The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-01-13
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A STRONG plscouRse sr T-g
REV. Or. LYMAN ABBOTT
snbjeoi; The Ever Present o"i-The Goal
Toward which she Transition of The
ology should Lead ls-Inwsrd tspir-
stions and Longings the Voice OF God


sence Of the pastor. the Rev. DR.. H. =.
Dewey. DR. Lyman Abhott's subject was,
The Ever Present God and he took Tor
ms text, Romans. y:6-7-s. But the right
eousness which IS OF faith speaketh on this
wise saw not IN thy heart VINO shall as
eend into heaven That l.. 10 bring Christ
down from above or. who shall descend
into the deep? lthat Il. 10 bring mp Christ
again from the dead, but what saith ~
The word Is nigh thee. Il Is IN thy mouth
and in thy heart: that is the word CT
faith which we preach He said
The word IN the New Testament
means, God speaking A friend sits by
your side IN ahsen;-mn0ed meditation,
and his speech reveals the soul OF man.
80 the word of God reveals the unknown
God to US. We have not 10 60 10 the
depths to find the manifestation of God Is
al about us and within Us. We are all ia
nihar with the statement that we are
passing through 4 transition IN theology.
III II were only transition IN theology Il
would not disturb ne much. We could
ieave the theologians 10 study the theology
OF the future for themselves But II Is a,so
a transition IN religious experience. | am
sure that the older members of this con-
gregatIon can trace IN their lives, more or
less, change, not Simply IN their intellect
ual opinions OF religion but IN their really
vital religious experience. We used 20
think. IN our boyhood of God as King
sitting on the Great White Throne with
the angels gathered about Him and singing
20 HIM He was lar awav. We sent our
prayers up 10 Him by a kind of spiritual
wireless telegraphy. asking for things. and
sometimes lie would give Us chose things
and sometimes He would not, But this
was our experience of PRAYER, and that was
our notion of the answer 20 PRAYER: aud
tins iaraway God, sitting on the Great
White Throne, had revealed Himself 10
men through the Bible and through the
Christ IL was great historic revelation,
and we went back, more or less conscious
Of that revelation of the faraway God in
the faraway historic time, and we went TO
that Bible 10 find out what IL told US re.
spectng Gods law. OF what was required
Of Us, and the things with respect 20
Gods grace, what He would do for Us, and
with many OF US that experience has not
changed. The picture OF The great King
has grown dim and indistinct. or disap-
peared altogether and remains If it re-
mains at all. as a recognized picture and
not a reality. And that Christ. who
seems 10 MS mediator between God and
man, a revelation of the faraway God, has
also grown faraway. That ~, we have
come TO recognize that He is a great his
tore figure, and we are. more or less. per
picked as TO what His revelation is OF the
faraway God, and what His relation 20 Us
IS, and our PRAYERS have changed and our
conception OF the Bible has changed. and
We can no longer take a text out OF the
Bible and rest upon II as final and abso-
lutte authority. II we Try, perhaps some
succeed and some fall.
What / do want this morning is 10
point out. not what has taken place. but 10
indicate the goal toward which this transi-
tIon should lead us; what is the Promised
Land toward which we should look what
- the religious experience We may hope
Tor IN the future TO take the place OF this
religious experience of the past, that has
grown dim and indIstnct and which Is only
half believed In the first place. j am sure
that, while we have been undergoing this
change, forces without the church have
been bringing to us a larger. If a vaguer
conception OF God. God does not work
only through the church; He does not
speak only through the preacher. Religion
ls not spiritual conduit through which
the water OF life is brought down 10 man.
The grace of God does not come IN par.
1icular channels of grace alone. The Bible
says IL falls like gentle ram. II IS univer.
sal. and we may look outside the church
and among the forces that we have con.
sIdered forces for skeptcism, Tor the forces
winch are giving us a more indefinite idea
of religion and, / think. nearer view Of
God. am not going 10 try 10 state the
reason, ! am only stating the TACT. Her
bert Spencer has summed up IN q single
sentence what he thinks j. the result of
scientific investigation and experience.
Amid all the mysteries Ey which we are
surrounded nothing Is more certain than
that we are ever IN the presence OF Eternal
Energy, from which all these things pro
CCed.' What science has taught j. tsls:
Nou are not TO 60 back 10 creative days 10
ilnd God, though in some period God
launched the world and put His children
here and intervening now and then in spe.,
cIal necessity, you are not 10 think OF God
that way: you are TO think oil God as the
eternal energy here. Ies. as ever in the
presence of the eternal energy always
creating, always controllng-in the growth
OF every flower and IN the perfume, IN the
flight OF every bird.
Science says that God is not remote
He IS here. and you can 60 out into the
Prospect Park this afternoon and ind
HIM IN the brown trees, beneath the
ground, and in the hidden life that next
spring is 10 burst forth; Tor God - life
and there IS no explanation Tor any OF the
phenomena OF life except IN the ndweihng
of the Eternal IL we turn from science 20
literature we find a much closer and more
sacred and truer and diyiner Interpreta.
ton OF the change that ls coming over the
thoughts OF men. The poets are al pro.
phets They tell us beforehand what l.
the fate that by and by We shal! come TO.
Let me read one such Interpretation. il -
from TennysOn:
The sun, the moon. the stars. the sea
the hills and the flowers. are not these, y,
soul. the vision Of HIM who reIgusy
Dark is the world 20 thee; thvself art
the reason why. For is He not all but that
which has power TO feel. ] am j.
Glory about thee, within thee, and ,hou
fulfllest thy doom.
Making Him broken CLEANS, and a
ftifed splcndor and gloom
Speak TO Him. thou. for lie nears. and
spint with spirit can meet. Closer ~ He
than breathing, and nearer than hands and
feet %
The universal presence. universal com
munon, IN the hearts Oh men a. u was m
the heart OF Moses. ~ the hearts Of wea.
red souls, rs ~ the heart 81 David when
he wrote the Twenty.thIrd Psalm, in the
hearts Of disc9nso,ate souls. a. IN the
heart Of Isaiah, IN the hearts oi men now,
az IA the hearts OF men then-a living
presence We are not % ascend into the
heavens 20 bring Him down from great
white throne, but 20 look within In thine
heart thou shalt find HIM I his is the
gospel Of faith says -. Paul, "tha. We
preach unto you
And 80 with prayer. il comes in our
experience-just this. SpIfit with spirit
meeting spirit with spirit taking. Not
The going after something. though 10 may
he that. but the receiving something. ore
eminent communion fellowship. compan.
IOnshIp. u a. this conception. into which
which some Of us have drited. re do not
know how. into which some have grown
gradually and Some with a wrench from
which We have not rcc0yered-thIs c0ncep.
ton of the universal presence which
might perhaps have - effect q a denial