The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-10-24
YVES, Herod, with his purple
BY REV. GEO. L. Perrin, D. D.

he gave up the gnOsJ anu was eaten
of worms-buh. But what? But the
aCord of God gre,U and multiplied.
In the long run it does not matter
much to the word of God whether
the Herods live or die. Looked at
from the temporary point of view, it
often seems to matter great deal.
We are dismayed at the advent of
some eloquent adversary of the
truth. Disaster seems to stare us in
the face. The battle comes on, the
smoke clears away, and I'VE discover
that truth did not even pause to see
the issue of the contest. 1t went
marching on right through the din
and heat of the battle. In the same
way we are often disheartened by
the death of some earnest champion.
God has use for men of thought and
action, but the truth is greater than
all its instruments. Servants come
and go. God lives. He is superin-
tending the progress of his truth.
He uses men, but he does not depend
upon any one of them, exclusively,
however great.
But think of Gods word growing!
The idea is rather shocking, is it nots
How can Gods word grows Is it
capable of expansion or improve
ment? Can man enlarge upon it and
make it more? Can there be more of
it in the world at one time than
another? Shocking for Gods word
to grow and multiply Yes, it is'
if it is also shocking for Gods wheat
and corn and flowers and trees to
grow and multiply. Look at the text.
What does it show us? Does it not
show us Gods word from the human
point of view, that is, relative to man?
If you take up an acorn and look~at
it, what do you see? You see seed
of tree with the shell on7 Break
the shell and what do you see9 You
see a white, starchy substance which
by experience you know to be the
seed of tree with the shell off.
What you see then is a seed. What
God sees is tree. Plant the seed
and wait awhile and you shall see
Gods word multiplied. Turn an egg
all over, and look at it with or with
out a microscope, and what do you
see? You see only an egg. Nothing
more. God sees bird of paradise
or some other living creature quite
as wonderful from his point of view.
Apply the warmth till the egg matches
and you shall see once more Gods
word multiplied. 1t is ever SO and so
everywhere.
I. l would like now to show you
few examples of the multiplication of
Gods word.
a. 1t mag be seen IN the progress
of the Christian Church. What was
to become of the Masters cause when
Jesus dieds That was what all the
disciples wanted to know. So little
faith had they in the Immortality of
his truth that they were ready to dis
perse after his crucifxion in despair.
But the amazing thing is that after
the vision of the resurrection he seems
to have had more power absent than
present His spiritual influence be-
came electric. Christ deadl Yes,
but more alive than ever. But at
best there were left less than dozen
uncultured preachers. What was to
become of any cause in such hands?
There was only one thing for such
cause. 1t must grow. Stephen died,
but Paul was born. At the death of
Stephen there were but a handful of
obscure disciples. Thirty years later
there were 250,000. Then came the
awful prosecutions of Nero, so wildly
recalled by Wilson Barretts new
play. Then came the prosecutions of
Domitian and Trajan between AID.
95 and III. What of it? What mat
tered persecutions7 For the Chris
tian community has grown to $780,
600 souls. Then followed the perse-
cutions of Marcus Aurelius, when
Justin Martyr and Polycarp were
slain. After this the persecution of
Septimius. and another hundred
years have rolled around. How nowi
Is Christianity crushed7 Yes, crushed
as Gods word is always crushed, for
now there are 100000 Christians.
During the next hundred years there
were the prosecutions of Maximian,
Decius, Valerian, Aurelian and Do
cletian. Thousands of Christians
persisted, but meanwhile, at the end
of the third century, Gods word had
multiplied into 100000 Christian
disciples. Two hundred years later
there were 100000. Time rolled
on, and in the tenth century they had
multiplied into 40,OOO,OOO; in the
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