The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-02
First conrrerntionnI.


was the subject of Rev. Clarepce T.
Browns discourse at the First Congre-
gational church last evening.
Mr.. Brown took his text from Rev.
SO, Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof" and
said in part:
Man is finite; God is infinite. Yet
man is made in the image of God. In
men everywhere there is some sort of
belief in God, all intuition which is as
much a part of his endowment as his
own self-consciousness.
With a finite creature, moved with
an innate impulse toward an infinite
God, set in a world of matter and of
mind. himself subtle combination of
body and spirit, is it any wonder that
all the fields of knowledge lie within
the large surrounding fields of myS-
terry?
1t is foolish to say that one cannot
know anything because he cannot know
everything.
My vision of Salt Lake is in no way
invalidated because 1 cannot, from the
east bench, see also the Pacific ocean
You understand many things which
quite battle the child; if he happens to
hear you talking about something of
that kind he says to himself, We'll,
that's all a mystery to me-" but if he
is not a foolish child he will never
question the reality of it, even if it is
as yet beyond the range of his vision.
Because finite mind cannot reach all
the way round the infinite mind many
men have said that all knowledge of
God is imDOSSible
Some have said it in the proud spirit
of scholasticism: some because their
deeds being evil. they hoped to get
away from the judge to whose court
conscience summons them; others, (and
these constitute the great majority,
believe) because of their timidity of
spirit and heaviness of heart.
1t is to this class that I wish to speak
tonight; to point you to Christ as one
who is able to break the seal and open
to you the book of life.
In the first place, let me say that
the case does not stand as if you we're
the first one who had come into this
pathetic uncertainty and doubt, as if
I were compelled to offer you q solu-
ton which had never been tried before.
No one can take the step for. you that
leads from doubt to assurance. No one
cam carry you over the path, but there
is something in the fact that a vast
number of your fellow beings have
been in the same place that you are
now in, and have passed along the
path and have found the light and the
joy of a Christian experience
See these two sad men on their way
to Emmaus. They had not known Je-
sus in the flesh, but he had been cruel
fed. They had expected him to delfv-
er their people, but they felt that he
had died without accomplishing it,
Their conceptions of him had been
thrown into confusion, their hopes BIT
terly disappointed They are full of
! doubts and sadness. Word from others
has come to them that Christ has in
deed risen, but that announcement
alone has not been sufficient To dis-
lodge their doubts Jesus Joins them
on the road, his identity unrecoenized
by them, and enters into conversation
Let US see what it is he does for
them. He might have said at once.
Your fears are groundless, I am the
Christ" ny
That he did not do. They need some
thing else first; and beginning aft Mo
ses and all the prophets, he exuoun5e1
| unto them in all the scriptures the
| things concerning himself" thus heIpine
them to help themselves into a new
and larger faith
He used their whole world Of +,,,+l
! and showed them how it All led ~,
to him. and found its just fulfilInent
in him. -"iiiirlneht
They did not immediately undor-
strand: but when they did their faith
vas immensely deepened. their com
Prenension of life greatly enlarged,
w nat thoughtful man most Ionrs
~. IS some nrn center about which he
can organize his knowledge of the
! world, his experiences Of life noin+
| or view from which he can gather all
into an Ineligible unity and FROM m,
| winch ne can press forward with n
| deep assurance of divine guidance .nd
an adequate outcome. anu
And that is what Christ offers Life
Is darkened by many clouds. INV civ,
sorrow. disappointment. Throrpb
tnese we are won't to think that The
! light OF Christ shines to cheer and IN
save; and we do well to emphasizes his
! remedial grace. ---'
But let us not pass by this other
element of Christ's service to the
world, and see in his incarnation Tho
| fulf1llmerIt of humanity, the CENTER
@bout which each individual life NAV
f1nd ITS guarantee of divine direction.
sna the race its ultimate goal at the
There are many Indications that
men are beginning to realize that
Christ is the center about which our
life moves, the final World-fact without
which all other facts remain confused
Philosophy and science are moving
away from negation and agnosticism
and into the recognition of the religion
of Jesus.
The deeper students and advocates
of industrial and labor reforms are
pnnnHa SiZinor mora a nd mora The
ing Of the Carpenters Son. Tennyson
and Browning give voice to the
thoughts and aspirations of cultivated
men and women, while one looking
through Christian eyes points ITO that
divine far-off event toward which the
whole creation moves" and the other
can find no higher climax than See
the Christ standp' or '"The love that
tops the might. the Christ in Cod .
Hunt reverently writes in the corner
of his MASTERPIECE "Pass me not by,
o, Lord" while men of all creeds are
forgetting their differences as they
gather about the feet of one master.
Among all those who have made
history, there is not one who has a
place that can be compared to that
of Jesus.
Put all the mighty works of Christ
will not make any one Christian; he
alone can do that. 1t may, however. be
a good thing for you to keep these
large considerations in mind: their
majestic reality and tremendous sweep
may enable you ITO appreciate the size
Of your individual questions and
doTbts
wonderful person that Christ ts.
about whom the centuries gather new
meaning and unity, and In whom each