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2 (936) THE
thing of the same delight wells up iu the fatherly
heart of God when His dependent children,
who really so much need His help and parental
care, nestle themselves in His bosom, and trust
their all to Him, for weal or woeK But these
people had not done this, and God here declares
that they were "cursed with a curse."
Why! He answers the question for us. He
says, "For ye rob me." The unmistakable inr
ference is that God had withheld from them the
rich bounty they might have had because they
failed to trust Him, and had not given of their
means to the support of His work; for says He,
4' Bring ye the whole tithe into the store house,
that there may be meat in mine house, and
prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of
hosts, if 1 will not open to you the windows of
Heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room to receive it." Man, whoever
thou art, who considerest thyself independent
of God, and foldest thy talent in a
napkin instead of keeping it bright with the
using, wilt thou not learn thy folly; for it is
the declaration of wisdom, "There is that scattereth,
and increaseth yet more; and there is
that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth
only to want."
2. Spiritual. What we have said regarding
temporal matters is substantially true as to
spiritual. If we trust little, and work but little
for the upbuilding of the Lord's kingdom,
we cannot expect a rich spiritual bounty at the
hands of God. You want to prove God as to
spiritual blessing. If we do our part He promises
to open the windows of Heaven and give us
an overflow. Surely we are in great need of
one of God's overflows. We are told that we
can have it for the asking. "Ask, and it shall
be given unto you," says the everlasting God.
II. PROVE HIM AS TO HIS ALMIGHTY POWER.
One great reason why there is so much of
mistrust in God is that men miscalculate His
power. Too many of us are inclined to measure
up God's power by some human standard. Ourselves
being flnite, we try to express the infinite
in terms flnite. We want to deal with
God as though He were man. Being ourselves
imperfect we are so inclined to attribute some
imperfection to Him. Since we do not know,
and cannot do, we And ourselves skeptical as
to God's knowledge, and God's power. But
we want to remember that He is not as we are.
His power is omnipotent, and this means that
He can do all things. But this does not mean
things that are incompatible and contradictory,
but such as are consistent with one another.
For example, God is a God of truth, and this
being His nature, He cannot lie. Certainly, we
must attribute to Him great power. When our
Lord was about to give His disciples that last
great command, "Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, He prefaced it with that encouraging
declaration, "All power is given unto me
in Heaven and in earth."
Now this is the power of God, in part at least.
He created the heavens and the earth, and of
course all this is but a reflection of God's
wonderful poWer. Man constructs a machine,
and it is stronger, and can do more work than
the man who made it, but man has borrowed
of God's power to construct this machine. He
has called in the forces of nature or it never
would have been made. But there were no
outside forces for God to draw on when He
made the things of the universe. Those marvelous
creations are but the output of God Himself.
This being the case we are bound to
conclude that God's power is at least equal
to the aggregate of all the forces of the universe,
because they all sprang from Him, and
have their existence in Him. And since God
changes not He still possesses creative power,
PRESBYTERIAN OF YHE S(
and could, if He would, create thousands of
worlds not yet in existence. We pray you
then not to look upon Qod as a poor weakling
like unto thyself. Think not because He has
made you a great promise He cannot fulfill it.
When the angel revealed to Mary that she was
to be the mother of the Saviour, she could not
understand how such a thing could be. She
thought the conditions were such that this was
impossible, but the angel caused her doubts to
vanish by the assuring declaration, "With
God nothing shall be impossible." The rich
man's hope of salvation would be any thine else
but encouraging had it not been that the Lord
answered the disciple's puzzled enquiry with
that assuring note of triumph, "With God all
things are possible." God flatly, without the
slightest hesitation, makes this remarkable
proclamation in regard to Himself, "I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,
which is and which was, and which is to
come, the Almighty."
III. PROVE HIM AS A GOD OF MERCY.
Many of the rulers of earth have been known
for their hard hearted, unsympathetic, and
despotic handling of the reins of government.
Instead of winning to themselves willing subjects
through love, they have cowered them
through fear, and, instead of making them true
yoke fellows in service, have crushed them under
the tyrant's heel into enmity, who, at an
opportune time, throw off the galling yoke for
sedition and rebellion. With poor grace does
any nation of subjects submit to such unwelcome
authority, and remain obedient only so
long as they may be kept terrorized through
fear. Do you say that God is a hard master?
