The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1916-08-04
HIS PRESENCE here
The ''vlsion of God" Is Not Hid
den or Withheld From
Mankind.


tread. Let us try to approach 1t In the
spirit of deyout reverence.
The subject is bound up with the
personal side of religious life. All
vision is personal whether it be an
image conveyed to the brain from the
retina of the eye or the conception con-
veyed by "the heart" to the inner man.
No two persons will see exactly the
same thing. They will view it at a
different angle; or one Is shOrt-slghted
and another long-sighted. The impress
sion produced cannot be the same, and
some are blind altogether, and can see
nothing.
So also 1t Is with the spiritual vision.
We must not all expect to see the same
thing at the same time in the same
way. We share with one another the
blessings and privileges of corporate
life In the church. But from the cradle
to the grave there are deep things in
life which we cannot share and which
our powers of expression could not,
perhaps, communicate to others. There
must be much loneliness in the
spiritual life. The blessedness of "the
vision of Cod can only be fragmen-
tarily interpreted in words that fall
short of actual experience, or IN i'm
agery that will convey no adequate
meaning to another mind.
Visions That Were Alike.
By "the Vision of God" am not re-
ferring to that which, at ordinary
times, is rare, and, at the most, a
very intermittent experience of spiri-
tual life. The visions of the Prophets
Isaiah and Ezekiel, the visions of st.
Paul and st. John were varied in char
acter. But they were alike in this,
that they represented no continuous
condition Of spiritual privilege, and, in
a great measure, they seem to have
been accompanied by kind of sus-
pense of mental activity.
On q minor scale, daresay some
thing similar has occurred in the spiri-
tual experience of large number of
people, 1t has been granted at times
of deep spiritual contemplation, ut mo-
ments of intense prayer, and on occa-
slons of sore peril and anxiety.
Slowly, very slowly, the divine viii
works out the accomplishment both of
creative and of redemptive purpose. 1t
is hard for man, in his short-lived
hurry of self-importance, to see any
vision of God in the weller Of warning
nations. But he that can see God In
the face of Jesus Christ has caught
something of that vision which will
transform his conception of the uni
verse, and enable him to look for the
triumph of love toward the human
race above and behind the spectacle Of
the hideous carnage In the worlds
most universal and most deadly war.
Worlds Need Today.
We know, indeed, that there are
those who exclaim that contemporary
events only prove that Christianity is
a failure, and that a new gospel is
wanted. But it is not so much re-
vised gospel that we need as purer
and more humble spirit to receive and
welcome the old one, Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday, today, and forever.
Amid the CHASTITY orgy Of slaughter we
crave, again and again, for that wi
sion of God" which Is the only source
of true comfort, peace and hope. All
humanity In this hour of distress and
bereavement seems to be stretching
out imploring hands Godward. Where
is the promise of his presence? Can
not even the Savior's supreme brother
hood intervene? Mans nature is not
altered; millions of years intervene be-
tween the envy that prompted the first
solitary, barbarous, murderous blow
and the envy that has melted to the
massacre of millions of the worlds
most civilized and Christian peoples.
The evil only differs in degree of suf'
fering. "The Vision" is not hidden or
withheld. High above the deluge of
blood stretches the bow of peace and
its promise of mercy. Never, l dare
to say, has the sacrament of the Lords
own body and blood been so genuinely
hallowed to the believers heart as the
appointed means for the renewal in the
inner life of "the Vision Of God" as 1t
has been during the agony and stress
of this European conflict, in the hours
of suffering. of aching suspense, and
agitation. God is always with us. And
If on earth there can be no vision OF
God in the fullness of the divine ma
ture, there is a wonderful promise for
the future: Beloved, now are We the
children of God, and it is not yet made
manifest what we shall be. We know
that when he is made manifest we
shall be Ike unto him. for we shall
see him face TO face" Il John 81, %
Rev. Ralph Hall.