The Penn's Grove record., 1904-06-17
dvertiSements

lCdu5 70 Lue NECESSARY coverings LOT lUb
protection, even though beasts are slain,
cotton, fax and wool grown to accommo-
date it. So with all the hungers Of rational
being, social, intellectual, moral, religious.
They all are evidence Of reality some
where answering to them. None Of these
Is more fundamental and imperative than
the religious, that which demands Gods
care. A most pathetic manifesting Of this
longing Is idol worship. The heather.
Gods ignorant children, like ours, demand
object lessons that can Je apprehended by
the senses. To make God in their image
is the nearest they can get to the sublime
consciousness that they are made in His.
Better, 1t seems to US, no God than a
wooden one. A spirit Of negation and in
difference would save them SO much USE
less sacrifice and cruel practices and bar
barous acts of superstition by way of sup
posed atonement. But whether better or
worse atheism is not a constituent charac-
teristic of man. Strange, is it not, that it
Is. never innate, but always an acquired ac-
complishment, always the sad result of
culture else of sin BY nature, and that
means by right, God is always the rightful
occupant of the throne. But as our self
Importance grows, as we become con-
sciously great in thought and achievement
we become all great in arrogance, as Is
all science falsely so called, and the King
is asked to vaeate the throne, n God Is
not even bowed out of the universe, but
heartlessly banished. Oh, no, denial is not
better than affirmation of God, however
superstitiously that affirmation express it.
self. 1t is evidence Of Gods care much
needed to offset a threatened evidence that
He has not interest in the human race.
Notice the two possible results to which
these religious instincts lead. They are
the receptacle into which Christianity fits.
Without them the Gospel of Jesus has no
appeal. They cry out for God. Chris
tianity introduces God to them. They
want an assurance of Gods care. Chris
tianity assures them God cares for men to
the uttermost, even enough to die for
them. Creation thus prepares for revela-
ton, and welcomes its benefcent approach.
There is another result that shows the
helpfulness Of the religious instinct univer-
sal among men. 1t is the sorrow that pos
sesses us when we are told it Is all a delu-
sion. The moment you convince man there
is no God, or, if there is, that He is indif-
ferent to mans welfare, that moment the
face loses its complacency, the heart its as
surance, the spirit its buOyancy, the mind
its sense of satisfaction. Doubt, disap-
pointment, despair set in. Little to live
for, nothing to die for is the cry that will
not be comforted. A stolid indifference
results that brushes out the hearts music,
else wild despair that dethrones reason
and inhicts self injury. Let me a a
prophecy more dismal in its outlook than
that one we are considering of a future
discovery that God does not care, a pro-
phecy that if ever that dark day dawns
poor humanity in despair viii in al hour
fall back from all hopefulness, aspiration,
joyousness, and by one despairing plunge
reverse the life satisfactions of a thousand
years.
Greatest of all these is the presence and
worth of Christianity to be accounted for.
Christianity is a very unyieldlng fact. 1t
has become too deeply rooted IN the earth
to be waived aside and crowded out by any
discovery, however authentic, that would
invalidate its claims. 1t has been con-
fronted for centuries with conflicting be-
liefs and scientific evidence against its in
tegrity. The more it is opposed the more
fearlessly it asserts itself, comforting the
heart, lighting the dark mind, inspiring
and reinforcing the spirit. A fact so help
full to humanity in every conceivable ne
eessity when shining and needing forgive
ness, when weak and needing strength,
even when suffering martyrdom at the
stake, in the ~amphitheatre Of wild beasts,
in heather lands, midst prosecutions too
numerous to be mentioned, but not too
many to be valiantly borne, must be con-
fronted with stronger, surer proof than IS
at present conceivable that 1t rellnqulsh
its hold upon mems esteem Yield 1t must
if it were even proven God did. not care;
for Christianity was rooted IN Gods 7es-
TEEN before it found a place in mans.
God not only cared, but so cared that He
loved, else Christianity, that superb BIOS
som and fruitage of Christ's life and teach
ing and death, had never existed. Chris
tianity not only embodies Gods care, 1t
enshrines Gods heart. And the surest
thing about it all is that we who have
Welded to Gods word. caught the bless
ings of the revelation through Jesus, have
all the evidence necessary for the reality
of God and His care. What value Is proof
against Gods interest IN US, however
scientific, to the man who has seen the
Lord, whose sins are forgiven, upon whom
God is each day lifting up the light OF HIS
face? When once the spiritual life has en-
tered the human heart, all cold, external
evidence is ignored, and wisely. Then,
again, the peace of mind that results from
belief that God cares for us enough TO
share His eternal home with us by and by
is evidence that will die hard, if 1t ever
die at all, before any external evidence
that this world is all, and that our brief,
storm-tossed existence is forever hushed IN
deaths long sleep. A man said to me dur
ing the week, 'It pays to be religious, even
though it be discovered at the last that
there is no eternal life" The idea was
that present satisfactions are worth the
having, whatever the future may reveal.
When the divine spark that we call the
spiritual life once electrltes the heart,
stimulating new loves, impartlng new
ideals. revealing Gods love and Chrlsts
mastership, all of which produce blessings
of satisfaction and Joy unspeakable, all
external evidence to the contrary weighs
little with that mans belief. And that IS
exactly what Christianity does. 1t I'M
parts life. As Harnack puts it, 1t IS
eternal life in the midst OF time, under the
verv eve. and in the very strength Of
God" AS Jesus puts it, Il am come that
We might have life" Lie is a difficult
thing to argue against, and even to prove
the fallacy of when men possess 1t and are
reaping manifold blessings from its pres
ence each day.
This is why we affirmed that God must
be discovered through internal revelation,
rather than through external investigation.
The necessary approach, to be successful,
must com from Him to US, instead OF
from us to Him. God must grdpple with
and subdue man before man can reason
ably expect to grapple with and conquer
God. Mans attitude Is, Let me under
stand and | will reverence; let me know
and | will love. Gods attitude is, You
must reverence that you may understand;
YOU must love that you may know. Man ,
attitude is as yet IN prospect, only the
dim none of the scientific few. Gods at
titude is daily being verified and proven to
the worlds sin sick, sorrow filled multi
tudes. All valid external discovery OF the
future will, | think. be along the line of
and in harmony with revelation. Even
now there are scientific evidences in this
direction. Immortality Is being seienun-
callv proven, not the fallacy OF 1t. Much
verifcation of Ch~ristianity's content and
assertions may be expected from scientific
research. Gods universe Is one. his erea-
ton unified and harmonious throughout,
all true discovery must confirm this, that
consistency result. Apostolic testimony IS
good enough and preferable to all pro
phetic scientific negation. We believe
Peter knew whereof he spoke when he
said God cares" So much does He care
that you can we'll afford to cast ali your
care upon Him, for He careth for you.
Doing Duty Cheerfully.
Our duty is to dc what God would have
us do, and to do it cheerfully because 1t
L.