The Tupelo journal., 1903-11-27

W&IS&$EA $H&S$Y N GOu only CdH IL De
&~a&N$T, NJ said that H e
NAG3 . changes not. Man,
G(WN@ in thought and pur-
pose, and plan and
desire and ambition, is Here to-
day and there tomorrow. He is
tickle, vacillating, changeahle, but
the infinite God is Interchangeable. This
is Gods own word concerning Himself:
Il am the Lord, l change not The
God who walked with Adam in the gar
den in the cool of the day and communed
with him is the same God who walks
and talks with men to-day when they
keep in step with the Divine will and
when they have ears to hear and hearts
to understand. The God who extended
mercy to Noah because of his faith, and
who executed judgment upon the
wicked and unbelieving world, is the
same God to-day who is extending His
offer of mercy and His warn
ing of judgment. The God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the
covenant-making and covenant-keep-
ing God, is the same covenant-mak-
ing and covenant-keeping God to-day.
The term Lord in our ext is in small
caps and should be rendered Jehovah,
which is the covenant lame of God to
the Jews. Il am Jehovah God (the
Covenant-GOd). and | change not"
Such was He in the days of Israel and
such is He to-day. The God who when
sin had entered into the world declared
Nhak gtlo uool - ~x.Jl l--..1
the %serpent's head" is the same God
who SO loved the world that He gave His
Son as a sacrifice for sin. The God who
is revealed in the Bible as the God of
Light and the God of Love has always
been such in character. God changes
not in character, He changes not in His
purpose towards man, He changes not
In His attitude towards sin. And be-
cause God changes not. man ought to
know God and be in harmony with Him.
M ANS conceptions of God change.
4f1 but God changes not. | want to
emphasize the contrast presented here
in this declaration. No matter what
mar thinks of God, no matter how his
views may change concerning God, this
remains true, that God changes not"
But mans ideas and conceptions of God
do change. Human experiences, en-
Vironment, training, peculiarities of
thought and disposition. all are con-
trlbutlve causes to a misconception of
who and what God is. Scarcely any
two persons have exactly the same idea
of God. But He is not many gods. He
is one God. and a God who changes not.
He is, however, the God of many. and
longs to be the God of all. Everyone
has some idea of God, some conception
or misconception of His character. A
popular view held of God to-day is that
of His universal Fatherhood-that con-
ceptiOn of God which eliminates hell
and the judgment, and makes every
member of the human race a child of
His and entitled at last to a place in
the Fathers House. Another concep-
ton Of God which prevails largely in
the minds of people is that God is a God
of favoritism-that is, that He has Sc
lected by an arbitrary act of His will
certain ones upon whom to bestow His
favor, while others are left to struggle
and suffer and perish alone. Then there
are the fatalists, whose conception is
that as God is all-knowing, He is all
determinative, and hence human life
is but the inevitable and u%nchangeable
working out of the Divine purpose and
will. They believe that God has fixed
the limit of life, the events of life, the
tendency and development of life. and
to attempt to change the seemingly in
evitable plan is to attempt the impos-
sible and fight against God. At the
other extreme are those who have a
vague, uncertain idea of God which en-
courages them to believe that He is a
good-natured, easy-going God who will
be too indulgent and loving to punish
for sin; that by some hook or crook. or
clever excuse on their part, they will
be able to turn aside the wrath of God
and to get into Heaven. And with this
conception of God shilling the troubled
conscience and oiling the wheels of self
indulgence and sin, they slide through
life and into eternity. Others there are
who believe that God is one whose
favor and esteem can be bought by good
works. They eliminate the necessity
of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
and estimate a persons fitness for
Heaven by those virtues which he DOS
sesses in himself, and the good deeds
which he has wrought.
IT HESE are some of the commoner
l. conceptions which people have of
God, but, as we have said, hardly any
two persons entertain exactly the same
idea of God. And yet these differences
are not to be accounted for by charging
God with variableness and shadow of
turning, for He changes not" But
they are due to human conceptions and
misconceptions of who and what God
is. There are two explanations or rea-
sons for these differences of views
First. the finite mind of man in seeking
to grasp Inc encompass the thought Of
the eternal and all-powerful God has
mixed much of error with the true rev.
elation of God. Second, a revelation of
God, be it little or much, has come to
some as the result of the study of Gods
Word, and prayer and meditation there
IN. Those included in the first class
may be likened unto a man blind from
his birth attempting to understand and
describe the beauties of nature, the glow