Democratic messenger., 1911-11-18

l(RASI0R RIlSSELD ment with his
presentation. His
text was. THAT I'm the Ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches
Of His grace in His loving kindness to-
ward us In Christ Jesus" Ephesians
Ia. u He said In part
Following In the footsteps of our IA
Tiers. who handed down to us our
present day creeds. we have misun-
derstood our gracious Creator. We
studied astronomy and declared the
Creator Almighty: we studied geology
and confirmed the decision. We stud
led zoology and anthropology and de
.lared that the Creator was AllWise.
as we came TO appreciate Him. We
noted the adaptation of our various
organs to our use and comfort-the
hand. the foot. the eye. the ear. the
circulatory system. the nervous sys.
TEN. and the power Of the will over
these.
We said TO ourselves. truly man is
fearfully and wonderfully made. truly
his Maker Is n God infinite In wisdom
and skill. We examined the subject
of mans moral sense. and although
we found It impaired we have been
astonished TO note how even the most
selfish md del -aved have an instinct
OF justice. sense of right. whether
they follow II or not
Love Divine All Love Escelling."
Then we said. Whence came this no.
BILE principle Of Justice as the back.
bone or moral quality In our race?
The only reply was that IN this par.
ticular God originally created man IN
His own moral likeness. and that
measure Of this moral quality has per
sisted outstanding the fall through
disobedicnce into death and Its conse.
quent decentralization through sir and
weakness.
Looking further We perceived that
the noblest specimens OF our race pos.
sess still other qualities closely associ
ated with Justice. hut outranking IT,
The noble quality which overtops ali
the rest we term Love. n Is Love
which makes the heart tender sympa
thetic. helpful and happy; Il Is Love
that makes home. whether exercised
in palace or a hovel. II Is Love
which backs up Justice and insists
that no III shall be worked toward q
nelghbor. II is Love that Is on the
alert 10 assist by word or act all Of
those needing mid. II IS Love that In
spires us 10 the boldest acts of hero
ISM II Is Love that prompts the civ.
ing OF time and strength. OF means
end even life itself on behalf Of its
object
All freely admit that Love is the
greatest, the most blessed quality pos
sessed by humanity, and that without
II even paradise could not bring hap
piness. We ask. Whence came this
quality OF Love. and from what foun-
tain can we receive the fresh supplies
80 much needed by so many Of our
race? The answer is that the great
Creator Himself Is the Fountain. God
is love" This All-Wise and AllPow-
erful and Adjust One Is pre.cminent-
ly the God OF all grace" "The Father
OF mercies." "The Fountain OF bless
ing"
Love Divine. all love excelling.
Joy Of heaven. to earth come down:
Fix In us Thy humble dwelling.
All Thy faithful mercies crown
"show Me Thy Glory"
- u - hk
that they had caught but glimpse OF
the Divine character and its glory;
hence their prayer. "Show me Thy
glory" The same should he our senti.
ment. In the clear light now shining
upon Gods Word we perceive that Il
will require the entire outworkng Of
the Divine Plan OF the Ages 10 illus
trate or make known TO humanity the
real character OF the Heavenly Father.
Only the very few can by faith accept
the Divine promises and trust IN their
ultimate fulfilment and see far down
into the future the full shining forth
Of Gods character perfect IN its Wis
dom. Justice. Power and Love.
We may not judge the infinite love
In all respects by human comparison
but we may know that our difficulty
IN the matter Is that the human com
PARSONS can only imperfectly repre-
sent the Infinite We see the excava-
ton or perhaps the foundation walls,
or perhaps the first story Of struc.
ture: but II we were 70 judge wholly
by these imperfect parts II would he
manifestly unfair and we should he
deceiving ourselves. The only way to
judge Of the builders capacity and In
tentions would be to see the architec-