The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-10-24

mas not lett mis- WorlQ. gOOu many
people act as if God was in the world
not more than half the time, or that
he had come to the world perhaps in
some far-off age and had gone away
Disguised. Upon one occasion at
great revival in the West, the revival
ist with great earnestness was ex-
horting the people to come to Christ,
to accept him in that hour. "Now ;"
said he, "is the accepted time. The
Holy Spirit has come. God is herep
Some irreverent man from the con-
gregation called out, HAS he come
to stay?" It is said that for a mo-
ment the revivalist was little dis
mayed, and | do not know what ans
wer he made, but he ought to have
answered, Eyes, God has come to
stay. He is here today. He will be
here tomorrow He is always in,
always ready to open the door,
always ready to welcome every child,
always ready to defend every noble
cause"
(2) Gods word is multiplying.
What them Well, this in the Sec
ond place: You are one of Gods
prophets. He has given you some
thing to say; something to do. You
have some apprehension of his truth.
You are one of his messengers. Do
not worry if he sends another mes
senger some day with another mes
sage from himself to waiting world.
Do not believe that you, or the set to
which you belong can carry all the
messages that the world needs. The
United States government cannot
| get along with one messenger. The
president sends one to the east and
one to the west, one to the north and
one to the south. One resides in
London, one in Paris, one in Berlin,
one in Constantinople, one in Peru,
one in Pekin, one in Tokyo. They
do not bear the several governments
exactly the same message. They
really have different missions, but
they are all working in the interests
of the same central authority. They
are all doing something which our
government needs to have done.
Shall the ambassador in China be
jealous of the one in England, or the
one in Tokyo jealous of the one in
Berlin? Now, in the same way it
seems to me, God is sending out a
great many different messengers to
tell the world of himself. He has
spoken through the law Of his world.
We may learn something through
electricity, something through chem
istry, something by the law of gravi-
tation. Another messenger comes
through history, speaking varied
language. Then we have our proph-
cts of the Old and New Testaments,
and greatest of all and best of all
we have Jesus Christ, the very incar-
nation of God. Let us be glad and
grateful for all these manifold reve-
lations of the Father.
g. Gods word grows and multi
plies. What of it2 Well, in the
next place, it suggests that ace are
MT to be impatient acitb the groaUth
of Gods aOord an the individual hu-
man soul God had been speaking
to men in one or another way a good
many thousand years before Jesus
came, and now nearly nineteen hun
dred years have passed since men
heard the wondrous voice of the
Master, still the world is not saved;
and who can look upon society as a
whole or upon individual lives as we
see them day by day without marvel
ing at the wonderful patience of the
Almighty. Men were stupid thous-
and years ago. They are stupid yet.
They were blind and deaf to the
voice of God thousand years ago.
They are still blind and deaf. Men
we're hayward and sinful in the days
of the prodigal son, but there are
still multitudes of prodigal sons, liv-
ing as recklessly as in the days of
old. Still God waits. His patience
is not worn out. So should it be
with US. This story is found in one
of the Jewish books:
when Abraham sat at his tent
door, according to his custom, wait
ing to entertain strangers, he espied
coming toward him an old man, stoop-
ing and leaning on his staff, weary
with age and travel, who was a hun
dred years of age. He received him
kindly, washed his feet, provided
supper, and caused him to sit down;
but observing that the old man ate
and prayed not, nor begged for any
blessing on his meat, he asked him
why he did not worship the God of
heaven. The old man told him that