The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-30
NEW YORK HERALD FRIDAY MARCH 80 lewITH SUPPLEMENT-

Lifted into higher sphere Of reasoning ako oui
tween sSas tho eoas and God rhs, shall form tho SUD
jcct OF remarks to-day and shall see the latter
sit in judgment over the other.
THE 'GoDs" ARE NOT cor.
They in any way comparable with each
other--not peers. II you have reached the one the
others must perish and vanish forever. We are told
that Moses bddeu to throw down his san, and it
became serpent, ana the soothsaycrs Of Egypt mi-
tailed that feat, and what happenedy The serpent
staff OF Moses swallowed up all the Others Lat that
be 10 Us as q sign that although the gods" OF Tho
hcathen and the God OF Israel may look TO superficial
like each other, yet the One swallows up ell the
il has become kind OF fashion to speak only OF tho
mythologcs of religion, 10 range them all on one
level and 10 strike them down at one tell swoop; 70
put them ali IN bag together aud con-
People say they know all about h-"No u
know the dark days gone by.n Each OF the old
heather nations had their 'gods" but they were all
Let US pu. the chief question OF this discourse Be-
cause the rods" Of The nations are found on exnmina.
ton TO be really only idols, does follow that the God OF
Israel is an idol ooY Let Israel sadexplicty,
mphaticaIiy-'Therc is but Ono-a unity that admits
the Pantheon defeated and the pretended 'godsn
hurled from their thrones Well might the He.
brew legends affirm that when the words fell from
Snais top:-.I am thy God the icos shook in their
sockets and tho temple was moved IN It's
foundations tor there mad come spiritual fash
from heaven Again:-By calling that One eternal,
without beginning and without end all tho gencalogics,
all those stories OF birth and marriage aud death and
OF eal!aniry and jealousy between tho ''godsthings
which it Is possible HINT at from hrs place
all that wiped away before the thought that HI 10
eternal, without change or shadow of knowing, and as
such can know no equal or competitor Thus by
proving that God righteous and inst all whims
and ancies aud gronndless actions arc at once cx-
c!udcd.
HR is THE HIGHEST REASON
He is tho most perfect wisdom. In HIM coutre the
highest ideals Of law, order and nenton; and when
VIC add to these attributes those OF love- OF mercy aud
compassion, summit Is reached from which the
crowd OF heather dcites must vanish rs shadows of
night before tho morning SUM- II was not, therefore,
entering into competition; II was not placing the new
God against the old ones was asserting grand and
eternal truth against egrcgious error. II was as
Stunning the throne OF Judgment over all tho gods Of the
nations
IsRAELIrEs nut HUMAN
would not have you understand that claim for
Israel at all periods 10 havo moved in these lofty ro-
gions OF thought aud divine ideas; tar from it. Tho
Bible denounces people for their frequent back.
sdngs and their gross and often shameful idolatrics
The Bible chastses their errors with unmitigated
verify. We do not hold that whatever wore Jewish
garment was therefore also good; that Whatever
expressed IN Hebrew words or preached In Hebrew
pulps was In consonance with tho high and lofty ideas
OF God Far be II from us; ours was tho common lot
OF trail moraltyto DO betrayed into great Mistakes
to be carried away by mistaken IDEAS to be fanstic
but what VIC do not admit 10 that because weak
and fallibe creatures that because VIC have been
exempt from the iangs OF flesh and blood, our God
can be no better than the "gods" OF the heather.
Who Is tho being worship? 1t Is the bein.
toward whom reason points, in whom the heart takes
refuge 1t IS the being whom philosophers sock and
whom naturaliss must ultimately acknowiedse as tho
Cause OF Causes The ''gods' OF the heather, you
cannot know anything about them unless you know
their history but the God of Israel independent of
all human history. suppose the Bblo were lost and
all the literature springng out of It lost,
lsraelitcs left to bear the testimony, what
would cnsucY Human thought would Immediately
out to seek Him again, Tor the human mind cannot
exist without Him. How far outreachng all human
intelligence and yet how He to u.s. Our festival,
my brethren, Is perpetual testimony 10 the truth
that the God OF Israel Is the God Of the oppressed and
not OF the oppressor He Is the God OF the weak,
against the God OF tho overbearing. He Is the God
that hears the crying OF the downrodden. There shall
come time when our freedom from visible things
oh he blesged. Mav these q SOLEMN
remembrance contribute 70 bless and help Us to 90
on our way rejoicing. Amen.