The Washington herald., 1917-12-02
"Man's s Supreme Find. "

NJ NV A4o.11A "Vo0 NOEas
The following sermon was written
especially for The Herald by the Rev.
Robert Wood Coe, assistant pastor Of
Tenth and g streets northwest.
Text: "And this Is life eternal. that
they should know Thee. the only tue
God and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent" John. i7:3.
This is the life eternal-that they
should know Thee" To know God II
Of knowledge enrich life, but this u
life itself. Since the knowledge Of
God Is vital, II becomes all-important
that we should know the way to ac-
Quire Il.
We understand the methods Of ae-
curing knowledge of the world In
which we live. But 1t is not by these
methods that we enter into possession
Of the vital knowledge Of God. Many
people forget this and jump to the
conclusion that there Is no God. The
astronomer sweeps the heavens with
his telescope and says, He IL not
here" The biologist examines the
small things Of the earth with his
microscope and says, He Is not
here" No, Of course not. They are
looking for Him with the wrong in
struments. The telescope and the
microscope may lbe gateways to the
knowledge Of the stars and the earth.
but they are not gateways to the
knowledge Of God.
As of old, He Is not in the storm.
He is not in the earthquake, He Is
not in the fire. Our rigid methods Of
scientific research increase our rev.
erence and deepen our solemnity, but
they do not, and they cannot find God
for US.
But fortunately, we md many real
tiles in our world that are not Job
jects In space" that are not "things
we see." A world reduced to "things
we see" would be q poor world in
deed. 1t would not only be bare Of
God, but bare of everything worth
living or dying for. II God Il to be
found, we must look for Him in the
spiritual realm. He Is no less per-
sonal than we are. He will at least
be no less spiritual than we mortals.
Nothing has done more to make
God a real and constant presence
than the Quiet Hour" In one Of
the most familiar Psalms we find this
sentence. BE still and know that
am God" Be still and know. Can
we understand how being still" will
help pnen to a knowledge Of God?
think We can. I once heard Earnest
Thompson Seaton tell two hundred
boys an Indian story. SO real did he
make the story that the boys listened
with rapt attention. How has this
man learned anything about wild
nature and her ways? He has mas
tered the art of quietnesa Let man
go tramping into a forest and all the
wild things Of the forest will fee
from his path and hide themselves
until the noise has passed. To the
noisy visitor. the forest will present
an absolute blank. Let q man how
ever enter and sit down In perfect
quietnes. and little by little the wild
things lose their fear and come out
The forest begins to reveal the Sc
crets II hides.
Thompson Seaton and all others
who write nature stories have ac-
quired their wonderful acquaintance
with nature by learning the art Of
being quiet. They are quiet and ma
ture reveals herself 10 them.
This Is one Of the gateways to the
knowledge of God. A quiet and re-
ceptive mind aids tremendously in
acquiring this knowledge Of God.
Our age Is an age Of "hustle" In
the multiplicity OF our activities we
are losing our quiet times," Scarce
ly can we turn aside for one brief
hour Of time. The Christian Endea-
vor Society under DR.. Clarks leader