The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-07
PULPIT THOUGHTS.
Extracts From tho Sermons OF
Leading New York ministers.

Owing to the absence Of Rev. DR., Talmage
from his pulpit in the Brooklyn Tabernatl le
we do not give his customary sermon IN this
issue, but print in lieu thereof extracts from
the sermons of prominent metropolitan min
listers:
r. HEsER NEWTON ON TRUE IDEAS OF GOD.
The Rev. r. Heber Newton, preached at
AL Souls Church, in West Forty eighth
Spiritual Vision OF a Heavenly Father" was
his theme. s'It seems to me" said MIR. New
ton, that true idea of God ought to
be able to verify itsef in the general
CO.'S iousnesS of man.. This is the conclusion
wh ch science reaches a, Mr.. Abbott inter
prets her thought: Because, as an infinite
organism, it thus maniiest> infinite wisdom,
rower, and goodness, or thou ,ht, feeling and
will in their in mite fullne=S, and because
these three constitute the essential nlanlfesta-
tions o. personality. it must be conceived as
infinite person, absolute spirit, creative
source, and etel nal no ne of the derivitive
tnte pels 1na tiles whi h .pend upon it bat
are no less real than itsef. Whit
is this but infni,e beatitude, infinite ben gn-
ity, infinite love-the all-embraclng father
hooI and motherhood of Cod
"Let me tell you how, in very simple
ia b on. reach this blessed assurance. Fl ON
the un ty OF nature it follow, that all forms
of being are Partial manifestations OF this in
sentially human is undoubtedly what we, for
lack of a better t,rrn, cali personality-intel-
hgence conscious of itself, free in the power
OF will, owning the moral law. II we do not
find personality in the cry tai and the beetle,
and but dreamlke personality in the dog,
and if we do find such personality in man,
Mi h fact are We to trust aS the better ex-
preston Of the infinite and eternal energy
that is in US all' The answer Of evolution 10
higher forms of life must more
truly express thesnature Of the infinite and
eternal energy than. the lower forms can pos
sibly do. Over a muddy creek a willow
hangs and tries to image its soft flowing lines
in the waters below, how vainly! Above the
clear crystal water OF the mountain tarn, the
sacred p ne stoops and sees its noble form
faithfully mirrored in the lake. Each finer
organism is capable Of rejecting a finer
image Of the face which broods over us, seek
II to mirror itself. Man is the mystic flower
of the great tree Igdrasil. I must interpret
the dim, shadowy outline Of the Infinite
Power which these lower forms trace for me
by the clearer, nobler form which comes
forth in my yconsciousneSs. My consciousness
Yields as the ess N ial human fact the idea OF
personality. I am man inasmuch as l am
an intelligence conscious of itself, free in the
power of will, owning the moral law. l am
Obliged then to look up into the face which
bends down over life seeking to mirror itself,
and trust the reflection which comes forth in
my nature Of the person power whom L
must all Father. The Divine Being is MT
less than personal, however, much more than
personal He may be. He cannot be uncon-
scious, since Inconsistencies IN nature Is the
lower form Of beng which opens into con-
scio lsne s. Hs canIos BE- uamoril, sin %
nature, as it strains toward man, passes out
hun yering and thirsting after ri 5hte 'usn 'ss.
God canlot be haartleis, since the very mea-
sure of man lies in the heart,
''Be auSe Of what am as man, l am
obliged TO think Of God not less than man but
only more than man, not subhuman but
superhuman, essentially humanity, lifted
higher and brea!hei out to larger form. Evo.
luton goes on in humanity. Climb now to-
the very topnoSt crest of humanity, the
supremely good one of earth. What mons
trous freak of madness coal Equals creation
capable, through slow. orderly progressive
Development of unfolding such human
flower as Jesus Of Ma areth without wing,
below this Ii nbing growth, q life in wnichlt
roots, infinite and eternal, the source and
spring, the type and pattern, Of this flower OF
nature We overheard the soliioquies Of his
soul telling the vision mirrored in the calm,
clear waters of his soul, as the suns ia Q is
caught and held in the blue mountain lake
Over the face of Jesus, tn, face that bends
and broods, is a greater human tace-Ons
in whose image be saw himself to be made
Renan confesses: THE highest con-
sciousness of God which ever existed
in the breast Of humanity was
that of Jesus This granted, the con-
sciousness Of Jesus becomes the supreme word
of God, word in which we are to trust i'm
plicitly, not as a something wholly apart
from our own cons ;ioun sess, but as the artic-
u'ate utterancs Of the thought that struggles
for expression in ourselves, the clear vision
which in the ordinary man is but shadow
and cloud. Spinoza declared Jesus to be the
templeof God, in which God most fully re
veals himself. The revelation Of God
in Christ is the consciousness of God in
Jesus. The blood of the Eternal beats them
in our veins"