The herald., 1896-05-11
Some Of the Sermons That
Were Delivered
CREATION THROUGH AGENTS
Value OF Conscientious Work Dwelt
Upon at Unity
Coy Evangelist at Simpson TabernaeIe-A
Theosophist on the vssaries Of Spirit.
uailsm-Othef Addresses

yesterday morning, the pastor or
Unity church, the Rev. ]. S. Thomson,
preached a sermon on the question, Did
God Create the World Through Agents?
using the text, the word was God, John
IL. He said In part:
God employs all angels, persons.
creatures and laws in the creation OF
worlds; and he is frequently represent
ed az doing himself what Is done by his
agents. He destroyed the world in the
days Of Noah. but 1t was his srains winds
and other agents that drowned the diso
bedient. He overthrew Jerusalem; but
IT was his agent, the Roman army, that
destroyed the city. Caesar conquered
Gaul but 1t was his soldiers that ac-
complished the victory under his skilful
command.
''The first verse of the first chapter of
Genesis should be translated Gods
created the heavens and earth. for the
Hebrew word, translated God, is plural
and Joined to a verb in the singular. He
Drew grammarians call a noun, plural
IN form and Joined to verb in the Sill
gular. noun of excellence correspond
ing with our noun Of multitude or col
lective noun. We now often use the
phrase United States with verb in the
singular. as the United States Is pow
erful nation The phrase signifies q
group, or a collection, or a combina-
ton. or a union, Of states. The Elohim
OF the first verse Of Genesis involves
plurality just as United States involves
the idea of plurality. SO the gods, under
the direction of the Eternal, made the
worlds. Such statements as let us make
man In our image after our likeness
Genesis 1920. and the man Is become as
one of us Genesis iii:22), and let us go
down Genesis KID, show that a coun-
Gil of the gods was held to discuss the
cation, and OF The confusion of tongues,
and that the Almighty created the earth
and man and stopped the building of the
tower of Babel through agencies of in
ferior deities.
Jacob saw angels. or gods. ascend
he consecrated a pillar to these divini-
ties. The gnOstics believe that God
made q spot of darkness in the pleroma
Of light. that he commanded an aeon
to create the material universe out of
the dark spot, that the aeon, after maxi
ing man and animals out of darkness
and few rays of light became ambi-
tfous to usurp the place of the Eternal
in the thoughts and affections of the in
habitants of the earth. and that to ef-
feet his purpose he concealed the truth
from them, and that an aeon, called
Christ. came to destroy the works of the
prince of this world and that the Christ
aeon descended upon Christ at his bap-
tism, and left him before his suffering
upon the cross.
I'm the eighth chapter of Proverbs
Wisdom Is an aeon, and lived with God
before the creation, and co-opera ted
with him In making worlds. and was the
life and the light Of men. This is gnosti-
cism. In the first chapter of Johns gos-
pei the word was with God in the be.
ginning. was god. and was also the
aeon through whom God created the
world. The word was life and the light
of men, We see a great similarity be-
tween the eighth chapter OF Proverbs
and the first chapter of John. John was
a gnostic himself. but he claimed that
Christ and not the prince of the world,
created the world. and that he was iii
carnated in Jesus; and in these two
particulars. he differed from his gnos-
tic neighbors.
Angels are not idle beings, and they
may be making planets in the outlying
regions of the physical universe and
preparing places for the millions of
spirits who annually emigrate from our
earth. And Christ said. / go to prepare
place for you Darwin proved that
worms are Gods agents to make the sol!
for vegetation. The chalk hills and the
Sandwich islands are the productions oe
decillions of creatures in past ages. We
are o-workers with theEternal in trans
forming the universe to his divine plans.
He works now through us. To work
consciously and willingly with the crea-
tor in the progress of his universe is to
enjoy the highest heaven. The old heav-
en- of lazy. useless and nom progressive
souls would be hell to disciple Of
Christ.
Adam and Eve never knew what life
Is and what happiness is, until they
ceased to be curiosities for the gods In
the menagerie of Eden, and went out
into the earth to work with God in max
ing earth a paradise. Work, true, con-
scientious. skilful work, In co-opera-
tion with God. is the only heaven in any
world. Idleness Is both hell and the
breeder of hell. In the parable of the
talents. Christ teaches that fidelity is
an essential factor in Gods promotion
of human spirits. The man who was
faithful in a few things was made ruler
over many things. but the man who bur-
led his talent in the earth, and who was
unfaithful in the least. could not be
trusted with the true riches, with the
important places of trust in the un-
seen world. According to the civil serv-
ice of Christ's gospel. the lazy, noisy
and selfish Christians who would, If they
could let Christ pay it all for them, will
hear the words Depart from me, We
that work iniquity."
Simpson Tabernacle
Simpson tabernacle was largely at
tended yesterday morning. The Rev.
G. C. Mclean preached an eloquent and
instructive sermon on the true church
Ol IOu LII the CNCiliiE INCN. h.VhlSOll-
heiner, the boy. evangelist, preached
from the words. "Ye must be born
again."
The baptism Of the body with water
is naught unless the soul is baptized by
the Holy Spirit, for it is the saving of the
soul that tells for the character of the
man. Morality Is a glorious thing, but
1t does not save the soul. The keeping
of the law is good, but it does not regen-
crate the human heart. The law re-
veals sin. but 1t needs the Holy Spirit
to eradicate 1t from the human heart.
How can you be saved? There is
only one way-except man be born
again he cannot enter the kingdom of
God. The mystery of regeneration is
great, but there are greater mysteries
than this, and many that will not be
solved until we enter upon the eternal"
How is 1t that can think and convey
the thoughts of my mind to you?" Can
you understand this? Can you explain
IT? Nicodemus could not understand
this new birth and Christ gave the SIM
pie illustration. The wind bloweth
where 1T listeth. and we know not whence
II came or whittier 1t goeth. don't
pelleve If an angel should wing his way
from heaven tonight and take this plat
FORM that he could make the plan Of
salvation palmer than Christ has made
II. You may travel this land over and
see us great wonders, look upon the
towering trees of the redwood
forests as their top seems to touch
the clouds. but unless you are born
again you will never see the tree of life