Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-10-30

ne VIII aiming Tue afHlcs VI ucd'cu
and among the inhabitants of the
earth
But among the many words which
belong to his name, each of which gets
forth some part, either Of his goodness
or greatness, there is one which in-
wolves them all which is more fft-
quently used than them all. and which is,
| if possible, more to be revered than all,
and yet which, by strange perversity
of human nature is more profound than
all, | mean the simple, vigorous saxon
word God" In the old saxon. the
words "God" & good were spelled
the same way, from which some have
inferred that God was named from his
goodness. Be this as it may, the word
stands for US now, as pre-eminently the
name Of Our Father, and He is the
infinite goodness There has entered
into this name, all that belongs, iri ctr
conception of him, to the High ard
lofty One" the one whom We conceive
to be absolutely perfect, both in being
and in character. It stands as the
symbol Of perfect justice and perfect
mercy; perfect truth and perfect love.
It means eternity. It means omnipo-
tence; it means heaven and immortal
life. 1t is indeed d terror to all who
sin, and who will not be helped out Of
it, but it is inexpressible JOY to all the
good. 1t is an awful name involving
in it all the mysteries of existence,
holding IN itself the solution of all the
problems Of our origin and destiny.
1t is glorious name, the symbol Of
all value and Of all beauty 1t is q
name of power, at sound of which, all
the forces of evil tremble. 1t is name
of all comfort and Of all music, the
rest of the weary, the hope of the de-
spairing, the assurance Of the wronged
and oppressed, as it is the pledge Of
perfect vindication and deliverance.
There is one other word-we find it
in the Lords prayer, the dear familiar
one, our Father. This we may ever
call him, in all our secret and nearest
talk with him. That our Father is a
king, is of infinite account to us, but
We need not be always calling him SO.
That he is almighty, should be a mighty
| Joy TO us but We need not think always
of power. All his titles Of power and
glory, are so much glory and honor to
US, but let us not make them common.
Indeed !; the names that set forth the
boundlessness of his empire, the ma;es-
ty of his being and the perfection Of
his character, are too overwhelming for
common use. but in this most precious,
household name there is everything to
charm and comfort u.s.
Second-Why should we hallow Our
Fathers name
! l. It is in accordance with nature,
with "the eternal fitness of things"
We count the boy, who uses the name
of his earthly parents without respect,
as only half-civilized, even if he is
graduate from college. When I hear
tall boy, call his father 1.-THE old
man." or his mother "the old woman,"
/ know that. though he may be long
of body, he is very short Of good
sense Rightminded children will nat
urally venerate their parents even if
they are not very good, much more if
they are good. Sensible people will
offer some special respect to the Gov
ernor or President, He who will not
is more barbarian than the heathen
Chinee, who prostrates himself before
the Madarin.
Sensible pupils will always regard
with honor the name of worthy teach
er. The worthiesJ young people, will
pay the most reverence to worthy old
age.
The person who can enter with noisy
tread, or with great rustic of garments
and thoughtless gaze into the midst ct
a company Of worshipers, is certainly
lacking in something, something too
which is of far more account than jew
elry or silk or broad-cloth.
The man who can look UP at Mag
ara, or out upon the great ocean, or of
from the high mountains, and feel no
impulse to worship, no emotion of awe.
must surely be somewhat mhuman, if
not quite inhuman. 1t is against ma
ture not to venerete that which is ven-
cradle, how unnatural to profane his
name who is the author of every sa-
cred and precious thing! We
hallow the names Of our great mcn, be-
cause it is fitting, how much moro to
hallow his who gave to our great ones
all their greatness.
2. Only as we hallow Gods nalhes
can it be a power in us for good. To
refuse to hallow it, is to treat it as I'm
worthy, and so to treat him as unwor-
thy. whose name it is. With such a
thought of him, he can only pity, he
cannot help us. He may indeed make
the sun to shine and the rain to fall
upon us, bit he oan1rct give US the
bread Of life.
8. If We do not hallow Gods name,
we are false witnesses to the world.
r. - L.