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THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY DR.
D. D. MACLAURIN.
Subject : The Unknowable.
Brooklyu, N. Y.—Sunday morning the
Rev. Dr. Donald D. MaeLauriu, pastor
of th-, Greene Avenue Baptist Church,
preached on 'To Know the Unknow
able: a Prayer.” The text was from
Ephesians iii: 17-1!): "To the end that
ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be strong to apprehend' with all
the saints what Is the breadth and
length and height and depth, and tJ
know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge.” He said in the course of
his sermon: *
Who can know the unknowable? Is
not this in the nature of a paradox?
Wherein can one be so strengthened
as to become able to apprehend that
which is really teyond the reach of his
apprehension? Has not Paul here
erred in a prayer otherwise luminous,
spiritual, profound and possible? Has
he not introduced here something that
ordinary mortals cannot grasp?
Well, I think that it will be as well
for us to go slowly in our disposition
to criticise him. It is ... safe rule to
these apostolic men know
what th*ey were about. I am convinced
that Paul not only knew by experi
ence the things he said; but that he
was inspired by the Holy Spirit in all
his writing.
WhsA about life? What about the
duration of sentient existence? What
about the continuity of that which we
call ourselves? Tell us, thou biologist?
Perhaps thy science is more exact
than that of the mathematician or the
man who philosophizes about time.
Tell us, if you can. what is life? Hast
thou ever seen it? No—never! Hast
thou ever touched it? Only indirectly.
Cahst thou tell us what it is? No!
Then space runs into infinity, time
runs into forever and forever, and life
runs into God! And we know some
thing about all of these; and yet there
Is no limit to their vast extent. It
has done us good to investigate them —
it is a noble exercise—it is enlarging
to the mind and the heart to come
into contact with concepts so sublime
-and mighty as these.
So it is with this matter which Paul
prays that we shall comprehend. We
shall not be able To master it, and yet
we can by studying it apprehend
something to its immeasurable depths,
something of its infinite length, some
thing of its all inclusive breadth,
something of its mighty altitude. And
so Paul prays that we shall be so
rooted and grounded in love that we
shall be able to apprehend with all
saints, high and lowly, rich and poor,
• ancient and modern, the dimensions
of ciri'isL’s love. Now, let ns for the
of !•*<>*wye-?* -deduv* a
few of the terms of our wealthy text.
To the end that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love. Love here means
love toward our fellow creatures. In
deed, it always means that in the
Bible unless it is otherwise defined.
It means the affection we should have
for the men and women of earth, the
people of whom we are and to whom
we belong by race connections. It
is to be a reflection of God’s love for
the race. Its energy is to be meas
ured only by the energy of the Divine
love. Its inclusiveness is to be lim
ited and measured only by the inclu
siveness of the Divine love.
Out of the heart :tre the issues of
life. When lore is in the heart every
thing is love begotten. Foundationed,
like a building which has been settled,
as a whole, and will never show cracks
or flaws in the future through fail
ures in the foundation.
Here, then, is the idea of the soul
being so placed as to make it strong
for the noblest life. The two meta
phors supplement one another—they
belong to each other. The former,
rooted, gives us the idea of organic
life and growth; the latter, founda
tioned, gives us the idea of strength
derived from the union of parts. A
Christianity which is not rooted is
always unstable. A Christian love
that has not penetrated into the depths
is not a love of a permanent or en
during character. O that the love of
every one of us may penetrate into
the very being of God! That the ten
drils of our affections may twine
themselves about the heart of the
incarnate God! Then shall we be
stable, then shall we grow.
To the end that ye, being rooted and
foundationed in love, may be strong
to apprehend with all the saints.
Strong for what? That you may know j
the love of Christ in all its mighty
dimensions! And this is a most nat
ural evolution. To acquire love is to
obtain finer powers of percepting.
There is nothing like love for sharp
ening the wits. The eyes and ears
•of a loving mother are immeasurably
•quicker than tlie senses of the love
less. It is not true that love is blind;
love is endowed with sight of enor
mous range. But while he was yet
afar off His Aatlier saw Him.
Do not be surprised, therefore, to
find that when we are rooted and
grounded in love we obtain finer pow
ers of apprehension. But what are
divine love and grace! The holy pano
rama is stupendous, and even with
•our sharpened spiritual senses we
cannot take in the infinite glory. And
so the apostle tells us that we are to
Apprehend it with all the saints, with
the help of all the saints! It takes
all of us to survey the vast estate.
