The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-12-21
Divine Yearning For Human Fellowship

Behold stand at the door and knock
Rev. ill.,, 20.
This thought was borne In with over.
powering emphasis while standing before
Holman Hunts famous painting. The
Light Of the World" in Keble College
Oxford. The bodness, the seeming pre-
sumption, of the conception Is startling
but the more it is pondered the clearer
does it become that it expresses the very
heart of religion.
mean anything they spell out the truth
that God yearns to enter into human life,
The very idea of the Bible is that it is Il
revelation from God. Being revelation
He must have taken the initiative. That
can only mean that He desired to commu
nicate with man. And since the message
is one Of hope and cheer it can only mean
q desire for human fellowship. We com
monty think of two deeps in religion-the
yearning of man for God and the yearnng
of God for man. deep calleth unto
deep" But in the final analysis the d
vine yearning is the deeper, and Is the
source of the other, just as the sea Is the
source of the rivers that flow toward it
"We love Him because He first loved us.
And no real explanation OF religion can be
found which omits this deepest OF all relig'
ious facts
Our difficulty in appropriating this truth
is due to pagan misconceptions OF God
| Why should it be strange, after all, that
the loving Father should seek to have teE
lowship with His children? Fellowship
! does not necessarily mean the equal ex'
change Of being with being. The mother
has sweet, satisfying fellowship with the
babe, when all the response 1t can give to
the wealth of her love, tenderness and care
is a smile or tear or babes caress. But
YOU say she looks forward to the time
when, having developed, heart and mind
shall answer to heart and mind. But are
we not children-knowing only in part and
loving only in part-yet children on the
way to manhood and womanhood! IL
doth not yet appear what we shall be, but
we shall be like Him.
MANY have realized this truth in the past
and the world has been enriched beyond
measure. The explanation OF the nobility.
is in it. Paul says, Christ in you the
hope of glory" 1t is this divine element
which has made for high achievements.
We might enlarge the roll call of the elev'
cnth chapter of Hebrews even down to the
present time, and the refrain would be
still the same. by faith, by faith-and that
means at last that these men who have
"subdued Kingdoms were conscious that
God wrought in and through them. 1t is
this inflow of the divine which has made
for purity and righteousness, for peace and
good will. 1t has inspired the prophets
visions and the poets dreams; 1t has sup
piled the strength and nerved the courage
which have dared and died for truth. Take
it out of the race consciousness and you
immeasurably pauperiZe it. Eliminate II
from our educational, benevolent. political
and social plans and you quench the buoy
ant spirit of altrulsm and hopeful helpful
ness.
A happy sign OF the times is a return to
the conception of religion as an experience
We have had in turn a religion which con
sisted in the affirmation OF creed, IN the
performance OF ceremonies, In devotion 70
a book and in Submission to church. We
are coming again to the conception OF a
religion which knows God, and which
works that knowledge out into, terms OF
purity, kindness, sweetness and light. We
are beginning to realize that Jesus still
stands at the door and is knocking.
The only condition He lays down for en-
trance is that we shall open the door. He
asks only receptiveness, hospitality, will,
ingness that He should enter. He does not
say Purify your heart and | will come
in" but Let Me come in and Will purify
your heart The sunshine banlshes the
darkness and life masters death in the
soul that bids Him enter How different
is this from our ordinary conceptions!
Much of our prayer Is based upon the as.
sumption that God must be propitated
| and His reluctance must be overcome. we
hear much of wrestling, but it is with our
own selves, not with Him. The unwilling
ness does not lie on Gods part, but on
ours. Prayer has an objective value, but
it also has subjective value, and 1t
avails, not in that it overeomes divine
reluctance. but in that it brings us into an
attitude of receptivity.
The marvel of wireless telegraphy has
taught us that the sending and receiving
instruments must be in tune. otherwise
messages might beat upon the unrespon-
sive receiver and it would be deaf to them:
There must he unison between the soul
and God. otherwise messages cannot pass
And one OF the ends Of prayer and medita'
ton is that the soul may be attuned to re-
ceve the messages of love, life and light
that flash from the heart OF God Jesus
knocks at the door Shall We let Him inI
r. u. johnson. Minister Fifth Avenue
Baptist Church, New York City, in New
York Herald