The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-12-27
REV. DR.. TALMAGE,
THE EMINENT bIviNE.s s,,x,,,
DISCOURSE.


- NAsHINGTON, w ID. C.-In this Discourse
Dr' Ialmage describes, in new wev tbo
sacrifices made for thd worlds disentrall.
inent and deliverance. His text is I. John
w. 10, God is love"
Perilous undertaking would il be to nt.
tempt q comparison between the attributes
ot Eod. They are not IKE a mountain
range; with here and there p higher peak.
nor like the ocean, with here and thero n
profounder depth. We cannot measure
inhnities. We would not dareNsav whether
HIS omnipotence or omnseienon or omni.
presence or immutahility or wisdom or
Justice or love il the greater attribute
put tho one mentioned in my text makes
ueeper IMPRESSION upon us than any other.
W. was evidently verv old man who vroio
me chapter from which ! taxi, tho text
,.lohn was not in his dotaqe. as Professor
Echhorn asserted. but Won ran tell bv tho
renetitlons in the epistle aud the rarnbli,g
style. and that he called grown peopie
nttle children" that tic author was
probably an octopenariau. Yet Paul in
midlife mastcrirg nm audience of Atbonian
critics on Mars Hill said nothing stronger
or more, important than did the venerable
John when he wrote the three words of
nv text. "God is love"
Indeed. the older one octs tho moro bo
appreciates this attribute. The harshness
and the combativeuess and the severity
have zone out of the old man. and he is
more leniont and. aware Of his own foults
IS more disnosed 10 make excuses for the
faults of others and ha frequently ciacu-
laies. Poor human nature" The Young
minister nreached three frrmons on tho
Justice 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 bacl, in the etornitics there come
time when God would express one emotion
OF His nature which was yet unexpressed.
lie had made more worlds than were seen
by the ancients from the top of the Ecvp.
tan pyramid, which was used as an obser-
vatory, and more worlds than modern as.
tronomy has cataogued or deserted
through te.escopic lens. All that showed
the Lords almghtness. but it gave no
demonstration OF His love. He might
make fifty Saturns and 100 Jupitors and
not demonstrate an instant of love That
was an unknown passion and the secret of
the universe. IT was a suppressed emo.
ton of the great Cod 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 had 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
thev ought to have behaved themselves
well, went into insurrection and conspr-
acy and revolt and war-fnite against in
ilnlte, weak arm against thunderboit, man
against God
II high intelligenccs looked down and
saw what was going on, they must have
prophesied determination complete OK
termnatlon--of these offenders of ,Jeho-
yah. But, no. Who is that coming out of
the throneroom of heaven? Who is that
coming out of the palaces of toe eternal?
1t is the Son of the Emperor OF the uni.
verse. Down the stairs Of the high heav-
ems lie comes till He reaches the cold ar
of a December night in Palestine. and
amid the bleatings of sheep and the low
ing OF cattle and the moaning of cames
and the banter of the herdsmen. takes His
first sleep on earth, and for thirty-three
years invites the wandering race to return
to God and happiness and heaven They
were the longest thirty-throe years ever
known in heaven. Among many high intel
ligences what impatiencc 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 And all for what? Why, allow
the Crown Prince to come on such an err
rand and endure such sorrow and die such
death? 1t was to invite the human race
to put down its antipathies and resist
ance. 1t was because God is love"
Now, there is nothing beautiful in n
shipwreck. We go down to look at the
battered and split hulk of an old ship on
Iho nney Is1nnI ~ Netu TaraaNs onopt 10
excites our interest. We wonder when
and how it came ashore, and whether it
was the recllessness OF pilot or a storm
before which nothing could bear up. Ilu-
man nature wrecked may interest the in.
habitants of other worlds as n curiosity,
but there is nothing lovely in that which
has foundered on the rocks of sin and
sorrow. Yet it was in that condition OF
moral break up that heaven moved to the
rescue. IL was lOveliness lowering over
deformity. 1t was the lifeboat putting out
into the surf that atten pted its demoi-
ton 1t was harmony pi.ylng discord. 1t
a recreant world.
The schoolmen deride the idea that God
has emotion. They think it would be
divine weakness to be stirred by any
earthly spectacle. The God of the learned
Bruch and Scheermacher is an infinite
intelligence without feeling, cold and
cherries divinity. But the God we wor-
shin is one of sympathy and compassion
and helpfulness and affection. God is
love"
In all the Bible there is no more CON
solatory statement. The very best peo-
pie have in their lives occurrences ineXpli-
cable. They are bereft or prosecuted or
impoverished or invalided, They have
only one child, and that dies, while the
next door neighbor has seven children,
and they are all spared. The unfortunates
buy at a time when the market is rising,
and the day after the market falls. At a
time when they need to feel the best for
the discharge Of some duty they are seized
with physical collapse. Trying TO do
good and honest and useful thing, they are
misrepresented and b2liad as il they had
practiced villainy There are people
who all their lives have suffered injustices.
Others of less talent, with less consecra-
ton. 20 on and up, while they go on and
down. There are in many lives riddles that
have never been explained heartbreaks
that have never been healed, Go TO that
man or that woman with philosophic eX-
PLANTATION, and your attempt at comfort
will' be a failure, and you will make mat
ters worse instead OF making them better.
But let the oceanic tide of the text roll in
that soul, and all its losses and disasters
will be submerged with blessing, and the
sufferer will say, 81 cannot understand