Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-11-10
"sUPERNATuRAL REVELATION"
Rev. Mr.. scnton breaches n striking
Sermon on This Theme.

Sermon on This Theme.
Rev. Joseph NJ. seaton. Of the First
Unitarian church, delivered the first Of
a series Of sermons on THE Being OF
God" Sunday evening. The speaker
dealt with the question OF how God first
revealed himself to man. or how man
first arrived az a knowledge OF God.
After discussing the various theories OF
the materialsts, sensatonaIists. and III
tuitionalists as to the origin OF the COD
idea, the speaker said:
There remains one theory OF the origin
of the concept Of Supreme Being, when
must be noticed in conclusion. This Is
the theory Of Gods personal revelation
OF Himself 10 man. This theory, although
not accepted by any intelligent philoso-
phical thinker OF to-day. cannot be passed
over, because II is the theory upon
which is based nine tenths OF the theolo-
gy OF the present day. The question
may be asked. How Is IL possible If this
theory Is not accepted By any intelligent
philosopher OF to-day, that ii can be
the basis Of nine tenths Of the theology
The answer is easy to.iind. Nine tenths
of the theology and intelligent philosophy
long since parted company. The theory
is that some six thousand years ago Coz
presented Himself TO "A certain couple,
Adam and Eve, whom He had just Gre
ated and placed In certain garden. As
Adam and Eve. according to the story,
are the first couple on the earth. this,
OF course, must have been the first APP
pearance OF God TO man. Thus. not only
that God was. but what He looked like,
might have been transmitted to the whole
human race II God did so appear
TO our first parents, all our elaborate
argument heretofore as 10 the rise or
the concept has been useless. for here
Is a simple statement OF the whole mat
ter; Those who can bring themselves TO
accept the idea that the Infinite as
surned bodily form and came TO earth
and walked about In the cool OF the eve
ming. and introduced Himself to man..
have an easy way out OF the difficulty:
but to those who have a higher and
more exalted idea OF God the theory IS
wholly unsatisfactory. In truth. this
thought OF man Cod who could walk
upon the surface OF the earth and hold
conversation with men. would do for the
childhood Of the race but insults the in
teliigence Of the present age
REVELATION THROUGH THE SPIRIT
"The intuitional theory is theory ot
revelation through the spirit. and not
through bodily presence. II the theory
Of revelation through intuition be re-
jected as not wholly true. how much
more must this grosser form OF thought
be rejected. which cannot by any philo-
sophical method be found 70 be even par
TALLY true? Suppose Il be allowed that
God did so present Himself TO our first
parents they woulG have been unable to
comprehend His declaration Of His deity;
for, by presuppostion. the minds Of both
are entirely void of the concept and they
are wholly without experience I'm the ma
~ III Z. Il
q concept OF any kind completely. Until
II has the power of the association OF
ideas. If / say TO my S-year-old boy, L
have seen an elephant he will be no
wiser than before. If he has never seen
one. until / travel by means OF those
things he has seen to a description OF
that which he has not seen. So to our
first parents, wholly lacking the first
principle of the concept Of Deity. or the
Infinite, and totally void OF experience.
there could have been no revelation Of
an idea that their minds were wholly
incapable of receiving. To them the
declaration, I am the Infinite or, I am
God could have no more meaning than
so much sound. So then, against the
theory of Gods personal revelation OF
Himself. we have these two objections
first, that the Infinite would not or could
not manifest Himself i'm such a gross,
materialistic way: and, second. the psy-
Geological impossbility of primitive man
receiving such n revelation. We might
pause here to say a word on the value
OF the so-called revelation OF God or
Himself IN the Old Testament. We know
that this revelation is relied upon by
some good people as the only sure proof
Of the existence of God. After a mo-
ments reflection. we think they will see
that this is not true.
GOD AND THE BIBLE.
'The Bible does rot prove the existence
OF God. on the contrary, the Bible is
only the record Of what men have thought
about God. Instead of man obtaining his
God-consciousnes from the Bible. the
God-consciOusnes OF man gave US the
Bible. So that. with the Bible or with
out the Bible the thought Of God must
have grown with the growth OF the hu-
man race Without the God-idea first
the Bible never could haye come into ex-
istence. Clearly. then, the Bible did not
furnish the human race with the idea
God. the Infinite. In treating this sub
iect, then we have come to something
like the following conclusion: The con-
cept of a Supreme Being is the product
of growth, and is not furnished ready
made and complete, either by intuition
or personal revelation; neither Is the
concert entirely subjective, nor cntlfeiy
sensational but is the product of both
We plant the small seed in the earth
If planted too deeply II lies dormant for
years. But If planted so that the rain
and heat and the influence Of light can
play upon It, Il becomes in time a mighty
tree So, this power OF concept forming
which Is peculiar 10 the mind. this God
consciousness I'm primitive man was in
the germ-in some races so small that
we see as yet only a promise Of that
which is TO come In others, this con-
sclousness, nurtured and stimulated by
the thousand forces which have played
upon il for centuries. Is growing and
rising into noble and lofty proportions.
with this conception OF the rise Of the
God-idea we put ourselves in line with
the universal law, which seems to per-
wade the world, and open boundless OPP
portunity for progress I'm the future. out
of the darkness OF the past, slowly. by
long and toilsOme processes, man has
emerged into the morning of the present.
1t is our highest hope and our strong
est inspiration that we stand only at
the rising of the sun upon the day Of
truth in the thought of God. The most
beautiful vision of ali our dreams is the
one in which, centuries hence, we seem
TO see this sun shining in midday splen-
dor. and a knowledge of God covering
the earth, as the waters cover the sea- ="
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