Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1926-04-30

so many people as the truth. Men
seek to clothe them with beautiful
phrases about getting ones self in
hand and becoming efficient and APP
ones resources; even de-
ciaring that all that one needs is with.
In himself. But they are none the
less dead however beautiful their
shrouds. To classify them as only
numb would be to camouflage 1heir
real condition. They are without a
single exception dead gods, Now and
again you hear 1t advocated that they
are to be deprived Of name. Why
not7 How could such dead things be
properly accorded names?
But harken to the cry from Israel
"Aly heart and my flesh crieth out for
the living Cod Who would arise in
moment OF calm deliberate thinking
and discount a cry like that If all that
It implied were that man wanted to
find the God who lives? l take IL
that these words mean that the seat
Of motives and the senses of man are
swept by one great current of effort,
to find the living God. The cry was
given centuries before our day, but II
is an ancient protest against all the
modern deafness. It is protest ut
tered and enacted first under the old
covenant, before Christ, the one re-
vealer OF God among men, had come.
1t was a protest against all idolatry,
whether of wood and stone garnished
with smooth sayings, or of imaginary
character garnished with brilliant
theories. however they may glitter and
dazzle" We can hope for little from
The physical, but this cry must have
an answer, so let my flesh find the liv-
Ing God.
Alb, there is truth in the Holy
Scriptures never silenced from the
very start with the words ''In the be-
ginning God That living, transcend
ent personality gIorifies every page Of
the precious Bible Behold how this
truth concerning the living God ap-
pears in our Lord Jesus Christi See
ii in the advent. From outside and
above this death-smitten region called
earth, He comes down. 1.-THE words
that l speak unto you are not Mine
but the Father that sent Me He doeth
the works" II have given them Thy
word" Thou lovedst Me before the
foundation of the world"
How the truth appears in the death
OF Christ on the crossl There, saith
He, my God. My God. why hast Thou
forsaken Me?" "Into Thy hands
commend My splrltp Behold 1t in His
resurrection. He saith, 'T have not
yet assembled unto My father" Il am
alive foreyermore"
1t is not strange that the early
church turned from idols to serve the
living God. And in the kingdom to
come His will Is TO be done.
A hungry babe east upon the breast
Of mother cold in death would but
family suggest the loss and agony
which must ultimately result from the
acceptance Of mans dead gods.
But let men realize that their Maker
lives, that living, struggling creature
has living holy Creator. then out
and up their cry may 60 not to be
Knocked by a rebounding echo. but to
be heard In mercy and needed in low
ing kindness by holy God
Let men realize that the sweet love
known by mother or martyr is but a
hint of the holy love of God, living
love by which provision has been made
for the cleansing away of our sins, the
adjustment Of our orphanhood IN this
world OF death, and at length the COM
pIete adjustment of our sorrows and
humiliations and deaths. Let men
really grasp this guarantee in the
words, Because live We shall live
Also" and the answer to the cry is
miracle.
life. Let them see that beyond the
palsy is a strength forevermore, that
the mute lips cannot declare the death
of the song Of the triumphant. Let
men really believe the gospel. Meth
er shall they die any more" Let men
say, .sThls God is our God forever and
ever" Then gold shall be no longer
their god Then pleasure shall no
longer claim their devotion only to ap-,
pear in due time dead in their arms.
Then fame shall no longer weight
them down until Its deafness becomes
manifest in Its very nolsomeness. And
then, when Christ. who is our life
shall appear" then we may also ap-
pear with Him in glory. Indeed, His
own shall then appear with Him.