The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1915-07-24


ing of the ear"
There Is a suggestion abroad that
there is such a being as God, and then
men make interpretations of God. The
heather, with his conception, makes a
god of wood, or stone, or clay; the Ia
u worshiper sees God in the clouds,
or the forest, or streams of water; the
goddess philosopher, while not denying
the existence of God, processes almost
absolute ignorance of Him; while the
Christian apprehends God as Spirit
and as perfectly revealed in Jesus
Christ, and worships Him according.
l. With many who claim to be Chris
tians God is little more than a rumor.
and there seems to be little desire for
more perfected knowledge of Him.
Many are cropping in the darkness,
feeling after God, if haply they may
find him, while they might, if they
would, get a view Of God that is pos.
sible to all and realized by millions.
Job had an experience and that view
of God vanished. The philosophy OF
his changed view of God Is not given
us, but the Bible teaches us that he
was a man In high social position,
wealthy, with a large family and with
wide fame, but it was during this pc
riod, in all probability, that God was
to him little more than a rumor But
all these were swept away and Job
sat on the ash-heap. covered with
sores, the object of scathing argu.
ments on the part of oriental logi.
clans, the butt of ridicule, and the
victim of an ill-tempered wife. 1t Is
well known that men and women
through the centuries have had pros.
perity swept from them in order that
they might be brought into right rela.
ton to God-financial loss, the break.
ing down of health, the bitter opposi.
ton Of enemies and the treason OF
friends, have driven men to seek sat.
isfaction ultimately in God.
Jobs Eyes Opened.
Only a cavalier will charge Job
with falsehood when he says that he
saw God. This was not, of course,
with his natural eyes, but with the eye
of the soul. So have men In all ages
seen God, some, no doubt. being grant.
ed what they believed to be the phys.
ical appearance of God. Moses saw
God and endured. Jesus himself said:
He that hath cen me hath seen the
father. " Job does not say what il
was in God that he saw, but we MAJ
we'll believe that it was the holiness
of God, which was seer by the proph.
ct Isaiah when he had his vision in
the temple. Nor does Job say what
view he had Of himself while God
was only a rumor, but the probability
is what he saw of himself, is what
the world saw him to be, a man OF
distinction. wealthy, and glorying in
his large family. But now a change
comes. He evidently sees himself as
comprehensive a view of God as it
was possible for a man in his days to
have, but he could not see him In the
face Of Jesus Christ.
The need of this day is a right view
of God, the true starting point of all
individual and social redemption, and
this view of God is not difficult to OBJ
tain as the personality of Jesus Christ
is the most prominent personality Of
history, and 1t is in him that God is
seen, for Jesus Christ is the expressed
image of his person. This image OF
God is much better than the image OF
God In the person of the first Adam.
Many. however, quite resolutely de
cline to look at this image.
Jobs View of Himself.
While there is no account of job
expressing the change in his views Of
God, there is a most graphic account
of the view that he had of himself
Il abhor myself and repent In dust
and ashes" His experience at that
point agrees with the experience Of
temple and said: Il am a man of un.
clean lips and dwell among a people
of unclean lips" This was one of
the steps in Isaiah's preparation for
the mission upon which God was to
send him, and while Job was not be-
ing prepared for such a special mis-.
sion, he was being prepared for a
testimony which has come down to the
present moment to the glory of God.
The road to right relationship to God
is by the way of right views of self,
and that can only be obtained by right
views of God. When these right views
of self are given there will be honest
confession, this confession being in 1t.
self humiliating, but the sure road to
relief.