in the larger life OF
Christ.
soul upon the waning life OF the old year,
but essentially We ourselves glide on with
little change and what change comes let IL
be in the direction Of a more thorough con-
secration To Christ. For this all churches
must pray. For revival Of Righteousness in
all our business affairs all churches must
work. For a hOlier sense Of God and for
a yoking OF ourselves 10 His will; for a
personal experience amounting 90 a CONVEX
sion in torpid Christians: for reverence in
creased for His word and His day. All
these changes should CONS ant will come
lust in proportion as we come into COM
munion with Him. which is our real life."