The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-05-30
Con.ciousness OF God.

Consciousness of God.
with the incoming of the Christ
life, the fact of God is brought from the
realm of the speculative into that of
personal consciousness, sis a thought
brought out by Rev. G. Cambell Nor
gan. "The one overwhelming truth is
God, and all other experiences are
judged and placed by their relation
thereto The fact of God may not al
ways be the uppermost- in the mind
of the Christian. He will not neces-
sarily always be mentally repeating
his belief, nor will he be constantly re-
minding himself of that belief. These
exercises prove weakness rather than
strength of conviction. There Will be
a constant consciousness of God
which will flash out into restrictive
and expansive application through all
the various circumstances of the ever
changing days.
"How wonderfully this was true in
the life of Jesus may be discovered by
reading through the Gospels, especial
ly those of Matthew and John, and tab
ulating His references to His Father.
1t will be discovered that He lived
life conscious of the presence of His
Father, submissive to the authority OF
His Father, and confident in the wis
dom and power of His Father. All the
circumstances of the days, and all the
values of words and deeds, and all the
issues of life were tested and tried in
that consciousness. To all those in
whom Christ lives there comes the
same consciousness. and it produces
like effects.
''The life thus homed in God enters
upon new views and new feelings. The
first and basal change is intellectual.
The God consciousness proves much.
Remembering that the God of whom
the Christian is conscious is God re-
vealed in Christ, it will at once be seen
how the enlightened intelligence rests
in the fact of his perfect justice
Mists and mysteries may still en-
shroud the appearance of the hour,
but the Christian knows that eternal
| Justice holds unceasing vigil and
metes out answering truth. Though
| the method may seem strange, the is
sue is assured. The Judge of all the
earth will do right Yet this is not
ALL Christ has spoken to men from
'the bosom of the Father and the
| heart of the Christian knows that
mercy is as truly the way of God as Is
| Justice; knows, moreover, that in the
great mystery of the cross these have
met, so that now justice operates in
mercy and mercy delivers in justice
| This issues in the assurance that IN
spite of all the appearances of the
Fittings that are near Gods victory is
assured. and so there is ever in the
heart of the Christian the triumph
song of the day that is coming, and
! through all the conflict of to-day he
| endures as seeing him who Is lnvlsl
] ble.' The result of this is new mora
consciousness. All life being set IL
this new relation to God, then man be
comes keen of scent in his fear. The
beauty of holiness and the defOrmlty
of sin are clearly seen. righteousness
is now seen in its larger issue in the
victory of God, and sin in its deeper
doom as defeated by God. Then al
conduct is measured, not by the salts
faction of the sensuous moment, but
bv its relation to the eternal verltles
Now the things that appeared only
harmless and of little account to near
sightedness are seen to be of mighty
moment when seen in the perspective
and proportion of the eternities.