The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
LOVE OF GOD FOR . MAN THEME OF DR. . JOHNSON'S SERMON Keep Yourself in the Love
 of God" Is Text
 of Minister
"GOD LOVES WITH
 EVERLASTING LOVE
Men Should Not Presume on That Love, Declares Minister, for, AL though Love Wins Many Vic
 tories It Can Be Defeated

| thlfd sermon as pastor of the First Metho- dist church yesterday morning, taking as
 his text Jude 2l: Keep yourself in the
 love of God" Dr. Johnson emphasized the
 love of God for man and the joy with
 which the Creator greeted the product
 of His hand.
 | Although the love of God is omnipotent.
 said Dr. Johnson, man should not pre-
 sume upon the love because "the efforts
 of love often prove unavailing."
 l Dr. Johnson's sermon was as follows:
 Dr. Johnson's Sermon
 Jude in addressing those to whom this | epistle is written, calls them, according | to the revised version, Beloved in God the Father" Further on in the letter he
 exhorts them to keep themselves in that love'-in the love of God the Father, which is already theirs to keep them
 selves in the power of it, in the conscious
 ness of it, in the blessedness of it. Gods
 love is best expressed through his Father
 hood. Love Is the ultimate fact about the
 nature of God. "God is love-" But father hood is Gods ultimate relationship. Love | may be great fact in a mans life, the supreme fact, but out of it relationships | grow and express themselves; such as i father husband, friend. These are lenses | which magnify love and bring it near to | view. So here. It is through God $ l fatherhood that his love becomes such
 a real and blessed fact to us.
 1 The Christians starting point of | thought and history is love. He does not
 begin with creation. This Is his starting point: Tn the beginning-God. Love was. before all things; love created all l things; love is eternal. God created man that he might realize his love and re- l spond to it. Have you ever noticed that while God pronounced every day of crea- | ton good, he pronounced that in which man appeared ''very good?' What was | it that made it so to him? It was be- | cause man alone was able to understand and appreciate and respond to his love; | that was what made that red letter day l to our Father The birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the flowers that made | the world beautiful-all were objects of | the love of God; but they did not know l it, they could not understand it, they were incapable of reciprocating it. And | so God Yearned for the existence of a l creature who could become conscious of His love; who could look up into His face | and thank Him for his being. Every parent here can to some degree under
 stand this. I am sure every mother can | How you longed for the time to como l when your babe, could understand that you loved him. when you could see the | answering love light in his eyes. How | your heart swelled with conscious pride
 at these first uttered words of a growing l consciousness, Dada and mama. : And you marked with a white stone the day when with clinging arms about your neck he lisped: 'I love you" You felt repaid in that hour for all the pain and | for all the anxious days and sleepless nights and for all the lavish giving of self | which he had cost you. Such was doubt | less the feeling of the eternal Father himself and it expressed itself in the 1 joyous proclamation that even the day in which man appeared was very good. There is in that cry the joy and pride of fatherhood, which is the ultimate re- \ lationship of God, as revealed in Jesus Christ 'The only begotten Son. l He hath revealed Him." and revealed
 Him because he is the only begotten Son. | There is much about the doctrine of the | Trinity that I do not profess to under stand. l do not even attempt so impos- | sible a task. But it teaches this truth, 1 that I can understand and rejoice in: that God is first of all Father. God was a Father before he was a creator. before he was judge. before he was | king. There was a time when he was not creator for he dwelt alone in the eternities past; as yet no shining worlds i had rolled forth from his creative fingers. There was time when he was not a judge, for a $ yet he had created no inteli- gent, responsible beings to summons a king, for as yet he had no kingdom ex- cept his own divine nature. But there | never was a time when he was not Father. He is the eternal Father of the | eternal Son. And every conception of | God must be determined by the funda- mental fact of his fatherho<d. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our | aav OmDiDO- | tent, say yes. he is an omnipotent Father If you say he is omniscient, l reply yes, he is an omniscient Father. and therefore knows what is best for his child. If you say that God is love, shout back with joy that he is loving Father.
 God the Father of All Men
 | God is the Father of all men. and, as
 the Father of all, he has loved them with an everlasting love. as the prophet declares. And he has commended that | love toward us in that while We were vet sinners Christ died for the ungodly. | How it could ever have crept into the minds of men with an open Bible to think I of God as hating sinners I am not able | to understand. How men could ever have l helieved that Christ had to come and die | in order to persuade God to love sinners | remains mystery to me. Christ came, l not to persuade God to love men, but be- cause God did love men. Christ was the 1 gift of Gods love to the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only beqotten Son. Love always gives; 1t IS 1 inc nature of love to give. A German pessimistic philosopher said some time ago: sIf God created the world, I would
 hate to be, God; the worlds woes would break my heart" The woes and sins Of the world did break the heart Of God. When Christ bowed His head on Calvary and gave up the ghost. it was a broken 1 heart that killed him. God loves us In spite of our sin. He hates the sin, but he loves the sinner. He loves us in spite of our unloveliness, in spite of our sin fulness-loves us in spite of everything. 1 Now I know that this doctrine is often
 a snare to men. I know that men pre sume upon the love of God. I know that very frequently that. which should win 1 them to life of filial devotion, they take as license to live an impure life. I was sitting in a barber shop in this city some time ago. It was late in the afternoon of
 . Saturday. gentleman was reading l the announcements of church services for | the following day. A young man, observ- l ing what he was doing. engaged him in conversation. He informed him that he had quit going to church; that the preachers were preaching antiquated doc | Urine today. Why" said he, "alI this | talk about punishment in the after life | is priestly clap trap. The Bible teaches | that God is the Father of all men. Now, even a decent human father would not sentence his children to an eternity of suffering because of few little sins or