The Tupelo journal., 1903-11-27

Copyright, 1905, by |. NJ. Edson.l

as she looked about her upon the face
of Nature: "Oh, how beautiful! have
tried as | have scented the perfume of
the flowers, and felt the warmth of the
sun, and heard the rustic of the leaves
upon the trees as the gentle breezes
moved them to whispering to each other,
to imagine how the flowers and the trees
and the sunlight upon all looked, but
no thought | ever had was true to Nature
as she really is and as | see her now"
And this is the way it is when the natural
mind of man tries to think out who and
what God is, and this is the reason there
are so many misconceptions of God in
the world to-day. The second includes
those who have little or much light as
to Gods real character. His purpose
towards la and His attitude towards
sin. Here is one whose soul has caught
the first glimmering light of God, as the
eye may catch the first gray streaks of
dawn as they mount the eastern sky.
And as there are degrees of light from
this early morning gray to the full burst
of sunlight which floods the earth as the
sun mounts to the zenith of his glory,
so there are degrees of the light of Gods
truth which is shed abroad in the soul.
And in ratio to the light from Gods
Word the true conception of who
and what God is.
ZACH succeeding age of the worlds
l. history has had a larger and fuller
revelation of God. God knows no change,
and yet until the coming of Christ the
world had never had a full revelation of
God. But Christscame declaring that
He who had seen and known Him had
seen and known the Father also. The
period from Adam to Noah, known as
the anti-diluvian age, knew not God in
the fullness in which those did who
lived from Noah to the time of Moses,
or during the patriarchal age. And so
on through the Mosaic age to the time of
Christ there was ever increasing revela-
ton of God until God came and dwelt
among men in the person of His Son.
And as man studies the record left of
that matchless life and sacrificial death
he comes more and more to know and
understand God. Paul, under the guild
ance of the Holy Spirit, revealed more
perfectly the mysteries of the Gospel
and thus gave. a clearer vision of God
and His Christ. And more and more is
man coming to know and understand
what the Scriptures mean. And thus it
will continue until that time when Gods
children shall COO Him fooo RI faoa on1
know even as they are known. This
gradual revelation of God is on the man
ward side and for the sake of man. God
in Himself is unchanged and unchange-
able. God did not begin to be a God of
love only at the time that He sent His
Son into the world. He was a God of
love from the beginning. His purpose
for man, His wonderful deliverance of
the sinner and punishment of sin were
not a purpose and plan which came with
the fall and wicked sinfulness of man,
but man was chosen in Christ before the
foundation of the world" and Jesus, the
Lamb, was slain before the foundation
of the world" What God has revealed
Himself to be, He was from the begin
ming. And with the increasing revela-
ton of God to the world has come in
creasing responsibility upon the world.
Paul told the Athenians that the God
they were w%orshiping was a god of
ignorance. That their ideas of God
were false, and now that the true God
had been fully revealed unto men God
could no longer excuse this ignorance,
but commanded all men everywhere to
repent and come to a knowledge of the
truth.
THUS upon this Christian age has
L come a weight of responsibility
which must crush to hell or lift to
Heaven. Jesus severest judgments
were pronounced against those places
which knew Him best and had wit
messed most of His mighty works, for
with the greater light which had shined
in upon them had come greater respon-
And the world. cannot escape
that responsibility to-day. The world
cannot plead ignorance of God. The
men of Nineveh, that great and wicked
city, shall rise up in judgment against
the world to-day, said Jesus, because
Nlneveh repented at the preaching of
Jonah, and behold a greater than
Jonah has come into the world calling
it to repentance. And again Jesus said:
''The queen of the south shall rise I'D in
judgment with this generation and con- !
it; for she came from the u,,e,,-
most parts of the earth to hear the wis
dom of Solomon, and, behold, a greater
than Solomon is here" 1t would have
been nj wonder if this queen. dreading
the long, hard, perilous Journey, had re-
fused to seek Solomon, the wise. in his
far-off kingdom, but when Jesus. the
and King, has made the long
from Heaven to earth. and
dwelt amidst men, and lived thai men
might know how to live, and died thai
men might be saved, what can the world |
offer as excuse for not knowing God
and His Christ. How shall thew es-
if they neglect so great salvation ?"
The Interchangeable God of Heaven has
so revealed Himself unto the world that
the world has no possible excuse for
knowing Him or understanding
His purpose for man, and His judgment
against sin. The world cannot escane
the responsibility. 1t will be wjthout
excus before Him with whom it hath
to do.