St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-19
KNOWING THY GOD.
THE PRIEST GOVERNS THE
CHURCH, THE KING THE
STATE.
THE PROPHETIC MESSAGE.
SHALL WE COME TO THAT PER-
feet LOVE THAT CAsTETH
OUT FEAR:
mon of DIR. Smith ut the Peo-
pIe,s Church.

AT 1880 yesterday DR.. Smith
preached to a large congregation
from the text Hosea vi, 3. The
discourse was very able one. The
talented basso of the choir of st.
Pauls Universalist church, Chicago,
William Alton Denich, pleased the
congregation with his solos, singing
the profound 1.-The Coming of the
King" In the evening Rev. c. H.
Fem delivered a sermon especially
to the young people that was full
Of sound practical advice. The fol-
lowing is DR.. Smiths sermon:
Hosea vi, 8: Then shall we know
if we follow on to know the Lord,
his going forth is prepared as the
morning, and He shall come upon
US as the rain, as the early and the
latter rain upon the earth" The
mission of the prophet is carefully
marked off from that of the priest
or the king. The priest has gov
erned the church, and the king has
governed the state, while the prophet
has furnished the principles both con-
Structive and destructive which have
created empires or overthroWn dy-
naSties.
1t is foolish mistake to describe
prophet as foreteller of the future
and then calculate his power by the
number Of his predictions that have
been fulfilled. The future was never
to the prophet more than a fore
ground for the mighty present, and
his word was to his own generation.
His word of warning or of promise
he emphasized by an appeal to his
tory and a moral command of the
future. The prophet was seer, mes
senger, proclaimer. He had caught
sight of the moral glory of life, of
nature, of politics. With burning
lips he sought to spell out in human
words as well as he might, things
hard indeed to hear, but more diff
cult of utterance. Two principles, it
seems to me, will furnish an ex-
PLANTATION of all that the Hebrew
prophets had to say. They believed
in the doom of evil-evil counsels,
evil actions, evil men. They be-
lieved in the triumph of good over
men, over nations, everywhere in
Gods world. Given these two prin-
ciples with which to read, and all
the dark sayings of the holy men of
old become clear.
The special office Of the prophet Of
modern times may seem to be done
away. At least it is disguised, but
today as always, it is the man who
believes that what ought to be, will
be, who leads us in business, who
masters us in statecraft and who
guides us in religion. Cavour was a
prophet in this sense, and so was
John Knox. Our teacher this morn
| ing gives the secret Of the prophetic
message and power. His word is
a passage from the psalm Of the
| good He believes in providence.
He tells US why.
The prophet bases his work on the
conviction that there is a God whom
we may know, and knowing may be-
| lieve in.
In the realm of the understanding
modern knowledge has wonderfully
multiplied our arguments for God. The
! /,
the feathers of the birds wing are
counted; living things are fertilizers
! of plants; the whole sky is a black
! board on which a, Divine Hand writes
problems with suns for characters, IL
Illustrating the problems of the higher
mathematics This form of argument
| is stronger today than ever The
Maker of the universe was a scientific
| =,
is the revelation of God to the man
| of learning, and by him to all other
men. But the prophetic appeal lies to
each individual. 1t is not a race revel-
alton within the scope of culture, but
a revelation to each individual in the
home of the heart, the higher reason of
the soul. The man who does not know
God is out of harmony with the world
in which he lives. The senses reveal
the world of matter, but religious ex-
perience is higher sort of sense per-
ception, it is the perception of what
is blindly called the supernatural. But
! the supernatural is not the unreal, it
is the only vital world. 1t is har-
moniouS with law. 1t is as full of
majesty as it is of power. 1t is the
being of God and the spiritual mani
| truth. The senses report to US what
we can at length depend upon in the
world of phenomena The opinions of
the individual are corrected by the
/ experiences Of the race, and so we
live in relation to the material world.
Man is made for this universal divine
world. 1t reports itself to the soul.
1t comes in the voices of his moral
| hGincr in ha tot
So does he know God-not because he
Is a. scientist or logician, but because
he is a man. This prophet evidently
mad In mind an expanding soul, for he
talks of growing vision. Then shall
we know If we follow on to know the
Lord. There is a historical picture of
what is meant in the DEVELOPMENT of
Moses. Shepherd as he had become.
called one day into the heights of
Horeb, he saw a bush burn uncon-
sumed. Let US not wonder overmuch
at his privilege-such sights in truth
await US all, If we have eyes to see.
rms man grew reverent and hid his
lace, for he burst not look upon God.
That was at the sight of a bush tina I
burned and was not consumed. But
TINS man went down into Egypt. In
struggle, in plaques. in flight and IN
leadership in the wilderness he was
learning more about God. Unmoyed
was he now when the holy pillar of
fire guarded his people by night or
changed to cloud gave them direction
by day. Ripened by all his expert
ences at length he finds himself once
more in the rocky Businesses. and now
ne goes up on the mountain top, while
the clouds shut him in that he NAV
talk with God. The rapture has en-
larged his soul, and at length in the
consuming passion of his worship. he
cries out, 81 beseech thee, Oh God
show me thy glory!' And this was the
man who began by hiding his ewes
when bush burned and was not con.
sumed. So we in the beginnings OF