The semi-weekly messenger., 1900-12-28
GODS LOVE FOR MAN.
GIFT OF HIS SON FOR THE WORLDS
DlSENTHRAlLMEhT.
DIR. TaImage breaches Sermon Es-
pecially Appropriate for the Christ
mas Season-The Mission Of the
Saviour.

In this discourse Dr. Talmage de-
scribes in a new way the sacrifices
made for the worlds disenthralment
and deIiverance. His text is I John iv,
is. "God is love-
Perilous undertaking would it be to
attempt comparison between the at
tributes of God. They are not like a
mountain range, with here and there
a higher peak. nor like the ocean. with
here and there a profounder depth.
We cannont measure infinities. We
would not dare to say whether his
omnipotence. or omniscience. or omnip-
resence, or immutability, or wisdom. or
justice. or love is the greater attribute.
but the one mentioned in my text
makes deeper impression upon us than
any other. 1t was evidently a very old
man who wrote the chapter from which
1 take the text. John was not in his
dotage. as Professor Eichhorn asserted.
but you can tell by the repetitions in
the epiStle and the rambling style and
that he called grown people little chill
dren" that the author was probably an
octOgenarian. Yet Paul. in midlife
mastering an audience of Athenian CRIT
ics on Mars hill, said nothing stronger
or more important than did the ven
cradle John when he wrote the three
words of my text, God is love-"
Indeed the older one gets the more
he appreciates this attribute. The
harshness and the combativeness and
the severity have gone out of the old
man. and he is more lenient and,
aware of his own faults. is more dis
posed to make excuses for the faults
of others. and he frequently Calculates
'POOr human rature!' The young min
lister preached three sermons on the JUS
tice of God and one on the love of God,
but when he got old he preached three
sermons on the love of God and one on
the justice of God.
Far back in the eternities there came
a time when God would express one
emotion of his nature which was yet
uneXpressed. He had made more
worlds than We're seen by the ancients
from the top of the Egyptian pyramid
which was used as an observatory. and
more worlds than modern astronomy
telescope lens. All that showed the
Lords almightiness. but it gave no de-
monStratiOn of his love. He might
make fifty Saturns and a hundred
JupiterS and not demonstrate an in
stant of love. That was an unknown
passion and the secret of the universe
1t was a suppressed emotion of the
great God. But there would come a
time when this passion of infinite love
would be declared and illustrated. God
would veil it no longer. After the
clock of many centuries run down and
worlds had been born and demolished
on comparatively obscure star a race
of human beings would be born and
who. though so bountifully provided for
that they ought to have behaved them
selves We'll, went into insurrection and
conspiracy and revolt and war-fnite
against infinite, weak arm against
thunderbOlt. man against God.
CHRISTS DESCENT TO EARTH.
If high intelligences looked down and
saw what was goingo n. they must have
prophesied determination. complete ex-
termination. of these offenders of Jeho-
Vah- But no. Who is that coming out
of the throne room of heaven? Who
is that coming out of the palaces OF
the eternal? 1t is the Son of the En-
perOr of the universe. Down the stairs
of the high heavens he comes till he
reaches the cold aid of a December
night in Palestine and amid the bleat-
ings of sheep and the lowing of cattle
and the moaning of camels and the
banter of the herdSmen takes his first
sleep on earth and for thirty three
years invites the wandering race to re-
turn to God and happiness and heaven
They were the longest thirty-th
years ever known in heaven. Among
many high intelligences. what impati-
ence to get him back! The Infinite
Father looked down and saw his Son
slapped and spit on and supperless and
homeless. and then, amid horrors that
made the monday heavens turn black
in the face. his body and soul parted
al for Nx-h H.
Crown Prince to come on such an er-
rand and endure such sorrow and die
such a death? 1t vas to invite the hu-
man race to put down its antipathies
and resistance. 1t was beauSe Goo
is love"
Now. tnereis nothing beautiful in q
Shipwrecked. We go down to look at the
battered and split hulk of an old shir
on Long island or New Jersey coats. /
exciteS our interest. We wonder wher
and how it came ashore and whether
it was tn reckleSsneSs of a pilot or
storm before which nothing could bea1
up. Human nature wrecked may in
terest the inhabitants of other world:
as q curiosity. but there is nothing
lovely in that which has foundered OF
the rocks of sin and sorrow. Yet i
was that condition of moral break III
that heaven moved to the rescue. L
was loveliness lowering over deformity
It was the lifeboat putting out into th
surf that attempted it's demolition.
was harmony pitying discord. 1t wa
a living God putting his arms arounC
a recreant world.
The schoolmen deride the idea tha
God has emotion. They think it woulC
be a divine weakness to be stirred b!
any earthly spectacle. The God of tn
learned Bruch and Schleiermacher i
an infinite intelligence. without feeling
a cold and cheerless divinity. But tn
God we worship is one of sympath,
and compassion and helpfulness and af
lection. God is love-"
In all the Bible there is no more con
solatory statement. The very best peo
pie have in their lives occurrences in
explicable. They are bereft or perse
cuted or impoverished or invalided
They have only one child. and tha
dies, while the next door neighbor ha
seven children. and they are all spared
The unfortunates buy at a time whe
the market is rising and the day afte
the market falls. At time when the
need to feel the best for the discharg
of some duty they are seized VIII
physical collapse. Trying to do a goo