The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-12-23
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
KNOWING The TRUTt."
The Rev. Cornelius woelfsin Dweils on
the Condition of Learning Spiritual
Truth ss Laid Down 10y Jssus-open-
Mindedness is the First Qualification


nue. Baptist Church sunday morning the
minister. the Rev. Cornelius Woe,fkin.
preached the sermon. Mr., WoelflIn's text
was from Deuteronomy xxx %. The Sc
cret things belong unto the Lord, our God,
but the things that are revealed belong un-
20 Us and 10 our children, that we may Go
ell the words OF this law" he said:
a noted astronomer once said: Il have
searched the stars, but ind no God" A
noted philosopher said, III there Is an INN.
mite, personal God. He Is unknowable.
Materialistic science and rational phil
osophy have formulated the creed OF as
nostieism, VIZ: that God Is unknown and
unknowable. Ii sounds conservative, mod
est and wise. But II 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
lection! Zophar, the Naamathite, was a
clever agnostie. Ths Hebrew lawgiver
writes, The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God"
Ii God be the Infinite. Eternal and Ab.
solute, u ls impossible 10 comprehend and
explain Him. There must always be d.
mensions of mystery unknown aud I'M
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. II Is no discredit 10
the theist 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 20 know nothing The
scientist Is aware that he can never know
II al. Does he therefore break nls Instru-
ments and content himself 10 abide IN lg-
norance? He knows IN part. lie VIII
know more. though he never knows II all.
SO. concerning God, there are things that
may be known. The myst. ! OF the un'
known is the very charm OF eternity. The
ages will ever clothe themselves with new
garments of mystery.
How may we know God? God is a
spirit and must be spiritually known. John
Hske speaking Of the spectroscope, calls
II AN addition 10 our senses. All our
inventions are extensions 10 our senses.
There y auto-seelng, auto-hearng, auto
feeling. Tyndalo said. The silence Of
the forest az MONDAY j agtated with
sound II we could only hear it. There
are some things teiescoplcaliy dlscorncd,
others, mcroJoplcaliy and spectroscopl-
Cally. Without these they are not dis
ccrned at all. Why does one man only
glance at a picture and pass on, while
another vail study It by the hour Why
wIll some people leave the music hall,
while others are held spellbouud. by the
symphony Because some things are art
Istlca,ly discernod and others muslcally.
There must be the subjective faculty 70
appreciate objective genus.
Why DO some men so through nte with.
out any sense OF reverence, worship and
prayer. while others bow IN humility and
alteration to one whom they CAL Cod Sc
cause God Is spiritually dlscerned. The
natural man receiveth not the things al
God, neither can lie know them. lie Is
lacking the souls telescope, microscope
fpectroicopc. etc. Natural ceviees cannot
discover a spiritual God.
The study of man himself presents q
faints analogy Of this truth. Sclcnsc stud
les the human body: Grtcuates the s.cle-
ton; knows tie nervous system; explains
organization But doe the anatorist dis
cover the eolo man? Does be find that
soyerel lgn-thc WILL the nagstrate-the
conscience. the artist-thc Imagination, the
orchestra-the emotions, the hbrarian-thc
memory They are all there, but the n
strument5 OF physical dissection do not
discover them. They are mentally dis
cerned. When spiritual men, a3 suCl,
pronounce upon physical science they be-
come fools And when materahsts. al
such pronounce upon spiritual things
they likewise turn cut folly. One qualIti.
cation cannot constitut. authority urcn
AL thncs.
II is sometimes said that religion speaks
IN u language Ct ITS owE-a foreign tongue.
This must be so IN the nature of the case
Every new idea demands the garment Of
Il new word or phrase Every science Gre
ates Jts own nomenclature. We might
find q hundred volumes written II our ma
tive tongue ard yet not understand what
"a written Spiritual realities must ex-
press Themselves IN splritua. termnoiogy.
Instead OF quarrelaC with the l1troduc-
ton CT new terms We should as true stu
dents learn their mcaninS and so widen
cur apprehensious.
The condition Of learning spiritual truth
= llid down by Jesl7 lie that wil'eth 10
90 His VII shall Enow tae teaching
There must be right attitude first, and
then the experiment of action. Open.
m.ndCdness IS the first qualification for
apprehension. Prejudice distorts and
blinds the judgment. u is the chief factor
- cur limitation. ], ls the handicap
upon honest examination and experiment.
Prejudice skut the thcolo=ians oUt Of nat
CIdl sOeuCc for years. Prejudice Il shut
ting the materialists cut Of religious science
To-day. The whole universe Is governed
10y law. Let q man otev the laws Of ma
rurC and nature Will unfold Its mysteries
4 h,m. Let man pqt himself III align
lgEt with spiritual realizes, and the
spiritual world vll discover itself TO hir1.
"llc that cometh TO Cod must believe that
JIG Ic and that He is the rewardtr Of them
If't diligently seek Him"
~. 'erc Tvst be action, the tc-t OF c=oerl-
-lCnt. Here i stumbling block. Men
have their own wills ard he itate and halt
e dong the viii Of God. The chef diff
culti,s cclecrGing religion do rot rise out
oi intellectual Cnbarrass ncnt co much as
failure IN attitude and action. Yet with
cut these nCn cannot knew.
The means OF knowing arc twol9id. 81.
john Tays, That which We have heard,
,h1t which VIC have seen and handled with
our ha-Ls declare we unto you There Is
hr-t the MESSAGE OF tradition-that which
we have heard. There is tradition IN
rciencc. Some things have been worked
out tested and proven. They are accepted
as automatic by the consensus OF all stu.
Lcnts. Who thinks 10 question the round
ness OF TIC earth or its nOticn round the
ru1' Few Of us have proved Il; We accept
% or scientific tradition. We do the Eame
"a al scientific study. Tradition is the
iorldatIo1 already laid. and we build
thereon. TO exclude the authority Of ira
LitIon wou,I ch>ck all progress. So rehg.
iol h1s lts traditions. Some things come
90 ys with the sterling mark ot the cen
turiCs. He Who dRcTcaIts all religious ira
titioa ignores the past and begins anew
This makes tho difference between the
nan Ot faith and the sEeDtic. The man
O. f.itn receives what has been proven and
builds thereon. The skept.c only exam
ines. the foundations, sometimes without
tyea laying new ones.
But there must be personal experience
tso. When Morse afked Congress fer an