Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-02-11
Calnage
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, d. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, Feb. 5.-That God
has a purpose and design In permit
ting trouble and sorrow to continue i'll
the world is claimed by the preacher in
this sermon on the mysteries of life;
text, Genesis xviii, ii, "Is anything too
hard for the Lord?'
"God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and
Interchangeable in his being, wisdom,
power, holiness, justice, goodness and
truth" This is the definition of God
found in the Westminster Shorter Cate
chism. No man or body Of men could
give complete definition of all that
God is. His nature transcends all hui
man conception. Language fails in
the attempt to describe his Infinite per-
fectiOn. Strive as we may, we realize
that he is far beyond all that we can
think or imagine. Probably no one has
framed an utterance that comes 80 near
to the truth as this Of the Westmin-
ster divines, and, though it is confess
edly inadequate, ii stands unparalleled
in the struggle to reach the unattain-
able.
1t is a strange story that is told of
It's origin. The convocation of the west
minsterdivines was drawing to its close
For nearly six long years, since July
l, 1913, they had been meeting almost
daily in the famous hall of Westmin-
ster which now bears their name.
They had organized for the church a
directory of public worship" and had
almost finished the larger and the
shorter catechlsms. Their work was
practically finished with but one excep-
ton. They could not frame defini-
ton which would clearly, comprehen-
sively and completely answer the ques-
ton, what is GodY At last, in the
midst of heated debate, young man
who was comparatively an obscure
member arose and said, Let us pray"
Then he commenced his prayer in these
simple words: 20 God, thou who art
a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchange-
able in thy being, wisdom. power, holi-
ness, justice. goodness and truth, teach
us what thou artr "With that" so
says tradition, "all the members Of the
Westminster convOcatiOn leaped to
their feet, crying: That is our definition
of what is God. 1t is an inspiration
from his throne" SO it was inserted
in the catechism as the best and fullest
definition that could be made Of the
Being whose attributes are beyond
human knowledge.
Many profess to believe that God Is
omnipotent, omnipresent and omnis-
cient, yet it is awfully hard for us III
truth to comprehend this. We say,
"He can do all things" But when
some one begins to pin our faith down
to a practical illustration of Can GOD
do thisT we say, like Nicodemus,
"How can these things beT We need
constantly to remember that there are
no limitations to the divine power and
that all that he has promised he Is
abundantly able to perform. Wheh
we see some gigantic evil that needs
to be removed; when we think of some
benefit that seems necessary 10 the
world. our heargs often sink in despair
as we regard it as impossible. Then
new courage and new hope ought to I'LL
our minds as we reflect on the omnipo-
tence of the God in whom we trust and
to say with the angel who talked WIN
Abraham's wife, "Is anything too hard
for the LordY A great flood OF IN
spired light now fills your soul. You
answer: NO, no; nothing is impossible
for God. God is a spirit, infinite, eter-
nal and Interchangeable in his being
wisdom, power, holiness, justice, good
ness and truth"
God is all powerful, all present and
all seeing. You grant it. Then l
would invite you to consider the natu-
raj influences Of your belief. We ask
ourselves why a God of unlimited pow
er does not remove some of the evils
that cause so much misery in the
world. We know not.
Easy would it be if God wished TO
take all poverty out Of the world. with
q mere word he could create for every
man a palace in which to live. With
q mere word he could place that palace
in the midst Of a garden. With mere
word he could have rainbOws playing
hide and seek among the falling, spring
ing. tumbling waters Of the fountains
of that garden. With a mere word he
could have every mans table groaning
under the richest treasures of orchards
and gardens and fields. He could fur
nish to each home the finest of ward
robes and the most resplendent OF jew
els and the costliest of earthly treas
ures. The sheep upon a thousand hlll'
all belong to Cod The gold buried II
the darkest Of mines is his. The pearls
glistening in the opened shells of the
oysters lying by the coral reefs amont
the entangled gardens of the seas
are all his. Yet this abundant wealth
is to be obtained by men only by hare
labor. 1t is his law that man shal
work for the riches that are provided
for him. God practically gives III
nothing unless we are ready to worl
for it.
A Far Reaching Commandment
The far reaching commandment whicl
; God spoke to Adam of old he speaks t
us: Cursed s the ground for thy sake
in sorrow shalt thou eat of 1t all tn
days of thy life; thorns and thistie
shall it bring forth to thee, and tho
shalt eat the herb of the field; in tn
sweat Of thy brow shalt thou eat brea
till thou return unto the ground, 10
out of 1t vast thou taken. for aus
thou art and unto dust thou shalt n
|