The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-14
GOD Is NOT a GOD OF WRATH.
Another Eloquent Sermon by DIR.
Edward Everett Hale.

DR. Edward Everett Hale, the eminent
Boston divine occupied the pulpit at All
Souls Church yesterday morning and
preached to very large congregation.
The subject of his sermon was the in
finite love Of God. and he found his text
in the following Scriptural quotations:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thine heart and with all thy
soul and with all thy might. "-Deut. Xv:6.
TO love the Lord thy God with all
thine heart and with all thy soul. -
Deut. XXI
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul and
with all thy mind. Matt. xxi: 81.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul and
with all thy mind and with all thy
strength. xii:30.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul and
with all thy strength and with all thy
mind.'-Luke x:21.
This is the first and great command
ment." the preacher said. so the
Saviour says. so the scribe says, and so,
clearly, Moses says.
The variation of the text, little cur
ious to spectators about language. need
not concern US now.
Il do not mean to follow the division
OF the Hebrew words, which for our
use. have been rendered heart and mind
and soul and strength Enough for us
TO know that Moses meant to indicate
every faculty of mind, and that the law
giver and the Saviour meant the same
thing. | doubt if we could express it
better now, and l will not try.
Speaking negatively, it means that
man should not love God better in church
than he loves Him at home; better on
Sunday than he loves Him on Monday;
better when he is on his knees in prayer
than when ne is closing a bargain in
wool or cotton. He must not love Him
better when he IS reading the Bible and
love Him less when he is dancing at an
evening party. The texts mean that the
whole man is divine. The whole man
shall love God. Man shall love God
in his bodily exercise and bodily enjoy
ment; in his mental exercise and his
mental enjoyment. and In his exercises
and enioyments of his soul as well; in
his love and faith and hope. For his
love, in the love of his child of his
sweetheart, of his country, or of his
church. or of his wife, shall be wrought
in the love of God. God is greater than
his country or his friend But the love of
/ the friend may be as tender as the love
Of God, and the love of God should be
/ as close as the love of the friend. So
of faith. His certainty that right is right
/ belongs to his certainty that God isl am.
4 Or. reversing this statement, his certainty
4 that God is strengthens his certainty Of
honor, truth and justice, or of hope.
The child of God wishes you a happy
/ New Year. because he knows that his
Father is father of love. and wants to
/ give you happy New Year."
4 DR.. Hale said that he was very much
/ pleased the last time he acted as chaplain
a Cambridge TO find that the captain
of the football team, in training for the
I Autumn conflict had ordered all the mem
bers Of the team to attend chapel every
. morning. When questioned about this
innovation in training tactics, he answer
ed that it would not hurt them to be
+ out at that time Of morning. But, at
. heart, DR.. Hale said. the good fellow
meant more. He meant that it was good
for every mans body for him to look
the eternities III the face as the day be-
/ gins.
I'VE need not trouble ourselves now.
I DR. Hale continued. with the philology
Of the readings whether fear Of the Lord
ever meant to the Hebrews that terror
which you and / associate with the word
fear. Enough for US that such fear
Of God has no place in our relations with
Him. Enough for us that the Lord $
prayer begins with the words 'Our
Father" and that all interviewer with
the relationship of the child to the father
and the father to the child is TO the Chris
tan mind the certainty with which God
loves His children and that His children
may love Him with the absolute con-
fdence Of children who know His in
finite tenderness and can rely on His in
finite strength. For even His thunder
are not the thunders Of Jupiter, held IL
reserve to strike down some sinner with
whom ne is angry With US the Father
OF men is never angry, and thunders
and tempest have their origin in love
larger than our love. If we are wise
we train ourselves to this habit Of regard
ing the power who makes for righteous
ness As we see the snow fail. as We
hear the waves break upon the beach
as we watch the flight of the gull over
the bay, as we stand on the summit OF
some high mountain and search even the
horizon for the infinite exhibitions of His
loving power we are to use ourselves
to ST. Johns habits and TO St. Johns
words: We love Him because he first
loved us
'tBut think what has become Of this
first and central injunction in these years
Of priest-made religion, creed-made and
terror made. Take walk through the
city tomorrow morning and note how
many references you hear made to God
This carpenter is asking God TO damn his
house That schOOlboy is asking God tC
damn his playmate This merchant who
has received a INSTRUCTED letter. says
that his correspondent is a damned fool
Every reference to the infinite God is
a reference to a supposed wish Of His
to burn his children in everlasting fire
Until within the last quarter of Il cen
tury God has been spoken of a Coo
of wrath. and not a God of love. The ole
Canaanite notion that God is a God OF
wrath has been taught IN the schools
where ii was imbibed by the sChOolboyS
and in the meeting houses and the
churches by those who were supposed
to know. Don't teach children that Coo
is trying to hunt them down and watche:
their every action with a veiW to punisf
them if they go astray Simply thu
commandment Is not to fear and obey
but to love God with our heart soul anc
strength Lead us in love for God, tina
we may come closer TO him and TO one
another.
Z a u T41tIT