Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1916-12-15

acquainted with Him and know that
He is always living with them, often
most truly when they see Him least
There is much in the mother which
, remains unknown to the child. Thepe
is much in God that remains unknown
to His children. But the child knows
the mother because the mother has
been child with him. AM we chill
drcn may know our Father because
He has been child with us.
Three illustrations may help to
make the principal clear.
Jesus Christ is not manifestation
of certain attributes or qualities of
God; He is God manifest in the flesh.
He is not temporary manifesto
lion of Gods mercy or pity, leaving
his Justice and His anger to be
revealed in the future. There is no
justice and no wrath in God which is
not manifest in Jesus Christ; and
there is no pity and no mercy in Je-
sus Christ which is not u reflection of
the eternal pity and mercy of God.
Gle that hath seen me hath seen the
Father" To understand Jesus Christ
is to understand God.
Jesus Christ began His ministry by
attending wedding-feast. His first
miracle was wrought to prolong its
festivities. He repeatedly compar-
ed the kingdom of God TO great
festival. He accepted all social in
vitations; declined none. He declar-
ed Himself that He came eating and
drinking and this was so characteris-
tic of Him that His enemies called
him glutton and winc-bibber. He
compared Himself to "A musician pip
ing in the street for the children to
dance. Neither He nor his disciples
observed the customary fasts of the
WAS a-favorite with the children, and
they clustered about Him and were
willing that He should take them in
His arms. His last meeting with His
disciples was at a social meal, and
with such social meal He asked
them ever to associate His memory.
If Jesus Christ is God manifest in
the flesh. God is not the austere being
He is sometimes represented. There
is much more truth in the philoso
nhy of the child who said, "God must
have laughed when he made q mon
key" than in that of the thcologian
who said, "Jesus wcpt but never
laughed" Prayer and play are not
incongruous. God is not the kind of
father who wishes his children to
hush their laughter when he enters
the house. "a merry heart doeth
good like medicine" says the inspir-
ed writer-a motto which might we'll
be put over the convcnt-gate OF hung
in the prayer meeting room. For to
laugh is as religious as to weep; and
smiles may bring us into the COM
panionship of the Father no less than
tears. Let us get rid of this notion
that we must always associate the
thoughts of God with n spirit of great
silemnity. Gaiety and God are not
mutually exclusive.
But Jesus Christ was not all gaicty.
Woe unto you laughing ones" He
said: "for ye shall mourn and weap."
He had no sympathy for the Jester
who can take nothing seriously, but
tries to make of life one huge pro-
tracted joke. He saw that the whole
world groaneth and travaileth in pain
and He Travelled with it. So did He
enter into sorrows of the sorrowing,
so did He make them His own. that
1T was prophetically said that He
was acquainted with grief" The
sorrows might be superficial and
transient, they might be deep and
abiding, He was not Indifferent to
either. When He had been preaching
Ill day, and evening came and His
oyal disciples desiring for their Mas
ter some rest, aske Him to send the
congregation away. He would not do
1t until He had provided for their
hunger When the brother had died
and the sisters were heart-brokcn. He
shared grief with them and mingled
His tears with theirs.
To some it seems proclamation to
think of God as suffering. To met it
IS proclamation to think of Him as
incapable Of suffering. Love suffers
when the love one suffers. II God
is love, Gods knows the sorrows os
well as the Joys of love. If Jesus
Christ is God manifets in the flesh
the tears shed at the grave of Iazo,
rus and at the prospective destruc-
ton of Jerusalem are divine tears.
10 me the greatness of the infinite
power and skill manifested at the
same moment in the most distant star
and in our globe by the forth-puttinp
OF the same wisdom and power is not
os marvellous as the greatness of
soul manifested in a sympathy which
can share at one, and the same time
the joys of the wedding and the sor
rows of the funeral. But why should
l believe His power and His skill are
INFINITE and refuse to believe that His
sympathies are infinite. His children
crowd about Him, some with their
gratitude, some with their reproach-
es, some eXultant with victory. some
humiliated by their defeats, some
Joyous, some in tears. some saints
with songs and some sinners with
.onc'ess penitence. and He is not
distraught. He hears all voices,
shares all experiences, ministers to
all needs.
TO Jesus Christ sin was a disease
to be cured rather than crime to be
punished. 1t awakened His pity, not
His anger. Condemned for associat
ing with sinners, He replied on one
L cfn