The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-18

text, Job XVI, II: 10. these are parts
OF his ways. But how little a portion Is
Heard of him2 But the thunder OF his
power who can understand?"
The least understood being IN the uni
verse is God. Blasphemous would be any
attempt by painting or sculpture to rep
resent him. Egyptian hieroglyphs tried
20 suggest him by putting the figure of
AN eye Upon a sword, implying that God
sees and rules, but how imperfect the
suggestion! When we speak OF him, il
Us almost always in language fgurative.
He is Light" or "Dayspring From ON
High" or he is a High Tower or the
Fountain Of Living Waters" His splen-
dor is so great that no man can see him
and live. When the group Of great theo-
logians assembled in Westminster abbey
for the purpose of making a system Of re-
1igious belief. they first of all wanted an
answer to the question. Who is God?"
No one desired to undertake the answer
ing OF that overrnasterinE question. They
finally concluded 10 give the task to the
youngest man in the assembly. who hap
pened to be Rev. George Gillespie. He
consented to undertake it on the condition
that they would first unite with him in
prayer for divine direction. He began
his prayer by saying. 30 Cod. thou art 4
spirit, infinite. eternal and Interchangeable
IN thy being. wisdom. power. holiness.
justice. goodness and truth" That first
sentence of Gillespie's prayer was Cnani-
mously adopted ny the assembly "a the
best definition of God. But. after all, it
was only Z paTt;:! success. and after ey-
erything that language can 10 when put
to the utmost strain and all we can see of
God in the natural world and realize of
God in the prOviGential world we are
forced To cry ont with Job in my text:
10. these are parts of his ways. But
how little Il portion is heard Of him? But
the thunder of his power who can under
stand"
Archbishop TillOtsOn and DR.. Dick and
Timothy Dwight and Jonathan Edwards
OF the past and the mightiest theologians
of this young century have discoursed upon
the power of God. the attribute of omnip-
otence. And we have all seen demon
STATIONS of Gods almightiness. 1t might
have been far out at sea when in IN
eQuinoctial gale God showed what he
could do with the waters. 1t might have
been in an August thunderstorm in the
mountains when God showed what he
could do with the lightnings. 1t might
have been in South America when God
showed what he could do with the earth
quakes. 1t might lave been among the
Alps when God showed what he could
do with the a~valanches. Our cheek was
b~lanched, our breath stopped, our pulses
fiuttered, our whole being was terrorized,
but we had seen only an instance of di-
vine strength. What was the power Of
that storm compared with the power
which holds all the oceans? What was
the power that shook the hills compared
wrtEh Tho hn& -.--- H.
through all the centuries and for 5000
years and in a formative and incomplete
shape for hundreds Of thousands of years?
What is that power that s~ustains our
world compared with the power which
rolls through immensely the entire solar
system and all the consultations and
galaxies and the universe? The might
est intellect Of man would give way if
for a moment there came upon it the full
appreciation Of what o%mnipotence is.
What you and / see and hear Of divine
strength are only parts of his ways. But
how little a portion is heard of him! But
the thunder Of his power who can under
stand?"
Gods Way OF Doing.
We try to satisfy ourselves with say
ing, at is natural law that controls
things, gravitation is at work. centripetal
and centrifugal forces respond to each
other" But what is natural law? 1t is
only Gods way of doing things. AT ev-
cry point in the universe it is Gods direct
and continuous power that controls and
harmonizes and sustains. That power
withdrawn one instant would make the
planetary system and all the worlds
which astronomy reveals one universal
wreck, bereft h~emispheres. dismantled
sunsets, dead consultations. debris Of
worlds. What power il must be that
keeps the internal fires of our world i'm
prisoned-only here and there squirting
from a Cotopaxi. or a StromhOli. or from
a Vesuvius. putting Pompeii and Hercu-
laneum into sepulcher. but for the most
part the internal fires chained in their
cages of rock, and century after century
unable TO break the chain or burst open
the door. What power To keep the COM
ponent parts of the air in right proper
ton. so that all around the world the ma
tons may breathe in health. the frosts and
the heats hindered from working universal
demolition. Power. as Isaiah says. Ito
take up the isles as a very little thing"
Ceylon and Borneo and Hawaii as though
they were pebbles: power TO weigh the
mountains in scales" and the hills in
balances"-Tenerife and the Cordilleras.
To move a rock we must have lever and
screw and great machinery. but God
moves the world with nothing but a
word; power to create worlds and power
to destroy them, as from the observa-
tories again and again they have been
seen red with fame. then pale with ashes
and then scattered
What is that power to us? asks some
one. 1t is everything to Us. With him
on our side, the reconciled God. the SYM
pathetic God, the o~mnipotent God, we
may defy all human and satanic antago-
nisms. And when We are shut in by OBJ
stacles we can say as did one OF Frobish-
er's men when the sailor was describing
how their ship was surrounded by ice
bergs in the Arctic sea, THE ice was
strong, but God was stronger than the
ice," and whatever opposition we may
have our God is mightier than the oppo-
sition. All right with God, we may have
the courage Of the general dying on the
L-AxTl H. 81 a. --- cd