The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-10-02

Him all things were made, and with
out Him was not anything made that
was made" But unto the Son He
saith, "Thy throne oh God is forever
and ever, a scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy Kingdom" land
thou Lord in the beginning hast laid
the foundation of the earth, and the
heavens are the work of Thy hands,"
Not pebble on the shore nor planet
in the sky He did not create. What
ever defies perception by it's minute
ness, or exceeds comprehension by it's
magnitude; whatever attracts by it's
beauty or is fragranG through it's per-
tune; whatever is priced for it's
value or venerated for it's age; all were
created by Christ. He wears the crown
and yields the scepter of all. Not an
earthquake rocks the globe, not hur-
ricane yells over the bosom of the
deep; not flash leaps from the clouds,
nor bud peeps from the bough which
He does not unprison and charter for
it's mission.
All things were made by Him, and
all things reflect His glory. Creation
is Christ developed. The old Genesis
begins the story of our creation by
saying: sin the beginning God
created" The new Genesis infinitely
more profound, begins it's story by
saying, In the beginning was the
word" If we were to translate that
term "Word' with all the severity and
honesty of the atmosphere in which it
was born, have not the slightest
doubt that it would appear treason"
In the beginning was the reason, and
the reason was with God, and the rea-
son was God. According to that rea-
son was everything made that was
made. That is the utterance of this
author of the new Genesis as he writes
to the philosophers of all the world.
Himself. saturated at that moment
with Greek thought and with the
problem Of bringing Greek culture in
to the hand of Christianity. Before the
painting, there was the idea of the
painting in the brain of the Master.
Before the marble yielded to the chisel
of the sculptor there stood the
splendOr in the sculptors soul. Before
there was world or universe eX-
ternally, there abided reason for it,
and this reason was with God, and
this reason was God. In the history
of every great creation the reason for
III 10 CSSCuUldlly pCIoOuOl. liz 1hNDU
painting of modern times is the paint
ing that most of all reveals the soul of
the painter. The finest piece of archi-
lecture in our times is that piece Of
architecture which was the outgoing
of the spirit of man into lines and
angles, into pillars and browning
dome. Every where thegreat work
of the universe is personal work.
The reason is not only with the
artist for the art, the reason is not
only in the painter TOR his painting
but it is the painter. Every great
Grafton is the orator. Every great
poem is the poet. The reason for it is
his own personality. Away down be-
low the thing itself there lay in his
own actual existence such an impact
of pOwer-there were coiled up such
springs of energy that at last they
gave themselves out in the creation
itself. That is the story of our uni
verse; that is the philosophy which
lies under everything by which we are
surrounded in life. That is the his
tory of our universe according to our
loftiest science and according to this
most eloquent gospel ito the scholars
of the period. In the beginning was
the reason for the universe and the
reason for the universe was with God
and was God; it was God himself.
But that reason was made flesh, it
trOd the planet ia the hours In which
Jesus lived in Galilee. 1t stood amidst
men and uttered itself in eloQuence
that shall never fade from the memory
of mankind 1t gave command to the
dead; it stood face to face with the
miniOns of hell in their very citadelS
and triumphed. 1t has lived; it has
died; it has gone to the grave; 1t has
risen from the dead. That reason
for this universe at last crowned itself
on the slope of Olivet and went back
to God the Father. His reason re-
turns to him just as the thought of
the artist comes back to the brain and
heart of the artist bearing it's triumph,
and Jesus, King of kings and Lord of
lords, is the master of nature. He is
the owner of the planet; he holds in
his own self the regency of every foot
of it's land and every mile Of it's sea,
because from the beginning he was
Gods reason for it, and in the end, the
reason which was from the beginning
is the shining explanation the
glorious Interpretation that flashes
it's way from the ranges of being
down into it's deepest abyses and up
to the height of Gods commandment.
Jesus Christ our Lord was the
Master of nature when he came to
nature, because by him nature was
made. He could perform his miracles
with all the acknowledged of that
sublime sovereignty because it was
a necessary essential sovereignty. 1t
was his touch the pillows on the lake
to lift the dead to life again because
death and billow had all come into
existence according to him. Christ
is the Sovereign of the universe and
atheism is a lie. This old earth
sleeps under paternal eye and is
safe within a sovereign arm. 1t is the
fool who sacrifices the hope and joy
of this glad assurance to some cold
metaphysical abstraction, who rejects
all that can sustain the heart support
the head of weary humanity at the
bidding of a syllogism. 1t is the
fool who saith in his heart 'No God"
The image and superscription of
Christ are traceable everywhere. He
rules it, he claims it. 1t is his. He
is sovereign in heaven and on earth.
All the worlds throughout the in