The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1921-02-10

4
- the religion of the
Hindoos, but three persons, eacn as
tinct from the other two, and YET
bound to both by mutual Donqs Oh
Complementary life and love relation
ships.
We grant there is mystery here. But
where in this universe will we en-
counter no mystery? When we can
explain one of the manifold mysteries
that are locked up in single drop OF
water, or in one beam of light, we
will then demand an explanation Oh
this, the profoundest mystery OF ALI
the tri-unity Of the one Godhead.
So, let it be repeated, we have here
a fact of revelation, and Of the Cnris-
tian revelation, mind you, ract
which, while not opposed to reason,
nevertheless transcends reason. Sci
ence unaided never could have dis
covered it; and yet when once the
fact is revealed, 10, ever science comes
laden with presumptiTe evidence from
myriad sources; and not only SO, Dut
the artist from his palette, and the
musician from his keys, all OF them
come bearing united testimony that
underneati all the phenomena OF ma
ture, as we'll as all the harmonies OF
both light and sound, lies the number
three.
Every schoolbody knows how with
three primary colors--red, yellow and
blue-he can make any other color.
Indeed, every imaginable tint or hue
In the universe is but the blending OF
these three undivided colors. And 1t
does not take long for the lassie st
the piano stool to learn that all the
infinite range of possibilities In the
harmony Of sound results from the
blending OF three primary triads or
notes. The scientist in his eager
search for unifying laws cannot get
less than three categories in which to
cast all physical phenomena. These
three categories are substance, form
and force. And how strikingly suggest
i've these threel For what have we
in substance but the Father? What
have we in form but the Son, who is
the express image of the Fathers
substance (Heb. / :3); and what have
we in force but the Spirit, by whose
power all effects in creation and re-
demption are wrought?
Upon unbeliever's deaf ear all these
voices fall in vain. Rejecting the "rec-
ord which God gave of his Son." I'M
Able to see in Jesus Christ more than
the son of a peasant of Galilee, the
faithless nationalist sees in all these
7 shadowings of the Triune God no
meaning whatsoever, with the conse-
duence that he lands just where the
unitarian Moslem landed, In the ley
polar region of a loveless, fatalistic,
uni-personal God, within whose steel
grip all is "kismet" (fated); or es-
Gaping this lands at the other anti
pode of un-personal pantheism, which
inevitably ends with the deifying of
man; or failing these two, lapses into
blank atheism.
But faiths Spirit illumined eyes see
the Deity of Jesus Christ as neces-
sary-as necessary as form is to sub
stance and as substance is TO force.
With this sixth sense the Christian
sees and hears all the universe Vi
brant with praises of the Triune God.
In our text three differentiating
words qualify the three persons of the
Triune God, which words, we shall see,
are as necessarily inter-related as sub
stance, form and force, to which they
are also analogous.
ssThe grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ" Grace is the free bestow-
ment of unmerited favor. and grace
is love embodied. Grace is the form
Of which love is the substance! God
(the Father) so loved the world that
He gave his only begotten Son." 1t is
very significant that nearly every
where in the New Testament the '10ve
of God" is bound up with the cross
of Cavalry. Herein is love, not that
we loved God, but that God loved us.
and gave his Son to be the propitia-
ton for our sins"-I John 4:10. By
this one act of redemptive grace, the
sin question was settled sc far as the
loving God was concerned. GOD is
reconciled-be We also reconciled, to
God" is the word Of our message.
But both the substance Qove) and
the form (grace) in which the sub
stance was embodied are powerless
unless there is the communion of the
Holy Spirit" making effective in the
believers heart all those blessed con-
sequences of redemption which were
wrought out by the "grace" of the
Son, but willed by the ''love" of the