The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-05-01
The Hiddennsss Of God.


The Hiddenness Of God.
Two girls, as they walked home cne
night from work, were engaged in earn
est talk stranger who stood on the
sidewalk near them saw the play OF anx-
ious feeling on their faces as they stopped
moment beneath street lamps din-
light. Suddenly one was heard to say to
the other. Yes. but why has no one ever
seen GodT'-that was all, just fraE-
ment-word throbbing with pain and re-
gret, and they vanished again in the night
How like humanity that wasl Like chill
dren, they. pause now and then in the
darkness Of life lift their weary faces tu
the pale lights glaring along the way, and.
peerine into bafied ewes, cry, Why can
we not see our God" II was Phibp'a
old question. you remember, "Show us the
Father" and all of us are now and then
in Philips class, for IL is large.
Must move on to the end with mvs-
terry ahead and uncertainty around. unable
to lift even = little corner of life's misty
make all plain? Must l be forever doing
so much and knowing so little, sure Of God
to-day and doubling Him tomorrow! IL
Miss Schreiner's legend of "The Hunter
completely true. and must ], like him.
follow the vast white bird OF Truth
only at last. when withered and old, Tn
catch ons little feather from his wingst
Is it so' And many. as they ponder IL,
grow sad and wan and hopeless.
Yet il is a needless sorrow, this regret
at not finding the secret of God. This
vagueness and uncertainty that men think
peculiar to spiritual things is everywhere.
not local to religion. but universal in all
things. II it does not bother the merchant
at trade. why should it trouble the Chris
tian at prayer?
Exact knowledge Of anything Is impos~
aih1a What drarva the anplo oarthvrnr ri
what is electricity, what is mind or con-
science or will. how are soul and body,
united! We cannot tell: we see thsse
things through glass darklv. We know
| some of their uses and operations, but inst
where they begin, and exactly what they
| mystery" said Linnaeus. "in handful OF
| moss. to give one lfetmes study"
All our complaining is the old human
cry for greater assurance, and its explsns-
ton is as various as its cause. In part. II
| is due to the fact that man is man and
| God is God, that we are shareholders in
| two worlds-the visible and earthly and
| the spiritual and eternal. Destined for o
vast future, and only able as yet to know
| and possess q very small part, mystery IL
zig the halfway house between ignorance
| and knowledge-the twilight Of the intel
| lect." 1t is very good for us on the whole.
| for it awakeus the mind. stirs our imasi-
nation, and incites TO effort and progress
Yet, good as it is, it disturbs many weak
| souls, and fills them with Shelley's regret
| that
Life, like dome of many-colored glass.
Stains the fair radiance of eternity"
Even to the Christian sometimes God
seems hidden. In spite of the promise
| that the pure in heart shall see God, new
| ertheless they often think they do not
see Him, and, as far as their own mental
peace is concerned, the fancy might as we'll
be fact. But when God seems far of to.
the Christian, is it not in fact, because
He is so near? He is so blended with mans
nature, He so penetrates and fills the
| chambers of thought, flows through the
channels of feeling and rises through all
the springs of will, is so thoroughly identi~
| fed with all mans best and highest life.
that, while he seeks His marvellous appear
ance without, God, as a silent presence, is
| filling the chambers Of the soul.
God was very near to some people IN
the Bible, and they knew it not. May He
not be equally near you, and you be igno-
rant of that nearness?
The two who walked with the Risen One
| toward Emmaus, though they looked into
His face and heard His voice, did not
recognize the Master until later, when He
stood in their midst Perhaps your heart
| also has burned within you as He has
talked with you by the way, and you have
mistaken God-given emotions, heavensent
| thoughts, and eternal hopes and longingss
| for influences purely natural.
To the wicked, God is hidden in a sense
different and more awful STILL Jesus de-
voted one whole parable to the illustrations
of this fact. The prodigal was lost In a
far country when he had taken all he
could get, followed the wild voices of pas
sion, and spent his all on self-gratifcation.
| And selfishness always drives us SO far
| from God that God seems almost nom
existent. But when the prodigal awakened
| to the fact that the highest happiness hes
| in the service, not of self, but of one who
| loves us best, then his father drew near
him again, and let him feel his tender
| embrace once more
| In many cases God to-day seems hidden.
and spiritual realities vaguely unreal be-
| cause of life's attrition, its wear and tear
| its metallic custom and deadening care,
| the rub of duty and the clash of jangling
| interests. We do not reject God nova
days, we simply let Him alone; and il is
not long before a neglected God becomes
God far off, unfeatured and dim, and
| life's fair visions and dreams OF purity fait
to nerve and sustain.
Let us not charge God with our in
trinity and offense, nor think Him dis
tant and loveless when we are careless and
cold. The dust OF neglect dims the finest
| mirror, and the loftiest mountain fails to
| awe when we turn our backs upon it
Sunday-School Times.
| Avoid Temptation.
| What xva orc tauuhf 10 aaal, or ehun in