The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-12-21
KNOWING THE TRUTH"
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev.
Cofnelius Woelfkin.
oveIIs % ~ csslltisa si Lsarslss SpIritus'
Tfuth % Laid Dswa By Jesus.

preached the sermon. Mr., Woelfkin's text
was from Deuteronomy xxix:29: The Sc
cret things belong unto the Lord, our God,
but the things that are revealed belong un-
to US and to our children, that we may do
oil the words Of this law" He said:
A noted astronomer once said: II have
searched the stars, but find no God" A
noted philosopher said, ''If there is an inf.
mite, personal God. He is unknowable;",
Materialistic science and rational phil
osophy have formulated the creed OF ag-
nostcism, viz: that God is unknown and
unknowable. 1t sounds conservative, mod
est and wise. But it is not really new.
One Of the ancients wrote in the long ago,
"Canst thou, by searching. find out God!
Canst thou know the Almighty unto per-
clever agnostic. The Hebrew lawgiver
writes, The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God"
If God be the Infinite. Eternal and Alb.
solute, it is impossible to comprehend and
explain Him. There must always be di-
mensions of mystery unknown and un-
movable in Him. The astronomer never
expects to find the walls Of the universe.
There is always the unknown beyond. IL
space and time stagger the imagination,
can we ever hope to bring the eternal God
completely within the range of human
conception? We are all agnostics. Even
Christians worship at the altar OF the su'
per movable God 1t is no discredit to
the thest that he cannot tell the day OF
Gods birth. We need not distress our
selves because we cannot walk about God
and know His diameter and circumference.
He is unknowable.
But because we cannot know all, shall
we rest content to know nothing! The
scientist is aware that he can never know
it all. Does he therefore break his nstru-
ments and content himself to abide in ig,,
norance! He knows in part. He will
Inn tbnuob ba knows IT all.
So, concerning God, there are things that
may be known. The mystt ! of the un-
known is the very charm of eternity. The
ages will ever cothe themselves with new
garments OF mystery.
How may we know God? God is
spirit and must be spiritually known. John
Fiske, speaking Of the spectroscope,. calls
it "an addition to our senses" All our
inventions are extensions to our senses.
There is auto-seeing, auto.hearing, auto.
feeling. Tyndale said. The silence OF
the forest at MONDAY is agitated with
sound, if we could only hear it," There
are some things telescopically discerned,
others, microscopically and spectroscopi-
cally. Without these they are not dis
cerned at all. Why does one man only
glance at a picture, and pass on While Thh',
will some peop.e leave the music hall,
while others are held spellbound by the
symphony? Because some things are art
istcally discerned and others musically.
There must be the subjective faculty to
appreciate objective genius.
Why do some men go through me with,
out any sense of reverence, worship and
prayer while others bow in humility and
alteration to one whom they call God! Be-
cause God is spiritually dscerned. The
natural man receiveth not the things oil
God, neither can he know them. lie Is
lacking the souls telescope, microscope,
spectroscope, etc. Natural devices cannot
discover spiritual God.
The study of man himself presents a
faints analogy of this truth. Science stud
les the human body; articulates the skele'
ton; knows the nervous system; explains
organization. But does the anatomist dis
cover the >ole man? Does he find that
sovereign-the will, the magistrate-the
conscience, the artist-thc Imagination, the
orchestra-the emotions, the librarian-the
memory? They are all there. but the in
struments of physical dissection DO not not
discover them. They are mentally dis
cerned When spiritual men, as such,
pronounce upon physical science, they be-
come fools. AnL when materialists. AS
SUCH pronounce upon. spiritual things
they likewise turn out folly. One qualiii'
cation cannot constitut; authority upon
all things.
1t is sometimes said that religion speaks
in language of its own-a foreign tongue.
This must be so in the nature of the case.
Every new idea demands the garment OF
a new word or phrase. Every science crc-
ates its own nomenclature We might
find hundred volumes written in our na'
tive tongue and yet not understand what
Is written. Spiritual realities must eN-
press themselves in spiritual terminology
Instead of quarreling with the introduc-
tion of new terms. we should as true stu
dents learn their meaning and so widen
our apprehensions.
Tho onpdifinu Of taor eplritinl frut In
is laid down by Jesus. HE that willeth to
do His will shall know the teaching
There must be right attitude first, and
then the experiment of action. Open
mindedness is the first qualification for
apprehension. Prejudice distorts and
in our limitations. 1t is the handicap
upon honest examination and experiment
Prejudice shut the theologians out OF nat
ural science for years. Prejudice is shut
ting thy materialists out of religious science
to-day. The whole universe is governed
ny law: Let man obey the laws of ma
ture and nature viii unfold its mysterie:
to him. Let man put himself in align
ment with spiritual realities, and the
spiritual world will discover itself to him
HE that cometh to God must believe that
lie is, and that He is the rewarder of them
that diligently seek Him."
There must be action, the test OF e=peri
ment Here is a stumbling block. Mer
have t.ieir own wills and hesitate and halt
at doing the will OF God. The chief diff
culties concerning religion do not rise oui
of intellectual embarrassment SO much a.
failure in attitude and action. Yet with
out these men cannot know.
The means OF knowing are twofold. st
John says, THAT which we have heard
that which we have seen and handled with
our hands declare we unto YOU" There IL
first the message OF tradition--that which
VIC have heard. There is tradition IL
science. Some things have been worked
out, tested and proven. They are accepted
as automatic by the consensus OF all stu
dents. Who thinks to question the round
ness Of the earth or its motion round the
sun? Few OF us have proved it; we accept
1t on scientific tradition. We. do the same
la all scientific study. Tradition Is the
foundation already laid. and we built
thereon. To exclude the authority OF ira
dition would check all progress. So relig
ion has its traditions. Some things com,
to us with the sterling" mark Of the cen
turies. He who dscredts all religious ira
dition ignores the past and begins anew
This makes the difference between the
man OF faith and the skeptic. The mar
Of faith receives what has been proven and
builds thereon. The skeptic only exam
ines the foundations. sometimes without
venllaying new ones.
But there must be personal experience
also. When Morse asked Congress for az
appropriation OF S30.000 for his telegraph
venture the committeeman having the de
Gliding vote was undecided. Mr.. MORSE
took him to his hotel. showed him som,