New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-02-15

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places, just the same vivifc power; in on
mans hands it amounts to nothing, be
cause he won't make use of it. Now, til
its effects upon all men is not the same
because they don't put it to the same us
alike. There is a sense in which ever
man may be said to make his own God.
am speaking, of course, of the conception
OF God, for God is made by no man; bu
in these days it is necessary to explain
yourself at every step. Laughter. Ever.
man forms his own conception of God; b
represents foregoing analogy and expert
ence, but after all there is no person t.
whom God comes as a reality and who ha!
shaped into vital life an image of his owl
nature. God has never been seen, neve
revealed himself, chapter and section
He is revealed, in the popular acceptance
of the term, by words in Scripture, bu
these words are but signs of quality, anG
we must have some of that quality in our.
selves in order to understand what the
words mean. Each man understands
particular sentences. For instance, God
is just; if man had never known
justice he would not know anything
about the word, and so we have
a conception of God, and those words are
nothing to US without our Interpretation
of the meaning. In the Old Testament
| God is revealed some, but not as exclu-
sively as in the New. He is represented
in the Old Testiment as regnant, as a
power--God over nature, God of the ma
| tons, asserting government, maintaining
| the visible creation which he has insti-
| tuted; and this is the reason why this was
SO. The human mind during the earlier
| periods of the world was occupied by just
such experiences as these. In that age
physical life was the most important, and
the thoughts of men by which they
framed their conception Of God would
| naturally spring from that side of their
nature. In the New Testament there is
more fullness OF time, the other views set
in, the idea having grown by the stem
and made itself stiff with ligneous ad-
vancement. Now came in the God of
goodness and sweetness, and patience and
suffering, and long suffering and tender
ness. Now those qualities, although they
existed in antiquity, had no such outlets
as they had in later time; and so these
views will 60 on unfolding, so that as
the ages go on the conception of God
will grow richer and richer all the
way to the end of time. So Paul's
view Of God was forescent; to him
he was no longer a national God; he
was a personal conception of all goodness.
The Israelites believed that God was the
God of the nation-the Lord God of Is
rael. They believed that he was the God
of the whole earth; but then they be-
lieved that in the process Of time all the
earth would become Jewish. That they
believed that God could ever be the God
was a mistake. To advance such a view
was to bring down arguments on ones
Heterogeneous in the shape of stones.
The idea Of God as God of the soul
such as being presented the soul would
fall in love with him-that conception of
God so rich as to draw all men to him
that conception was great deal later
You may well say a great deal later, be-
cause it has not come yet. You ask me if
believe in election? l say yes; some
men are elected to be mathematicians
and some l know amt. Laughter
Some are elected to be poets, and some
are not; some are elected gifted with per-
cept;ve faculties, and some with phi
losophic faculties, and others are left out.
There are great many men who are
elected; that is, they are born of their
mother and father, SO that they can
take in this idea of a soul-enriching God,
and there are others that are born with
very little of this capability; but the God |
which is ordinarily presented to men is |
not rich; yes, rich in the sense of prop
erty; be owns the whole world-owns all |
California, and all the continent this side |
of it, for in California they think that is
the centre of the world and this is the |
fringe, aud here we think that this is the |
centre and that is the fringe, for every
peope is conceited and think that theirs
is the spot from which all others radiate. |
God is the God of the cattle on thou
sand hills, but that don't make Him rich,
unless he was a man susceptible of being
made rich by physical things. As He is
taught, God is not rich to man magma
ion, nor to their hope, nor to their
sense of domestic delicacy, nor to their
sense Of love with all its variations, nor
o their sense of magnanimity or gener-
)sity, nor to those finer traits which
,ome later in the development of the
luman race, which grow finer and are de-
'eloped more perfectly; the faculties that
'elong to the human as well as toward
he divine. Gods nature is not popu-
arly comprehended; SO l may say that
he God men think of is very poor sort
# impoverished God. When present to
ou the name of castor what do you
hink of? Oh. millions, millions, mil
ions of dollars; that is what you think of
i'm. When l present the name Shakes
care what do you think Of? Not of dol
hrs, but of poetry and of rich thought
nd all the dramatic universe. When |
resent the name of Homer to you that
ais for distinct associations connected
18th that name. When I present the
anne of that mother that you are cons
ious was not only that for your outward
ut for your inward life. for there are
ONE mothers that never wean their chill
rem, and men derive their life from their
lother always. Is there person here
nat has not got name, somebody's
anne, that lies deep down charged with
motive feeling? There are familiar in
tances of names that are wonder-workers.
single name will send fire through
0, 900 men. A name. When the united
rmies returned from the South, at the
anne Of Sherman see what heaven-rend-
,g thunder of shouts went up at Just that
ne word. Now, when 1 mention the name
God what does it bring? The catechism,
Of faith, doctrine, philosophy,
you are afraid of, you don't
now exactly how, or when, or why, or
here. Is there any other name as I'M
oh to you? Here and there there is a
'ul that has been led to such knowl-
lge of Jesus Christ that that name is
bove all others; but take men collective
:, take congregation like this, certainly
) well brought up as any other-better,
gu think, but l guess you are about
lir average-when the name is PROFOUND :