Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-03-02
-rHE ROCK
fhss 10 hisAss fhss IA ssrSss ~
Ess. Charles kaekKef-


Rev. Charles flahrer preached .
sweet. helpful sermon last evening In
The UnlsersaAss Church. A gentleman
IN the sesGsbale remarked that q man
ls dog ~ do a vie tkiag alter hearing
a sermon ike that"
The sabject oi the sermon Was "fhs
Rock that Is Higher Than L." Mr..
flahrer began With the stock phrases
that are infinitely worse than Tie
AibaaaslAn cGeea. tul before lie had
progressed tar into his discourse he
either langsd ahead e09a years OF else
wenl back 21<'0 seafs; tor he preached q
sermon thai eaplisaled al hearts said
he.
"li j. natural TRAIT Of humanity 10
trust something outside ot itself. Ia
the earliest umes, people inhabited the
earth, and the woods, aad the groves,
aud the rocks and caves because they
were conscious that there VAS SOME
thing outside OF themselves. But AS
knowledge progressed then these prlm-
tive hsilefs were put ASIDE. ioi they
! all were conscious that forces within
and without had their origin far be-
yond themselves.
But no eyii has stood against God.
Yet II must be borne ia mind that there
| Is DO good nor eyl that Is absolute. As
Buckle says: There Is 10 eyll WITH
| out It's corresponding good; and
! ie would have us infer that there is no
| good Without It's corresponding evil.
The human mind has always expressed
itself as conscious OF something higher
| than itself and outside o. Itself, IA the
/ language OF the text.
These are the words OF the long ago,
| but their truth IS our truth. la our
sufferngs We wait something higher
than ourselves. 1t is as natural for the
civilized man to believe IN the Supreme
| Power, as IT is for him 20 breathe. The
ancient shepherd looked for any and
all projections from the sudden storms
OF the mountain regions where he fed
his sheep. Those shepherds did not
| know what those storms were as We now
know them, but they knew there were
higher laws governing them, and they
trusted that higher law. And what
better can We today doy
"ln the moral world, the outside APP
pearances of everyday life may he low. /.
but the amer consciousness OF each
man may be high. ON the heights
| there IS repose.'
"In the world, is the anticipation OF
| change, and that anticipation is always
| upwards, and how grateful 10 the hu-
man mind that God u the rock, and
! that there is no element of change IN
Him; that He is the living Father, ana
tina. the attraction of the divinity
brings all men 10 him.
"How grateful the thought that God
is that rock, and that with Him etern-
ity is nothing. The element of God S
power is not strength, but kindness.
| The shepherds among their sheep illus
trate it. But men love power and seek
for it. God is always best known by
His best good. Let men read Him
there. Not in books: not on printed
pages; not in the sayings of men who
| call themselves infallible. In Gods
best beneficent power and in the right
conception of Him and His word. God
Is not an Eastern despot, but
| He is worker of law
Whenever men see the manifestation of
power, there is not only strength, but
goodness and love. Therefore God is
God and God is love. Power Is not
arbitrary, but must be used under law
and under goodness and under mercy.
Men cannot come INTO life and do evil
but they must suffer for II and come
under law. Then il is the same as the
mother with the boy, because he does
not know, but after the mother does
know, she reasons with him. So II il
with God. He first lays down the law,
rs lie did to Moses. But afterwards
He reasons, as He did with Isaiah. In
this way He gets the obedience first
and then the love of His children. We
accept AS they come to us the problems
! of lie: but whatever they are, we
know there is rock that is higher
| than we.'
The reverend gentleman said, with
great solemnity, that there are times
when vice and evil seem in the ascend
ant. But for this we must not cry ont
there is no God. let us rather seek
that higher power that is outside our.
selves. The supernatural Is thus a fac
IN human experleDce-not that We have
reasoned it, but that we have felt IT.