South Bend news-times., 1915-07-26
MANY PRESENT At
MEETING IN TENT
Union Church Services Held
Last Night at Chautauqua
Grounds by Rev. Gardiner.

More than 500 people attended
the union church service last night at
the chamauqua tent. Churches
throughout the city held no evening
services because Of this meeting. DR..
James l.. Gardiner. pastor Of the st.
PauIs NJ +. church. delivered the
evening sermon. L. r. Hardy acted as
chairman Of the services.
Preceding Or GARDENERS sermon,
the Pallaria band played sacred
concert. Hal Van Aiken, a South
Bend man, and "A member OF the Or-
chestraI club which appeared IN TINS
city last Friday on the Redpath pro-
gram. gave several violin selections.
The band concert and solos were do
mated.
A silver Offering to be used in de-
fraving the losses Of the y. NJ. &. A.
local guarantors for failure TO dis
nose of the required number OF season
ficka.= was taken. The collection
of the services, Mr.. Hardy announced
that 1925 was needed TO make up the
deficit.
DIR Gardiner took The Love or
God. the Greatest Truth in the World"
as his theme. lie said that no matter
how much fame a man attains TO-
now how deep In degradation he sinks
the love Of God always remains with
him. He said in part:
For 7 am persuaded that neither
death. nor life. nor angels, nor prlh-
cipalities. nor powers. nor things pres
ent. nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, or any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love
OF God, which Is IN Christ Jesus, our
Lord.
..There are many things OF which
we NAV feel sure, burt / doubt If there
be anything of which one may be so
absolutely certain as this-God loves
us. In the Old Testament, God, speak
ing through His prophet, says, L have
loved thee with an everlasting love
and therefore with loving kindness
have 7 drawn thee In the New Tes-
lament Jesus summed up His religion
in the statement, God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten
son that whosoever beleiveth In Him
should not perish. but have everylast-
ing life And now in the text be-
fore us Paul says, Tam persuaded that
neither death nor life shall be able
10 separate us from the love Of God
Man Of Conviction.
Paul was a man of deep conviction.
lie was a man who spoke with some
authority IN the realm Of morals and
religion He was a man who was not
afraid TO ring the changes upon the
words. L know and Il believe There
were many things about the Chris
tiau religion concerning which he
seemed quite certain, but there was
one great truth of which IL scarcely
seems strong enough 20 say. 4 know
or I am quite sure or i believe
This was the great truth that God
loved this world OF men.
"I sometimes pick up my New
Testament and read the Pauline Epis-
ties that 1 may strengthen my faith in
the great varieties OF our holy religion.
And as / read Epistle after Epistle,
as ] read argument after argument.
setting forth Gods great love for men,
even though they be sinners, / am
ready TO shout with Paul, L am per
suaded that nothing can separate US
from the love OF God
Paul describes the love of God
for men as love which Is in Christ
Jesus. II is a love which is re-
Vealed TO us by the words and life OF
the Son OF God
Gods Love Everlasting.
"The love Of God is everlasting.
There never was a time when God be-
san 10 love. Before the morning stars
sang together before He threw the
stars out into space like sparks from a
mighty forge. God loved. Before He
made man there were thoughts Of love
I'm the heart OF the infinite God toward
the creature that He was about to
create When man came still God
loved him. But man could not un-
derstand this. Before the coming of
Christ into the world. God was fre-
quently thought of as an Absentee
God He was thought of as external
who inhabited eternity, and the in
habitants of the earth were as grass
hoppers before Him. He was the
moral governor who Spake down His
laws from Heaven to earth. Men
spoke OF His OmnipOtenCe, His omni-
presence and His Omniscience. But
these thoughts or conceptions of God
attracted few wOrshipperS Then Jesus
came and taught the greatest truth
OF the ages. namely, God is love-
Mistake Here Is Fatal.
THE God we worship is the God re-
y led 10 us through the words. life
and death of Christ. And let me say
it is very necessary that we obtain
right ideas OF God for our view of
Him regulates all our theological
thinking. II we make a mistake here
II viii be fatal Our idea of God
affects our doctrine of revelation. OF
sin. Of redemption and OF final destiny
What then is the character of the
God we know Jesus Christ and Paul
saS-'GOd is love-"