Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-26
pronounce the name of God; it is God the


Father whom We have in mind.
But We desire to know God. OF what
avail is it to think of God, if all our
thoughts must be punctuated by question
marks, it we can get no answers. What Is
God like? What is the revelation of God to
us? Especially, what does God think about
us? Does he care about us? Does he love us2
We crave revelation of God.
But how can a revelation of God be made?
Shall he write sentence across the glaring
sky? Shall he make his voice to be heard
in the thunder? Shall he drop down q
great book out ofthe clouds, containing the
Greed, the Lords prayer and the Ten Com
mandments, and all other things which q
Christian ought to know and believe to his
souls health? Or shall he make his revela-
tion in language which we all can read, in
a tongue which the whole race, wise and un-
wise, will be able to understand, and in
such form that the revelation shall be for
ever free from all bondage to the letter.
from all that might limit human thinking?
The Personal Revelation.
How can there be such an ideal revela-
tion? Why, in the person of q man; in a
life which may be lived among us to teach
us how to live, which shall be daily dis
covering of God; which shall reveal, so that
all may know it, how God cares and loves
Give us revelation in humanity.
| And so God became man, manifested him.
self in the person of a man. We need
new word about God to express this new
| idea about God. To our faith in God the
Father we add our faith in God the Son.
But God is one. The Son is not in any re-
spect different God from the Father. God
the Son is God the Father revealing himself
And yet there is difference in these two
ideas of God. 1t is the difference between
existence and manifestation. 1t is the diff
ference between thought and speech. It is
the difference between truth and the ex-
preston of truth. The whole of truth can
not be got into any expression Of truth; the
whole of the thought is never voiced in
words; after all possible manifestation there
| is that left in existence which has not been
manifested. Try to put into words the
beauty of picture; after all is said, how
much eludes the speaker So God the Son
| manifests as much of God the Father as can
| be manifested. Christ did not reveal the
| infnity nor the eternity of God. What he
| did reveal was Gods relation to us, espe-
cially in his hatred Of sin and in his love
| for us.
The Teaching of Theology.
1t is significant that no theologian thinks
| of claiming that God the Father became in
| carnate. It was God the Son; that is, that
| side of the being of God which is closest to
our moral life, and which we have most
| need to know-he it was who became man.
| answers in the life and words of Jesus
Christ. Does God pity us when we are in
trouble, and sympathize with US? Yes; for
Christ did. Does God really love us? Yes;
for behold the cr0esl
But we are not yet satisfied. God mani
tested Himself in Jesus Christ, but the
world was already old when He walked in
Galilee; for ages men had laid away the
bodies of the dead. And all these dead
people, who died before the manifestation
of God was made, and had no chance to look
into the face of Christ-had God, then, no
word for them? And almost 10 CEN
turies have passed away since Jesus Christ
assembled into heaven and has since been
seen no more. We can read the story
which they wrote who touched His hands
and heard His voice. But is there nothing
more than that? Must we believe that God,
out of the infinite reaches of space, mani
tested Himself among us for q brief time,
| and then somewhere went away again?
Third Part of the Trinity.
No; we have better truth about God
than that. God speaks in our hearts God
has always spoken in the hearts Of men.
God is ever present. God lives in all life,
thinks In all thought is back of all prog
IcsSs tHo GuCCdoihS hCAPOt, VIC ohoAAAhS
guide, the inspirer of all that is great and
good in man. This is another truth about
God, and we need another word to express
it. We believe in God the Father, and we
believe in God the Son, and we believe now
in God the Holy Ghost. But there is only
one God. There are not three Gods =, 1
The word "person" which the old creed
makers used to express these different ideas
of God. saving that there are three ''per-
-, I'D has piuoy, ri In
confusion. With US o person is an indi- i.
vidual We take our common meaning of
the word and try to translate with it the
statement of the doctrine of the Trinity,
and we find ourselves in the midst of arith-
metical impossibilities We puzzle our
brains over the problem of three in one
But this word person comes into English
out of Latin, and in Latin was blundering
translation of wiser word in Greek. 1t
means 'distinction."
There Are Three Distinctions.
There is one God in threefold distinction.
There are three chief ways of thinking about
God, which are not only true but essential,
so that if we are to think of God Alright, we
must think of him in all these ways The
higher the nature the greater the complex
ity of it. That is true of all we can see
about us. 1t is true of God.
God is the great source of life, the infinite,
the eternal, the Father
God has manifested himself to us so that
we may know him and love MIN, and know
that he loves us in the pla1nest of all mani
festations, in human personality, the
Son.
And God is ever present with us, speak
ing to all men everywhere, in the past and
now, in the voice of conscience, God, the
Holy Spirit.
Thus the doctrine of the Trinity, taking
that old truth that God is one, and
holding to it, draws new truth out Of it. 1t
is an advance upon monotheism as that was
upon polytheism. 1t meets the longings of
the heart. 1t answers the sage questions of
men. 1t satisfies, for the present, our search
for knowledge Of God. 1t is the truest
statement which human reason, helped by
divine revelation, has yet made of the
nature of God. GEORGE HODGES.
Revolving shield for Cars.
Those who have had the i'll fortune to be
in railway car when it has been "held up"
I'll II