The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-02-08
GLORY OF GOO IN
 FACE OF CHRIST The Rev. Arthur s. BurreII Breaches Strong Sermon SERVICES AT INSTITUTE
in Address at PolIock-stephens Minis ister Speaks of Divinity and Humanity Revealed in the
 Face of the Savior.

esting sermon at the Pollock Stephens institute yesterday morning on "The Glory of God in the Face of Christ" His sermon follows:
 II Cor. 4:6, "Seeing it is God that said light shall shine out of darkness who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ"
 The highest knowledge Is knowledge of God That is comprehensive. That knowledge Is light. Those nations that have attained most in their knowledge we call the enlightened nations; those na- tions that have attained least, the un- enlightened nations There are various revelations of God. The book of nature to one who turns it's pages studiously and reverently wonderously reveals God, the creator and preserver working hlth- erto and ever working till one cries with every reverent truth seeker, "Lo! think the thoughts of God after Him"
 The Book of History is another chan nel of such revelation. The clash and con- f1ict of races and peoples, the rise and fall of empires and nations, the onward march of human progress from the dawn of time, is not a chain of fragmentary, desutory events, but a dramatic story of intense and fascinating interest His tory, like nature, is a unit--hence a science of history as well of nature is possible--a divine purpose and plan work ing out through human instrument. Is- raePs prophets were thus the first to per- ceive philosophy of history. They dis covered God there. Another channel of the knowledge of God is the individual ex- perience. Life is the great schoolroom- the individual life experience with it's lights and shadows, it's joy and pain and sooner or later the man sees Gods hand and feels if he does not utter His twenty third Psalm.
 Paul was not one to despise any of these channels of knowledge. He rebuked the heathens for their failure to live up to natures light.
 Profound Revelation of God.
 There is no profounder insight of the revelation of God through history than Pauls epistle to the Romans, forcing from him the magnificent outburst with the 
 succeeding appeal: % the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowl- edge of Godl How unsearchable Ills judgements and His ways past finding out! For of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things. To Him be glory for ever. I beseech you, terefore. brethren, by the mercies of God"
 The powers that he were ordained Of God. To Rome he appealed for justice, and under -Romes protection he was en- abled to do his mighty missionary work It was not egotism that made him re- gard Rome, with It's courts of law ana it's legions of soldiers, as his God-appoint- ed protector It was the recognition Of God in history. Every nation had It's plaee in Gods plan and it's part was to fill that place we'll
 The like Paul believed was true of every individual-for every mans life was a plan of God. Most characteristic is his appeal to the individual experience as a revelation of God and source of knowledge of Him. He knew man car ried the spirit into the seventh heaven where he heard things 1t was not law full to utter. But for Paul there was a source of knowledge of God supremely above and beyond all these, and that was the face of Jesus Christ"-the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. To him Gods glory was most supremely mani fest, not in ocean or mountain, the heav- ems in their granduer or earth in It's beauty and mystery, nor yet in nations and their history--the rise and fall of empires or progress of peoples; nor yet again in the deep experiences of the hu- man soul-profound as all these are, and rising in climax of revelation as they do.
 To him the supremest revelation of Gods glory was the "face of Jesus | Christ"
 The Human Face Expressive.
 What an expressive thing the face is, the human facel How it lays bare the story of the soul D be read by every passerby stand on some crowded street corner and read the faces as they pass. What stories they tell! It is the drama of human life and all too well you read its pages in the faces of that h1rrying crowd. The mean, the grabbed, the sen sual the eye-avoiding face of the cr;ni. nal, the open, the honest. the high minded, all are there-unconscious revelations of the soul written. What a revealer it is. The human face, What if the scene could shift and the modern city vanish and you could find yourself instead by some vil- lage roadside in Gallilee or in the stronger thronged city of Jerusaleml What If suddenly among those faces you caught sight of that face! Do you remember face first and how the vision of it haunted him ever after? Let us stop and think what that face must have revealed See it all aglow with the glorious message of that first sermon as He closes the Book and declares this day Is this prophecy fulfilled before you"--the lame are healed, the blind receive their sight, the imprison- ed and letter bound are freed the oi; of joy supplants ashes of mourning the poor have the glad tidings proclaimed unto them.
 See that face gladdening the wedding festival bending over the sicker still of soul. in the household fretted with the petty cares of the hour, or the terrible presence of the death angel. Think of it among the busy fishermen by the lake side, or the careless throng of pleasure AL <la