Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-11-21
& AND VISION OF GOD
brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev.
D. D. MacLaurin.
Love Is the Only Interpreter of the King.
dom Of Heaven. of all the Spiritualties.

BROOKLYN, N. Y.-Sunday morning, in
$t. Johns NJ. E. Church, the Rev. DR..
Dolald D. MacLaurin, pastor of the Sec,
ond Baptist Church, Rochester, preached
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 l Corinthians xiii:l2: "For now
we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face
to face" DIR. MacLaurin said:
Love is the only interpreter of God. We
saw last Sunday that to love only are di-
vine revelations made, and that to perfect
love only can perfect divine disclosures be
made. The converse truth is equally valu-
n able, namely: "That love is the only inter.
4 prefer of God, Of all in the kingdom of
God, of all spiritualities. Nor must you
1 think that this is strange or arbitrary. We
have sought in all our services to discover
the analogy between the laws of the spirit
nal realm and the laws with which We are
familiar.
You will find that this, namely: That
love is the only interpreter, is part. Of the
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, journeying through your beautiful
pain, orc SSSS VIC SciiSIdi COlloiindCioD,
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
eyes chiefly on the ground. He does not
hear the birds; or, if he does, it is not to
discern one 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,
out, 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 its
life and story. He sees the shimmering.
pond and lake and the reflected overhang-l
ing foliage and is ministered to by them
At the end of the journey the latter m AM
is enriched in his mind and heart. What
has made the difference between ne two;
men? The one has been, and Is, a lover
of nature. He is student of nature be-
ture knows her lovers, and so she makes
disclosures to him that the other man does
not get. j
Two men visit the Metropolitan Museumi
of Art; and letme say to those who mayI
not have seen those art treasures, it is
worth visit and much study. One Of
these men hurries through it in perfume,
pictures and small ones, but he has no
time for those little bits of paintings that
adorn the walls. If there is Big gilt
frame on one of the pictures. he admircs
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 4 master. and he stands
entranced before it for hours; and you
will see his eyes suifused with tears, and
if yoh notice you will see his lip is tremu-
lous. He pays TO attention to the frame;
he sees the soul OF the artist, and he is
profoundly stirred. have seen men all
in tears before some masterpiece iE the
galleries of Europe; their soul finds the
soul OF the artist They interpret him in
his finest moods; they have come 10 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,
piece of ordinary canvas, end make 1t
ripple like river, make it roar like the
mighty ocean, carrying ship full rugged
upon its bosom; a man who can make it
blossom into rose. or who can paint upon
it q battle scene, preserving the herolsm
and vaior of men; man who CAM by
color. lay before you al 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 he
is a 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. lie
is always misleading you, misinterpretlng
your motives. 1t is the. man who loves
you. He inter2rets you. he knows yoa: :.
So think the proposition Is justified
that love is the only interpreter OF God.
uhiS hr;ncc mo IN fine 4irSi. poiot I desira
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. l wish YOU to. mark
that. There is a time in the life OF every
man when he has no vision OF God and
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 yc1
will find him saving in this same epistle,
! that "rhe natural man percsiyseth not The
foolishness unto him, and he cannot Know
them because they are spiritually judged"
The natural man is not in the real III
which he can interpret spiritual realities.
This mysterious force in the organic
kingd0m we call lie. !, Who VI; knows Y%s the , or,
what it is? But we know it is there, and
we know it weavcs bodies. in which it
dwells; that it is miracle and that it per-
forms miracles OF transformation: We arc
= acquainted with it. They would not call
it miracle were they to know what it IS.
When life is busy, it is performing these
transformations. but the atom cannot I'M
der.tard the results of life forces; they are
foolishness unto it. They are utterly con-
trary to all il knows OF the operation in its
kingdom.
Now, 90 YOU know 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. And until
man has corae into the life Of that king
dom everything that we say transpires in
it is foo.ishness to him in the natural
kingdom, just as Paul says, For the nat
ural man reccivetn not the things of the
spirit OF God, for they are fo6ishness unto
him, and he cannot know them, for they
are spiritually judged" He has not EN-
tered that third Kingdom. He doss not
know its law. He does not understand its
phenomena; in fact, he does not see them.
Which things? Eye hath not seen. nor
ear heard, neither nave entered into the
heart of man. the things'-What things,
Paul? 'The things that God has prepared
for them that love Him." So there is a
ime when there is absolutely no vision OF
~<sod, and no vision OF spiritual realities,
and it is vastly valuable that men both in
the church and out of it shall recognize
that great fact. Had men ont OF the
church discovered that great fact, they
would have been saved from many failures,
as Bobby Burns in another connection
says: ut wad frae. .mony bludcr free US,
e. IL