The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1876-10-19
Oar Study of The Attributes Of Deity.

From u recent sermon by Prof. Swing.
1t is not only certain that the new
sciences need not harm christian doc
tine, but it is possible they may abso-
lu.ely reform our ideas Of God. When
we inherited the notion Of the Almighty
being a person like a human person, we
fell heir to a very inferior conception.
4 Deity fashioned like the colossal David
Of Angelo, has not been the best form
through which or in which the human
family could behold its maker and judge.
The Deity thus embodied, thus central
lied, was too easily removed from the
homes and paths of men. All human
heart, have always thought Of Him as
being elsewhere, and hence He has been
too far away to alarm the sinful and to
comfort the Sorrowing. Wicked men
have felt that they could hide from
Him; that millions and millions Of miles
Law between their little actions and the
White Throne. Dcvout hearts have
looked up with tears, wishing for the
wings Gf dove, or the wings Of light
and thought, that they might fly away
and find the infinite rest In his error
and weakness, the christian has compared
his prayer to n telegraph that ran from
earth to the realms Of the Father. If
any science can come with power to over
throw these childish symbols OF Deity
and to give lis Il Father filling all space
with his presence, we shall all hasten
to cali that science the noble beneiactOr
of religion. 1t must he remembered that
personal God" does net impl v a lO.
called or humanizcd God. 4 personal
God is a power conscioris.of ScIi--a mind
ii consciousness. TopiCturc this mind
AS a person like king or Judge was
the error of the inlant-man. II, by de
crccs. science can remove this idea from
the earth, erase it from the memory of us
who are living and exclude it from the
generation to come, and give to the soul
a belief N u mind which penetratcs and
permcates the whole universe, and which
hence envelopes every heart, it will have
poured into mOrtals new motive and
into death itself new consolation. And it
does indeed seem that the new science,
should it ever he established, will be fol-
lowed, not by atheism, but by a new
conception OF the Omnipotence OF God.
Instead of dressing up the Deity in the
form of Moses or a David, the universe
will all become the form OF the Al
mighty: every constellation will be in.
rluded in His diadcm, every howery
world be interviewer in His wreaths; all
the floods Of light become the folds
and trains of His garments. In
all times christians have loved
here and there to venture upon
thi, thought. From It. John, who saw
the creative word coming from all the
universe and encamping in the Christ,
To all the mvstics OF the seventeenth
century the mind has attempted 20 bring
the Infinite nearer to itself. But the
fear OF pantheism on the one hand, anC
the fccblcncss OF the intellect ON tn,
other, have always cGme to lead th,
head back to great man on a throne Il
being the lawful representations of tn
Eternal. Oh, that some science ma.
come, If come il has not, that shal
throw down our craven images in on
temple, and shall cast our hearts into a
omnipre.cnt soul, as drops of water ar
cast int the sea DO yon desire to bt
lieye that million year ago Deit
lplaced in certain seeds the germs of life