The herald., 1895-09-15

The Hebrews call Him Adonai and
Assyrians call Hin Adad; the Greeks
call H i'm Theos; the Latins, Deus; the
French. Deu; the Spaniards. Dios the
Italians, Idio, and the Germans Gott.
AS the Creator Of man, Christians love
to designate Him as Father.
AS the savior from the being, the
power and the consequences of sin. He is
most dearly and nearly related to man.
REV. A. w. RIDER
OF the Memorial Baptist church: As
suming that the question What is God?
is asked in no captious spirit. but with
sincere desire to know, l would reply:
God is the personal. spiritual being. who,
everywhere present, all powerful, all
loving all wise. is the creator and sus-
taiEer of all things. Some of the his
toric definitions of God may be valuable
here:
1.-The eternal source of all that is tenn
poral"-Ebrard.
1.-THE infinite spirir"-Kaknis.
"An eternal uncaused, independent ne
cessity being that hath active power. life,
wisdom, goodness and whatsoever other
supposable excellency in the highest pei
lection in and of itself''-John Howe.
The spirit infinite. eternal and un-
changea5le in his being, wisdom; power.
holiness, goodness and truth"-West-
minister Catechism.
1.-THE first cause and last end OF all
things. Andrew Fuller.
God desires that men should know II I'm,
therefore He gave a revelation OF Himself
in his world, in His word and in the per-
son of Jesus Christ.
No study is more encouraged of God,
nor more richly blessed. land this is life
eternal to know Thee, the only true God
and him whom thou didst send, even
Jesus Christ" Let me urge the inquirer
not to be content with attaining q knowl-
edge "about God; What He Is" put to
seek personally to know God, who He is,
for this is life eternal.
REV. p. HARNETT,
Pastor of the Sacred Heart church !:
| In answering this question it Is necessary
to bear in mind that what is God?' and
"who is God?" are two very different
questions. The latter we shall not touch
upon, but shall confine ourselves to the
former. In giving definition of any
| thing, it is not necessary that all Its
attributes be included in the definition.
In fact. to include them would be all
mpossi bility. In everyday life new
properties Of matter are discovered which
were up to the time of discovery not
dreamed of. In defining therefore what
/ God is we must be content with giving
the primary attribute from which al
others flow, as the equality OF the radii
ofla circle flows from tho fact that circle
is round. To answer the question, there
fore. What is God? 1t is sufficient to say
that He is being infinitely perfect. II
it be sasked, what is being. in answer
it can be said: A being is anything tha'
exists. OF existing beings or things il
may be said chat some are self existing
kaI al kA1 Iaf
ter words OF the definition above giTen.
Infinitely perfect" exclude from Goo
the fact of being created and exclude
furthermore from Him the possibility
of being created being. The question
of our Correspondent does not seem tc
nature of God; hence we do not deem i
necessary to treat the matter in answe
to his query.
REV. n. G. er1ITHER
OF the First Christian church: Thi
question is indefinite anu confusing.
it Is meant to question the existence of
supreme being or to demand the evidenc
tnerefor, l shall not In these few word
venture to glve the requisite proofs Of
proposition more clearly sslf.evident thar
any other one in the world. If it il
meant to discover the nature of the Su
preme Being, then l should say his ma
ture is spiritual, as man in his soul lif.
is spiritual; that he is self-exihtent
4, though immortal in all his created
! works: as to his relation to the materia
! world. l should say he is its creator anC
| preserver; that all things physical NOV,
in obedience to his will as expressed il
the laws of the nasural world he il
mans creator. preserver and savior; mar
! has his superiority over the beasts be
cause he is made in the image of God
as believe, God is revealed in the physi
cal universe, in his guiding providehc,
over man in the history OF the raca anG
and clearly and perfectly in his son and
our SAVIOR, Jesus Christ In him, as
light in d prism, are the true nature anu
attributes of God revealed. To him we
owe our grandest spiritual conception oi
GOD. From him we draw our highest
and noblest life.
REV. BISHOP MORA
VI the diocese of Monterey and Los An
| geles:
God is the supreme being. the great
first cause and sovereign lord of all. He
! is almighty and eternal. He is q pure
spirit, no1-material, self-exsting, intel
ligent and free. He is essentially good
ness, truth and beauty. He is the high
est object of love. because He Is most
miable IN Himself. He IS an absolute
being and perfect in all respects. He is
supremely happy in Him self, and the
source of happiness to all rational beings
both in time and in eternity. He is
distinct from the universe.
God is split, most pure, most per-
feet, being the beginning and end of all
things, who renders TO everv one accord
ing to his deeds. whether they be good
or evil.
REV. j. p. FILBERT
OF the Church of Christ: what is
God?' My understanding Of this term
may conflict with the theology OF the
schools Of the day. yet it does not conflict
with the sacred scripture. 1t is succintly
stated that it is love impersonal, energy,
omnipotent power, principle. life, truth,
the all-pervading essence, infinite and
omnipresent spirit. All of these term s
are cetined as mind, not matter. and it is
in harmony with the Great Teachers .
statement in which he says: 1.-The
Spirit is God (alias Mind is God).
RABBI M. G. SOLOMON
OF the B'nai Birth congregation /:
''This is rather queer question. God
is infinite, and being infinite cannot oe
easily defined by finite being. All that
we attribute to him are the attributes of
man.
"God is the pure and immutable cause !;
the imminent and eminent power; Oh e
creator. the eternal, all-wise and ali.
just ruler of the universe. The ideas of
wisdom and justice are of men, and we