The herald., 1895-10-14
YESTERDAY At The CHURCHES
Sermon on "What Is God ?" at
Unity by the Pastor
JUDGE WIDNEY'S ADDRESS
Spiriiualists Listen to Marriage Here
and Hereafter"
Abbott CIark's Discourse on "Proof Of Rein
carnation Bishop nontgomery's Sermon
at Azusa-Y. w. c. A. neeting

The sermon at Unity church by the
pastor, J. S. Thomson, yesterday morn
ing, was an answer to the question,
What is God?" The text was ChrIst's
definition of God-"God is spirit. -
John AGA.
elements-inhnity, eternity and matter.
We have an apprehension OF these ele.
ments in our own experience of time,
space and matter. No one can deny
these elements. Life enters the physical
universe as a fourth element; and life,
as we know it, has these factors-power,
wisdom, justice, emotion, spirit. These
ia tors of mind are evident in the works
OF nature; and therefore we infer that
the universe is the expression of mind,
and that this mind is powerful, wise,
Just, loving and spiritual. Every day
some mind must come to this conclusion;
and every sane mind has come to the
conclusion since the advent of man upon
earth.
Life, then. has made the works of
nature. But life is being and existence.
Science shows us that force IS potential
and kinetic. The mill dam is potential
the running water upon the wheel is
kinetic. A morse in the stable is poten-
tial energy; but when he pulls a wagon
he is kinetIc energy. Life is like force
u IS sometimes in repose and sometimes
in action. Gods life in the works of
the universe is Gods existence. His life
In repose, his potential life, his life not
in action. is his being. This being of
God Christ calls spirit. not a spirit, but
absolute spirit. This is the highest con-
ception of God.
God is conscious OF everything in the
universe and he is concsious of his own
being; but he is not personal. because he
is not medium for any superior power
to work through. We call the characters
In play dramatIs personae. The author
OF the play speaks through them. They
are his media. On the ancient stage the
actor wore mask to enable him to be
seen ny the vast audience and to be heard
by all. 1t is unfortunate that theology
borrowed this term from the ancient the
alter and applied it to the divine Being.
When we call God personal we lower
him to the level of an actor on the an
Gent stage, we make him in the likeness
OF man, we give him hands, feet. ears,
| a nose, mouth, and we put q man on
the throne of the universe. Surely OLD
niscience and omnipresence should not
need anything like our poor faculties.
1t is no excuse to say that human lam
guage is inadequate to express our concep
ton OF God. We know that; but whv
should we call him personal, when the
term conscious would be true and express
siveP Would it not be better to adopt
the definition of Christ, "God is
spirit? All men and animals are per-
sonal. because they are mediums for the
divine Being to work through. Angels
are personal. Christ was and is per-
sonol, for he said God lived in
him and did his works.
Everything that our eyes rest upon
proves that nothing was produced by
a -
natures agencies The eleven motions
of the earth, the movements of the
| planets, the ebb and flow of the tides, the
regularity of the seasons. the exquisite
creation of the human body, these things
are not the work of blind chance. Tie
whole universe, so far as we can observe
It, is the expression of order, regularity,
beauty, law. We live in a universe that
Is filled with the presence, the mind, the
heart, the justice, of our Father in
heaven.
No spirit has ever seen God in his be.
ing. A spirit that could see God must
be infinite, eternal and omniscient. Nor
will anyone ever be able to see the BODY
of God; for that body is the infinite uni
verse. We cannot see the spirits of our
friends. We see their bodies only. But
we do not see the real causes and agents
netisn, life. love. thought, conscience,
law; yet these are the real things.
We are to worship God with our reason,
conscience, emotion: bTt Christ informs
US that God Is expecting the children
OF men to worship them with their spirit.
He seeketh such to worship him.
Churches are useful only in so far as they
influence us to rise into the su blime
| worship Of spirit with spirit of being
with being. to meet God above the clouds
OF earth in the pure region of the eternal
| life.
Those who live with God in these
| regions are never sick, weak, fearful nor
| sinful. Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist,
| Socrates. Bu0dha. Zoroaster, were not
| sick. Christ, who lived in the bosom of
the eternal Father, was able to heal dis
eases of all kinds, to raise the dead, and
to cast out devils. All power was given
unto him. The powers of the universe
were placed at the disposal of him who
| could say and teach that God is spirit
and seeketh to he worshlped in spirit
and in truth. We are ali weak, sick
cowaruly, sinful, because we are not
striving to be like Christ-striving to
touch Gods spirit with our spirits
| striving to feel the eternal life which
Christ preached and lived.
With the Spiritualists
W. ]. Colvlile lectured in Music hall at
2.30 p. m. yesterday on True Marriage
| Here and Hereafter.
| The discourse was founded upon the
gospel story of a certain lawyer approach
| ing Jesus with question concerning
whose wife woman would be in the res :
direction state who had lived in legiti-
mate wedlock with seven husbands in
succession on earth. The answer given
IS very enigmatical unless the reader is
acquainted with the ancient philosopbi-
cal conception of angels, but with this
knowledge the reply which reads: "Tbey
neither marry or are given in marriage,
| but are as the angels" is at once clear.
| The angelic or celestial state as de-
| scribed by seers of old ages agrees per-
| fecty with the later renditiops of Swed-
| enborg, who, in his treatise entitled Con-
| jugal Love and Its Chaste Delights. pic.
| lures the ideal life of two in one in
heaven. The angelic state is one of ma
| turty, which is sym bolcally represented
| by young men and women in q state of
| fadsless youth. When Dante escorted by
| Virgil passed through purgatoral states
! he reached at length the gate of paradise,
| where Beatrice. his soul mate, met him.
ard together they explored celestial circles
| which neither could perceive alone. Mar
riage ON earth as a civil and encIes ias-
| tical ordinance is for a limited L me only.
| for the words until death parts" are in
| the marriage ritual. The Catholic church,
| which regards matrimony as one of the
seven sacraments, allows widows and
| wiuowers to marry again, but in cases