The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-06-28
TALMAGEs SERMON.
DR.. Talmage'B Discourse on God .
Way of Doing.


now only dimly seen will bo fully revealed
text, Job XVI, Id "Lo, ihosc arc parts of
his ways. But how little portion is heard
Of him2 But the thunder Of his power who
4 oan understand?''
Tho least understood being in the uni
verso Is God. Blasphemous would no any
attempt by painting or sculpture 10 repro
sent him. Egyptian hioroglyphios tried to
suggest him by putting the figure of an oyo
upon sword, implying that God secs and
rules, but how imperfect tho suggestionl
When wo spoak of him, it is almost always
"DaysPring From on High" or he is "IIigh
Tower or tho "Fountein of Living Waters1'
His splondor is 30 great that no man can 500
him alive. Whom the group Of great lhco-
logians assembled in Wostminstor abboy for
tho purpose of making system Of religious
belief thoy first of all wanted an answer to
tho question, "Who is God7" No ono dc.
sired to undertake tho answ aring of that
oyermastering question. They finally CON
cludcd to give tho task TO tho youngest man
in the assembly, who happened to be Rev
George Gillespie. Ho consented to undcr.
takc it on the condition tnat thoy would first
unto with him in prayer for divi,e direc-
ton. Hc began his prayer by saying, 40
God, thou art spirit, infinite eternal and
unohangeable in thy bong, wisdom, power,
holiness, justico, goodness and truth That
first sentence Of Gillospios prayer was unani
mously adopted by the assembly as tho best
definition of God. But, after ALL it was only
partial SUCCESS, and after everything that
Language can do whom put to tho utmost
strain and oil we can 500 of God in tho natural
world and realize Of God in the providential
world we arc forced to cry out with Job in my
text "Lo, these are parts of his ways. But
how littlo portion is heard of him? But
tho thunder Of his power who can undcr.
stand?"
Archbishop Tillotson and DR.. Diok and
Timothy Dwight and Jonathan Edwards Of
the post and tho mightiest theologians of this
young century have disooursed upon the
power Of God, the attribute of omnipotcnco.
And Wo have all seen demonstrations OF God 8
almightiness. 1t might have been far out at
sea whom in M equinoctial gale God show cd
what he GOULD do with tho waters. 1t might
have beon in an August Thunderstorm in tho
mountains when God showed what he could
DO with the lightnings. 1t might havo been
in South America when God showed what h 0
could do with the earthquakes II might
have been among tho Alps when God showed
what he could do with the avalanches. Our
cheek was blanohed, our breath stopped,
our pulses iuttercd, our whole be
ing was torrorized, but We had seen only an
instance of divine strength, What was the
powor Of that storm compared with the
power which holds oil tho ooeans2 What was
IS the power that shook tho hills oom parod
with the power that wings the earth through
oil tho centuries and for 6 1000 years and in
formative and incomplete shape for hun
dreds Of thousands of years? What is that
power that sustains our world compared with
tho power which rolls through immensity
0Otirn GO0r nj nd on Al,
ations and galaxies and the universe? The
mightiest intellect of man would give way il
for moment there came upon it the full
appreciation Of what omnipotence is. What
you and see and hear Of divine atrcngth
are only ''parts of his ways But how little
aportion 10 heard of him! But tho thund +
OF his power who can understand?
We try to satisfy ourselves with saying,
1T 10 natural law that controls things, erayi.
tation is at work, centripctal and centrifugal
forces respond to each otber." But what is
natural Law? 1t is only Gods way of doing
things. Az every point in tho universe il is
dods direct and continuous power that con-
trolls and harmonizs and susains That
power Withdrawn one instant would mako
the planetary systom and oil The worlds
which astronomy reveals ono universal
wreck, bercft hemisphcrcs, dismantled sun
sets, dead consultations, debris Of worlds.
What power it must be that keeps the inter.
nal fires OF our world imprsoncd-o hero
and there squirting from Cotopaxi, or q
Stfompoil, or from Vcsuvius, putting Pom
peii and Heroulaneum into sopulcher, but
LOT the most part the internal fires chained
ID their cages Of rock, and century af,cr con-
Jury unable TO break the chain or burst open
the doorl What power to keep the com
ponont parts of the air in right proportion.
30 that oil around the world tho nations
may breathe ia health, tho frosts and tho
heats hindered from working uniyersal
demolitionl Powor, as Isaiah says, "to take
up the islos as worry littlo thing Ccylon
ana Borneo and Hawaii as though thoy wcro
pebbles; power to weigh the "mountains in
acaleo' and the hills in balanocs'' ''-Tencrife
and tho CordilleIas. To movo a rock wo
must have lover and sorrow and preat
machinery, but God moves tho world With
nothing but word; power to create worlds
ana power to destroy them, as from tho
observatories again and again they have boon
seon red with flamo, thon pale with ashes
and then scattered,
What Is that power 10 us7 asks some one.
II is everything to us. With him on our sido.
tho reoonoiled God, tho sympathetic God, tho
omnipotont God, wo may defy oil hlmon and
satanic antagonisms. And when we arc
shut IN by obstacles we can say as did one Of
rroplSnor ulen Wnen the sailor WAS dCgOrib.
Ing how thoir ship was surrounded by ice
borgs In Arctic sea, '"The ico was strong, but
God was stronger than the ico," and what
eyer opposition VIC may have our God is
mightor than the opposition, All right with
God We may have the Outrage of tho general
dying on tho battlefield. lIe asked to be
turned, and whom thoy said, (Which way
shall We turn your" ho said, iTurn nv faoo
toward the.onemy" What q challenge that
was uttered by tho old missionary hero.
~ God be for ns, who can bo against us?''
God 10 the only being in the universe who
has power to do as r!eascs. All human and
angelic forces have environments. There
are things they cannot do; heights thoy can.
not scale; depths they cannot fa,hom.
Whatever their might and yclocilics thoy
are seryants Of omnipotenco, which has no
Limitation, no hinderment and no insur-
mountable obstacle. Martin Luther asked n
Saxon peasant to rccito tho creed, and tho
peasant began, ~ believe in God, tho Father.
Almighty" "Stop,' said Luther. "What is
Almighty" ~ do not know" replied tho
peasant. Then Luther said: "You aro
right, my doar fellow. Ncithor nor all The
learned! mon oan tell what is omnipotenoo.n
Human power, however great, tires and
must rest, but omnipotonco mover Wearics,
and quadrillion Of years from now will be
as fresh as at this moment.
We got somo littlo idea Of tho divine power
when We see how it buries The proudest
cities and nations Ancient Memphis IL has
ground up until many Of it's ruins are no
K lnr1ar than vnYr fhun,h no;i onI 49,, 49,,