Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-10-02
Rec. Samuel G.. Smith.


them all the days of DID,"
The direct refereneeis to tho experience
of Israel. Not only were they guided and
protected by pillow of cloud and fro, but
when they were hungry, or weary with the
journey, or laid their unsheltsred heads to
rest beneath the watching stars, there vas
real sense in which God showed these OK
periences with them. It was not that Israel
was beloved rather than the rest of tho
world that we have their history recorded
and hold it sacred. But the
large conception of perfect kingdom of
righteousness and love to be consummated
in the future, was too great for men to
grasp, or once reached was too difficult for
their faith, and so the hand of Providence
was clearly pointed out once that all ma
lions might know that he was with them
to rebuke sin and to work peace; and his
dealings with Abraham and David, Isaiah
and Paul, were written down that we might
know that God is forever with the weakest
and humblest of his children.
The love Of God seems fitfully revealed
to US amid the light and shadow, the Joy
and pain, of this world, hence the gospel
with its Bethlehem and Oivet, its Hebron
and Calvary, as broad and sufficient reve-
lation of the heart of God.
Let me try to give some rational basis
for this doctrine of Providence which ap-
peals so powerfully to our sympathies, by
attempting to show that it is involved in
the nature of things.
God is primal. Before any star shone,
or matter had being, God was. Not only
is he first cause, but he is first substance,
He must be conceived as an absolute and
primal being.
Creation is eGte7Yalize6l rolition. The
possibilities of creation subsisted in him
who is the fitness of all things. Creation
was not out of nothing, but out of God.
Every exercise of force which we can at all
exhaustively trace, We pursue backward to
the will. By the widest possible intuition
and by survey of all the facts, we SEQ in
the universe the product of personal will.
So the author of the first chapter of Gene
sis exhibits no material or machinery of
creation, but only the putting forth of d.
vine volition. 'God said light be, and
light was"
Reality is the partaking of the dirixe be-
ing. The apostle declares our moral glory
in affirming us to DO "partakers of the
divine nature" The External word" of the
philosophic John is the utterance of the
divine into things as we'll as into thought.
He is before all things and by him all
| things consist"
HelptNlness in man is the IaO of huppi-
ness and po,cer. We may conclude, therefore,
that benefcence is spiritual necessity
even in the Divine personality. And hence
through all the DISCUSSES Of life We may
confidently penetrate. We may light up
its gloom with radiant faith. God is
by necessity present in every thing, but
lest this be too awful truth, let us be COM
forted in that as the gospel reveals He is
present in blessing.
But let us consider the relation of man
to this great fact of Providence. We
might easily expect, priori, that man
would be moved upon by the Divine power,
and compelled to conform to the Divine
order. So the ethnic religions follow NO
suggestions of the physical and memorable
law, out of the tempest element in nature
and life forged thunder bolts for the
hand of Jesus, and out of the darkness be-
hind His throne there glared the snake
tressed furies. But the gospel reveals a
gracious God in the highest
possible exercise of creative
power imaged his own will, and establish
ed an order in which this child of his must
forever be reverenced. The victory of
goodness in such theatre is the problem
of human destiny. We are led to believe
| that the world and life is so ordered that
| this problem is conducted at its best.
| But more. This text reveals to us a suf-
fering Providence. 'In all their affections
He was afflicted" This fact logically fol-
lows from the reality of Gods presence in
| his works. It reveals also need for the
| atonement in the divine nature, perhaps
| no less serious than sinfulness in man.
| What conception is here, for all those
who sorrow? There is no load of pain
from which he is absent. There
| is no heart thrilled with anguish which
he does not feel. He is present
in the grooming of that creation which
waits for its redemption. But, you say, do
you mean all this in a real or in a 6gura-
tive sense? In real sense. Then, is God
a sorrowing and an incomplete Being, or
can this thought be reconciled with the
idea of divine blessedness? Were God an
inconpleteI time and sense bound Being,
then would he be also a sorrowing Being.
Have you entered into the meaning of that
statement about Jesus, 'Who for the joy
set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame?" The gloom of Gethsemane
was lighted by the presence of an angel
which strengthened him. ''The joy set be-
fore him." not the pain of body or soul,
was triumphant. Not the populace or
soldiery, or death,o or sin, or hell
tory. Though he cried out to
his Father for more of his presence, ssMy
God, my God why hast thou forsaken nev'
that cry was not unanswered, and legions
Of angels thronged about him. There was
darkness on the earth; there was sunlight
on his soul. The clamor of the mob. was
at his feet, but it could not pierce the har-
monies of heaven about his heart. The
cry, st is finished" was q note of triumph;
for in his vision there came the multitudes
from east and west, and north and south,
redeemed by his own blood, and neither pain
nor death could blight his peace Now tho
Divine Being sharing our pains, helping Ms
bear our crosses, redeeming us from our
Gins and realizes already the outcome of