The morning call., 1893-08-07
STIRRING SERMON.
A Great Text Eloquently
Treated.
CREATOR AND CREATURE.
Archbishop Redwood at the French
Church Tells of Gods Right
to Mans Service.

There was an attentive congregation in
the French church yesterday to listen to a
sermon from Archbishop Redwood of
Wellington, New Zealand. The subject of
the preacher was the service Of man to the
Almighty, the reasons and the conse-
quences thereof, and it was treated with
the ability of a master.
The Archbishop took for his text the
words: 30 Lord. make known to me my
end" and thereon said
1.-THE royal prophet besought Almighty
God to make fully known to him the end
for which he existed, and there is nothing
more important for all of us than to be
thoroughly acquainted with the great
purposes for which we find ourselves in
this world; and TO bring the truth home
TO you and TO impress ii vividly on you /
will ask you to follow me for few
minutes through a series OF simp but deep
reflections:
Il will ask you first TO reflect that Al
mighty GOD had existed for whole eter-
nifty before there was any question of you
or me. L will ask you. also, to reflect that
this world, as We see it, had existed SUBJ
Stantially for thousands, perhaps millions.
Of years before there was any question of
you or me. Where were we throughout
that lapse of ages? The simplest insect
that crawled upon the earth. the tiniest
gnat In the air was UNNECESSARILY superior
10 US. because they had existence and We
Lad none. Mankind came into the world
and began to spread. and from families,
tribes and nations great nations rose,
fiourished aud fell. During all that time
there was no question of you or me.
SAT last we found ourselves in this world.
sometimes at least stop to ask for What
purpose we are here ana who put us here
Did we make ourselves? Nothing can be
more absurd, because thing must exist
before 1t can act. Did our parents make
us? They were only the instruments in
Coos hand for the formation of our bodies.
Our intelligence, our immortal soul was
the immediate work OF Gods own hand.
Therefore, we come from God. and by the
strictest logic are bound to serve God, if
God thinks fit to require our service.
"lf man does not admit that he has
Creator and Sovereign Lord distinct from
this world, it is no use arguing about re-
ligion with him: 1t is loss of time; be SIM
ply ignores the very foundation of his own
reason. Bat if a man admits that he has
a Creator. then it follows instantly that
man is bound to serve that Creator accord
ing to the manifestation Of his will and
desire.
From the fact that God exists and is our
creator, he has the right of jurisdiction
and sovereign domination over US he has
the right to make laws for us, and we are
strictly obliged 10 obey those laws.
The right of jurisdiction that God has, is
first of all. essential, that is, it proceeds
from Gods own essence. IL is not like the
power that man has over another man
or an assembly of men over other men.
That power may be accidental, inherited
~ u fri hn
man-whereas Gods dominion proceeds
from his own Infinite essence. because he
is the Sovereign Being. self-ex SteDt, all
wise and all powerful. God therefore can
40 more help being your master and mine
than existing, therefore his dominion over
You ana me Is essential, sprlnSng from his
Own Infinite projections.
Again that right is absolute, fettered,
that Is, with no conditions save such as
he may think fit to impose. 1t is, there
fore, entirely different from tie power of
man, no matter how mighty. Mans ia
limited and curtailed in a hundred ways,
but the power OF God over you and me is
absolute. 1t can be fettered in no way. it
is inalienable. it cannot be lost-alto-
gether different from the power of men
over each other.
Lastly. it is universal, that is to say, it
extends not only over actually existing
creatures but over every POSSIBLE creature
And in order to bring the matter home
let us suppose as we can without any in
trinsic difficulty. that Almighty God began
a new creation and began from a being
higher in intelligence than the highest of
his archangels. Suppose this creation
grew more perfect through millions of
years. Imagine what would be the excel
lence Of the last creature. And vet that
being so great. so sublime. would be just
as much bound to trembe before his God
rs the smallest insect that creeps upon the
earth, because, Being infinite, God is abso-
Lutte and universal, embracing every posi-
bic creature.
therefore no man nor woman, how
ever exalted, can claim exemption from
the service Of God. Nay, the more they
bound TO serve.
What l have just been saying know
IS ample reason for our service, but de-
string to impress you deeply with the fact
VIII dwell Tor short time on the right
of property that God has in US. There is
nothing which gives man a right to the
service OF any being or thing so much as
property A man, for instance, has a field.
d He says: This is my property; inherited
or purchased it; it is mine. / therefore
have right to the fruits and productions
OF that field. For number of years |
planted it. l have a right to gather the
fruits it Yields"
The Archbishop gave several other illus
tratlons of this rights of property and
then continued: What wish to impress
upon you Is this. that any right of prop
erty we have Is mere shadow compared
to the right of property that God has over
you and me. When a man has made
house, has he createdit? No indeed. Isee
him going to the river for the sand and
water, to the quarry for the stone, to the
forest for the wood. to the factory for the
nails and after putting them together in
certain order he calls that house. Has