The semi-weekly messenger., 1900-12-28

ters worse instead of making them bet
ter. But let the oceanic tide Of the
text roll in that soul and all its worri-
ments and losses and disasters will be
submerged with blessing and the suf-
ferer viii say: Il cannot understand
the reason for my troubles. but / viii
some day understand. And they do
not come by accident. God allows them
to come. and God is love-"
THE WORLDS wICKEDNESS.
But for this divine feeling L think our
world would long ago have been de-
molished. just think of the organized
wickedness OF the nations, See the
denominations continental Behold the
false religions that hoist Mohamned
and Buddha and Confucius. Look at
Zend-Ayesta that would crowd out of
the world the Holy Scriptures! Look
at war. digging its trenches for the
dead across the hemispheres! See the
great cities, with their holocaust Of de-
stroyed manhood and wonanhood:
What blasphemies assail the b" ms.
What butcheries sicken the c. iesi
What professions of crime and aIroci-
ty and woe encircle the globe. If JUS
tice had spoken. it would have said:
''The world deserves humiliation, and
let annihilation come" If immutabili
ty had spoken. it would have said: I
have always been opposed to wicked
nessa and always will be opposed to it.
The world iS TO me an affront infinite.
and away with it, If omniscience had
spoken. it would have said: Il have
watched that planet with minute and
all comprehensive inspection, and J.
cannot have the offense longer contin-
ued." If truth had spoken, it would have
said: Il declare that they who offend
the law must go down under the law
But divine love took a different view
of the worlds obduracy and pollution
1t said: Il pity all those woes of the
earth. 1 cannot stand here and see
no aSSuragement of those SufferingS.
will go down and reform the world.
I will medicate its wounds will calm
its frenzy. 1 will wash off it's pollu-
ton. I will become incarrated. will
take on my shoulders and upon my
brow and into my heart the conse-
quences of that worlds misbehavior.
l start now. and between my arrival
at Bethlehem and my ascent from Oil
vet 1 will weep their tears and suffer
their griefs and die their death. Fare
well, my throne. my crown. my scep-
ter. my angelic environment. my heav
en-, till I have finished the work and
come back!' God was never conquer
ed but once. and that was when he was
conquered by his own love. God is
love-"
In this day when the creeds of
churches are bing revised, let more en-
| phasis be put upon thethought of my
| text. Let it appear at the beginning
| Of every creed and at the close. The
| ancientS used to tell of a great mill
| tary chieftain who. about to go to bat
| tie, was clad in armor. helmet on head
| and sword at side. and who put out his
| arms to give farewell embrace to his
| child, and the child. affrighted ats his
| appearance. ran. Shrieking. away. Then
| the father put off the arnlor that caused
| the alarm. and the child saw who he
was and ran into his arms and snuggleo
against his heart. Creeds must not
| have too much iron in their make up,
| terrorizing rather than attracting
| They must not hide the smiling face
| and the warm heart of our Father.
| God. Let nothing imply that there IS
| a sheriff at every door ready to make
| arrest, but over US all and around us
| all a mercy that wants to save, and
save now.
| CHRIST THE COMFORTER.
| If one paragraph of the creed seems
| to take you, like a child, out of the
| arms of a father let the next para
graph put you in the arms of a mother.
! LAS onewhom his mother conforteth.
| so will 1 comfort you.'' Oh, what a
mother we have in God! And my text
| is the lullaby sung to us when We are
| i'll, or when we are maltreated, or
when we are weary. or when we are
| trying to do better. or when we are be-
| reft, or when we ourselves lie down to
| the last sleep. We feel the warm cheek
| of the mother against our cheek, and
| there sounds in it the hush of many
| mothers: God is love-
This was the reason the Bible was
| written. Thew needs no inspired
| page to tell it that God will chastise
| sin. for that is proved in the life of
| many an offender. You can look
| through the wicket of any prison and
| see the fact which the world under
| stood thousands of years before Solo
| mon wrote 1.-THE way of the trans
| gressor is hard The world needed
no Bible to tell it that God is omnipo-
tent. for any one who has seen Mont
| Blanc or Niagara or the Atlantic ocean
| in a cyclone knows that The world
needed no Bible to tell it of Gods wis
| dom. for everything from a spider web
| to the upholstery of a summers sun
| set, from the globe of a dewdrop to
| the rounding of a world, declares that.
| But there was one secret about God
| that was wrapped up in a scroll OF
| parchment, and it Staid there until
| apostolic hand unrolled that scroll and