The Canton times., 1902-05-16

l IL. y
fore the innocent babe, realizing, by
inspiration from Heaven, that wise In
the learning of the world though they
were. still here was gift from the
God of all knowledge which made their
learning pale into insignificance and
made them realize that the foollshness
of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men.
And thus from Heaven came the gift
of God to earth, for God so loved that
He gave. We are to talk of the potency
of this gift, but we cannot pass the
ruling motive of the heart of God,
| which enabled Him to give, and made
His Son obedient unto His will. God
loved in the beginning and has patient
ly kept on loving all through the ages,
| though mans heart has been SO SLOW
to respond. Can we understand that
love? Can we so speak as to convey
an idea of what that love is? IT John,
the beloved disciple, who was nearest
to the heart of Christ, could not fully
understand, but exclaims: Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and 1T
doth not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that when He shall
appear we shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is" surely,
we cannot hope to fathom that love,
but also must wait until beholding face
| to face, we shall then understand what
| Gods love really is.
There are beautiful pictures OF
4 oil fhrn11ph
Word of God, from devoted, loyal
Ruth to Mary with the alabaster box
of ointment, or Mary Magdalene.
whose love for her Lord made her
linger at the tomb and gave her the
first vision of her risen Lord. Love!
AS the love of Christ fills our hearts
we can begin to know somewhat OF
the love of God, but we cannot fully
know until we stand on the other
side and join in the grand chorus OF
the redeemed in praise of Him who
alone is worthy to be praised.
The potency of the gift of God be-
gins to be realized as we slowly read
the rest of our text. This gift is all
comprehensive, it is from everlasting
to everlasting. Aladdin's lamp, if it
ever had any existence beyond the
Imagination of the one who tells the
story of it's wonderful potency, has
passed away, and only the memory
remains. The story of Midas touch
which could transmute to gold any
thing with which it came in contact
has delighted and held the attention
of readers for generations, but it is
but tale. The story of the magic
carpet which used to whisk it's owner
in the story book to every conceiv-
able and inconceivable nook and
corner of old mother earth has per-
formed it's mission in fairy land and
given place to other fairy potencies
of the story writer's brain. But
where in history, prose or poetry will
you find an equal to the story of the
potency of the Gift of God to the
world.
Moses rod, under the direction of
God, could part the Red sea, could
smite the rocks in the desert until
refreshing waters gushed forth. The
trumpets of the priests and the
shouts of the children of Israel could
lay low the walls of Jericho. The
Gideon's band of three hundred could
win mighty victory over the hosts
of the Midianites. The cry of a
Joshua to God could cause the sun to
stand still. The shepherds sling of
David could send crashing to earth
the terrible giant and deliver from
the oppression of the Philistines for
a time, but all these wonderful poten-
tialities of God passed away and all
we have is a living, thrilling memory.
But the gift which God gave to the
world nineteen hundred years ago is
swaying the world more powerfully
than ever before, and as we review
the achievements of the past wonder
full century we hear it echoed on
every hand that it is the result of the
Light which God sent into the world
to light every man to Him.
Young Solomon, called to the re-
sponsibilities of great and prosper
Gus kingdom, sought blessing
from God. In choosing wisdom, in |
order that he might successfully con-
duct the affairs of state, he found |
that the lesser gifts were included and |
he had both riches and honor.
In Gods Gift to the world we Sc
cure Saviour from sin and find that |
all the lesser blessings of life are in
cluded. "Whosover receiveth (believ-
eth in) Him hath everlasting life."
The ambitious heart that receives
Him as the center of his being |
finds that instead of the horizon /
of his hopes being limited to |
the possible three score and ten, he