The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-18
KNOW THYSELE.v

For some time past the Sabbath evening ser
vices at this church (the Rev. DR.. Newton,s,
have been devoted to a series of lectures mainly
70 the youth of the congregation. Last evening
the following sermon was delivered by the Rev
A. H. Vinton, d. D., of New York, TO large
Rssemblage, drawn from the following TEXT
~ haze heard Of Thee by the hearinq of the
ear OW nOU mtne ege seehb Thee; wherefore
d6h0r myself, and repent IN dust and ashes D.
Job xiii: 8, 6.
"Know thy self' was a choice maxim of the
ancients, slgnifying that selEknowledge is at
once the best and most glorious, yet difficult,
attainment to wisdom. Socrates called il a
holy MAXIM" 1t has a verytcomprehensive
range, you observe. 1t moves with thessweep
OF general principle and strikes down whole
ranks OF tolbles, faults, and tallacies and the
maxim has credit and currency in our dav
Know thyself," says the skilled and scientific
man to the backward and mprudent know
thyselfn says the college student looking from
his loophole upon the retreating, abashed, and
hurried crOwds;" Know thyself, "ssays the faith
ful Christian, rising from his knees. to the unbe-
heviDg friend for whom he had been praying.
This sefknowledge Is precisely the same as
what the patriarch expresses in the words quoted.
He had been taught wisdom in new light and
bya very remarkable method; tor he was taught
by hearing God and there is no paradox in this
For all knowledge is applied TO positive and
negative sides. Every fact is related to other
facts that explain it, All our judgments, by
comparisons in the mind, would not be under
explained with some other thing.
Hence, when man would know himself the
construction of his body, or OF other things of
earth, he gains not the knowledge by his own
dissection, but by his observations which ne
makes, aud thoughts which then actuate him,
from an analysis of such bodies as he desires
information of. So let God AlmigDty's inter-
pretation of Himself be received, and man will
always know himself.
Remark, again, the Patriarch's method of
being taugbt:-"I have heard OF Thee by the
hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth
Thee.n What method could be more thorough
than this? The ear represents some perception,
which is in the expression of sound; but the
eye represents contemplation that is constant
as the light and this was the distinction recog-
nized by the Patriarch. He had heard of God
In a momentary state OF seriousness, but now he
meditated, and received and reioiced at the
truth and light OF God in His providence, until
he felt that he "knows" God, and the reflection
of this knowledge was that he knew himself
and he felt humbled with abasement, too, by the
contact with God, and his own unworthtness
and disuusttul nature, and he "abhorred him
self"
Such, / apprehend is the true condition of
those who, having been in ignorance of them
selves and have been brought unto light when
the old and worthless character has peen cast
of, and the new character stands in its place.
Yet the new is not independent of the old; for
those uprooted fragments Of the former life
faults, toibles, and sins-packed together under
the loot and Into the pit we have dug for
our new life will rise, taller and stronger, into
the light, and our self-knowledge will be the
means to carry us up TO heaven. But to show
how the contemplation Of God induces this
selfknowledge, we survey God in His attri-
butes, and take these one by one. The attribute
OF God which comes nearest mans life and his
purposes is omulpotence." Sometimes man
almost forgets God, so that when this
competence appears before him, comes
close, and leans heavy upon him, the
man recoils. Man has such energy and
npnfi hocc do IN thn
over nature, hardening his heart, that when the
light does shine upon him and all things maketh
him to seem nearer the precious cross he
recoils or cries out-"ls not this the great
Babylon winch have built?n and so burns in-
Cense in his darkened heart He can, no doubt,
carefully define His finished invention; he can
seem to impress the universe at his bidding; he
can employ the grand forces OF the world-lm-
press wind and water; yet God sometimes de.
sCend5 with his power and puts him at a nom
plus. For example, he can explore a map and
the lumnaTies OF the sky; analyze the light OF
each particular star, and yet one little ray of
that light might pierce his eye with instant
blindness. He may chain the lightning to
fetch and carry for him, yet he cannot
destroys towns, and strikes cattle and
men down dead. He may ride the ocean, that
type of slumbering Omnipoteuce; can tempt its
gales, frolic with its surges, make music of its
means and farresounding waves. Yet, when
the ocean rises up In its anger, like lion from
its lair and shakes its glittering mane and
leaps upon the stalwart ship, holds it quivering
in its jaws, shakes the sails to tatters wrenches
the timbers apart, tosses the crew about and
strews the waves with liteless human drift-in
fact man, in his power, seems to be little frag-
ment struck off from the mass of Omnipotence
and its success seems to be achieved only by the
Withholding of the remainder OF 0mnipotence
Now when this exceptional force comes in on
mans purposes, in way that seems irresistible
and irrepressible, it just overrules his life and
a man feels himself q bankrupt, and as one
deprived of his fortune. Then the man finds
himself standing face to face with a power so
much greater than his own, so grand, and yet
so infinite, as to make him believe there
is God. And though the struggle may
be fierce between the old and the new,
between what tman purposed and God per.
formed, yet, no matter how long it lasts man
eventually yields himself up to God in the cheer
full confession of His sovereignty, or else grows
hopeless, hard and defiant, so that the divine
power of Omnipotence eau do no more than de-
stroy him. This is just Jobs confession. His
sheep and cattle died off his sons and daugh-
ters were killed at the table; he himself was
smitten with loathsome disease; his treasure
was taken away, and though he did murmur,
yet he looked up to Heaven and offered a plea
and confessed himself TO God Almighty and His
Omnipotence, in dust and ashes. The same
effect will be produced, no doubt by another
attribute of God, thai of omnscience We
cannot escape God; no hiding place will serve
His omniscience Is not like the bright light of
the sun, for that but shows the surface, but
into the most inward recesses of the mind il
pierces as well as at all the places in the earth
God seeth us. He seeth. but does not forget
Fear came upon the patriarch, as he relates in
his vision, at the appearance of the Spirit.
"Fear came upon me, and trembling, which
made all my bones to shake; then spirit passed
before mine face, the hair OF my flesh stood up.
1t stood still, but could not discern the form