News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-04-23

ssssFve,,&$ VG the badge of
y81a III Saana> believer in Go
often comes YER
far short Of realizing God. He say
God is a proper conception. He i
more than thinkable, but he is no
real. 1t is with such that we woulC
like to think for a few minutes, be
cause the words of the text are {
statement of historical facts-Mose:
saw God.
Religion nowadays is realistic, or il
is nothing. The difficulty with most is
that God being spirit, he cannot be
made as real as if he were material
We would note that the thought that
God is spirit does not preclude his
being made manifest in physical form
II he chooses, something which he
has chosen to do in the past, although
we cannot believe that in the text
such physical manifestation was in
mind. Not only has God been realized
In the past, but he is being realized by
vast Dlultitudes today, and only be-
cause of this is the sinful world borne
with a little longer. This manifesto
ton, however, is spiritual.
What is it to realize anything? The
dictionary says: ITO perceive as a
reality; to apprehend the meaning,
reality, or real nature of; feel or ap-
preciate fully and wildly; and think
OF as real" Can God be thus real
lied? This depends upon whether the
spiritual is as real as the material
The great pregamatists, many of the
leading statesmen, and men called to
the highest Offices in the land, are in
the lead of the contention that faith in
a spiritual God, a full realization of
God, is absolutely essential to the
greatest accomplishments.
How prove reality in spirit? Just
as you prove the reality of electricity,
and the agency that enables men to
send messages across the wide seas
without visible or tangible connec.
tons. There is realization of the
fact of the subtle thing whatever it
may be. Why not apply the same prin-
ciple to God? Man should realize
spiritual God because he is himself
spiritual, this term not being used
here in the strict evangelical sense.
Moses realized God-he saw him. If
a man sees thing it is to him real,
and while that is not absolutely so, it
Is SO generally accepted as true, that
God in his word uses sight to illus
trate the truth that is here presented.
If we accept the proposition that
Moses in some sense saw God, how
much is that fact worth? Was Moses
a visionary, mere enthusiast or SEN
timentalist? Was that the concep-
ton of Angelo, as he carved him in
marble? Was that the conception that
lawmakers in all times have had of
him as the greatest law-giver of his
tory? Was that the conception that
those who have studied him as a
statesman, making pro-
vision for private and public life, pure
and the most practical ed
lcation? Was the writer of the text
carried away, by sentiment and hab-
tually given to exaggeration, or was
le considered great thinker, a
nan of religious and spiritual wisdom,
Ind with an intellect to which refer |
,nce is made by the enemies of Chris |
ianity as the greatest of the Chris
ian era? With these two great men /!
presenting this truth, should it not |
'e accepted? So many men and wom-
n testify to the fact that they have |
ealised God, that if there was any |
of showing these that they |
we're mistaken the wall would be that |
4 the lower world. Oliver Crom-
veil, Gustavus Adolphus, Chinese Cor
on, and others in the clash of bat
lie have clearly recognized God.
Man says, 81 would like to realize
Iod, would like to practice his pres
nee, if / knew how" We must first
ccept that the testimony of the spir-
.ual sense in man is just as reliable
s that of the physical. AS God
as recognized that man must have
omething objective before him. he
as given his own son to become the
manifestation of himself,
hat leading minister in Chicago a
ew days gao called the Christmas
Study God in the face
{ Jesus Christ, and he becomes real,
nd then the spirit of man yearns to
ave communion with him.
If a man realizes God, what re-
ats? OF the many results we may
iggest that he loses fear, in which
,ere is torment. This explains the
,yful singing of hymns as the mar
yrs went to the stake. Man gets
over. Did not God use Dwight L.
-oody, a man fully surrendered to
i'm. to revolutionize Christendom in
D important sense? Man as he real
es God rises in all those qualities
lat God gave him in his creation,
nth inteIIectual and moral