The Penn's Grove record., 1911-08-04
Manifestation
of God
By Rev. DR.. Washington GLADDEN.
Pastor of First Church.
Columbus, Ohio.

whence he is. but when Christ cometh,
no man knows whence He is.-Jonn IA.
The fact that Jesus remained In
Galilee while his disciples went to
Jerusalem to attend the feast of the
tabernacles aroused much discussion
among the people. Suddenly In the
midst Of the talk, Jesus appeared. and
began to address the gathering with
the utmost frankness. At this those
present were greatly surprised and
many were half inclined to believe In
him. However, they said that there
Is nothing wonderful, occult or mys-
FERROUS about this man. We know
him, he is the son Of Joseph, the car
penter, and Mary. Therefore, he can
not be the Christ, for when he comes
no one will know of him. The sugges-
ton that this man about whom there
was no suggestion Of the preternatural
or mysterious was the Christ offended
the good people who were looking for
their Savior's coming. There was no
IuOu6Al VI lie uObliAby vi NAhA
the power Of action, or the holiness Of
the life that would fit the man to lead
Gods chosen people, but that he was
too commonplace to be Gods messen-
ger.
This error is common, even today
in the age of advanced learning and
reasoning. A great truth stated in
plain, comprehensive, unvarnished
words, will ofttimes fail to impress
the hearer, when a lot of high-fown
phrases, possibly meaningless, will
give a conviction Of depth of thought
and power Of expression. In fact, n
of the most popular books Of the day
has won its laurels in this manner
Throughout the ages the world has
been humbugged by those who played
on this ~preconception of wisdom.
The real truth when 1t ONE to US
is almost always just the reverse Of
this thought. 1t is simple. easily I'M
derstood, with no suggestion of the
mysterious, occult or profound. Thus
we find that the people are wrong In
the main part, for the best messages
and ideas are often conferred in the
simplest of terms and ome from the
common man or woman. 1t is indeed
well to be h%ospitable in the entertain
ing of strangers, for they may turn out
to be angels Of God. Abraham In en-
PERTAINING the three travellers found
that they brought to him Gods mis-
sion on earth for him. Lot, at the
gate of Sodom, welcomed the footsore
wanderers, who warned him of the
destruction of the city. Not every an
gelic visitation has been made in this
simple manner, but 1t is enough for US
that many of the important ones have.
To date all the progress made along
lines of religious development have
tended to simplify and to make more
plain the ways Of God. Browning In
his prologue to "Oscelo" has stated
very beautifully that man has stripped
the covering of mystery from the
trees, the mountains and the lakes,
but that in doing SO, 1t has brought
him into closer touch with the Lord.
God is indeed revealed In bare nature.
His truth is shown in the phenomena
despoiled Of their myster. and fllu-
sion. To those who go beyond the
mere phenomena, and get into their
meaning, God Is far more wonderful
than to those who regard him simply
as the ruler of all things. If W. could
see and hear completely, we would be
certain that all around US are revela-
lions Of God. The everyday friend
ships of the Office, the shop, the home,
are many voices crying the will and
love of the Lord.
To return to the story, we find that
the people at the feast still believed
that there was a Christ to come, and
this faith Is commendable. Had they
believed that this man was the Mes
siah, that the divine had TRANSPORTED
the human and that the human had
not dragged down the divine, they
would have grasped the great truth
in the matter. The secular is the
shrine of the sacred and not its grave.
Gods love reaches out and through
human love does great things, at the
same time completely changing the
latter. To some unfortunate people
the destroying of the mysterious by
science has also taken away God.
That is a grievous loss. All the deep
er, diviner influences that reach the
human life are as active now as they
ever were. We still need inspiration
from above, encouragement and love
which can be found only through God.
All that tends to dignity and to make
beautiful the common and natural
things is God. and to fail to sense the
great love of God is to fail to secure
a working foundation for life and for
eternity. Losing Gods love, we lose
that which our best natures demand
and need.
The thought that angels may ap-
peal in the garb of the common, every
day traveller or worker is the begin
ming of wisdom, but not its end. In
order to complete the thought we
must hear the message brought and
then go out and apply 1t to our lives.
do the task demanded and grow big
ger. Then. eve as angels appear as
one of us, so we as common people
of the earth can do the work of an
gels. What are angels save messen-
gers and workers for God? In this we
find the real meaning Of Christian