The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-23
REVELATIONS OF DEITY.
DIR. HARRIS SERMONS AT THE
INDEPENDENT CHURCH.

REV. Ut. tldITlS litti1llCi a-NiiA 80 N''N 49,
dependent Presbyterian church yesterday.
His morning sermon was from Exodus, W.,
2-3:
And God spake unto Moses and said, am the
Lord and appeared unto Abraham ana Isaac
and Jacob bv the name of God Almighty, but
by my name Jehovah was not known TO them.
This declaration made to Moses, the
preacher said MARKS the transition from
lower TO a higher stage of religious knowl-
edge. From the time of the patriarch to
that of Moses, some advance had been made
in the Hebrew conception Of God so that a
new name was here used 10 designate those
attributes of the divine being which
until then were only partially revealed.
Tho patriarchs had known him as God
Almighty but as the chosen people marched
out into the wilderness they entered upon
new era of education concerning the divine
CharaC er God reveals hImselfAOgresslVely
the preacher said, all through the ages This
never Ceaslug purpose has been and is 10
manifest himself by degrees to his creatures
When we say Our Father" we are gather
Ing UP into one word the sacred and com
foIting history of Gods revelations Of him
self to man since the world began and
The word gathers new meaning, as the ages
pass because we, his children, have learned
to make it the equivalent of our most
tender and advanced conceptions of his
divine character.
VARIETY OF NAMES.
We know God under variety of names
which have been applied to him success
sively, as he has revealed himself to the
race, but all the imagery by which in Ian
guage we speak of God falls short of the com
pete truth concerning him This has been
true at every period of the revelation, and
will continue to be true until the coming Of
the perfect day. when we shall know even
as VIC are known
Meanwhile, the symbols of language are
only so many steps on which the soul as
conds to higher heights of knowledge
The preacher illustrated this by telling a
story of a humble German cottager who
fell into sweet sleep and in his dreams the
cottage was multiplied by hundreds, the
matched roof rose grandly into great slate
covered rafters, the square holes through
which little light had wandered became
gothic openings through which a food of
glory poured The chimney wldened its
base and became a spire in whose far-up
height rang softly chime of bells
This fireplace became an altar and the
steam from his boiling kettle rolled mp as
delicious incense. The cottage was a cathe-
dral. Thus III all our thinking when room
IS made for the larger perceptions of the
spiritual power, outward realities and the
symbols of language become only steps ON
which the soul ascends to the heights When
the new name Jehovah-I am that | am
was dlllDuuttl, bIOuS NJ SpdIttl Ou Jllt wings
of spiritual imagination through this cleft
opened into the divine mysteries by that
awful revelation.
KNOWLEDGE OF DIVINITY.
Our knowledge of God is still progress
tive, and his revelation to us still goes on as
time passes. The Mosaic era opened with
the revelation of Jehovah, " so the Christian
era brought in the revelation of the God of
Love. This was a wonderful addition to
our knowledge. In glancing backward
over the stages of progress in revelation and
knowledge of God, the question arises,
why the manifestations of cd to men were
so slow and why they were so long confined
TO one nation before they were given to the
worldP
The progress of revelation and enlighten-
ment was always by slow degrees, because
every addition to the truth men have must
he incorporated in customs, motives of CON
duct institutions and laws before they really
possess it, and this is the work OF time, aud
only when truth is thus woven into the life
of the people can higher knowledge be APP
propriated. Why one nation was chosen
the Jewish-while the rest of the world
was left to its own groupings, is
difficult to determine. We see some
thing similar, however, in our own day.
On the western side OF the Pacific ocean the
Island of Japan lay for centuries shut out
from the rest of the world by aself-imposed
blockade, and meanwhile across the seas the
American nation was building itself upon
the customs and institutions of Christianity.
At length, when the gospel was a living
practical power, these barriers were re
moved and the japanese were permitted not
only to hear the message of the gospel, but
also 10 see the results of it in the superior
intelligence, freedom and prosperity of
nation imbued with Christian principles.
A LAW OF HISTORY.
1t is law of history that one nation adj
vanced beyond others in some one respect,
and then diifused ats attachments abroad,
Greece became almost perfect in art and
proficient IN philosophy, and then gave its
culture and philosophy TO the whole world.
Rome developed the authority Of law, and
established the principles of law for all
lands
Does not Germany to-day, the preacher
urged, give the world the ripest knowledges
Does not France give that elegance of re-
tinement which softens rudeness every
wherel Does not Italy still
reflect beauty on the world
10y its devotion to art, and do not England
and America-the one great English
speaking race-preserve in simplicity and
earnestness the religion of Christ to bless
the world with their missions, as well as
with their commerce and enterprise.
So the Hebrews had marked capacity
for religion, and il the fullness of time diff
fused this knowledge 10 the surrounding
peoples and the world at large.
The evening service opened with the sipg-
ing of the anthem 81 Waited for the Lordn
by MendelsSohn, than which no more beau
tiful composition for church service has
been written. 1t received creditable rendi-
ton from the choir, the solos and duets by
Mrs. Porcher Postell and Miss Josie King,
being particularly well rendered.
LAST NIGHTS SERMON
DIR. Harris preached from the text "Fol-
low thou me.n The claim of Christiani-
ty, he said, is personal. 1t seeks each in
dividual, saying ''follow thou me-" In this
text Christ does not address himself to a
multitude but to each person, however poor
or insignificant he may be- Compared with
the sun and moon and starry armament,
we are tempted to exclaiIn with the Psalm
iSt "What is man that thou art mindful of
him" This creature lives on float
lag speck of a world that is scarcely visible
from the nearest star, yet the Lord is mind
full of every one of the millions who live
and have lived or died on this earth.
But you say l am only one among so many
that he cannot possibly know me. AT the
present time there are at least fifteen hun
dred millions Of human beings living on this
planet, besides two hundred generations
that have lived and died before, and yet