The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-07-03
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A BRILLIANT DISCOURSE BY The REV
DAVID JAMES euRRElL. o. D.. LID.
Subjects The Wireless Message. Of Cod
A Nan who would Hear the GoEd
Through the Scriptures Mast Divest
Himself of Prejudice.


New YORK CIIY.-'The Wireless Mes
sages OF God was the subject OF me ser
mon preached by the Rev. David james
BurTel, ID. D., LID, IN the Marble Go.-
lesiaie Church. sunday. He took his tex;
from | Corinthians ii:la: The natural maa
recelveth not the things or the spirit OF
God. ior they are ioolshness unto nm
neither can be know them, because they
are Spiritually dlscerned.' DIR. Burrell said:
\ great principle is here laid down which
governs IN the universal realm OF truth,
TO wat. the principe OF mutual adjustment.
Ii yol strike a tuning fork which Is Eeyed
% middle Z II Will awaken response IN
another II keyedr the same pitch, bur not
otherwise. This j the basic TACT IN wire
less teiegraphy. On Cape Cod there Is a
transmitting station, consisting Of four
steel towers with bunch OF wires suspend
ed from the top and meeting az a common
point like an inverted cone. IL the power
be applied 20 the apex OF TINS cone, the
wires begin 10 tremble, and this current,
oscillating at rate OF, say, 9@oO0 vlora'
tlOns Der second, create series OF CORE
spending vibrations IN the surrounding
ether; Just a. stone cast into pond
sends out contentrlc circles OF water. lhls
ether wave speeds outward with lncalcuia-
bic rap!dlty IN search OF its receiver. Now,
there j. such a receiver az Pol Dhl, IN
Cornwall. and the wires al Poi Dhu are
is, adjusted 70 an oscillation O! $4,000 per
second, so that the message sen. from the
station al Cape Cod meets no response IN.
I'll II finds, Its sympathetic station az Pol
Dhu, and this welcomes II.
The system OF wireless ,elegraphy which
is Justly credited 20 Marconi Is not an IN
vention, but a discovery. He mas s!mp,y
lighted upon a process which has been
going on perpetually in space. The sun as
the great source and centre OF energy IN
our solar universe Is constantly sending olt
messages of light. IL is a scientifically
demonstrated fact that beam OF hight is
simply an electric message; that j., a Vlbra-
tion of ether And here the principle holds
that no message can be received except by
some object which is sympathetically at.
tuned 70 welcome II. Let US suppose, as
Professor Pupin suggests, that a beam OF
light intended 70 convey the color red is
sent out from the sun. 1t goes forth repre-.
senting a certain number OF ether waves
per second and speeds through space until
II reaches the earth, and here, intent upon
lts eager quest, II passes without pauslng
through al the meadows, since no grass
blade is adjusted 20 receive II; passes over
all gardens, no daisy or buttercup, no mig
nonette or helitrope being disposed 20 vel
come II, until II hnds rose, and here n
pauses and finds welcome, bocase the rose
has been precisely co-ordinated with II.
Let us 60 little further now, and we
shall find 4 spiritual analogy For this
process, which has been discovered 10 be
so prevalent IN nature, has infinite held and
scope of operation in the province of spir-
itual things. God as the great transmitter
OF truth. bears TO the spiritual world re-
lation corresponding with that of the sun
in the natural world. Let US assume that
there is a God, and that we are created in
His image and after His likeness; Il fol-
lows, as an inevitable conclusion, that He
L i IL. III
dren and hold converse with them. But
here is the application of the principle re-
ferred TO. The man who would hear the
wireless messages OF God must himself be
attuned, or adjusted 10 the nature and
character OF God.
Let US begin with nature, for this is the
universal medium through which God com
municates with the children of men. Now
there are some who look througl nature 10
natures God and hear Him speaking IN
everything about them, as 10 Is written,
There are so many voices and none OF them
is without signlfcaton." Such persons,
though they dwell in the desert o. indian.
fnd every common bush ahre, with God.
At night the heavens declare HIS glory 10
them and the armament shoveth His han
diwork. This was IN Bryant's mind when
he wrote:
"To him who in the love of nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she
speaks
"A various language"
But there are Others who hear no.voces,
and see nothing that is not visible 10 heshy
eyes, like Peter Bell, of whom Wordsworth
says:
"A primrose by the rivers brim
y yellow primrose was TO him
And II was nothing more
: Whence this difference? II arises from
the fact that some souls are sympathetic
with God and Others are not. There was
Colerldge, who was so devoutIy inclined.
so open 10 the reception OF spiritual truth,
that, walking in the vale of Chamounix, he
heard the snow capped mountains and ice
falls echoing His name:
God Let the torrents like shout OF
nations
Answer, and let the ice plains echo, God !
Cod Sing We meadow streams with glad
some voice
Ye pine groves with your soft and soul
IKE sounds;
Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal
forest;
Ye wild goats sporting round the eagles
nest;
Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain
stream;
Ye hghtnings, the dread arrows of the
winds;
Ye sounds and wonders of the elements
( praise
The wisest Man that ever lived got les
sons IN theology from the ravens. the lilies
Of the field, the growing wheat. But, alas'
there are those who have no ears 20 hear
the song which IS within the song OF birds
and the visions which are within the beauty
of the n.tural world. They are bound down
to thiLGs material. dreaming TO dreams
and seeing no Visions Of the earth, earthly.
"Great God, I'd rather be
a pagan, sucklel in a creed oUtwcTn:
So might j, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have gnmpses that would make me less
forlorn,
Have sight Of Proteus rising from the sea
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed
J horn"
l. Is the misfortune OF all rlisfoTtanes 10
be thus bond slave 10 the five senses. %
see nothing beyond the range Of physical
vision and the circumspection of the finger
tips. This j. T. be agnostics, indeed: tC
have no clairvOyance. no spiritual appre-
hension, no second sight, no faith. 1t IS
an eternal and lmmeasureable calamity 20
stand in the midst OF a universe where the
ether is vibrant with messages OF truth and
be so deeply absorbed in our little plans
and pursuits and physical sciences that
We hear no voice Of God.
Let us turn now 20 the Scriptures which
claim 20 be a divine revelation. There is
an attempt IN some quarters 20 reduce
them 10 the level OF other literature, and
those who approach them in this attitude
VIII find precisely what they find in other
books and no more. I sre, az elsewhere.
we find what we are looking f1. and hear
what we are listening for The mere stu
dent OF literature finds in the Bible myths