The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-01-27
DR.. SCUDDER'S
SECOND SERMON

inscribing. The narrative has but one
subject the realm of material things.
It can tell of nothing else. It is a,
goddess universe. Hark, sound is
heard. not without but within the be-
ing of man. At first it is an indis-
tinct murmur; little by little it grows
clearer. Its message is not of the
material things about him, so much as
of something which they conceal or
clothe, of a spirit within them even as
his own spirit is within his body.
Just as he fails to read Alright Ma
lures record of herself in the phenom-
ena his senses perceive, so he misun-
derstands the accents of this Voice
speaking out of the heart of things to
his own heart But with the lapse of
ages he learns both languages. and
comes to call the one who speaks
within him Cod That inner voice is
revelation. With his genius for trying
experiments man has attempted to find
in the world without the owner of the
voice which speaks within him,
through the instruments invented by
him to supplement- his senses. but he
has never succeeded. He has never
discovered God; he never will, because
| God is Spirit Spirit reveals itself to
| spirit, but can not be discovered by
sense perceptions. Now, the preemi-
nence of the Old Testament among all
human books is found in the record
which men of the Hebrew race left
describing what this Voice animating
| Nature said to them in their hearts.
| No other ancient literature gives this
sort of human experience with any
| thing like the clearuess or beauty or
| power that characterizes the Hebrew
| scriptures. One unique thing about
| them is this revelation, this tale Of
God in His world. That is what we
want to trace in our study of this
matchless library.
Down through the centuries man
toiled and suffered, multiplied into
races and tribes he covered the earth,
| fierce through his battle for life with
wild beast and stern nature he learn
ed to hate and fight his own kind.
After weary cons he began to record
his doings-mournful memorials of sad
i ages. One tribe, despised and hunted
i more than it's neighbors, in the tragic
search for the meaning of such bitter
/ experience heard the accents of a
Voice speaking out of its sad story the
promise, I'm thee shall all the fami-
j lies of the earth be blessed. Human
history is God leading His children on
into the Golden Age-such was the
message spoken to the spirit of He
brew historian and prophet. The his
tory itself has no revelation. 1t has
exactly the human quality that we
should expect from men sobered by
contact with God. But the truth OF
the meaning of history. God in His
!, human family, is a revelation. In
: stantly those dull records become lu-
minous with radiance far outshin-
ing any other early account of mans
: inhumanity to man. Therefore the Ole
Testament is priceless, many of its
chapters among Gods choicest gifts
; to the race. But, alas, some have
; missed the beauty of the flower by
tearing it to pieces in a meaningless
5 analysis of its parts
In like manner Biblical psychology
is no revelation. But the truth OF
God. mans Friend. of Jehovah I'm
manuel, appearing to Abraham to bic
him leave his kindred and seek the
Great Comrade. wrestling with Jacot
in the night of his self-conquest, sing.
: ing with Shepherd David. sustaining
: Elijah, delivering Daniel, the concep
r ton finally completed in Jesus oul
4 Elder Brother is revelation, nay
2 the preeminent revelation of the in
Y visible God It matters not in wha
o menstruum any of these revelations i
dissolved. Jesus taught largely il
: parallels. What is a parable? A f1c
$ ton, is it not? A mere imaginative
: story, novelette,, without any reaIit.
in actual fact. thank God tina
y Jesus taught some Of His creates
t truths by means of fiction and thu
forever rebuked the literalist VIII
= shortsightedly cries. IF that story b
h not an exact fact just as it is stated
:, then the spiritual truth it contains an,
t the whole work of which it is a par
r are valueless." The vehicle is of n
h moment to the man dying of thirst i
: the burning Sahara. Great God hoy
= he suffers. What cares he whethe
Il the crystal fluid be, fetched in a sol
s dier's helmet, a dead feIon's drie
$ skUlcap or a golden bowl? It is tn
life-giving water that he wants. s
e God bears to US His truth in weaf