The New York herald., 1878-01-14
ALL SOULS CHURCH.
TIE WORD OF THE LoRD-sERMoN BIZ DIR.
BELLOWS.

TIE WORD OF THE LoRD-sERMoN BT DIR.
BELLOWS.
The Rev. Dr. Bellows preached on the text "But
the word OF the Lord endureth forever, and this Is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto
YOU" The congregation quito large The
poet Bryant occupied front pew. Or. Bellows be-
gan his discourse by saying:--There Is, perhaps,
nothing essential 10 true Interpretation OF the
Scriptures than the understanding OF tho phrase,
"rhe Word OF the Lord" Almost all tho narrow and
binding dogmas OF Christondom founded up on the
proposition that only the words OF the Bible are
meant thereby. Whom tho Word OF God is spoken Of
the uncnlightened suppose that nothing but the
Hebrew Scriptures are referred 10. The words Of
these anciout writipgs arc supposed TO be
equivalent 10 HIS Word. 1t Is assumed that
there Word Of God besides this. Now true in
terpretaton oil the OF this phrase IN the SCRIP
exclude the idea that they are The Word
OF God; but II gives the Term WIDER Significance
No denies that the phraseoogy Is aniiquated and
puzzng, aud IL Is only 70 be explained by explaining
thr PHILOSOPHERS OF that time. various personincd
attruutel, such as light and lie were supposed TO
have had part III the creation OF the Anivorse II
particularly asserted that being called Deml'
Eros the real and immediate creator OF the wocd
Even The younger Mill forced 20 return to that
an Quuted notion He says that the only explanation
o. tue physical moral evi IN the world Is that the
power that made tLe world not infinite; that it
lacked supreme knowledge, power and skill that it
did us best, but needs assistance TO perfect the
work. In cruder form than Mr. Mills nincteentn
century phlosophZngs those ot the the0logians
OF the rst century They say that logos, or WISDOM,
the word, not separate being but was with God
from the beginning nnd was God.
THE CHRISTIAN BELIEF.
The Christian Church endeavors usually to overlook
and the tcacniugs OF nature as we'll as oil PHI
losophy science aud common seu5c to the unitv vi
God HIS sole sovereignty aud soie majesty IL IS as
sumed that the Gvdnead there are three persons-
Father Son Holy Ghosts that these are essentially
one BY Necessity OF mutual agreement under.
take OF different misunderstanding, saw
ing sancfyng. COD made the law sovereign II could
pnt he
nal punisnment but the Son infinite Himself could
nay the penalty tor mankiud ana chose to do SO.
iLere eau DOUBT that the Scriptures are the
Word of God But doubtless there was something pc.
cuar, hing diomatic anI not modern IN tho use
the phrase TO signify not an uttered sound on writ
ten character but rather some quality, some attrl-
bute, such as the creative power COD sad Let there
bu lgntn and light II was not the uttered word
that created 1t; 1t was merely the Hat Of
The Almighty. God does not spoaK In words.
His voice heard with the outer ear, but only
In the MUD 1he Commandments were given unto
Moses ana he dared ~ say that he had heard thcm,
which true, but only In a metaphorical sense
Nature has ten thousand voices. and none is without
sigulcaon but they usually address Us through the
eve and Are they therefore, any the less
the Word of COD The phrase "rhe name OF God"
has significance than any mere title or oveo tho
name Itself would have There IS NO uistnctlon
between the personal aud Official character OF God,
us there IS that OF every human being. HE SOW
ereign rule iathery care are one and insepara-
bic There is no sense, reason or pley 10 our at
tempting TO receive any human adaptations and limt-
tations OF the power, wisdom and goodness oi God.
can believe nothing of Gods being angry ropentant
or surprised, matter who says that He Is So
could well boevc that the sun goes TO bod when II
sinks below tho horizon, or that the moon. whom
sounding through the clouds, Is hunting win Diana s
hounds But what is it that is eternal and so answers
10 tie phrase "rhe Word OF Cody" II Is the ever
lasting principles o divine justice and truth, the
fathernood and omni ip0tence OF God, and the human
soul, which is Gods image and ever living