The Washington herald., 1918-02-27

sermon:
subjecti The Incarnation of Jesus.
Text: John, 18th verse: 'HThe word
was made flesh and dwelt among US"
Jesus Christ Is a world OF thought
There are vast continents and oceans
that never will be traversed by any
mind or minds.
I believe that in Jesus there are vast
subjects which no mind has ever
fathomed or ever will. such as his
deity. his humanity, his incarnation.
his personality, and his plan for. the
redemption for the world. and infiu-
ence. Although the greatest minds
the world ever produced have all tried
to master these. they have been con-
WINGED after noble and laborious effort
that there are vast regions Of thought
which stretch out way beyond their
horizon, or comprehension
An say their experience Is anal
ogous to that OF Isaac Newton.
who.. In attempting to describe his
search after knowledge. said he
felt like q little boy walking by the
seashore, here and there OCCASION
ally picking up some pebbles. while
the vast deep rolled unexplored at
his feet
And since that is the experience
OF great men and wise men. 1t
would be the height OF absurdity in
me at this time to attempt to dis
cuss these subjects 1 wish tonight
to call your attention to just one
phase of the subject, namely, the
incarnation of Jesus.
Webster defines it:
'.As the taking of the human
body; the act of clothing with
flesh"
No One knows All About God.
wish to speak of 1t as a mystery.
as q revelation. and as to prophecy.
To be convinced that it is a mys-
terry you need only to study the
teachings of the Bible about the in
earnation Of Jesus. The Bible al
ways presents a subject in the
simplest of language and never at
tempts an explanation. The fullest.
simplest accounts are found in
John and PauPs epistles.
The Jews took up stones to stone
him, and Jesus said:
Many goods works have l showed
you from the Father; for which of
those works do you stone me-"
The Jews answered him:
FOR a good work We stone thee
not. but because you blaspheme God. :"
What familiar words these are. But
who understands them? But they must
= De understood before you can under
stand the basis OF the Incarnation.
In the beginning was the word and
the word became flesh and dweIt
among u.s."
God Became Nun. --r-
So that means that God became
man and became incarnate in the
hesh. Who knows all about God? l
a know something about God and YOU
know something about God, but no
man o. woman ever lived that knew
all about God.
So God, or a thing, or an object, or
. being. Is mystery when there is
about God or that object, or being, or
thing. that which you cannot under
stand.
So anything is a mystery when there
Is about 1t that which you cannot un-
derstand- For all scholars will agree
that's what it means, but on the scene
comes the fool who says. II won't be-
Heve what 1 can't understand" but
you do every day that you live.
You believe that you cannot under
stand Take reason. What is that
Reason Is that faculty of mind with
which we trace the relation of causes
and effects and phenomens, and that
which leads. up to and causes the
phenomena and effect.
What is it by which you trace the
cause of the effect?
II Is reason. What is reason? 1t
Is the faculty by which you trace the
relation Of cause and effect.
SO you see that you are a wheel
within a wheel
y. Where did reason come from and
what does 1t consist of? Do you be-
lieye that you have reason? Yes.
Reason has done many things. Rea-
son has penetrated far into science.
Reason can tell you tonight fifty
years from now the minute when the
eclipse will take place or when a GER
tain comet will swing within the vis-
lon Of the human eye.
First Causes and Their Effects.
But man with all his power knew
not God. As for any way whereby a
sinner might be reconciled with God
consistent with divine perfection IL
never entered mind or heart Of man
until revealed by the spirit of the
living God
Man, by reason, knew not God.
Now. then, let US get back to that
old adage about this world, how II
got there and what IT is for.
Now 1t Is here and let US accept
the generally accepted philosophy
that atoms are the foundation of
the universe All right. Let us
start with the principle which
teaches that every cause must have
its effect and every effect a cause.
Ii IL not a wonderful thing that
a set Of atoms working independ-