The Penn's Grove record., 1906-06-15
THE PULPIT.
a BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY DR..
D. D. MAcLhURlN.
Subject The UnhnowabIe,

preached oil TO Know the Unknow-
able: Il Prayer" The text was from
Ephesians iii: 1913: "To the end that
We, being rooted and grounded in love.
may be strong to apprehend with all
The saints what is the breadth and
length and height and depth, and ID
know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge" He said in the course Of
his sermon:
Who a know the unknowable? Is
not this in the nature of a paradox?
Wherein can one be so strengthened
which is really beyond the reach of his
apprehension? Has not Paul here
erred in a prayer otherwise luminous,
spiritual. profound and possible? Has
he rot introduced here something that
ordinary mortals cannot grasp?
Well, | think that it will be as well
Tor us to go slowly in our disposition
to criticise him. 1t is !: safe rule to
assume that these apostolic men know
what they were about. l am convinced
that Paul not only knew by expert
ence the things he said; but that he
was inspired by the Holy Spirit in all
his writing.
What about life? What about the
duration of sentient existence? What
about the continuity of that which we
Fall ourselves? Tell us. thou biologist?
Perhaps thy science is more exact
than that of the mathematician or the
mar who philosophers about time.
Tell us. if you can. what is life? Hast
thou ever seen it? No-never! Hast
thou eve touched it? Only indirectly.
Canst thou tell us what it is? No!
Then space runs into infnity, time
uns into forever and forever. and life
runs into God! And we know some
thing about all of these; and yet there
is no limit to their vast extent. 1t
has done us good to investigate them
it is a noble exercise-it is charging
to the mind and the heart to come
into contact with concepts so sublime
and mighty as these.
SO it is with this matter which Paul
prays that we shall comprehend. We
shall not be able to master it, and yet
we al by studying it a%pprehend
something to its immeasurable depths.
something of its infinite length, some
thing of its all inclusive breadth.
something of its mighty altitude. And
so Paul prays that we shall be so
rooted and grounded in love that we
shall be able TO apprehend with all
saints, high and lowly. rich and poor,
ancient and modern, the dimensions
Of Christ's love. Now. let us for the
sake of clearness of thought define a
few of the terms of our wealthy text.
TO the end that We. being rooted and
grounded in love. Love here means
love toward our fellow creatures. In
deed, it always means that i'll the
Bible unless it is otherwise defined.
1t means the affection we should have
for the men and women of earth, thu
people of whom we are and to whom
we belong by race connections. L
is to be a reflection of Gods love for
the race. Its energy is to be meas
ured only by the energy of the Divine
love. Its inclusiveness is to be linn
tied and measured only by the inclu.
s~iveness of the Divine love.
Out of the heart are the issues OF
life. When love is in the heart every
thing is love begotten. Foundationed
like a building which has been settled
as 4 whole, and will never show cracks
or flaws in the future through fail
ures in the foundation.
Here. then. is the idea of the soul
being so placed as to make it strong
for the noblest life. The two meta
phors supplement one another-they
belong to each other. The former,
rooted. gives us the idea of organic
life and growth; the latter, founda'
toned, gives us the idea of strength
derived from the union of parts. A
Christianity which is not rooted Is
always unstable. A Christian love
that has not penetrated into the depths
is not a love of a permanent or en-
during character. o that the love o.
every one of us may penetrate int
the very being of God! That the ten
drills of cur affections may Irvine
themselves about the heart of the
incarnate God! Then shall we BIZ
stable. then shall we grow.
To the end that We, being rooted ant
foundationed in love, may be stronE
to apprehend with all the saints
Strong for what? That you may know
the love of Christ in all its mighty
dimensions! And this is a most nat
ural evolution. To acquire love is t.
obtain finer powers of percepting
There is nothing like love for sharp
ening the wits. The eyes and ear
of a loving mother are immeasurabl
quicker than the senses OF the IoV
less. 1t is not true that love is pllnI
love is endowed With sight of enor
nous range. But while he was We
afar off His 'ather saw Him.
Do not be surprised, therefore, Il
find that when we are rooted ant
grounded in love we obtain finer pow
ers of apprehension. But what ar
divine love and grace! The holy PIANO
rama is stupendous. and even will
our sharpened spiritual senses WI
cannot take in the infinite glory. Ant
so the apostle tells US that we are t
apprehend it with all the saints, will
the help of all the saints. 1t take'
all of us to survey the vast estate
One Christian sees n aspect of tn
glory and another beholds another
The Matterhorn, seen from Zermatt
is one thing; from the Eggishorn it /
quite another. And so with theSl
%stupendous wonders of divine glory
Each Christian is to behold his owl
share of the marvellous revelation
Matthew will discern one aspect, ant
Mark another, and Luke another. an
John another. Each individual vii
behold some individual glory. TIL
furrow of one field abOunds in won
ders; what then of the infinite estate
/. Let us notice. how wide is TIL
compass of love. To the end that We
being rooted and grounded in love
may be strong TO apprehend with al
the saints. what is the breadth? How
broad is its compass? Why. m!
friends, the love of Christ is so broat
as to take in this whole world! Tn
love of Christ comprehends all men
all people. reaching to the utmos
stretch of human sin. or sorrow, o
need-it is the great gospel whosoever
How broad is this love of Christ
There is actually no Limitation to it.
Do you mean that Jesus Christ cal
love the man who has lived a wicked
YES. a vile life-who now bears upol
his face the marks of the beasts-wh'
is so repulsive that we shudder t
look upon him-that man. that poo
wreck of a thing-that nan in tn,
gutter, that man disowned by hG owl
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