The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-12-02
4 SERMON FOR SUNDAY
All ELOQUENT DISCOURSE By THE
REV. D. D. MacLAURlN.

Subject: Love and the Vision Of God-Love
is the Only Interpreter of the Kingdom
of Heaven, of All the Spiritualities-
The Riddle OF Self.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-Sunday morning, in
Donald D. MacLaurin, pastor Of the Sec
ond Baptist Church, Rochester, preached
to tile united congregations the final ser
mon in series of eight on 'The Greatest
Thing in the Worlds His special subject
was "Love and the Vision Of God; or, the
Eye That Sees All Wonders" The text
was from Corinthians Xiii:l2: For now
we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face
to face" DR.. MacLaurin said:
Love is the only interpreter of God. We
saw last Sunday that to love only are dl,
vine revelations made, and that to perfect
love only can perfect divine disclosures be
made. The converse truth IS equally valu-
able, namely: "That love is the only inter.
prefer Of God, of all in the kingdom OF
God, of all spiritualties. No;r. must you
think that this is strange or arbitrary we
have sought in all our services to. discover
the analogy between the laws Of the spirit
ual realm and the laws with which we are
familiar.
Yo; will find that this, namely: That
love is the only interpreter, is part OF the
discipline OF life. in every direction, as
some one has well said: Love sees farth-
est, hears quickest and feels deepest"
Two illustrations of that proposition
have been given; one with regard to the
realm of nature. Let us say that two men
are jourreying through your beautiful
park; ore secs the general conformation;
the general outline OF street and sweep OF
field and shimmering lake, and he notices
that there are trees bordering the drives
and walks, but that is all. He has his
ewes chiefly on the ground. He does not
hear the birds; or, if he does, it is not to
discern orc songster from another. Now
take the other. This man not only sees
the general conformation of the landscape,
the general plan of the artist who laid it
ont, but he sees the trees, he sees, he dis
tinguishes one from another. He notes
the flowers that spring; he notes not only
the songster that sings, but he knows lts
life and story. He sees the shimmering
pond ard lake and the reflected overhang.
ing foliage and is rninistered to by them.
At the end of the journey the latter man
is enriched in his mind and heart. What
has made the difference between the. two
men? The one has been, and is, a lover
OF nature. He is a student of nature be-
cause he loves it.. And nature is kind; ma
ture knows her lovers, and so she makes
disclosures to him that the other man does
not get.
Two men visit the Metropolitan Museum
of Art; and let me say to those who may
not have seen those art treasures, it is
worth a visit and much study. One OF
these men hurres through it in a perfume
tory way. 0, he notices there are large
pictures and small ones, but lie has no
tilre for those little bits of paintings that
adorn the walls. If there is a big gilt
frame OH one of the pictures, he admires
it greatly, but it is a bore, and he hurries
out, and wonders why people find so much
in the art galleries Of the world; The
other man discovers in some small piece
the product of a master, and he stands
entranced before it for hours; and you
will sec his eyes suffused with tears, and
if you notice you will see his lip Is tremu-
lous. He pays no attention to the frame;
he sees the soul Of the artist, and he is
profoundly stirred. l have seen men all
in tears before some masterpiece in the
galleries of Europe; their soul finds the
soul OF the artist They interpret him in
his finest moods; they have come to know
him.
Such men come nearest to interpreting
the Creator, Himself; for of all the sons
of men none stand higher than the artist.
He who can take piece OF raw material.
a piece of ordinary canvas, and make 1t
ripple like a river, make it roar like the
mighty ocean, carrying ship full rugged
upon its bosom a man who can make 1t
blossom into a rose, or who can paint upon
it battle scene, preserving the heroism
and valor of men; man who can. by
color. ley before you all that is beautiful,
all that is divine in the world, surely,
stands first among the sons OF God, and
nearest to the Maker Himself in that ne
is creator.
The lover of art sees this. To him these
things are disclosed, while the man who
does not love sees little. The same is true
between men. To whom do you disclose
yourself? Who is able to interpret you?
The man who hates you? Surely not. be
is always misreading you, misilterprsting
your motives. 1t is the man who loves
you. He interprets you, he knows you.
So I think the proposition is justified
that love IS the only interpreter of God.
This brings me to the first point | desire
to bring to you this morning, namely, this:
That there is time in the life OF every
man when he has no vision of God and
spiritual realities. I wish You to. mark
that. There is time in the life of every
man when he has no vision Of God and
spiritualities. 1t covers al that period
Of his life during which he is unregener.
ate, when there is absolutely no vision OF
God and spiritual realities. The Apostle
Paul will Justify that assertion, for you
will find him saying in this same epistie,
that "the natural man perceiveth not the
things c-s the spirit of God, for they arc
foolishness unto him, and he cannot know
them because they are spiritually judged:
The natural man is not in the realm N
which he can interpret spiritual realities.
This mysterious force in the organic
kingdom we call life. Who knows the Or
ganic kingdom we call life? Who knows
what it is? But we know it is there, and
we know Il wcaves bodies in which 1t
dwells; that it is a miracle and that It per-
forms miracles of transformation; we are
acquainted with it; They would not ealI
it a miracle were they to know. what it IS.
When life is busy, it is performing these
transformations, bus the atom cannot IN
derstand the results of life forces; they are
fooishness unto it. They are utterly con-
trary to all it knows Of the operation in its
kingdom. -.
Now, do you Enow there is another king
dom? A third kingdom, which IS above
the organic and in which all higher life
forces dwell; third kingdom whose force
is the spirit of the living God. Aad until
q man has come into the life of that king
dom everything that we say transpircs. II,
it is foo.ishness to him in the natural
kingdom, just as Paul says, "For the. nat
ural man receiveth not the things Of the
spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, and he cannot know them, for they
are spiritually Judged" He has not en-
tered that third Kingdom. He does not
know its law He does not understand its
phenomena; in fact, he docs no. see them.
Which things? "E ye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart CT man. the things What things;
Paul? The things yhat God has prepared
for them that love Him" So there is 4
time wien there is absolutely no vision of
God. and TO vision of spiritual realities.