The Saint Paul globe., 1896-12-21
GOD NOT ExACTING.
Rev. j. f. stout Says He Needs No
Appeasfng.

At First NJ. e. church last evening
Rev. J. r. Stout preached from the
text:
But without faith it is impossible. to
believe that He is, and that He is a re-
warder of them that diligently seek Him 90
Hebrews XII, 6. In part be said:
THE text opens to the inquirer the way
to God. We shall assume that the approach
to God is of the highest possible moment.
The Bible is full of the outcrying of the
hunger Of the human heart after God. Jesus
declares as one of His great purposes to re-
veal God to a seeking world and seems to
assume that to find Him is to find all things
needed, for in Him dwelleth righteousness
peace rest and eternal life
The first step is the acceptance of the
fact that God is. This is very reasonable
demand and easy, for 1t is more natural TO
believe in the existence Of God than to dis
believe. Atheism is rare, and he who asserts
it does violence to his nature. Paul de-
clares that the heather themselves were
without excuse for not knowing the existence
OF God in his war against sin. s.@
The second demand is that the seeker
shall believe that He is a rewarder benz
evolent God, seeking the interests not of
Himself, but of His own. This ought not, to-
be difficult indeed the unheliever attempts
to outdo the Christian in his conception OF
the word of God Against this demanded be-.
lief we md the whole trend of pagan think
ing, which makes God only exaggera ated phslli
nSins manly, w Whether you study pantheism
which deifes individual creations, you will
still find that you are in the presence of
conceptions of God which are debasing. Wor-
snip at 1doiatrous affairs has oftener been
corruptins than otherwise. At the very best
the heather conception of God makes, Him
lmplacabie, and exacting OF form and cere-
nlohy Dy which he may be appeased. ~ It
has uanspired that heather ideas have in
truded thn1eselves into the minds of Chris
tlanss ana more or less moulded their con-
eeptions of God to their hurt and in disre-
SAFQ Oh GODS express daplarati0ng
Ing Himself. Jesus has nowhere stated that
God needed to be appeased. He reveals Him
as loving, sacrificing. pouring out Himself
TO make man willing to be saved and recon
ciied unto Himself. The revelation of God
IN Jesus Is complete, and shows forth the
hcompardole goodness Of God and His un-
speaRaDle passion OF love for them. This
conception is essential, and for this reason
Jesus goes to all lengths of pain and agony
TO make it. He then that would come to
God must beGeve that God has come to him
tEaf He is a rewarder. This certainly is no
strain on the faith power. What is become
OF the man who says that he is so constituted
that ne cannot have faith? He is not asked
to believe theories of Inspiration, or systems
OF theology. or any manmade standard The
New Testament nowhere makes a stronger
demand ON belief than does the teyt and
surely no one who wants to know God will
De deferred by the demands of the text
me third demand is, not one Of faith
put surrender. and in it is the difficulty that
Keeps men from God. Man must diligently
seek Him as God. God has diligently sought
man. There are in connection with this con-
dltion several we'll understood facts Seeking
1ecessltates surrender of sin. The great
| dlfncuIty in coming to God does not grow
out OF the problems Of belief, but rather out
OF the fascination of sin. This must be
broken. God is easily found when the souI
awakes to the fact that to Know Him is bet
ter than all other knowledge.
RMS seeking must be marked by intensity.
why snoulo we receive the greatest gifts Of
| Iered in the universe of God by a half
hearted search?''