The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1900-12-28


it to all the SHINING, suffering, dying
race; tell it in song and sermon, on can
vas and in marble, on arch and pillar;
tell it all around the earth-"God il
love"
Notice that the wisest men of the ma.
tons for thousands of years did not
amid their idolatries, make something
to represent this feeling, this emotion
They had Jove, representing might;
Neptune, the god of the sea; Minerva
the goddess of wisdom; Venus, the god.
dess of base appetite; Ceres, the god
dess of corn, and an Odin, and an Osiris,
and Titan, and a Juggernaut and
whole pantheons of gods and goddesses,
but no shrine, no carved image, no
sculptured form has suggested a god
of pure love. That was beyond human
brain. 1t took a God to think that, a
God to project that, God let down
from Heaven to achieve that.
Fear is the dominant thought in all
false religions. For that the devotees
cut themselves with lances and swing
on iron hooks and fall under wheels and
hold up the right arm so long that they
cannot take it down. Fear, british
tear! But love is the queen in our re-
ligion. For that we build temples.
For that we kneel at our affairs. For
that we contribute our aims. For that
martyrs suffered at Brussels market
place and at Lucknow and Cawnpur
and Picking. That will yet bejewel
the round earth and put it an emerald
on the great, warm. throbbing heart of
God.
The world has had many specimens
of slandered men and women, their
motives slandered, their habits SIAN
dered-slandered until they got out
of the world, and then perhaps hon.
ored by elaborate eulogium and tall
shaft of granite, all four sides CHS
eled with the story of how good and
great they were. But no one under
the heavens or over the heavens has
ever been so much slandered as God.
Bad men have fought against Him and
have thought they heard His voice
in the crash of a thunderstorm, but
have not seen Him in the sunshine of
the spring morning. They have blamed
Him for wrongs which they had done
themselves. The, sight of a church
building excites their disgust. They
like the madrigal of saloon better
than the doxology of temple. They
do not want to live with Him in
Heaven, but would prefer on leaving
this world to go into some realm
where God has abdicated the throne
and from which He is exiled forever.
The reason is they do not know Him.
They do not realize the fact that God
is the best friend this world ever had
or ever will have, and that He would
do more for their happiness than any
one in the wide universe; that He
would help them in the wear and tear
and tussle of this life; that He would
hush their sorrows; that He would
help cure the evil habits with which
they sometimes struggle; that He
would at their request not only for
give but forget the wrong things in
their life. Yes, forget! And that is
the only thing that God ever does for
get-pardoned transgression. The best
memory in the universe is Gods meGt>
DRY, ,and He remembers all that has
transpired in all time and in all
eternity save one kind of occurrence. |
That passes completely out of His
memory. He declares: Their sins
and their iniquities will l remember
no more"
Do you want more proof that God |
is love?" Yea, disinterested love. No |
compensation for it's bestowal. No |
reward for its sacrifices. But l call |
that back. The world did pay Him. |
1t paid Him ON Calvary, paid Him with
brambles on the brow and four spikes, |
two for the hands and two for the
feet, and one spear fer the side near
the heart; paid Him in execration;
paid Him with straw pillow in barn
and cross on hill; paid Him with
q third of a century of maltreatment
and hardship save one year-yea, is
paying Him yet in rejection of His
mission of mercy. Having dethroned
other kings, the world would like to
dethrone the King of kings. But He
knew what He was coming to when
He left the portals of pearl and the
land where the sun never goes down.
Yes, He knew the world, how cold it
is, and knew pain, how sharp it is,
and the night, how dark it is, and ex-
piation. how excruciating it is. Out
of vast eternity He looked forward
and saw Pilates criminal courtroom,
and the rocky bluff with three crosses,
and the lacerated body in mortuary
surroundings, and heard the thunders
toll at the funeral of Heavens favor
lite, and understood that the palaces
of eternity would hear the sorrow OF
a bereft God.
What do the Bible and the church
liturgies mean when they say: HE
descended into help" They mean that
His soul left His sacred body for
awhile and went down into the prison
of moral night, and swung back its
great door, and lifted the chain of
and felt the awful lash that
would have come down on the worlds
back, and wept the tears of an eter-
nal sacrifice, and took the bolt of Di-
vine indignation against sin into Him.
self, and, having vanquished death and
hell, came out and came up, having
achieved an eternal rescue if we will