The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-12-19

single Derson Of the undivided Godhead.
Immutable. immortal, inoomprehensi-
Bile. infinite as God is himself, he has
revealed himself to us men, and for our
salvation, in names of love and ten
derness. as Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, one God. The Scriptures set
forth God in his separate revelations
an0 when they add that God is Love-
w A, in sunlike majesty, the total
os.eness of his inmost essence and
character. He, therefore, that would
be saved must think Of the trinity;
for It is thus that the Eternal has
Taught US to think Of him.
we turn our thoughts first to God
the Father, who hath made US and all
the world. Think only what an infini-
tude of error is corrected by the calm
sublimjty Of that first verse of the
Book of Genesis: In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth"
Only consider how, apart from this
revelation. the world lay weltering in
enormous complications of ignorance
and darknessi Let US glance at them:
first, that we may thank God for hav-
ing granted to Us the revelation OF
himself; and next, that we may live
up to this knowledge, since these er-
rors, in which millions of mankind are
yet entangled, still have their subtle
analogy even in multitudes Of human
hearts in which they lead to the same
deplorable results of sinful and unbe-
lieviug lives. The vast majority of the
human race have been polytheists,
Worshipers Of many gods; and the
evil Of il was, not only that the gods
Of the heather were but idols. but also
that they were DELEGATIONS of mans
lowest passions; not only that they
we're gods of gold and jewels, but also
gods of lust and blood. The gross fic-
tions chanted IN the streets about
these. deities by wandering rhapsodists
corrupted the people from their cradles
and led to those frtghtful denominations
which St. Paul sCathes with heavenly
lightning in the first chapter of his
Epistle to the Romans. Less common
IN ancient, far more common in mod
ern days is the atheism which says
there is no God, and stultifes men into
the absurdity Of pretending to believe
all this fair and radiant creation
-. n blue sky, the green fields, the
vrrte snow, the infinite loneliness and
bal-. of flowers, the crystal waters,
the muruurs and luster OF the great
sea. the dread magnificence of the
mountains, the rainbow and the sunset
clouds-an the beauty, and the wonder
and the power of the unintelEgent Gre
alton, was due only to the blind acct
dents Of mechanic forces, to the clash
:. fortuitous atoms, evolved simply by
- dust of their grinding! Think what
would be the misery of the human race
if the world and life were but a chance
chaos of meaningless illusion; if the
soft azure over our heads were IAN
empty eye socket; If man were but
the sport and prey Of passionleSs ma
terial forces, blind as fate, inexora-
bic as tyranny, merciless as Death
with no ear to hear, no heart to pity.
and no arm to save. Then, besides the
polytheists, with their many gods, and
the atheists, with their two gods, Or
mud and Ahriman, Osiris and Ty-
phou-one wholly good, but compare
lively powerIess, because ever counter
balanced by the other, who is wholly
evil. Dismalest Of creeds, introducing
war into heaven, and adoring devils for
deities! True It is that good and evil,
light and. darkness, blessing and ours
ing, Gerizim and Ebal life and death,
are struggling elements in human ex-
istence; but to US God has revealed
that if he be with US none can be
against US; that evil is reduced to i'm
potence by those that give it no part
in, no sway over, themselves; to them
>Tho love God, and are the children of
love. Then, again, there were the
fantheists, who held that God is only
the ANNA mundi, a diffused impersonal
existence; that God is everything and
everything is God. But an irnpersonal
God would be to US as no God. We
cannot worship a mere diffusive vital
ity. We cannot pour our confessions
into the vague ear of a soul of the uni
verse. We cannot make friend and
father Of an impalpable entity. We
only arrive at self-consciousness in
outward forms. Once more, there were
many who like the ancient Epicureans,
ALieVed that there might indeed be
one supreme God among the many
gods but that there was no superin-
tending providence; no care for man;
no pity for mans sorrows; no forgive
ness for his sins. But how could men
care for gods who were supposed to
care nothing for them? Gods to whom
we and our sins and our misery are
nothing could never be anything to US.
All these errors, with their concomit-
ant horrors Of human sacrifice and con
sacrated lust: all these Wretched fan
cies Of the nations; Polytheism with
its gods many; Pantheisnl with it's i'm
personal god; Atheism with its no god;
Ditheism with its two contending gods;
Fpicureanism with its indolent, selfish,
faineant gods, are swept away forever
by the decisive majestic utterance, as
Of thunder and OF music combined, III
the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth" Nor did the revelation
end there. On the contrary, to Gods
chosen people it was again and again
revealed that-though this God hated
sin, and REQUIRED obedience to the eter-
nal laws which he delivered to u.s. not
for |is sake but for our own-yet that
he | very nigh US, even in our hearts;
a bA etting god; a god from whom the
curtA as Of the midnight cannot con
ceal u; a god whose presence we can
not escape, even if we could take the
wings Of the morning and fly to the ut
,termost parts of the sea; yet that he is
pot cruel and wrathful, but the God,
the Lord God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and of great kindness,
forgiving transgression, iniquity and
, sin. The one God revealed himself as
q loving father: q God who so tenderly