The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-23

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| its destiny.
cit is well TO remember when any
one puts forth a system of theosophis
| philosophy that the Greeks threshed
| the matter out long ago with an ability
never touched.
ssIn this day of the setting forth
of philosophic conceptions, Macaulay :
words are pertinent: There are
branches of knowledge with respect te
which the law of the human mind is
progress But with religion it is differ
ent. Apart from revelation, philoso-
pher today is no more favorably stu
ated than Thales or Simonides. He
| has before him just the same evidence
the Greeks had Modern discoveries
add nothing to the force of their argu-
ments. Again, 1T is mistake to
! imagine that subtle speculations touch
| ing the divine attributes, the origin of
evil, ETC., imply any high degree OF
! intellect
''The fact is the stream can not
rise above its source unless there Is
aid from without to lift it up. It was
| this aid men looked for, and for which
some longed
| E'The Greek Fathers in the church
constantly asserted that God revealed
| himself in a degree to men of various
races. They did not hesitate to call
these prophets. The Greek Fathers
looked at no system as false, but as
partial. Christianity gathered UP all
truth in all systems into one lens and
produced one dazzling truth.
cit is not that man is incapable of
| cognizing truth of which / speak. Man
can find out a great deal about God
through reason and in nature. But man
Graves assurance which shall satisfy
the longings of the soul.
"The world underwent a wonderful
preparation, and separate nations had
their special work But one nation
developed in a spiritual way marvellous
ly. The message of Israel was: THE
Lord thy God is not only one Almighty
One, but He is truth and righteous
ness Judaism had gone all over
the known world and this idea of God
had taken hold of many thinking men
and women, and with this there came
an expectation of one who should come
who should speak with authority.
If we consider God as Infinite Love-
if we consider Him as having impaired
principles of His divine nature to man,
then there is the likelihood at least
that, when all things are ready, He
will come and reveal Himself as fully
as the capacities of man can appre-
bend Him. This you say is SUPPOSE
ton, theory, so it is. It is like the
superstition or theory which Newton
assumed as to gravitation, and to which
all observation since has fitted i'm
The Bishop then went at some length
into the matter of the expectation of
the Messiah. He summed it up in
these words: cit is a fact that the
whole Jewish world, and in a large de-
gree all the world where Jewish in
fiuence was felt, from India to Rome,
men were looking for one who was to
reveal God and to form Kingdom
of Righteousness. It was the fulness
of time. There had never been time
before when it would have been posi-
BILE to extend Christianity beyond the
confines of Palestine. The Greek and
then the Roman conquest had opened
up the known world; the local deities
had lost their adherents.
g And so we come to one who spake
with authority. Those who have come
thus far may begin to draw off to
have doubts. Often today the lines of
Tennyson are quoted:
g There lives more honest faith in
doubt,
Believe me, than in half the
Creeds.
FfBut go on I'm Memoriam does not
leave us there:
" He fought his doubts and gathered
strength,
He would not make his judgment
blind;
He faced the specters of his mind
And laid them; thus he came at
length
To find a stronger faith his own
Gin this spirit let us approach Jesus
Christ. Is there mystery9 Yes. But
so there is in you, and in everything
in the universe.
ASK yourself one question, What
has Jesus Christ revealed? But some
do not like the word revealed. Let US
see. Newton revealed the, law of grav-
itation. Harvey revealed the circu-
lation of the blood. Have you ever
known any one who revealed to you
goodness, sincerity, purity? When men
and women came to know Jesus they
found in Him first a revelation of
themselves, of what the capacity Of
human nature is for courage, SYM
pathy, purity, love. What a study the
character of Jesus is. The greatest
and the best in every age have found
in Him the ideals and aspirations of
the race realized.
Now what is authority? The word
means that which is personal, it is self
in action. Who can speak with au-
thority on love It is the one who
loves. The logieian and the chemist
might write volumes to say that love
did not exist. The one who loves says:
I know he speaks with authority.
Because Jesus was what He was. He
spoke with authority. 1t was Napoleon
who said: He is truly Being by
Himself. Near as I approach. close
as I may examine, He is great with
a greatness which brushes me. I defy
you to cite another life like that of
Christ
1T was Ernest Renan who at the
end of his Life of Jesus wrote: In
Him was concentrated all that is good
and elevated in our nature. Jesus will
never be surpassed
Carlyle wrote: Jesus of Nazareth
our Divfnest Symbol It was Rous-