The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-01-13
1.-THE Seeking Love of God"
[Selected for The Times-Dispa

(Seected for The Times -Dispatch.)
Thou shalt be called, sought OUT
lisa. xii. IL.
One OF the deadliest thoughts which
can infect a human spirit is this, II am
of no use. no worth, to any one on
earth. or In heaven" Yet 1t comes to
many, and is the natural utterance OF
our selfish lives.
Who has not groaned out the confess
sion of Asaph, II was even as beast
before Thee,' For man is profoundly
conscious at once of sinfulness and An
potence. 81 am so sinful" he cries.
God must hate me; so weak for good,
GOD must despisa me- Such is the
thought deep down in the heart, which
fills him with sorrow.
David cries, Lord, what 1. man. that
Thou art mindful of him." All! that Is
a deep question. How looks this teem-
ing hive of restless, painting mortals
from the still and solemn cope OF heaven?
The calm stars look down unmoved on
US. They utter no song over our cra-
dies, make no moan over our graves.
This is the horror of pasanism; this
calm, impassive aspect of the great UNI
verse. 1t brushes to the dust all pagan
manhood. 81 am but as q mote in a
sunbeam. moth on the wing; let me
float or 1utter my little moment, and
then die and be at rest
But sin is the parent of a yet more
profound dependency. II SEEM" the
sinner says, Ito live but to dishonor
God. Tho wonder Is that He has not
swept me out Of existence" 1t is
wonder, the standing wonder OF the uni
verse. But it is also true-nay, tho eter-
nal truth--He has not done 1t, and He
will not do 1t, while the faintest hope
remains of restoring you to a nobler use.
The worst sin against Heaven is de-
spair. THE Lord hath need of thee" Is
the very foundation principle OF the
Gospel. The Lord seeking thee search
ing for thee, unable to rest in the
heaven Of heavens till He finds thee
is Gods message to thee this day. AS
one called OF God, who would not hear
sought of God. who would not be found;
drawn of God, who would not yleld
constrained of Cod who would not come:
you live henceforth, even If you will not
listen to His Vord-in time and In eter-
nifty!
Is there not something radically false
in this connection Of need or want with
the Divine name? Want suggests ncom-
pleteness. We can frame no definition OF
want.
1t is through Christ and Christ alone,
that We attain to the knowledge of the !
name and mind OF God. The name Of
God grew DINNER before the heather I
imagination for want OF personal form
on which the mind could fix. Tho most I
thoughtful scholar in the Roman en-
pire composed a long and mastery poem
10 provo that the gods might be dis
pensed with from creation, Just as tho
Goldman came to declare the Father ia
tho world. As far as the Roman gods
could account for things, I.ucretius was
right Yet from that hour the living
God became the supreme reality to the
world.
1t Is then, OF God in Christ that wa
speak. when we say God needs us and
seeks us. Out OF Christ we know Moth
Ing. The whole expression OF the Incar-
nate Ono is seeking, longing, too
deep TO express by words
We may say with all reverence that
the Father has exhausted all the riches
OF Ills love In the gift of Christ to tho
world. In 1saiahs days much remained
TO he done. The elect nation oxpands
into the elect world as Tho prophet gazos
into tho future, Tho love OF the hus-
band, the joy of tho bridegroom, tho
tenderness OF Father, arc the images
CHOSEN TO express tho deem lonpI,n ~