The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-29
REV. DIR. NICHOLS
In DUNMORE CHURCH
[Concluded from Page 81

| lute SaIety, perfect. unaSSailaDle security.
Our present life knows what IL is-a sea
OF dangers. We are bent by perils on ev-
| cry side Perils of bodily Illness perlls
| of mental failure, peris of spiritual dis
| aster, perils of lost fortunes and ruined
| homes, perlls of cur children's falls and
| disgrace. Who knows what calamity is
| approaching him this moment? Who can
while 1 speak.
| IMPRESSION 1T GIVES HIM.
| Secondly, the cea gives me the impress
| sion of something dark, hidden, unex-
| plored. 1t is symbol of reserve, conceal
ment, mystery. Especially was this so to
st. John. To him and his countrymen the
sea was an insurmountable barrier. 1t
| obstructed knowledge bafiled inquiry and
| put stop to progress. To us, 1t Is true.
the sea in some ways is a help rather
| than a hindrai ce to knowledge. 1t is a
| means of intercourse between different
| parts of the earth by which we are
brought into contact with distant nations
| and remote places
And human life Is another deeper sea.
| We are all hemmed In and walled around
| by the unknown and the unknowable.
| Great clouds of mist ard vapor hang over
| us on a thousand questions. Mysteries
| brood over every deeper experience Of
| life. We grope, the most of us grope in
| darkness from the cradle to the grave.
Yet how we long to know! Deep in every
| human soul is the unQuenchable desire
| for knowledge. And we were made to
| know. We have whole range of fac
| ulties whose satisfaction is knowing. Be-
| sides knowlege is the door to other good.
| AS to enjoy God one must fist know God,
| so In all things knowledge is the condi-
| tion of happiness And whatever may be
| said about the dangers of Knowledge 40
man was ever injured by knowing too
much of the true and the beautiful of the
| good.
We Christians have different concep-
| tions of the blessedness of heaven. Mine
| is the blessedness of knowing the happi-
| ness of apprehending and appropriating
| knowledge. In no other passage OF the
| Bible is there more of heaven to me than
| In that brief sentence of st. Paul, I'VE
| shall know even as we are known |
feel with John Foster that I am now un-
| de" constraint, that the great secrets of
| the spiritual science are hidden from me
| and that death will break down the par
rier and give my soul free scope to plunge
into the mysteries of truth. mo more
sea-" means to me no more painful mys-
| terry. No more gloomy agnosticism, no
more distressful ignorance. but climb
| ing ever higher and higher in the knowl-
| edge and likeness and light of God,
| seeing more and more as we climb of His
| inimtable perfection, His wonderful
| plans, and Incompatible beauties. My
friends, we shall never know everything.
CAN NEVER REACH 1T.
We shall never reach the summit of the
mountain or exhaust the resources of df-
vine knowledge. 1t is said by travellers
who made the ascent of the Alps that
as they rise altitude above altitude they
gaze upon grander, wider horizon. Like
that, l think, will be our progress in
knowledge yonder. Though constantly
rising, the heights above us will appear
greater and sublimer the higher we as
cend. Humility and exaltation will in
crease with equal pace l believe, as one
has said. that at every moment Of that
blessed life our capacity and ideas will
grow and spring afresh, and at every mo-
ment God will be seen unveiling un-
dreamed of beauty and reve aling hither-
to unknown heights of blessedness.
But again the sea is an emblem of dn-
rest, disquietude. combustion. No other
| element is SO restless and changeful. The
sea is never stable, never at rest, never
for two hours the same. Though 30
| mighty and irresistible the ocean is the
slave of every wind and cloud. 1t is a
giant in strange, helpless bondage to the
moon. And then it is always moaning,
always wailing, always like some crazed
| imprisoned creature, racing to and fro.
| Why does the sea moan evermore? Shut
frets against the boundary shore. All
earth's full rivers cannot free the sea,
| that drinking thrsteth still"
And this untitled, unsatisfied moan Of
the great thirsting, fretting. tossing
ocean, what is it all but an image. an
exact correspondence of this restless.
seeking world? Tho human soul until
Christ comes unto it is an unrcsting, I'M
| satisfied sea. THE wicked" says Holy
| Scripture is like the troubled sea which
cannot rest, whose natures cast up mire
and dirt" "There is no peace saith my
| God to the wicked."' Only the pure are
| peaceful. 1t is because there is no sin in
heaven, because there Is but one will, enc
fealty, one obedience, one desire one
glory or all children in the Fathers
home. that there is perfect peace. un-
broken rest unchanging blessedness.
SYMBOL OF SEPARATION.
Once more the sea is a symbol of separ-
alton. The ocean is Il great divider of
nations and families. 1t is a wall around
continents and between kingdoms more
| insurmountable than mountain ranges.
| The sea Is then bar to the conscious
enmity and fellowship of mankind. 1t
| does not appear how the human race can
ever he one in thought and feeling how
| the idea of human brotherhood can ever
be realized on an earth broken up by sep
arating seas. AT any rate, the great
| gathering of the family of man from the
north and from the SOUTH from the east
and from the west, the union and COM
| munion of all the holy and good not only
with Christ but with each other is not
| promised to this divided world but 10
| that new earth where no separating sea
| will exist.
1t is related that st. John in his lonely
| banishmen mt on the island of Patmos used
to daily climb lofty, jutting rock and
hnr ttyit n coll tie In, hse IA
would look and gaze and yearn over the
| wide waste of water toward the beloved
land and dear friends from whom he was
| separated.
My friends, I feel that you and have a
| right to share in the apostles vision.
Some of you whom | have known and
| love are looking out from over waters,
some of you are separated from beloved
ones whom you earnestly expect to see
| again on earth, and often in the cleaning
| when memories of past days fll the
| mind you climb the jutting cliff and look
| out despairing over graves and long TO
| see again the dear familiar faces.
So they are in heaven. There is no
| more sea there. Those who belong 10
| each other will meet 20 be united with
| each other forever. Those whom we have
| never seen in this world-or hardly seen
| are given up to those where every love
circle is completed, where partings and
| separations are no more and where the
| Inhabitants go no more out.
where the bond is never severed;
Partings, claspings. sob and moan
Midnight waking, twilight weeping,
Heavy noontide-all are done
| Where the child has found it's mother;
Where dear families are gathered,
| That were scattered on the wild;
| Where the hidden wound is healed
Where the blighted life tree blooms;
Where the smitten heart the freshness
| OF IFS huOVa Mt Nnuth