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REV. ROBERT STUART MacARTHUR, D.D., LL. D.
Forty-One Years Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, New York, Now President of the Baptist World Alliance.
I Sermon delivered in the Baptist Tabernacle,
Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday, November 12, 1911,
at 11:00 A. M.)
OSCOW is far and away the most
interesting city in the vast Russian
Empire. This statement is true
architecturally, historically, racial
ly and religiously. St. Petersburg
is European and modern; but
Moscow is ancient and Asiatic.
Moscow is the heart of Old Russia;
the Kremlin is the heart of Mos-
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cow; the Treasury building is the heart of the
Kremlin; and the Throne and Crown rooms
are the heart of the Treasury building. This
is one of the most wonderful buildings in the
whole wmrld; here, it has been said, are rivers
of pearls and oceans of diamonds. One might
study the treasures in this building for years
and not exhaust their intrinsic interest and
their historic importance. Here are thrones,
thrones—all captured by Russia. Look at this
row of crowns standing on pedestals—crowns,
crowns, crowns, crowns! Examine these
crowns; here is the crown of Astrakan, the
crown of the Crimea, the crown of Finland, the
crown of Georgia, the crown of Kazan, the
crown of Poland, the crown of Siberia, and
still other crowns. When the present Czar was
crowned May 25, 1895, he put with his own
hands, on his brow —for the Czars of Russia are
always self-crowned —the crown of Russia. But
he also put all the crowns I have named and
others which I have not named, on his brow.
He was and is the many-crowmed Emperor.
But I speak not this morning of kings, em
perors, or Czars. I joyously speak of Him who
is King of kings and Lord of lords. We read
of Him, in Revelations, 19:12, that “On His
head were many crowns.” I am embarrassed
by the richness of my subject. What crowns
shall I name? What crowns shall I leave un
named? I shall mention those which proclaim
dominion over vast realms.
The Crown of Creation.
I see on Christ’s brow the crown of Creation.
The first verse in the Bible, as we all know, is
“In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.” These are majestic words;
nothing more sublime is found in any litera
ture. The Bible nowhere attempts to prove the
existence of God; the Bible as a revelation from
God necessarily implies His existence. This
verse virtually denies atheism, because it as
sumes theism; it denies materialism, because it
asserts creation; it rejects pantheism, because it
declares the personality of‘ God. Were it not
that we have become so familiar with this
verse, its reading would invariably evoke our
admiration and secure our reverence.
Alongside of this verse we must put another
which is somewhat similar in form, is equally
majestic in significance, and is profounder in
its theistic philosophy and mystery. This verse
is the first one in the gospel by the evangelist
John: “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was
Word.” This verse sets forth the eternal pre
existence of Jesus Christ, His personal co-exist
ence with the Father, and His divine essence as
God. It is the formulation of the proposition
to prove which the gospel by this evangelist was
written; and in the writer s opinion, as he in
forms us near the close of the gospel, he has
proved the Messiahship and Godhead of Jesus
Christ as the eternal Word. The writer goes
back, as did Moses, to the origin of all things,
and there he finds God as Creator. By the side
of this wonderful verse we ought also to put
the third and fourth verses of this same chap
ter: “All things were made through him; and
without him was not anything made that hath
THE FOURFOLD CROWN
Supplying For Dr. L. G. Broughton During His Visit to Europe Seeking Health.
been made. In him was life; and the life was
the light of men. ’ ’ Here the work of creation is
distinctly ascribed to the divine Word, who is
Jesus Christ. Thus creative omnipotence is
ascribed to Jesus Christ; we thus see He is the
divine Personality who is spoken of in Genesis
as the Creator.
By the side of both these passages we ought
to place the remarkable words in Colossians 1:
16:17: “For in him were all things created, in
the heavens and upon the earth, things visible
and invisible * * * all things have been created
through him and unto him; and he is before
all things, and in him all things consist.”
When we turn to Hebrews 1:2, we read that the
Son is “appointed heir of all things, through
'whom also he made the worlds.” We thus see
that Jesus Christ is the Creator of this physical
universe. He is our Prophet, our Priest, our
King, our Creator, our Preserver and our Re
deemer. Preservation is continuous creation;
and redemption is the loftiest function of the
Almighty; it is indeed the re-creation of the
race. Not God the Father, not God the Spirit,
but God the Son is the glorious Personality of
the blessed Trinity through whom creative and
preservative power manifests itself in this
world.
This world was once the thought of God, as
the engine was once the thought of its inventor.
This world is still the thought of God. It is
now God’s thought materialized, incarnated,
translated. The mountains are God’s majestic
thoughts. The stars- are God’s brilliant
thoughts. The flowers are God’s beautiful
thoughts. Creation speaks to us of His wisdom,
His power and His love. We ought to study
creation with this thought in mind, as our dom
inant motive and our lofty inspiration. Do 1
study astronomy? Then lam reading God’s
thoughts after Him. Every true student may
say with the great astronomer Kepler, “0 Al
mighty God, I think Thy thoughts after Thee.
