The Penn's Grove record., 1914-10-02
TO LIVE WITH GOD
Message That Jesus Brought Is
Unmistakable to the Man
Who Thinks.

The age-long appeal of Jesus to men
and women Of every type can be &C.
counted for only by acknowledging
that he brought something to the
world that was urgently needed. To
say he was purer, stronger, holier
than others is not enough. An unat-
tainable vision Is nor likely to breed
despair than to kindle hope. Even to
say that Jesus was the Son Of God,
or God the Son, is not sufficient. The
presence Of divinity in the midst Of
humanity may be an appalling thing.
The fact that Jesus of Nazareth has
won not only the admiration and rev.
erence Of mankind but has called out
the love and devotion of hearts every
where and In all ages is proof that
he met the deepest needs Of human
lives by communicating something not
to be found elsewhere.
To every thoughtful person there
is a strange sense OF loneliness In
life. Even when in the midst of ones
family, surrounded by ones friends
and in an environment of which ev-
cry feature is familiar and cherished,
there Is a feeling Of ~aloneness, a con-
seriousness that there are many points
at which we touch nobody else and
at which nobody else touches US.
There are things we never say be-
cause they would not be understood,
there are aspirations and ambitions
we choke back because they cannot
possibly be appreciated, and there are
feelings we never even try to articu-
late because We do not know what
they r or what form they should
take. Altogether apart from the we'll
known diseases Of our moral life there
is a something that haunts us, frets
US, consumes US; a something that is
like a slow-burning fever, a perpetual
y%earning or desire, a hunger or thirst;
a something that is a kind of soul-sick-
ness as intangible yet as real as the
inconsistencies Of the exile.
Message Brought by Jesus
We may take it for granted that
Jesus brought an unmistakable mes
sage to those who were dis1gured
and diseased by the common moral
sins. He told men, as the prophets
had told them before, that they must
repent and seek the pardon OF the
holy and meyeiful God. But he went
far beyond that in his intercourse
with mankind. He diagnosed the ills
Of which men know only the symp-
toms. The worlds unrest was its
quest for God. And Jesus taught men,
showed men, how to establish familiar
relationships with the Father; he an
nounced tha4 the relationship Is in
deed already established If men will
only take advantage Of it; he dis
closed the psesence Of the Father-God
in even the common relationships OF
life-bound up with the most familiar
things of every day.
This is the Fathers world; he has
created its beauty; he knows the des'
tiny of so small a thing as a spar.
row; he hears even the least formal
of prayers; he awaits the homecom-
ing Of every prodigal. He q
holy and an eternal significance into
every slightest thing that we do to
one another. This mean that God
understands us. However complex
and inexplicable we may be to other
men and women God i~nterprets US
correctly and alphabetically. We
need never act with reserve toward
him. We may speak to him without
numbering snd clouding u prayers
with parentheses and clauses of care
full reservation.