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

let out uDOH the world the Stdrtlng
fact which il could never have sur
missed. never guessed. never expected.
that he loved our human race so ar
IDENTIFY that he will pardon sin and sub
due the offender with q divine kiss and
turn foaming malefactors into wor-
shippers before the throne Oh, / am
so glad that the secret is out and that
il can never again be yelled. Tell 1t
to all the SHINING. suffering. dying
race: tell it in song and sermon. on
canvas and in marble. on arch and
pillar: tell il all around the earth
God is love-"
THE DOMINATION OF FEAR
Notice that the wisest men of the ma
tions for thousands Of years did not,
amid their .idolatries, make something
to represent this feeling, this emotion
They had a Jove, representing might;
Neptune, the god of the sea; Minerva
the goddess of wisdom; venus the eou
dess of base appetite; Ceres, the god
dess of corn, and an Odin, and an Osl-
ris. and a Titan, and Juggernaut, and
whole pantheons of gods and goddesses,
but no shrine, no carved image, no
sculptured form has suggested goo
of pure love. That was beyond human
brain. 1t took a God to think that,
God to project that, God let down
from heaven TO achieve that.
Fear is the dominant thought in all
false religions For that the devGtees
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
fear, 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 Peking. 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 mo-
tives slandered, their habits Slandered
-slandered until they got out of the
world, and then perhaps honored by
elaborate eulosium and tall shaft Of
granite, all four sides chiseled 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
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 church building excites their
saloon better than the doXology of a
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 for
ever. 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 some
times struggle; that he would at their
request not only forgive but forget the
wrong things in their life. Yes, forget
And that is the only thing that God
ever does forget-pardoned transgres-
sion. The best memory in the universe
is Gods memory, and he remembers
all that has transpired in all time and
in all eternity save one kind Of occur
renee. That passes completely out of
his memory. He declares, Their sins
and their iniquities will I remember
no more.''
PROOF THAT GOD IS LOVE.
Do you want more proof that God is
loVe?' Yea, disinterested love. No
compensation for it's bestowal No re-
ward for it's sacrifices. But l call that
back. The world did pay him. 1 paid
him on Calvary, paid him with bram-
DleS on the brow and four spikes, two
for the hands and two for the feet. and
one spear for the side near the heart:
paid him in eXecration; paid hin, with
straw pillow in a barn and a cross on
hill; paid him with a third of CEN
tury of maltreatment and hardship
save one year-yea, is paying him yet
in rejection of his rf1iSSin1 of
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 new
er goes down. Yes, he knew the world.
how cold it is and knew plain, how
sharp it is, and the night, how dark it
is, and expiration, how eXcruciating it
is. Out of vast eternity he looked for
ward and saw Pilates criminal court
room, and the rocky bluff with three
crosses. and the lacerated body in NOR
tuary surroundings. and heard the
thunders toll at the funeral of heavens
favorite, and understood that the pal
aces of eternity would hear the sorrow
of a bereft God
What do the Bible and the church lit
urgies mean when they say, He de-
scended into hell?" They mean that his
soul left his sacred body for awhile and
went down into the prison of moral
night, and swung back it's great door,
and lifted the chain of captivity and
felt the awful lash that would have
come down on the worlds back and
wept the tears of an eternal sacrifice,
and took the bolt of divine indignation
against sin into himself and, having
vanquished death and hell, came out
and came up. having achieved an eter-
nal rescue If we will accept it. Read
it slowly, read it solemnly, read it with
tears. He descended into hell" He
knew what kind of pay he would get
for exchanging celestial splendor for
| Bethlehem caravansary, and he dared
all and came, the most illustrious ex-
ample in all the ages of disinterested
| love.
Yea, it was most expensive love.
| There is much human love that costs
nothing nothing of fatigue, nothing of
money, nothing Of sacrifice, nothing of
| humiliation. But the most expensive
movement that the heavens ever made
was this expedition salvatory. 1t cost
| the life of a King. 1t put the throne
| of God in bereavement. 1t set the uni
verse taghast 1t made omnipotence
nd c,r