Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-06-21

| YET here comes the thought that God
can be In all places at the same time
Nader. the astronomer. went on will
bis explorations OF the heavens unit
he concluded that the star Alcyone
one of the Pleiades. was the center OF
the universe and II was fixed WORLD
and all the other worlds reyolycc
around that world. and some think thai
that world is heaven and Gods throne
Is there and there reside the nations OF
the blessed. But he is no more there
than he is here. Indeed Alcyone has
been found to be In motion, and Il also
Is revolving around some great center
But no place has yet been found where
God is not present by sustaining pow.
er. Omnipresence! Who fully appre-
ciates IL? Not I; not you. Sometimes
we hear him In n whisper; sometimes
we hear him In the voice of the storm
that Jars the Adlrondacks. But we can.
not swim across this ocean. The finite
cannot measure the infinite. We feel
as Job did after finding God I'm the
gold mines and the silver mines of
Asia. saying, 'srhere is a vein for the
silver and place for the gold where
they fine it" And after exploring the
heavens as an astronomer and finding
God In distant worlds and becoming
acquainted with Orion and Mazzaroth
and Arcturus and noticing the tides of
the sea the inspired poet expresses his
incapacity to understand such evil
dences OF wisdom and power and says:
10, these are parts of his waysl But
how little n portion Is heard of him
1 Rrif tho fhtrudar Of &c,
understands
So every system Of theology has at
tempted TO describe and define the di-
vine attribute OF love. Easy enough
Is 1t TO define fatherly love, motherly
love, conjugal love. fraternal love, sis.
terly love and love OF country. but the
love of God defies all vocabulary. For
many hundreds OF years poets have
| tried to sing II. and painters have tried
to sketch Ii and ministers of the gospel
to preach Ii, and martyrs In the fire and
Christians on their deathbeds have ex-
tolled 1t. and we can tell what Il Is like,
but no one has yet fully told what II IL.
Men speak of the love of God as though
II were first felt between the pointing
Of the Bethlehem star and the pound
&c ~ sAhC NhNNlhAlOu buI
no! Long before that existed the love
OF God.
The nature Of God never changes.
and from all eternity that holy passion
| glowed in the Infinite, and I think he
was throwing out worlds into space
and inhabiting them and more worlds
for the application OF that love. He
may not have told the other worlds
what he did for this world, as he has
not told us what he did for them. /
think the love OF God was demonstrate
ed In mightier worlds before our little
world was fitted up for human resi-
dence. VIII a man owning so. ZOO acres
OF land put all the cultivation on n
haif acre? Will God make a million
worlds and put his chief affection on
one small planet? Are the other worlds
and larger worlds standing vacant. IN
inhabited, while this little srssfa Is
crowded with inhabitants? No, a es5sx
a universe OF worlds to express thu
love of God. And there are other ran.
SONS and other rescues and other re-
demptons, as there may be other mil
ienniums and other resurrection morn
ings and judgment days than those of
our world. But In the space of six
Feet by i've was comprised the might
est evidence OF Gods love that any
world ever saw or ever will see. Com
pressed on two planks Joined together
as cross, there was enough agony
there concentered, II distributed, 90 put
whole nations into torture. That God
allowed the assassination of his own
Son for the rescue of our world is oil
the evidence needed that he loved the
world Go ahead. o church of God,
Go ahead. o world, and tell as well as
you can what the love OF God is. but
know beforehand that Paul was right
when he said, 1T passeth knowledge"
Let other poets take up the story of
Gods love where William Cowper and
Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley and
Horatius Bonar left II, and let other
painters improve upon the "Slstine Ma
donna" and the Alteration of the
Magi" and the "Crucihxion" as Ra-
phael and Titan and Claude and Cor
reggie presented them. Let the Ger
man pulpit orator take up the theme OF
COOS love where Frederick Tholuck
left II, let Italian pulpit take il up
where Gavazzi left IL. let French pulpit
orator take up the theme where Bour-
deloue left 1t, let the Swiss pulpit ora
tor take up the theme where Merle
DAubigne left II. let the English pull
pit take ii up where George Whitefield
left II, let the Scotch pulpit take II up
where DR.. Candlish left IL, let the
Welsh pulpit take it up where Christ
mas Evans left IL, and let the American
pulpit take 1t up where Archibald Alex
ander and DIR. Kirk and Matthew
Simpson left II. But the world will
never appreciate fully the love OF God
until they hear from his own lips the
outburst Of his infinite and everlasting
affection.
Glorious Hour.
Only glimpses of God have we I'm this |
world. But what an hour 1t will be |
when we first see him, and we will |
have no more fright than feel when |
L now see you. 1t will not be with |
mortal eye that we will behold him,
but with the vision OF a cleansed, for
given and perfected spirit. or all the
quintiilion ages OF eternity, to us the
most thrilling hour will be the first
hour when We meet him as he is. This
may account for something you have
all seen and may not have understood.
Have you not noticed how that after
death the old Christian looks young again
or the features resume the look OF 20 or
80 years before7 The WEAKNESS is gone
out OF the face; there is something
strfkingly restful and placid; there is
pleased look where before there was
a disturbed look. What has wrought
the changsf ! think the dying Chris
tan saw God. At the moment the soul
LETT the body what the soul saw left
its impression on the countenance. III
think that is what gave that old Chris
tian face after death the radiant and
look. The bestormed spirx
has reached the harbor; the hard battle
OF life Is ended in victory. The body
took that look the moment AaMsa bs-
gan and the curtain Was eonnssssly