Evening journal., 1911-12-16
"GOD IS LOVE"
BY John S. Hamilton.

AS the years grow on the writer he
finds himself more and more turning
towards the Bible as the real treasure
house, that contains all the knowledge
and the wisdom worth while. This
VIII perhaps appear all the moro re-
markable when it is known that many
years ago he, the writer, cut himself
loose from all prevailing and accept
ed systems and came to the conclu-
sion as far as it was possible with his
limitations. he would accept nothing
as final truth that was man-made. and
would always stand ready to take for
his own satisfaction the best he saw
offered, always remembering that men
were as imperfect intellectually As
they were morally, and this never en-
titled them to a great deal of consid-
Grafton. What the writer will say
here is not and will not be the sub
ject of controversy. He thinks It is
worth the telling, because for him 1t
has made a measure of light in what
were formerly dark places, and at the
same time what any man believes IN
a religious way is and will always
be a sacred thing.
The human mind is peculiar
machine and the writer has sense
enough to know that his own mind
may be and is probably peculiarly
peculiar, but he discovered in him
self long ago a tendency to run along
in grooves. The other night the last
thing his eyes rested upon when he
turned out the lights was the printed
words, God is Love-" He retired
with that thought running in the
groove. And when he awakened in
/ the morning, If it was not his first
thought, he did recall that God Is
Love- was the last thing he thought
about before going asleep. This is
trite saying, and falls unchallenged
from millions of lips, but is it true as
most men and women understand Il?
/ In the first commandment God says:
For ! the Lord thy Gcd am a jealous
/ God, visiting the iniquities of the
fathers upon the children unto the
Third and Fourth Generations of
those that hate me, and showing
mercy unto thousands of them that
love me and keep my command
ments."
It is a question In the writer's mind
whether what we call commandments
are really commandments as we
understand the word. The quotation
written above and taken from the
First Commandment, appears more
like prophecy than a commandment
although it depends upon the way you
look upon IT, If the commandments
we're mere commands up to this time
they have certainly failed in their mis-
sion, and a commandment by God
! could not fail. II il we're, however
a prophecy who will deny that it has
already been fulfilled and is being full.
filled every day? The writer tn,
other day heard a good man say thai
what men wanted to realize was thai
they were all members of one grea
human family This is unquestion.
ably the truth, and II would appeal
that the commandments were ad
dressed to this human family rather
than to any individual. II is difficult
to believe that God gave the COM
/ mandments to the individual expect
= ing them to be lived up to. 1t i,
easier to understand. however, tha
, they were addressed at large to tn.
} race and that they contemplated tina
they would not at once, at least, b'
obeyed. The one sure, true thing
5 however is that the quotation is true
} as true as anything that appeals L
the human understanding. Il doe
! not make much difference what Il
your conception of God. The ont
great. overwhelming, significant. an
; palllng. awe-insDiring. incOntrovertibl'
, truth is that that there is a powe
9 which may not but does visit the sim
of the fathers upon the children unt,
/ the Third and Fourth generation. Per
, sonally. the writer believes also tina
: this proves undeniably that God Il
! Love. but IL is hardly consistent will
! a lot of preaching VIC have heard.