The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-11-17
GODS
MESSENGERS
By REV. STEPHEN PAULSON

the untverse-God and man. From
| time to time messages are exchanged
between them and that is religion.
When man speaks to God it is prayer
and worship. When God speaks to
man 1t is guidance and Inspiration.
What God did once for prophets and
apostles. He does for merchants and
husbandmeu.
Not that Gods messengers always
speak with human voices. He speaks
through mans inner consciousness,
through memory, through some Incl
dent or occurrence IN your life. To
David God spoke by the sad and stern
prophet To Solomon He spoke
through fear; TO Peter through a
simple meal spread on the shore OF
the lake. And so every day Gods
messengers stand at the door of your
soul bringing encouragement or
warning, or overtures Of love from
Prof. A. NJ. Ten Eyck, superinten-
The voice of conscience In mans
| soul is the voice of God What a won
| deriul pictIEe Of the accusatory power
OF conscience is drawn in Shakes
peares tragedy of Macbeth. After ac-
comprising his purpose on Duncan
| Macbeth goes into his wife's room and
locks the door 1t is midnight and the
stars are shining brightly. and it Is
so still that they can hear each others
heart beat But Macbeth hears foot
| steps approaching the door and a
voice which says: Sleep no more;
Macbeth hath murdered sleep" Like
| Jacob the guilty king had met Gods
messengers. and evermore he was to
hear in the night the football of the
unseen pursuer, that Nemesis which
was upon his track. Oh, it is long
and thrilling journey that man makes
through life, and every day the mes
sengers of God meet him, and some
times he needs their message, but
often he takes his own way and wan
ders off into the desert.
The life drama Of which this meet
| Ing with the divine messengers is a
part, has to do with the education of
| Jacob. He had deceived hts aged and
| blind father, robbed his brother. and
/ IS now fleeing from his wrath. He Is
! in the desert and is overcome by re-
/ morse and he fears that armed men
may oyertake him and bring him back
! 10 punishment. In that day he prayed
that night might come and hide him.
| When night fell he was alone with
nature and God. The stars above him
seemed to pierce into his soul like
| accusing eyes. He knelt and prayed
and then he fell into a troubled slllm-
Der. And it seemed to him that a
| bright star heightened into a long
| beam OF light that reached TO the
earth, and the beam of light broad
eneG into stair up which the angels
Of God took his prayer and penitence.
! and down which they brought encour-
agement and mercy. And hope began
/ ~ stir in his heart that God might
/ pardon his sins, and that in Gods mer-
cy he might redeem the future.
! How human and real is this chapter
/ in the story OF mans soul. II might
/ be a page torn out OF our own biog
( raphy. The epoch OF divine messen-
( gers is not gone. There Is no life so
/ Isolated. no talent so small. but that
/ God has for Il his message and Dur.
( pose In the river that flows to the
| sea, the individual drop loses its iden.
/ tiry, but IL the great river Of human.
! ity that flows TO eternity, there is nc
loss OF individual identity Each soul
| is as it were a separate star divided
| by millions of miles from its neighbor
Jacob went on his way and the
messengers of God met him" 1t is
| your own story Do not look for some
| great manifestation when God speaks
to you When God made Himself
! known to Elijah a great earthquake
/ shook the foundations OF the noun.
/ tains, but God WIS not IN the earth.
| quake; and a fire come which Bills.
tered the rocks, but God was not in
the fire; and a windstorm came which
uprooted the trees, and God was not
| In the storm and there came a still
small voice, and God was in that still
| small voice.
So the messengers OF God come to
| you in the still small voice of daily
! experience. Memory bears in her
arms the sheaves of the yesterday,
and 1t is to you a messenger Of God
Alone in the desert, Jacob remem.
bered his past life with all its sordid
meanness The faces OF his aged par
ents and of his wronged brother came
up before him. 6on4e mems sins 20
before them into judgment and some
march like caravans under the guild.
ance of memory.
What an illustrated volume is the
I book of memory. In this very mo
ment you may open 1t upon your lap
/ There Is the old house where you
were born. and here are the faces of
your playmates. Now you walk old
| paths, and now you look upon the
faces of friends separated from you
by many years. What magic is here!
| Yet what sacred ministry.
In the desert Jacob feared the con.
sequences of his misdeeds, and fear
may also be q messenger OF God. A
wise man Of old said: The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom" It
is wisdom indeed that fears to do
| wrong, that turns man from evil pur-