The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-01-12
A SERMON FOK SUNDAY

a STRONG DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. DIP. LYMAN ABBOT.
Subject: The Ever Present God-The Goal
Toward Which the Trapsition Of The
oloxy Should Lead Us-Inward Aspir-
a&iops and Longings the Voice OF God
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-The Rev. DR.. Lyman
Abbott occupied the pulpit in the Church
Of the Pilgrims Sunday morning in the alb
sence of the pastor, the Kew Ut. Il. L.
Dewey. DIR. Lyman Abbott's subject was,
aThe Ever Present God" and he took for
his text. Romans, S:6-7s: "But the right
eoushess which is Of faith speaketh on this
wise: say not in thy heart who shall as
eend into heaven (that is. to bring. Christ
down from above) or. who shall descend
into the deep9 (that is, to bring up Thirst
again from the dead), but what saith 1t:
The word is nigh thee, it is in thy mouth
and in thy heart; that is. the word OF
faith which we preach" He said:
The "word" in the New Testament
means, God speaking. A, friend sits by
, and his speech reveals the soul of man.
SO the word of God reveals the unknown
God to u.s.. We have not to 60 to the
depths to find the manifestation OF God Is
all about us and within U.S.. We are all Ia
mIiar with the statement that we. are
passing through j transition In theology.
: If It were only a transition in theology 1t
vould not disturb us much. We could
leave the theologians to study the theology
of the future for themselves. But 1T Is aiso
a<transitionsm 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
nal opinions OF religion. but in their really
vital RELIGIONS experience. We used to
think, in our boyhood. of God as klng
sitting on the Great White Throne. with,
tie angels gathered about Him and singing
to Him. he was far away. We sent our.
prayers ND to Him by. kind OF spiritual
wireless teieeraphy. asking for things: and
sometimes He 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 to prayer: and
this faraway God, sitting on the Great
White Throne. had revealed Himself to
Christ. 1t 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 10
that Bible to find out what it told US ne.
speeting Gods law. of what was required
ef us, and the things with respect to-
Code 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 dlsap-
peared altogether, and remains. If 1t re,
mains at all. as a recognized picture ana
not a.sreaIity. And chat Christ, who
seems to ms mediator between God and
man, q revelation of the faraway God; has
come to recognize that He is 3 great his
toFic figure, and NE are, more or Jess, per
picked as to what His revelation is OF the
faraway God, and what His relation to MS
IS. aud our PRAYERS have changed and our
conception Of the Bible has changed. and
we can no longer, take q text out OF the
Bib.e and rest upon it as a final and abso-
lutte authority IF we try, perhaps some
surceed and some fall. x
What i do want this morning Is to
pci,t ont. not what has taken Place, but to
Indicate the goal toward which this traus,,
lion should lead us; what is the Promised
Land toward which we should look; what
IS the religious experience we may hone
for IN the future to take the place of this
religious experience of the past, that has
grown dim and indistinct and which is'only
half believed. In the first Place, am sure
! that, wili'e we have been undergoing this
change, forces without the church have
been bring:ac to rs q a']arger, if a wagner.
conceusion cf God. God does not work
on.y through the churcn; He does not
speak on,y throuri the preacher. Religion
IS not a spsritqa3 conduit through which
fhes water OF lie is brought down to man.
The grace Of God does :lot come IN par
ticu.ar channels OF grace alone: The Bible
eays it falls Ike gentle rain. It IS uni7er-
sal. aad ne may look outside the church
ard aanng the forces that we have con-
ssidered forces for skepticism. for the forces
which are giving us a more indefinite idea
& as religion and, think. u nearer view OF
God. am not going to try to state the
reason I am only stating the tacs. Her
bert Spencer has summed up in 4 sing.e
sentence what he thinks is the result of
scient;ic 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 Eternas
Energy, from which all these things pro-
ceea." What science has taught is this:
Yo,l are not to so back to creative Gays to
find God. though IN some period Siod
launched the world and put His children
here and intervening now and then in spe.
gal necessity; you are not to think Of God
T chat way; you are to think Of God as the
eternal energy here. Yes. cs ever in the
presence of the eternal energy = always
creating, always controlling-in the growth
of every Gower and in the perfume, in the
FIGHT Of every bird.
Science says that Cod is not remote.
He is here. and you can go out into the
Prospect Park this afternoon and find
Him in the brown trees. beneath the
groand. and in the hidden life that next
spring is to burst forth; for God is Life,
and there is no explanation for any Of the
phenomena of life except in the indweiling
Of the Eternal. if we turn from science to
literature we find much closer and more
sacred and ,truer and diviner :nterpreta.
stion of the. change that is coming over the
thoughts Of men. The poets ere all pro-
phets., They tell US beforehand what IS
the fate that BY and by We shall come to.
Let me read one such Interpretation. 1t Is
from Tennyson:
.The sun, the moon, the stars, the sea,
the hills and the flowers, are not these, o,
sorl. the vision of Him who reigns?
Ozark is the world to thee; thyseif art
f|,e reason yrhv For is He not all but that