The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-08-02
MR.. BAYLEY'S SUNDAY
SERMON
SOUTH SIDE MINISTER breaches
HELPFULLY ON THE NEAR
NESS OF GOD"

| full sermon on The Nearness of God -
| The text was taken from Acts i1:21:
| He is not far from each one Of us"
| Mr.. Bayley spoke in part as follows:
The words Of the text are from
the midst of Paul's sermon to the
Athenians setting forth the unknown
God. To the Athenians the god Of
the Jews was an unknown god. and
this truth Of the nearness Of God was
universally unrecognized truth. To
DE sure. a soul here and there, stand
ing out like great beacon light on
the sea of history. had caught
glimpse of IL. Jacob, after his dream
of the ladder. said: Truly. God is in
this place, and | knew IL not and
David, i'm the i39th Psalm. was i'm
pressed with the impossibility of find
ing any place where God was not A
few others of the spiritual giants
among the Hebrews saw this truth
more or less clearly.
But for centuries since Paurs tim.
the church has taught. and Christians
have largely believed in an absentee
God. They have pictured and preached
a God who in the hazy dawn of his
tory came down from somewhere and
into being this world and the swing
ing worlds of the universe. and then
/ retired to His distant isolation. one
! interesting character. however. among
those who saw more clearly was a
monk of the seventeenth century
known as Brother Lawrence Some of
his conversations have been preserved.
and they show a remarkable grasp of
4 - -.
says he lived in the practice of the
presence Of God. lie did his work. even
the most disasreeable of IL, as though
God were at his side, and this. he
says. he found a great help in all his I
life
But happily In recent years Chris \
ton theologians and modern scientists 4
have led us to new and glorious 1
view of God. and thai view is the one 4
set forth in the text. II tells us that /
God is present In this world. present 4
IN and about the lives of His chill 4
dren. This understanding OF God has
been brought about by three Gauges: /
First. we have arrived at "A (cfearer
understanding of the scriptures. For
centuries the Church found In the I
Bible the rstorehouse of it's doctrines. 1
the .t1hagazine from which its creeds I
were supplied with offensive and de- 1
fensive ammunition. The men of the 4
Bible acted and spoke in order that we /
might have an authoritative source of /
religious teaching. But now we see /
that the stories of these Bible char 4
acters and nations are a great piano.
rama In which We may see Gods per-
,a8.t ~ lt...x
Him. and thus trace clearly His inti- 4
mate connection with men as individ-
uals and with the world in it's devel- /
opment.
In the second place. we have n new
comprehension of nature. Ii was for
merly the mechanical succession of
forms due to the operation of fixed
forces. Now we see nature. from the
minutest flower or insect to the might
lest tree or to man himself. AS the
Scripture says, In Him we live and
move and have our being. And so
do the living things Of the lower or
ders live and move and have their
being by means of His power. Crea-
ton is not historic fact: IL is "A con-
tinuous process. And In the third
place, we have Il clearer conception of
the significance of the life of Jesus
than the world has ever had. In il
we see the life of God lived among
men. ard we see that its constant eff
fort was to make men realize the di-
vine love. the divine cioseness To and
interest in their life. and the divine
yearning for human fellowship.
With the new understanding u
Gods nearness there should come To
every man the realization OF some con-
sequent possibilities which he should
take into his own life and experience.
The first of these is the effect of
consciousness OF Gods nearness upon
ones moral strength A recent account
of "A baseball game spoke of a pitcher
as having good speed and variety
of curves but lacking control. And
those few words gave IA picture of hui
mainly. All men have some good
qualities, some virtue. but they need
the constant realization of the near
ness of God To give them control, tn
give them strength, Most men in the
strength of their natural virtue can
get along well while the road Is smooth
and the sky clear but when the road
becomes rough and hilly and the
clouds obscure the sky and the thun-
ders Of adversely roll or the lightning
of fierce temptation flashes. then man
needs the assurance of Gods nearness
to stay and strengthen him. Every
man knows that the constant pres
ence and companionship of some noble
friend would keep him from doing
many evil things OF which he is now
ashamed. God is not far from each
one of us. but what we need Is TO
realize this nearness In order that We
may have its restraining and strength
ening Influence.
THE second possibility which tht:
new understanding of Gods nearness
gives is that of new value Of
prayer. For many years science has
been telling us that prayer was not
much better than beautiful senri-
ment: that il Was of no practical use.
fulness. because If God could hear. 4
which was entirely doubtful-He could I
not answer. for He had established 6
certain laws for the regulation of His