Then I may see Jesus Christ as the bright and
morning Star. Do I study geology? Then I
shall see Christ as the Rock of Ages. Do I
study botany? Then I shall see Christ as the
Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. In
studying chemistry I may learn that every law
of attraction and repulsion is a manifestation
of the will of God. In mathematics every sine
and co-sine is a revelation of the thoughts of
God. All the world, to the devout student, is
voiceful with God’s name, and resplendent with
God’s glory.
The modern conception of the uniformity and
the universality of law, does not militate
against this truth. Some men speak of law as~
if it somehow had a personality and potency
of its own; they incorrectly define law, if they
attempt to give it any definition. What is law
in this connection? May I attempt a defini
tion? Law is the name which we give to the,
manner in which we have observed some force
to act. If that force be material, we have a
physical law; if it be mental, we have an intel
lectual law; if it be moral, we have a spiritual
law. Law is not a force; law is a form. Law
is not a power j. law is a process. Law is not a
motor; law is a motion. Law is not an agent; .
law is an agency. Back of the motion is the
motor; there stands God. Back of the process
is the power; there stands God. Back of the ,
form is the force; there stands God. Back of
the agency is the agent; there Stands God.
Evolution does not eliminate God from the
universe. Perhaps we are not ready to affirm
that the doctrine of evolution has been indispu
tably established, but for all practical purposes
it is established. It certainly is sufficiently es
tablished to be a working hypothesis. Evolution
only puts God farther back in the line of devel
opment. I believe that evolution the more ex-
The Golden Age For November 16, 1911.
alts God; it gives Him additional honor and
glory. There may be an agnostic and even an
atheistic evolution; but there may be an evolu
tion which is truly theistic and Christian. This
evolution honors God with knowledge and pow
er to a remarkable degree. Evolution is simply
God’s method of accomplishing determined re
sults. Evolution implies an involver; nothing
can be evolved, which was not first involved.
Evolution thus necessitates involution. Law
suggests a law-giver; order implies an ordainer.
The progress of physical science is making it
vastly easier for us to believe in God than ever
before. A generation ago religious men were
fearful regarding the progress of scientific
knowledge. Their fears have not been justified
by the results. The long distance telephone and
the wireless telegraph make it easier than ever
before in the history of the human race to be
lieve in the unseen God and in invisible forces.
I can stand in New York and talk through a
long distance telephone to my brother man in
Chicago, in round numbers, one thousand
miles away, without the violation of natural
law, but in perfect harmony therewith. Who
dare say that I cannot kneel in my home and
talk to my Father, who is in heaven? Heaven
is nearer to me than Chicago. Perhaps this
heavenly communication is in as perfect har
mony with natural law as when I talk to my
brother man in Chicago. A generation ago it
would have been affirmed that it was contrary
to all natural law to claim that we could talk
to a man a thousand miles away. It was con
trary to the natural laws that were then known,
but we did not then know all natural laws; and
he would be a reckless man who would affirm
that we know all natural laws today. God is
speaking to us in His world. And as we listen
to hear our Father’s voice, we may see our
Father’s face in the person of Jesus Christ, for
He has said, “He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father.’’
The Crown of Revelation.
I see on Christ’s brow the crown of Revela
tion. We have made unwarranted distinctions
between God’s world and God’s word. I dis
tinctly remember when certain teachers thought
that they gave additional honor to the word by
taking somewhat from the honor of the world.
That was a great mistake. God’s world and
God’s word are only different parts of God’s
wonderful book of revelation. There is no
contradiction between natural and revealed re
igion. Natural religion is revealed religion, so
far as it goes; true science is revelation, so far
as it goes. But neither goes far enough, and
so both are supplemented by God’s fuller, hu
maner, and diviner revelation contained in the
blessed book which we call the Bible.
It seems to me that the nineteenth psalm sets
: forth most beautifully the true relation which
Qught to exist between God’s world and God’s
word. In the first six verses of that psalm
we have natural religion: “The heavens de
clare the glory of God, and the firmament show
eth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth
speech and night unto night showeth knowl
edge.” We have here one of the finest per
sonifications I know of in any writer. One day is
represented as calling to the next day, and the
next takes up the cry and passes it on, thus day
unto day in ceaseless procession, shows God’s
wondrous revelation of Himself. In the seventh
verse of this psalm you enter into a new atmos
phere. You feel now that you are breathing
the air more distinctively of heaven, and that
your feet are standing upon the solid rock, for
you read, “The law of the Lord is perfect, re
storing the soul.” Down to the end of the
thirteenth verse you have revealed religion
(Continued on Page 14.)