Yet we declare unto you that His yoke is easy
and His burden light. Do you say that God has
repeatedly chastened you? Very true, but it
may be for your comfort to know that whom
the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom He receivetb. Do you retort
that He has sent fire and flood, storm and
earthquake, disease and pestilence upon the unrepentant.
True again, but we declare unto
you that we see His outstretched hand still,
and hear His pleading cry, "Return unto Me,
and I will return unto you." Yes, we challenge
you prove Him as a God of mercy.
1. Patience. See it in His patience toward
the erring. Our first parents He clothes with
coats of skins, and promises them bread by the
sweat of the face. The wicked antediluvians
are given many years of warning, and then
seven days of grace was afforded them, during
which time they were lovingly invited to
come into the ark. Abraham is promised that,
if ten righteous can be found in the great wicked
city of Sodom, for their sakes the city shall
be spared. The preservation of this over careless
world of ours, into whose hands has been
committed the evangelization of the nations,
serves as a mighty proof of the patience of
God. As a fig tree, planted in a fertile vineyard
of opportunity, have we been, and surrounded
by His almighty arms as walls of protection,
but we do not know how much longer
His patience will be vouchsafed to us, nor how
soon we mav be cnt down as ^nmWoiM
ground to give place to a nation He may raise
up that will shoulder the responsibility, and do
the work. His mercy in patience, is still our
blessing for a little time at least, and oh, will
we not respond to the loving care of our Lord,
and begin to put forth the fragrant blossom
of endeavor, and bear the good fruit of the
ingathering of lost souls f
2. Salvation. Behold His mercy in the salvation
of sinners. As we look upon Him today
we seem to see Him not as a judge upon His
throne, mocking and deriding His offenders,
) U T H [August 14, 1912
but as a loving father, a sympathizing friend,
a compassionate Saviour. He has come down
to a level with man, and with loving entreaty
He is pleading with him to cease the strife, give
over the battle, and come to terms of peace.
To the wicked in mercy He cries, "Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts and let him return unto the
Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to
our God, for He will abundantly pardon." To
those who are striving to carry unaided their
burden of sin?to tempted men and women,
striving to carry their secret loads of grief,
with tender invitation He admonishes, "Come
unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest." To the vast nations
of the world blinded by sin, with open arms and
outstretched hands, He cries, "Look unto me
and be ye saved all the ends of the earth; for I
am God, and there is none else."
And be it known, according to His own inspired
word, that "all the ends of the world
shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and
all the kindreds of the nations shall worship
before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's
and He is the governor among the nations."
Most gladly do we throw out the challenge to
all the lost to prove God as a Saviour, and
prove Him now.
Ringgold, Ga.
LOVE LOVES LOVE.
REV. A. 8. FISKE, D. D.
The greater the love bestowed the deeper is
the hunger for love returned. Our God is the
Love supreme,?the Lover above all others.
That Love lays claim to a supreme return, can
be content with nothing less. His claim therefnrp
qKxr TTio ftnn io i * TViaii
slialt love the Lord thy God with all thine
heart and mind and strength." "Thou shalt."
Consider now: Character is the ultimate of all
divine handling in the universe. That is what
He seeks in His providence towards man. He
is Himself perfect in all admirable qualities,
worthy to be lovingly adored of all intelligent
moral creatures. To fail of such loyal adoration
is to be lacking in a fundamental excellence
of character. He is the Creator of all
men and all things in the universe, the giver
and sustainer of life. Prom Him cometh down
every good and every perfect gift. In Him
we do all live and move and have our being.
All the joy and blessedness of living is of His
beautiful world and its friendly souls. To live
so on His bounty and of His love and to fail to
Tender to Him the meed of a grateful and supreme
affection is an intolerable defect of
character,?an abnormality reaching up to the
monstrous. "What would one think of a daughter
in her father's house, reared with tender
care, constantly surrounded with every device
of parental devotion, meeting them a thousand
times every day, owing to them the dues of ten
thousand loving sacrifices, who yet should never
recognize them, nor give them one look of
love or afford them one grateful thought?
Such a child would be a monster indeed. Tet
what were such an one to another who lives the
life God gives and constantly sustains, in His
sweet world, upon His daily bounty, without
recognition of Him, or a grateful thought, or a
lovinir aseriDtiont Is not. that, ton monstrous
in character! Well, then God wants character,
not like that. So He requires love supreme
from all His rational, moral creatures. That
must be the outcome of any normal soulhood.
Now people are wont to think and even say
to themselves* and to others, something like
this, "The great,?the infinite God, cannot
care about the love or the attitude towards Him
.