The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-02-08

Il
Rev, J f. Hendy, OF the Presbyterian
church. then offered most beautiful
and appropriate prayer.
This was followed by the reading o
Solomon's prayer by Rev. Henry Moyes
the first Methodist minister ever sen
TO Emporia, aud Scripture reading b,
Elder Lott, of the Christian church sue
ceeded
Rev. c. R. Rice, presiding elder ri
this district, then read hymn, after tht
singing of which Rev. Dr. Adams, presi-
dent ot the Wesleyan University a
Bloomington, Illinois. was introduced
and proceeded to the delivery of the
following beautiful
OBLIGATORY SERMON:
I, Our text is in the sth psalm. Sd. 4th
and 9Th verses:
.sWhen consider Thy heavens, the work Of
Thy fingers, the moon and the stars fhou
hast ordaine1. what is man that Thou art
mInainl o. al Si sh Tor ' TSon hsst made Nm
little lower than the angels; Thou hast
crowned him with glory and honor"
have selected this passage OF scrip
lure that We might think for a little
time this mornIng of mans place IN the
great work of Gods creation. For this
Is wonderful world in WHICH We live,
and man is a wonderful part of IL, spd
Just where we may draw the line between
what We may choose TO call that which
| is natural and that which is supernatur-
ais q very delicate sort of question
and 0 very difficult one. The naturSl
runs mp so gradually to the supernatur-
| al, and the supernatural comes down so
| gently to the natural, and they so easily
IiOvetail themselves into eaetl 0thers liiat
Ia say just where the natural eHds and
| the supernatural begins, is a very diff
cult question.
| Wkfn | lpuk at the natural, the more
| | look al and ga INFO il. the II ore 1t
| leads me up tn that which IL slpeFnaf-
ural-Ihat which Is diyine--the mare
| / dwell upon il the more ui God | see in
| il, the more that is divine IN il, and the
| finer the line becomes between the nat
uFal and the spiritual and the Godlike.
| II was Il wonderful thing when God
mads nature. We can look upon nature
grossly and With eyfG sensuous, and
/ thing, or we can look upon it With d
| different pair OF Gees Rn1 deficient
thoughts and there is wonderful
sacredness and good in nature and God
seems to be all through it and all about
it, | do moi wonder that The morning
stars sang together and that al nature
| reioiced; there is so much God in
| nature; not that God was with
nature million of years ago when all
| things were fresh and new and began to
be, as We sometimes think. God is in
! nature to day and the supernatural nlis
the natural to-day as pGch rs # dll
millions of years ago when things we're
| drsL created Indeed ! can discover no
! dihereQce EhqieYer betWeen TIP nan
| ner in which God made the first flower
and the manner in WHICH he painted
/ The one hold in my hand, and If occurs
| to me that God was nc more immedi-
ately connected with the making OF the
! first flower than with the making OF
| this; that the Divine finger shows his
| touch and sun-iike power IN painting
every rose to-day as when the ilrst rose
was msGe'' and God painted the first
| flower. And the flowers are made now
as they were first made.
| know there IL theory that God be-
| gan things and they continued them
| selves If l had never seen a watch and
had for the first time ionnd one on the
| street coming 20 church this morning
and picked Il up and looked at it ard
| discovered its wheels, dials and hands,
| and some one had said To me "that neF-
| er was made, Ur when IL was made il
was wound Lp and 1t will run forever
and never need another winding"
! should have doubted it if | had never
beard Of watches before, II would he
| aalliag uphl ne TO Eelievl in The Il1ak
| ing Of the watch, tie winding uR of
the watch without anything back of it to
keep Il running 1t needs the presence
of power, and all do when l wind my
watch is to store away little power in
the spring for "a hours that will run it.
| II amounts 10 my holding mY thumb
constantly upon fie Ea,cl and keeping
the wheels going. and I think God
is holding his great thumb
Oh nature all The time. | wOnld not
feel safe in a world like this, With its
complicated machinery, with its won
derful power, unless felt that the same
supernatural presence filled all nature
| every where ss Il dld IN the morning Of
creatifin And God has not removed
himself 0ne single inch from nature
from where he stood whom he created
it,
wonder about the set d in the flower
| | think | could take one of these seeds,
if the flower had matured into seed and
il wgs q Seeding, think GORld Jake
one Of the seeds 10 the professor of nat
ural SCIENCE in the laboratory tO-mOrraK
and he could take it all apart and tell
me what IL is made OF; tell me how
much starch there is in it.
how much sugar, how much
water; how much of each substance
Possibly he might go TO work then and
build another sesd which in tAS Gonstit-
uent elements, would be precisely like
this, composed of just the same elements
He might hand it to me and say: There
is a seed have just made which is just
liEe the one you gave me" lie could
take a kernel of 6Ora AID say. HIlere,
have Just made this kernel of corn and il
has Just as much starch anu sugar as this
one, in the same relation precisely; il
is precisely, atom for atom, the same a
the grain OF corn you gave me Well
that is very natursl think that could
lie done ! would hike ia piani lhe gFair
of corn he made | wonder il II woult
grow: God can only make grams q
corn that will gIow. God las way q
somehow storing up in the krrnel %
: corr tina; secret Thing called he life, ant
, it takes llic 20 Tepr'fince he gaT oi s',rn
II takes God Ia max aa il 'nrG thar viii
make an oak T. III IKE an Ippl seed il
which is stored away thu - crit vitalit,
that will produce an apple il takes God
Now. that secret ain. CALLED lie To- Ia,
. mind shows tue pres, M and power ant
ski Of an infinite God fIaI j. in, unde
! aud through nature all The time, aud L
] my mind tt..Te j. Il very fine line het wee!
. | the miracle of the Bible and lfIc miracl
of the garden; between the nsIuralnes
of The wine made in the WAGER vase an
e the supernaturalncSs of the wine made il
D my door yard in autumn time don
: understand hoy the Saviour coull tIrI
a | water into wine | don't und6rst int
how lie makes wine into the form of IA
grape ! cannot see where the suni gll
:. and showers and soil. can IN, strriousl
q | operate and 80 skil!fully. As thin
!. Of the supernatural that Is IhrOug
: every little cham in nature and dirrct
. every secret force 10 \ given end an
j. when | can cQlcfiEe ri GtM in naiur
]. On the one hand it is all supsrnatura
On the other ii is all natural The n;
tural and supernatural Join hands. IL
: God from the skies which unitrs wit
e the earth. God made something's Ihi
q are material. The pSalmist was view
ing thic side when he observed: 9TH
heavens, the work of thy fingers, IL
e moon and the sElrs,u shOEing VIII
comparatively little effort was require
N on the part of God. Simply the wOi
Is man that thou art mindful OF him, ar
Ie the son of man that thou yisitest hir
Thou hast made him little lower tbs
the angels"
Thare 10 Snother way of giewiRg it. "
NJ are material not On The plan at this, il
ne animate, unconscious and inactive, on
oC as il is acted upon from without, bnt {;
intelligent and rational creation, iii
VI the angelic grade
at suppose angels are disem bodied,
IL spirits that never were embodied. Tn
Id have nGthing of flesh and blood, as '
"A have. They have reason, will and fe'
ing and are an order of intelligence u
eu like man in that man has a body
Id flesh and blood. The angel, on the q
I'd hand, is pure spirit. But here is I
y, moon, and the siars, and the earth. q
the flowers, everything is material, III
Al Is, purely material and inanimate. G
says: This is not enough: il is I
Al. - 4.