Connecticut western news., 1905-02-09
Caln,ace Sermon
 By Rev. Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. D.

ting trouble and sorrow to continue iIt 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 spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power holiness, justice, goodness and truth" This is the definition of God found in the Westminster. .NA orter Cate chism. No man or body of men could give complete definition of all that God is. His nature transcends all hu- man conception. Language fails iI the attempt to describe his infinite per lection. 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 so near to the truth as this of the Westmin- ster divines, and, though it is confess edly inadequate, 1t stands unparalleled in the struggle to reach the unattain- able
 It is a strange story that is told of It's origin. The convocation of the West minister divines was drawing to its close. For nearly six long years, since July 1, 1643, they had been meeting almost daily in the famous hall of Westmin- ster which now bears their name. They had organized for the church directory of public worship and had almost finished the larger and the shorter catechisms. Their work was practically finished with but one excep- ton. They could not frame a defini ton which would clearly, camprehen- sively and completely answer the ques- tion, What is God?" 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: 70 God, thou who art a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchange able in thy being, windom, power, holi- ness, justice, goodness and truth, teach us what thou artp' 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. It is an inspiration from his throne" So 1t was inserted fin the catechism as the best and fullest Being whose attributes are beyond human knowledge.
 Hard to Comprehend.
 Many profess to believe that God is 0mnipotent, omnipresent and omnis- cient, yet it Is awfully hard for, us in truth to comprehend >this. We say. ''He can do all things But when some one begins to pin our faith down to practical illustration of "Can God do this?" we say, like Nicodemus, "How can these things bef' We need constantly to remember that there are no limitations to the divine power and be has promised he Is
 -.5le to perform. When
 Rome gigantic evil that needs
 femoved; when we think of some Benefit that seems necessary to the world, our hearts often sink in despair ,as we regard it as impossible. Then pew courage and new hope ought to fiji bur minds as we reflect on the omnipo tence of the God in whom we trust and to say with the angel who talked with Abraham's wife. ''Is anything too hard for the Lordf A great flood of in spired light now fills your soul. You answer: No, no; nothing is impossible for God. God is spirit, infinite, eter nal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, good ness and truth"
 God Is all powerful, all present and all seeing. You grant it. Then I would invite you to consider the natu- ral influences of your belief We ask ourselves why God of unlimited pow CT 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 a mere word he could create for every man a palace in which to live. With a 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 dng, tumbling waters of the fountains of that garden. With mere word he could have eveAy mans table grooming 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 thousand hills all belong to God. The gold buried in the darkest of mines Is his. The pearls glistening in the opened shells of the oysters lying by the coral reefs among the entangled gardens of the seas are all his. Yet this abundant wealth is to be obtained by men only by hard labor It is his law that man shall work for the riches that are provided for him. God practically gives us nothing unless we are ready to work for It.
 :, A Far Reaching Commandment.
 The far reaching commandment which God spoke to Adam of old he speaks to us: Cursed is the ground for thy sake: fin sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall 1t bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of 1t vast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt re turn"
 Cursed be the ground for thy sake" l remember being struck with a prac- tical illustration of what God meant by that sentence. Some years ago out i'll the country I was walking over the hillsides overlooking a beautiful valley filled with rich farms. I said to the companion by my side: Look! Did you ever see more beautiful country than that? God Is certainly rich provider for his children "Yes," answered my companion, "but did you ever stop to think that, though Gods wealth is un- limited, he gives but few of the neces- sities to man unless man is ready to work for thpD1 ? God t,iyoa I,c tEo coil.