Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-06-04
RELIGIOUS TOPICS.


God may be subject of thought, unseen,
unapprehended by human senses, inscrutable
and ineffable,yet He may be medtated upon.
God is an intelligent personal Being, the
most distinct and most real person in the
universe behind His works and above them
yet not part In them, He is more real than
they.
Men arc liable to error In respect to God.
Almost universally men take the magnified
images of themselves for God. In the Hartz
mountains is sometimes seen what has been
called the spectre of the Brockcn. Standing
on certain hill just ut sunrise you shall
see on an opposite hight a gigantic figure,
lofty as mountain peak, huge and menacing
with outstretched arm and pointing finger.
You gaze with wonder and awe till you dis
cover that II is only your own reflection
thrown by some atmospheric influences
upon the hlists that rise out of the opposite
valley, that the pointing finger and out
stretched arm were only the magnifed image
OF yours. So for the most part have been
the unaidel conceptions of men of God.
Yet many may think correctly of God.
The Bible reveals him and in Jesus Christ
He is seen. "God was maaifestin the flesh. .
Oh these right thoughts the Psalmist spoke.
Thoughts of being so great, SO holy, so
good, must have an effect on man. To
trace this effect is the object of this discourse.
l. Thoughts Of God are elevattng and
cnno6ting. Thought is the measure of the
man. The mind of a savage whose medita-
tions have never gone beyond the forest
through which he wanders is smaller than
his who has gone over continent and ex-
plorcd starry worlds. No one can be brought
beside great truth without being lifted up
by it, Let a man dwell upon merely ply
sical law, such as universal gravitaiion; let
him think how all things on the carths sur
face stand while the globe rolls over thous-
and miles an hour, how this solar system is
held in its place and planets and satellites
maintain their even tracks, let him extend
his thought over the universe and behold 1t
pervaded by this one law, reaching over in
terstellar spaces, his whole being Is widened
by the contemplation. When one thinks of
God he comes into contact with the greatest
possible object of thought.
But more. God is u person. Our thought
| of Him is an entrance into the presence
chamber Of the Eternal One. There are
persons whom you cannot be with, even a
few moments without being quickened in
every power by them. This is contact with
| finite imperfect mind what an inflowing
of power must there be when the presence
of the lniinite is felt and the eternal truths
which flow from Him possess our being!
ii. Thoughts Of God are sanctifyi,lg.-
| God is holy as well as great. The contact
with what is holy communicates purity. A
good book makes one better, a bad one cor
rupts. This is more true Of persons. Who
has not felt tho power which flows from II
good man or u pure womanp lie who
thinks of God comes near TO the Fountain
of spiritual life and power. He who thinks
of God puts himself within the circle Of
influences, the most powerful that can touch
him. To have God in mind so that you shall
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hour by hour The holy think of God and
| are holy because they think. Shall in this
| sunlight into which thought of God has
brought me which glows all around me,
shines through and through me, making all
so white and radiant, shall bring my low
imaginings? No, | must first forget God.
III. Thoughts of God are delightful
and comforting. -"In the multitude Of my
thoughts thy comforts delight my soul, is
the experience of every one who thinks of
| God. Where is there such beauty as in His
works and in Him more beautiful than they
'The World itself" says Augustine, sin its
most excellent beauty, though silent yet
proclaims aloud that 1t was made and could
not have had being except from the hand
Of God inellably and invisibly great and
ineliably and invisibly beautiful" What
ever is beautiful in symmetry of character,
in bcnignity and grace and love, all dwels
in infinite perfection in God. Nor is this
beauty so hidden in the excessive light that
we cannot see it. 1t has been softened,
toned down to suit our vision, mental though
it be. In Jesus Christ the fnlness of the
Godhead shines bodily, and we may look
upon it and be neither blinded nor die
"And we beheld His glory as of the Only
Begotten of the Father full Of grace ant
truth and so ''seeing Him who is invisible
the soul thinking of God still sees the same
boundess loveliness and beauty and sings
'Malestc sweetness sits enthroned
Upon the saviours BROW
Here in these thoughts is all that car
spread peace like an ocean abroad We
leave behind the cares, the distractions, the
evanescence of earth. We look out, nay We
sail upon Pacific whose waves roll peace
fully, and no storm disturbs their calm seren
ity. AT such an hour God is present as the
infinite source of help and hope. How full
of comfort that there is such being as God
Surrounded by powers greater than we, tht
playthings of circumstances which we can
not control, with an unknown future opening
before us with its dark forebodings and un
known vicissitudes how good to think tina
He lives, and rules our destiny that he is no
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but is near to help and put under us the Ev
erlasting arms, and lift us above the stars
even to his own abode!
We may find here test of character
, Do you love to think of God2 Sinful mel
, do not Do you shrink away from thes
! thoughts, and do they make you unhappy
You may determine what you are by this.
. Here is deep toned warning to the un
gedly. Now God is out of mind; and b,
the noises and scenes of earth shall he with
! drawn, and the idea of God will have com
: out of the darkness, risen and grown upol
: the soul until it fills the hemisphere, thel
woe to those who never loved to remembe
i Him.
Q Let us have many thoughts of God
Thoughts of him make heaven. There ar
= moments Of meditation, when, to the beliey
4 or, as to him of Bethel, a ladder is set up O
the earth, and the top of it reaches int
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