Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1906-04-21

,e see before us the Infinite, OF which
the study Is not yet begun. We have
seen nothing. We recoil In terror. We
might fall In straight line during Il
whole eternity. nor ever reach the bot
,om 1t is infinite In all directions"
So wherever we 20 into the past let
us always think of God as farther back.
Not only must we nmplify our ideas
IN reference 10 Gods eternal existence,
but we must also amplify them In ref
ercnce 10 Gods personal presence. The
Bible tells NY that we are made after
Gods image so God created man In
his own image. In the image OF God
created he him. male and female ere
atcd he them" Does this imply that
God IL like unto us physically that he
has two eyes two hands. two feet and
beating hcarti Just as I find Queen
VictOria's face stamped upon the Eng
lish shilling. so some people think Gods
face. In n physical sense, il stamped
upon us. But Is this true? Nay. Am
plify. Amplify your idea Of Gods per
sonallty. In the One Hundred and
Thirty-ninth Psalm read these words
"Whither shall 90 from thy spirit
or whittier shall dee from thy pres
cncef If ascend up into heaven. thou
art there: II | make my bed in hell,
behold, thou art there: II | take the
wings Of the morning and dwell In the
uttermost parts of the sea. even there
thy right hand shall hold me. Yea, the
ln ri itflnll frnfn fhna iattt fh a
night shncth Ms the day. The darkness
and the light are both alike to thee"
In other words. God IL here. God Is
there. God is everywhere ut once How
can all this be and yet God be like
ourselves In physical sense? Men in
capable of concciving pure spirit have
supposed that God has n human form,
as did the ancient anthropomorphites.
or an animal form. as did the ancient
id0latcrs. but the Bible doctrine as ex-
pounded by Jesus Is. God Is a spirit.
and they that worship him must wor-
ship him IN spirit.
II PASSES Comprehension.
Not only does the Omnipresence OF
God pass all human conception and
explanation. but his personality. called
the Trinity. also passes human cx-
PLANTATION Here we have God the Fa-
Their. God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit How can you interpret It? A
dear friend of mine told me how an
old Spanish artist once tried to explain
II. Above one of the affairs of Il Next
can cathedral was picture amid
clouds out of these clouds appeared
the faces of three men. These three
faces were all the same. Under the
picture. in Latin. were the words, The
Father the Son and the Holy Ghost"
These three faces were all alike; they
were like three photographs OF one
face taken from the same negative.
But had that artist caught n true con
ccptiOn of the Trinity! No. He no
more pictured the true God than did
the artist who tried 10 picture the face
Of the Trinity as that of one man. The
full conception of Gods eternal exist
cnce and Of Gods personality passes
all human grasp. Therefore | say to
you as Michael Angelo said TO Raphael
when thou art trying To reach out after
the personality of God, amplify and
keep on simplifying. God Is n Spirit
infinite. That means no flight of human
Imagination can reach the heights or
plumb the depths or touch the bounds
of the realms of his presence. We
must accept Gods personality as In
finitcly more comprehensive than we
can prove him 10 be or else We shall
never accept him ut all
But. though | have dwelt long upon
my first point, | believe IL Is the least
important Of any shall present. for II
Is almost an impossibillty for any one
OF us To get away from our belief in an
everything God who was the creator OF
the universe after we have studied the
wonderful harmonies OF the natural
world We are like the student of skep-
teal tendencies who was seated mt the
feet of that master of anatomy, DIR.
Marshall. The great professor was eX-
planning TO his class the marvels Of the
points OF the knee or of the hand. Aft
er he had finished his talk this student
exclaimed. "a man must be Il fool In
deed who. after duly studying his own
body, can remain an atheist" So we
say, "A man must be a fool who can
study the harmonies OF nature and not
believe that master mind. called the
Creator and the Ruler. IL molding and
influencing ALL" But. after we have
studied the signs and the wonders Of
the heaven and the earth ana have ac-
ceptcd belief In a God. the next ques-
ton which naturally confronts us Is
this: How do we know that this God
the Creator is the God who is the
author of the book we call the Bi-
Bile. Ia which the coming of Christ
Is foretold ana the promises of for
gvcness OF sin In Christs blood are
made to dying human raceF How
do we know that God is the author
OF the Bihcf Why. by the testimo.
nv of the Bible itself. The internal
evidences Of manuscript carry their
own proof OF genuineness. For centu-
ries upon centuries the Bible has had
the test of internal criticism applied 10
Il. The Bible lives ms the word of God
II