The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1894-12-26
Outline of Sermon Preached by Rev.
w. G. Schoppe, Sunday Evening,

-...1-1.-1a-.-a
Outline of Sermon Preached by Rev.
w. G.. SchOppe, Sunday Evening,
Dec. 23d, 1894.
TEXT, Matt 28: l9. Go ye, therefore. and
teach all nations bapuzing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.
SUBJECT. The Trinity is the faith of ancient
martyrs and modern philosophers.
Its mystery is no objection to it. Huxley
said: The mysteries of the church are child
play, compared with the mysteries of nature
The doctrine of the Trinity is not more puzzling
than the necessary antimonies of physical spec
uaton. Life, on earth, is complex. The law
is admitted that rise in the scale of life, it
grows more complex, while unity is preserved.
Hence there must be variety in this absolute
being. Hegel says The Trinity is the pole oil
the world. Coleridge first preached against it,
then proclaimed it as the basis of his teaching |
He was followed by line of illustrious teach
ers, in movement that brought the strongest |
inlellects back to belief in the ancient faith.
1st. The Trinity asserts the kinship between |
God and man. Divinity became incarnated IN |
human flesh. In it alone men feel the Divine |
heart throb. Gods friendship to man IS not on
an ideal, but on a historic basis, God gave him
self to man. Hugh Miller said, ''Creation and
Creator met at one point and in one person.
The long ascending line from dead matter to
man has been progress God-ward. Destined,
from the beginning, to form point OF union,
and occupying that point, as Creator, and Gre
ated, we recognize the ad 1rable monarch OF all
the future" Viii this ever enlarg1ng expression
of love- this self-impartatlon OF the Deity tor the
good and glory OF man, before that point OF
| personal unity between God and man is reached,
/ turn back on itself and leave love uncrowned
] Ii So the revelation of love is incomplete; the
incarnation is its highest conceivable expression.
/ Herbert Spencer claims that progress has been
| fhrot,Oh phOsen individuals that all things
spire to produce richly endowed individual
forms and from these the higher type is produc-
| ed He asks, Is 1t not just possible that there
should be higher point of life than that OF
which we can gam conception from our own
personality" Then we ask, shall the process
stop in the broad level of humanity, or reach
one crowning point2
| Newman Smythe said: {" 1t would be in ac-
cordance with the whole analogy of the previ-
Gus ascent in the individualizaton of nature, if
after the common plane of humanity is reached
the process of selection should continue. if we
should find evidence, within the historic period,
of the natural selection of an Abraham and his
descendants; if thousand forces should COM
bine to produce peculiar people; if upon that
highly favored stem should appear, at last hu-
maniues' consumate flower. -
Thus science points to the Incarnation-God
. and man unite in single personality
This is the only clear evidence of kinship be-
tween the Divine and the human,
2nd Tne Trinity asserts the ethical nature
} of God Back of all time, the Father gave him
self to the Son, and the Son rendered back af
lection to the Father. Thus the triune nature
makes God social being-Fatherhood eterna
and real
DR.. Gordon says " Is the term Father mere
ly fine name carried back from human rela
tions, and given in vain compliment to the Inf
mite: who has sent no clear token into history
that he is Father at all? 1t is mighty venture
: to call the Absolute Father apart from the Son
r ship of Iesus Christ. Love is impossible in the
3 heart of bare unit. The Eternal distinction
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, makes faith in th
eternal love ineligible, and provides for ths
whole relational, and therefore ethical life O
t mankind ground in the being of the Infinite
= Maurice said " We have sometimes fanciee
we could dwell simply in the thought ola Faith
err all else was unnecessary; but soon we sale
it was a mere name, under which we collected
: our ideas How rejoiced is the heart to pas
e from such a cold void to the thought of Son
| filled with all human sympathy
ard. The Trinity -rts the Divine lntelll
gence- 1t requires eternal subject and object
: Those who deny Gods positive relation in tn
e incarnated Son soon drop belief In Divine pei
sonality, and speak of God as law or principle
This was the history of Deism it is the rapi
drift of modern liberalism.
Stories of incarnations in other religions al
e simply expressions of mans longing tor som
/. definite expression of the Deity. They al
r broken lights of God.
Profes or Flint says (Article in the Britanic
on Thelsm): This revelation completed, Go
can be thought of as absolute Spirit. Low
Good, and was SO represented in the New Te
lament 1t is precisely in virtue of its threefol
representation of God, that Christianity is hel
by many of the worlds profoundest thinkers
the absolute and perfect religion; the crow
and consummation of religion, an absolute rev
" elatJOn nj God and a nerteCt salvation with
Is which there may be infinite evolution and pr
3, gresS but beyond which there can be no trr
is light and real growth. 1t affirms the unity
God. not as sterile, monstrous simplicity but
% a unity of infinite fulness of life and love-"
lie 4th. The Trinity asserts the working force
Is Christianity. 1t shows how G ID stands towar
a humanity. The Fathers love is eternal.
has sacrificed itself in the Sons redemption;
- breathes in the Spirits quckening power. tn
le triune faith is attested by Christian experienc
l. 1t inspires the worlds religious progress it WI
d the martyrs religion.
- Speculation about exact distinctions in th
- God-head is Improbable. Belief In the elemeI
y of the Trinity is vital.
Phillips Brooks said: In the manifoldne
" of HIS heing, Creator, Redeemer, Sanctiht
20 easily make themselves known to the huma
- llfe. I tell the story of them and that IS n
II doctrine of the Trinity. Our need is the avenl
4 of intelligence 1t is not for to catalogl
,e or inventory Deity; only in humble gratitude
n bear one witness to the manifestation of Go
for our salvation; SO our doctrine of the Trini
is our account of what we know of God"
Charles Kingsley wrote: My heart demand
2, the Trinity, as well as my reason; l want to
!, SURE that God Is Father; that He has sacrifice
Himself for u.s. l do MT want to love Chris
- whose will and character for aught l know
2 may be different from Gods. l want to 10y
g the Atysmal himself; none other will satisfy m
e Nothing shall rob me of this rest for my hear
~ That Christ is the exact counterpart of Him,
= whom we live, and move and have our bein
. The whole spiritual nature of man cries out ft
IS this truth "
Later, when dying. he said: "Only in fa
"a and love OF the incarnated, one Savior can Ii
cleverest as well as the simplest find peace wit
e God {" In this faith, says his wife, "he ha
e lived, and in this he died, humble, confiden
If unbewildered The last words his daughtt
c heard him say, were, How beautiful God IS
Thus 1t is the faith of ancient martyrs an
y modern losophers-FATHER, Son AND HI
II LY GHOST.