Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-03-29
FIRST EDI1'ION.
inaugural Day nj Asbuiy.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN uOD THE FATHER
AND GOD THE ION.
| AT Asbury NJ. Il church, yesterday morning,
Row. George II. Kram,r preached his introduce
tory sermon and cvened his pastorute with the
| church. There WAS not vacant seat on the
| floor Of the church or III the galleries, but the
house was full to oyerflowng, and the new mill
lister WAS received with open arms and warm
| hearts.
was introduced by Rev. j. l.. Houston, when lie
said II am greatly pleased with the provi-
dence OF God by which l am with you. / have
| no great promises to make but ask you to bear
with my iuiirmites. Pray for mo that God may
be with me, and that we may be n blessing to
each other"
The text was from Matthew and In these words:
"This is my beloved son in whom / am well
pleased, hear ye him." Christ, said Mr. Kramer,
tells us that while God is it does not add any.
thing to the divine character. 1t il simply the
unfolding Of that which is already there. II
teaches us that God s love. 1t does not make
God love, however, but is rather manifesto
ton of that love, and when We think OF it we
ought to remember that .he loves us. But We
desie, to-day, to direct your minds to another
thought, and to ask you to think of the love God
has for Jesus.
He loves him because OF his relation, nature
and character. While we admit the unity OF the
God head, we believe there some way by which
there Is difference between God and Christ,
but not difference OF snch character az will
make an inferiority. They are different in re-
ation but not in nature. Jesus IL the son of
God in particular Hense. He has sons by ere
alton and regeneration. But Jesus Christ is the
only begotten son of God, and is II son in a dif-
ferent sense from angels and regeherated
spirits.
The great heart of God goes out to the son be-
cause of their sameness Iii nature and he loves
him for this reason. He is one in glory with
the Father, and it will not do to think Of a sub
ordinate divinity. The one possesses all the at
tributes of omnipotence, omniscience, omnipres-
ence, &c, with the other, and it will not do to
admit of decrease in these attributes which
must be the same in the Son as in the Father.
All God knows the Son knows, and he loves him
for this reason.
But God also loves Jesus because OF his moral
character While he IL divine he is also human,
having III him all that humanity has. 1t is nee
essary for him to plead in humsnity because we
are under the moral law Christ is just such a
man as God wanted. Adam failed and others
fell short of the requ rements OF God, but
Christ measures up exactly to the standard and
meets the exigency required. being the con-
nesting link between divinity and humanity
The differences of Gods love were then spo-
ken of-his love of pity and complaisancy. The
love OF God was defned to be such as takes de-
light in the contemplation Of its object He
loves to contemplate his people, and TO behold
them in moral uprightness. And If God takes
pleasure in his people, whom he declares to be
his jewels, how much greater must be his de-
hight in his son, and what a priceless jewel he
must be.
The speaker then passed to contemplate the
triumph of Christ in his humanity over
the devil, his death upon the cross bis
ascension, tho embodiment of perfec-
ton both legal and Adamic-a bright Jewel i'll
the great heart of God. Then the congregation
were bidden to consider the expression of love
in the authority CT Jesus. He IN gwen authority
over the universe, made the right, the executive
hand ofG cd, exalted to the very heavens, but yet
a creature ofperfect obedience. His sermon on
the mount is redoent of love, ,counselling against
vengeance, retaliation. and nowhere recognizing
the principle OF divorce AZ enacted under our
human laws.
But there is still another ride to this. All the
promises OF God may be relied upon. Although
the emerald effulgence of his rainbow and 9TH
er displays of supreme authority make us think
Of him az all object too awful to approach into
the presence of, God says hear him. The truth
IL, Jesus says only what the Father commands
HIM, aud lie may therefore be depended oil.
Think of this in connection with his first ut
terance after he was invested with authority, 1t
being only the outgushing OF his nature
ance OF Christ to the earth. You may see him
in the terror of the storm, or the grandeur of
the armament, but be not afraid.
The great SIN s in not listening to Jesus-in
refusing to hear Christ. Let us hear Jesus not
al he appeared to the children of Israel upon
the mount with brightness so cleaning that
they could not look upon him, but as he comes
with still greater glory-the knowledge that he
is Christ. Nature can love in proportion to its
magnitude therefore God can love only az God
can But love is also in proportion to the OBJ
ect Then with what salvation are we saved.
What glory does it unfold in the Godhead.
God loves us not merely for ourselves but be
cause of the sacrifice which he. made for MS. We
are the travail of the soul of jesus and the result
OF Christ's labor. We may therefore go down to
the river feeling that all IL well-possessing u
great hope that we are loved through Christ.
After the conclusion of the discourse, a large
number of the membership Of the church, who
had listened to the sermon, of which the above
is only a meagre outline with the greatest seem-
ing patience and pleasure, pressed forward to
the pulpit and were presented to the new pastor
giving him warm welcome into his new pas
torate.