The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-03-19
A DAY IN HAPERNAUN.
REV. Or. ~. d. YOUNG TELLS or A
LOVE GREA TER THAN A THEIRS.
The Miracle the Door OF Entrance to.tbe
eooi--Ma,eriai tho Letter Blocks whh
Which God sp,ls Highest Truths

No preacher In Richmond has made a
finer impression upon the public at large
taan Rev. Dr. w. i. Young. pastor of
Park-Placo Methodist church.
lie is entirely original in style, pecu-
Iiarly earnest and eloquent. His ser
mons attract much attention and fire.
Quenuy the church IS crowded. the con-
Sregat!ons being made mp largely OF
Watou
lie preached Sunday morning TO large
audience. taking as his text Mark h.ySi'
~. And at even, when the sun ala
SCI. they brought unto Him all that were
diseased. and them that were possessed
with devils. and all the city was gatnef-
cd together al the door
No scene in Christs life more cor
Tectly represents the relation between
God and man Made Of the same stun,
possessing the same affections, thinking
the same thoughts. they yearn after each
other. the Father longing TO help His
suffering child and the child longing 10
be healed. Man seeks God and finds that
all the while God has been seeking him.
II IS as when he home-siCk boy az school,
awake all night with longing for the old
home finds on the morrow a letter that
tells him how those az home are almost
sick with longing after him.
on Gods side there was need TO let
the world know what lie Is and TO put
himself where man can get at him.
While 10 is important 10 keep ever In
mmd the substitutiona idea Of the
atonement. We need 10 emphasize more
than we have the value of the revea-
ton given 10 US of Gtd in Jesus How
this draws the world 20 Him. II binds
us TO Him the more, as by years Of con-
tact We understand Him better. To know
God and Christ is eternal life SO friend
ship grows between man and man, as
each through long years knows the other
better SO mother love Is dearer TO ms
when IN after life we know more what II
means. ana wish a thousand times we
could recall the hasty words or now had
= chance 10 obey the mothers call. What
We call magnetism I'm man is that
power to open up his inmost self and
make us take il in We misunderstood
the deeds of others and the dead words
they put IN letter or printed page; there
SIS need OF personal daily contact. II Is
but day or two since a letter written
b. me, in sympathy for a friend or
former days, WAS understood as a re-
God in His providences. His dealings
with men, even in His written word, is
so often beyond as. Christ makes us
know the Father
DRAWN TO THE FATHER.
The life and death Of Jesus puts the
Father where we may come to Him. and
az the same time long so to do. I'm the
ages gone men had turned iuetuctively
wherever they saw God working. They
had bowed down before the sun, before
the fire, they made sacred that spot. or
even stick. that witnessed a turning point
OF life. But every step had shown "a
dread OF the unseen power. they did not
love, they did not know Him. How the
Old Testament saints longcd 10 come
into His presence and have their trou-
blcs solved. Job cried, GO, that | knew
whore / might find Him; / would fiji my
mouth with arguments Jesus stands
God with us. God In human flesh, God
with anger turned away and TO Him the
world wants 10 go with every heart
ache, every woe. The disciples went to
Him with every question that perplexed
them-they were like children who
around the mothers knee wear her out
with questions. with no meaning in them
often, but questions that annoy them
only He never grew tired. He drew TO
Him all the diseased and troubled, and
uaUght could keep them away-the roof
of tho house is torn up one day TO let
one through.
on mans side there is need TO realize
his Ills Physical i'll is felt more quickly
and more keenly than spiritual III. and
80 the sick came to Jesus when the sinful
with bodies strong did not come. Jesus
came TO make men feel their needs. No
doubt it was true even Of the diseased
that they had in some hopeless cases de-
termined 10 make the best of IT, and had
tried TO persuade themselves IL was after
all not so bad as they hrst had thought,
or continued TO use the little remedies
OF the day. But when He came they at
once flockod TO Him and cried out their
needs as never before. So He made men
feel their SINS so lie has created disc0n-
tent with everything short of that per-
lection lOnged ana hoped t)r in individual
and In social life, the very restlessncss
OF the aga being one Of the trophies Of
the cross The aim anls OF men have
good IN them, for they drive TO Christ
I remember well how. when a boy my
mother would tell me her Joy when /
happened TO get hurt on the streets-joy
because IL would make the streets less
attractive and home more so, JOY
because the hurt drove me TO her. made
me know neI love. and gave her an OPP
portunity to lavish on me real sympathy
and love.
THE SPIRITUAL IN MAN
While primarily the aim Of Gods min
istrations is the spiritual in man, lie does
not forget the material and physical
ucods-iudeed lie attends 10 these, be-
cause otherwise lie could not reach the
higher man. The miracle was the door
of entrance into the soul. The material
s but the letter-hoCks with which God
spells out his highest truths Even
among men the discovery of some new
material has been step upward iu the
communication OF some idea or COncep-
ton OF the beautiful. What should We do
without granite or marble or bronze or
steel? SO God promises the day when
creation herself shall be recreated, when
the grooming now so often heard In her
midst shall cease. With equal 10y do
We hear of the day when the body shall
be raised "a spiritual body. no longer sub
ject 20 decay and able now at last to
communicate the thought within. How
often DO our headaches interfere with our
thinking our lips with our eloQuence,
OuJucyes with our far-om visions, our
ears with our hearing the best Of the
music? so the hungry stomachs Of the
poor. the unremunerat.Ve toll of the
working woman. the unsolved problems
of the industrial world. the many all
ments yet uncured in social life all cry
out TO God and interrupt the incoming
81 higher spiritual truths into the hearts
OF men.
So Jesus had so largely that element I'm
His ministry. lie worked miracles and
they were works OF love and mercy;
they were anucipations OF all those eff
forts that have been made and are still