The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-22
TREATISE ON THE
HOLY SCRIPTURE
DIVINE REVELATION AND A
CONNECTED WORK.
Rev. DR.. ]. w. Williams, of Swan
sea, Wales, Formerly of This City,
breaches a Scholarly Sermon ON
the Bible to His Old Congregation,
at the First Welsh Baptist Church,
West Scranton.


preached last night by Rev. j. w.
Williams, of Swansea, Wales, at the
First Welsh Baptist church, South
Main avenue, of which he was pastor
six years ago.
Hebrews l. /, "God. who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake i'll times
past unto the fathers by the prophets.
hath in these last days spoken unto us
by his Son.
This is the language of a Jew who
writes to the Hebrews. lie is well ac-
quainted with Jewl;h history, and seems
to have been keenly CbserVant of the
progressive stages of revelation as given
| to his people. In the building up of ttcir
religious history, various instrumental
ties had been employed, and each with
uniformity and consistency had contrib
| uted his part towards the completion of
the structure. The work had taken more
than fifteen hundred years to accom-
| plish. Oh which had been engaged the
greatest Intellectual forces, and the most
sanctitied efforts of the ages, and which
| had been broI ght to a successful and
| final issue by the Son of God himself.
| All the agencies were essential to the
| completion of the structure. If we think
| of their work in regard to completing the
| sacred volume of revelation, in which the
| inspired thoughts of the church are pre-
| served for our profit il is so. From
| Moses who wrote the Pentateuch to the
| beloved apostle who left the Apocalypse,
| with all the sacred writer's who MI up
| the space between, their work was neces-
sary to the perfecting of the whole. That
| they appeared at different times, and
| write under different circumstances and
| conditions, in regard to diverse questions
| alters not the Nalre of their labors; for #
God ever speaks to the conscience of any
| man, He speaks at the same time to all
| men, and His words by being written lose
| not their aboriginal quality.
1t is true they must come to every later
| reader as they came to the first con-
| science, directly from God; but old words
when He speaks, become new, often with
a spirit and life proportioned to their
| age. Think of that ancient history in
| which an account is given of the struggle
| between Elijah and the prophets of Baal
| on Carmel, when the great issue was,
| who was to be the national god of the
| people. To me there is no more vivid
| chapter in the Old Testament than that
1t contains all the living forces which
| are active in modern life. If you substi-
tute Mammon for Baal, Scranton for Car
| mel, and living forces, as you meet them
| In daily life, for the sacrificed services on
that occasion. and you have that part en-
acted every day in this town. the people
| today Will declare in favor of sterling
| goodness as divine quality as against
| the love of money and love of pleasure,
| as Of old.
| The inspired writer in the text declares
| to the Hebrew believers that all the
| prophets and inspired men through whom
| God had spoken to their fathers were di-
| vine instruments to convey the Thoughts
| OF God to men. The messengers were
| human; but the message was divine.
THE MULTlFORM MINISTRY.
AT sundry times and in divers man
| ners." one of the most remarkable
| characteristics of the Old Testament min
| istry, as 1t was continued age after age,
| was its freshness and power. AS prophet
| after prophet appeared among the people,
| each had some new truth to tell, some
new burden to bear, some new revelation
| to give. The religious idea is an eVolu-
| tion, and all the best minds of the gem
| Grafton from Abraham to this age. have
| been COntributorieS TO its deVclopment.
| The seers and bards of ancient Assyria
| and Chaldea, in the earliest dawn of the
| historic epoch; the prophets and prIeSus
| of Egypt, whose temples We're hoary with
| antiquity ages before Genesis was writ
ten; all these have had their message
from the Infinite to the souls of men.
Now observe, the first element in that
| idea which had thus impressed itself upon
the human mind, was power. Not ,ill
| Abraham was 90 years old was il re-
| vealed to men that the Supreme Being
| was God of power. The seventeenth n
| chapter of Genes opens with these
words: And when Abraham was 30
years old and nine, the Lord appeared to
| Abraham, and said unto him, I am God
| Almighty; walk before me and be thou
perfect That is, as a rule, the first
| truth that the human mind lays hold of
IN IT'S attempt to conceive first cause.
1t defines power. 1t sees in the forces of
nature the suggestion of q personality
behind those forces, and the greater the
| force the more imposing the Deity. This
is the primal notion that rude and bar
| barrie tribes entertain concerning God
But while the Hebrew conception be-
| gan here, it did not stop here 1t did in
| clude the idea of power, and i'm the earlier
| ana less pure stages of its Cmergence, Je-
| hovah was simply the mightiest among
| the mighty, superior to all other deitics
| because more potent .han they. "WEo
| among the gods can be compared unto
| llim?' But We should have owed moth
| ing to the Jew if he had only given to us
| the conception of a Supreme Power a
God who could thunder more loudly
| than other gods Power is not the great
| est thing in the universe.
Then in the days of Moses, the moral
| element of the divine character was COM
| muniCated to men. In that moment was
| true religion born, the moment when the
| discovery was made that the Divine ma
| ture included a heart of love as well as
an arm of strength; that in God was not
| merely blind energy. but sentient ana
| sympathetic soul. The race is thankful
| for this idea. There is much that looks
as II there We're no heart in creation at
| all; as if eternal laws just worked them
| selves worthessly, ineXorabiy, no matter
what suffering is entailed One of the
piGmy tribes of Central Africa has n faint
| notion of a Supreme Being, to whom.
under the rame of Yer, the sometim IS
| address prayers in moments of sadness
and terror. In these prayers they saw.
| 20, Yer, if thou dost really exist why
dost thou let US be slaves?" We ask not
for food or clothing, for we live On
snakes, ants and mice. Thou hast made
us, wherefore dost thou let us be trodden
down?' That religious idea is imperfect
and incomplete.
| POEM OF RECONCILIATIONS.
The 10th chapter of Isaiah is a beautiful
poem of reconciliations. Of the reconcllia
| tion of the majesty and mercy, the power
| ana tenderness of God. In it we have
| such images as the Hand, whose hollow
| holds the ocean, feeding the flock like a
shepherd The strength of the Creator,
| everlasting and ineXEaustible, is repre-
| sented as miniStering energy and sue
cor to the faint and weary ones of earth.
| The power which uphOlds a solar system
Is available for the place of a stricken
soul The day of religious truth was
growing; in the time of Jesus Christ IL
reached its noontide. Then we have "A
| clear vision of the fatherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man. The Almighty
| God of Chaldea has become my living
| Father In Galilee. "Our Father which
art In heaven, be We perfect. even as your
| Father which is in heaven is perfect.
| Who at sundTy times and in divers ma n
ners spake i'm times past unto the faith