The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1909-10-28
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eN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON Cy
Dr.. ELBGRT RUSSELL
Theme: Gods FSt.:cTi,ooC.

ing House, Sunday morning. on The
Fatherhood of God" There was n
large congregation. DR.. RuSscll's
text was Luke 11:2: And He said
unto them. when ye pray, say, our
Father" He said:
Fundamental in all our religion is
the concertion OF Gcd. More or less
consistently all that we do in the way
OF worship or service springs from
what we believe God to be. and what
we believe He wishes us to 90 and
be. 1t is imDortant for us very fire.
uuently for the keeping of our re-
Egion truly to go back to this furG2-
mental clement in our religion.
say our conception OF Gcd determines
our religion in so far as it IL n con-
siStent thing. IL We believe that
God is n desDot We shall crince and
f2wn before Him. If we believe He
Is jealous God we shall walk softly
and not appear 700 DrCsnprous in His
presence, lest in jealousy He smite
us. If We believe I!e is an absent or
an impassive God. who neither knows
nor cares how we feel towards Him or
regard Him. the en- we shall 50 on our
way as If God did not exist. and shane
cur course of action with reference to
our own desires, and we shall not
reckon with God. We shall say with
Jobs friend, us not God in the height
Of Heaven? What doth God know"
There is story from the East of a
certain Parsee who was performing
his devotions at the altar of fire. and
there drew near 2 Jew and a Chris
tian. The Jew. moved with jealousy
that men should worship the creature
instead of the Creator. said: "Do you
worship fire." No." said the Parsee,
we do not, we only Worship the
Great Spirit that manifests Himself
IN the flame" What do you call that
sDirit?" asked the Jew. I'VE call him
Ormuz. What do YOU name the In
Unite One?' "We call Him Jehovah"
said the Jew. God of Gods and Lord
of Lords, the Great God and terrible"
The Parsee answered, Your name is
n great one. hut it is awful" Then
turning to the Christian, he asked:
"How do you name the Great One"-
and the Christian said: we call
Him Abba. Father" and the Parsee
answered. Your name is tho greatest
of all. but who gave YOU authority to
call the Infinite, Father"
Now. it is Jesus vino teaches us
that. Father" robbed of its human
infirmities. of its evil, of it's limita-
tioEs, is the name likcst tc God. If
we would comprehend what is the
character of GCd and His attitude
toward us We should come before Him
with the word Father" upon our lins.
1t is worth while for us to take the
conception, this reTclation CT Jesus Of
God, and see what kind CT religion Is
consistent with il; how we. as chill
dren OF our Father, should worship
Him and behave ourselves before Him
and talk of Him. Jesus has not left
ant nnl, - II
ences. He told us to call Him Father.
| know that theologians dispute over
the question, whether it is right to
speak of the fatherhood of God to all
men, but certainly we shall be true to
Jesus If we talk of the fatherllness of
Gcd. And we shall find that Jesus
has something to say about Gods re-
lation to the universe, to this world
of which humanity is so small n part
The PhariseeS believed in 4 distant
God, God on His throne afar off in
the seventh heaven, a majestic sover-
eign, removed from the common
things of the world. They believed
the world was carried on through the
mediation of angels. They believed
that God once for all had given His
will for mems conduct in the law,
that on some far Off day men would
bSioi iiiIu anu DS eNiEllncl
as 70 whether they had kept the law
ana that only by some special provi-
dencc or miracle did God take n di-
rect hand in the control of His uni
verse. That was not the teaching of
Je"us. To Him the world was the
Fathers house. To those rabEis who
believed that God had spent six DAYS
in making the world, lie said, My
rather worketh until now" He could
say that Ills Father makes the sun
rise and sends the rain on the evil
and the good alike. clothes the lily
and feeds the birds. God needs NO
angel to tell Him what is going on
in the world. He knows our needs
before we ask and when we pray we
do rot have to invoke some angel
to carry the petition, but simply say
in sincerity: Our Father" How
that changes the conception of re-
lgion and our relation to God; how
1T fills the world with the presence Of
the Divine! Far be it from me to
deny the possibility, or even the con-
t1nuous recurrence of the things we
call miraculous, but to anyone who
follows the teaching Of Jesus the
miracle lcses its unique character for
our religious thinking and life. I
believe that Jesus turned the water
Into wine lit was exceptional activity
or the Divine power). but l believe
that when the vine blossoms in the
spring and natures it's fruit in the
fall, 1t is just as much the activity of
God as when Jesus performed the
miracle n Cana.
When Jesus teaches us to think of
Cod as Father, He calls attention,
first, to the likeness between our
spirits and the Spirit OF God, as there
is n likeness between father and son
In nature; and secondly. to the love
that God, His Father, feels toward
men.