The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-02-03

the religion or the
Hindoos, but three persons, each as
tinct from the other two, ana yes
bound to both by mutual bonds Ok
complementary life and love relatioh-
ships.
We grant there is mystery here. But
where In this universe will we en-
counter no mystery? When we Gu"
explain one of the manifold mysteries
that are locked up in single drop Oh
water, or in one beam of light we
will then demand an explanation Oh
this, the profoundest mystery OF all
the tri-unity of the one Godhead.
So. let it be repeated, we have mere
fact of revelation, and of the CHRIS
tian revelation. mind you, tact
which, while not opposed to reason
nevertheless transcends reason. Sci
ence unaded never could have dis
covered it; and yet when once the
fact is revealed, 10, even science comes
laden with presumptive evidence from
myriad sources and not only so, but
the artist from his palette, and the
musician from his keys, all or them
come bearing united testimony that
underneath all the phenomena OF ma
ture, as well as all the harmonies or
both light and sound, lies the number
three.
Every schoolbody knows how with
three primary colors-red, yellow anu
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 IL
does not take long for the lassie at
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
thu express image of the Fathers
substance (Heb. ~; and what have
We In force hut 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." un-
able TO see in Jesus Christ more than
the son of peasant of Galilee. the
faithless nationalist sees In all these
shadowings of the Trlune God no
meaning whatsoever, with the conse-
auence that he lands just where the
| unitarian Moslem landed, In the icy
polar region OF a loveless, fatalistic,
uni-persona God. within whose steel
grin all is "kismet" (fnted) 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 Sprit-lllumlned 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 Trlune God.
In our text three dlfferentiating
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.
"The grace Of the Lord Jesus
Christ" Grace is the free bestoK-
ment of unmerited favor, and grade
is love embodied. Grace is the forfs
of which love is the substance God
(the Father) so loved the world that
He gave his only begotten Son." IL is
very significant that nearly every
where I'm the New Testament the "love
of Cod 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 propitla-
ton for our sins"--I John 4:1O. BY
this one act of redemptiye grace. the
sin question was settled so far as the
loving God was concerned. God Is
reconciled-be ye also reconciled. to
God" is the word of our message.
But both the substance (love) and
the form (grace) in which the sub
stance was embodied are poweriess
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
Father.