St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-09

conditions of this PROSTATE and con-
ouered colony,and of q faith that swept
out beyond the faith of his fathers. and
beyond the adopted faith from the Jews,
and saw the Son of God. / would like
to call your attention to his deep and
sincere humility. No sign of that pride
that comes chiefly Of being proud oil
ones humility, but in the deepest hui
mility saying: II did rot count myself
worthy that you should come under my
roof, nor yet that l should even
come out to greet you. Only say the
word, and my servant shall live; for |,
too. am a man set under authority
What a picture! He saw this material
world of ours not as machine thai
grinds on, cog in cog, as it may torn
about under the pressing hand of Fate.
Tut as a camp where the great forces Of
life and death, of disease and pestilence
and plague, of health and strength, and
the ongOing of the natural agencies
where all these were but common sol
diers and common servants obeying the
order of the commandant. II speak tC
my soldiers; they obey.
Master, Speak TO Thine.
and they will obey" And Jesus ''mar.
veled" at him, and, turning to the COM
pany about him, he says: II have moi
found such faith. no. not in Israel. :"
1t seems to me the great truth in the
Scripture, and under this narration and
through this history, is The great truth
under the Christian religion, back oil
our faith, embodied in our personal eX-
perience, towering above our convic-
tions and shining out into the infinite
and endless future-the truth of the
ctr own ftr-o nj n0fr nT a |.
mighty God in the midst of our material
and natural, as well as our social and
spiritual, forces in this life. | think
that is the truth that blaZes out
before us, and it is to put some
little emphasis upon that, and to call
attention to that wonderful word, II,
also, am man under authority" and
to the deeper truth of the camp on
which have posted the supernatural
hosts of the living walking, in
deed, and driving along our streets,
lowering above our homes, watching by
our sanctuary doors, keeping guard by
our bed chambers, standing with tender
and untiring feet by the touches Of our
suffering and pain, and forgetting us
never till we shall be gathered into the
the city of God. Such, | think, is the
doctrine which [ am sent to give you.
Some OF you may need it. All Of you
may be improved by it.
Let me state as clearly and definitely
as L may what think the Book teaches
on this subject. 1t teaches the sub
stance of what have already uttered,
the supernatural presence of God in our
affairs, His fatherly care and especial
attention to the interests of His children
and of His kingdom.
| am aware that some will be sur
prised, and few may be offended, but
if it be Gods truth, receiving, as it did,
the commentator of His Son, am
content; for | know this, that you can
not come near enough 10 such truth
as this, even to dispute it or to throw
stones at it, without being blessed
blessed, at least, with one glance OF
The Claim OF God
upon each one of you. We believe in a
material age. We are occupied in the
midst of material machinery and the
application of the natural forces about
us till we have pushed away the super
natural. We have crowded God out of
our thought; we organize instead of be-
lieve, for victory. when we should do
both. Indeed, we have come to think
that this world is driven by long lines,
which we call laws; and we make them
so long that many people possibly some
here doubt whether there is any driver
atthe other end Of the lines. They say:
"We have not seen Him." OF course
you have not seen Him; you have never
seen your own soul. Worse than that
for your argument, you have never seen
the lines you talk about. You know
the lines exist by the work they do, by
the results they produce. So we know
the driver exists bY the work He
does, by the results He produces,
by the fact that He keeps these
magnificent forces, these magnificent
steeds of the earth and the heavens
going on and on forever on the track,
working out intelligent ends. SO we
know He is driving. sWe are ensWathed
with a spiritual atmosphere in spite of
this materialism:We are handled by deep
and far-reaching spiritual forces. This
is a scatfoldlng, this is aStaging, this
outside material organism on which
eternal principles and forces of the
spiritual world meet and struggle. We
are treated as mmortal; we are not to
be measured by the hay-scaleS; we are
to be measured by the sweep and vigor
of our thought. by the grip of our faith,
on a different field. You ask me do |
believe that God and angels and good
spirits and the forces of righteousness
encounter us OH this stage of life? Of
course | do, or | would not be here.
would not be in the miserable business
of preaching gospel if it hadn't any
good news IN it, of talking about God
that was 'deader than doOr-nall." 1t
is because l believe in Almighty God as
a present, acting, supernatural force
operating by all agencies Within
His reach upon our hearts that
present His offers Of eternal life. But
you say to me. do you believe in the
existence of Satan?-IWanted tossay the
devil Smiles. but | think [ won't.
Laughter .'Do you believe in the eX-
istence of Satan?" 81 so read the
Scriptures" 'Have you ever seen it?''
mo, but [ have seen places where his
will is accomplished. [ have found
places on the earth where they do what
he wants done. When | walk about
among the churches Of all persuaSionS
and see this-not exactly the parti cular
tone of their creed as to how it balances
with mine; that is, of course think as
to how it balances with the truth-but
I'd rather ask this: Is the saving work
being done? Are the poor cared for? the
sick nursed? the hayward reclaimed?
the hungry fed? this all i'll the name of
the Master? If so, then believe that
the
Saving WORK rs Being DOnes
and if the Saviour's work is being done,
| cannot but think that He is not very
far off. So when | go down by one of
these dead-falls and see TIE wrecks that
are pushed out through the doors, see
the poor man robbed Of his earnings and
of his health and of his character and
of his standing and of his hope and of
his manhood, and when | see them take
our clean boys and transform them into
blear-eyed, bloated, oozing, staggering,
filthy incarnations of disease and de
pravity, then l cannot but believe that
Satanjs work is being done. and [ can
not think otherw Use than that Satan is
not very far off.
Now, then, we aIe in the midst of
these great forces. and they move upon
us to mould and fashion our characters,
knowing that we are immortal. So far
that is pretty good. old-faShioned ortho-
doX faith, and if you will accept it it
will do you good. 1t is not so weak and
so badly emasculated that if you took
the whole of it you would be worse off