One Christian sees one aspect of the
glory and another beholds another.
The Matterhorn, seen from Zermatt,
is one thing; from the Eggisborn it is
quite another. And so with these
stupendous wonders of divine glory.
Each Christian is to behold his own
share of the marvelous revelation.
Matthew will discern one aspect, and
Mark another, and Luke another, and
John another. Each individual will
behold some individual glory. The
furrow of one field abounds in won
ders: what then of the infinite estate?
1. Let us notice, how wide is the
compass of love To the end that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love,
may be strong to apprehend with all
the saints, what is the breadth? llow
broad is its conq.iss? Why, my
friends, the love of Christ is so broad
as to take in this whole world! The
love of Christ comprehends all men,
all people, reaching to the utmost
stretch of human sin. or sorrow, or
need—it i the great gospel whosoever.
How broad is this love of Christ!
There is actually no limitation to it.
Do you mean that Jesus Christ can
love tiie man who has lived a wicked,
yes. a vile life—who now bears upon
ids face the marks of the beasts—who
is so repulsive that we shudder to
look upou him—that man, that poor
wreck of a thing—that man in the
gutter, that man disowned by his own
father, and, listen to it, his own
mother, and all his friends? Will not
that man’s excesses shut him out from
the love of Christ? No. No! Even
for that man. defiled, wretched, Jesus
Christ has love. He hates the sin;
but loves the sinner. He came to
seek and to save just such broken
lives as that!
2. llow far it will carry us. There
are a great many really good people
who fear to become open disciples of
the Christ and unite with His church
because they fear that they will not
be able to hold out. as they say. Their
ideal of the Christian life is so lofty
that they fear they shall not be able
to continue in well-doing to the end—
so they , stand aloof.
Then, there are v a great many Chris
tians in the churches who are fearful
all the time—fearful as to the issue
of their life, and many are especially
afraid of death. They have a horror
of it; they are afraid that it will
come to tnem m an hour when they
may not be ready for it; they are
afraid that it may bring a pain that
they may not be able to endure —and
so they are full of terror.
And then there are Christian men
and women, and young men and wo
men everywhere, who are asking, “Is
this Christianity able to carry us
through this life?” Is it strong enough
to carry us up the steep sides of the
mountains of difficulty we meet in
life? Is it strong enough to carry
us safely through the valleys, where
there are hissing serpents, and where
the voiled vampires have their homes,
and where crouching beasts of temp
tation are ever ready to spring upon
us in an unguarded moment. Is this
love of Christ able to carry us all the
way through? On the high seas of
life, in the stresses of all weather,
when the billows roll and dash against
our frail bark—is there a pilot able
to guide the ship through the mighty
seas?
Oh, look at what God has done!
First: He has promised to provision
'us. look at the eleventh verse of
the eighty-fourth Psalm: “For Jehovah
God is a sun and a shield; Jehovah
will give grace and glory; no good
thing will He withhold from them
that walk uprightly.” That is actually
in the Bible. I sometimes think that
we treat the Bible as if it were a huge
joke—that these words do not mean
what they actually say. Listen to
tnem again: “No good thing will He
withhold from them that walk up
rightly.” And these words are con
firmed by our Master’s own teaching.
Second: He has promised to protect
us. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the
mountains.” Well, that may not be
a wise thing to do. Is it wise to
look at our difficulties? Is that what
it means? But the Psalmist is not
done: “From whence shall my help
come?” No wonder, when you are
looking at the mountains of difficulty,
that you should say that. Now listen.
“My help cometh from Jehovah, who
made heaven and earth.” Is that not
good enough? No wonder Paul said:
“What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who is
against us?”
111. From what depth will it rescue
us? The depth indicates the distance
that love reaches. It goes down to
the deepest forms of sin. It reaches
to the greatest sinner. Wherefore,
also, He is able to save to the utter
most them that draw near unto God
through Him, seeing that He ever
liveth to make intercession for them.
I shall nev6r forget hearing one of
the foremost Africans in a powerful
speech in the City of Washington,
D. C. He was pleading for patience.
He pleaded with the people to give
his race a chance and time, and he
said; “Oh, think of the depths—of
the depths of impotence and super
stition and poverty out of which and
up from which my race must come!”
Ah, yes! But we were in lower
depths still. Down beneath the black
man, wearing shackles ourselves had
forged about our feet and hands—
the shackles of sin. It is up out of
these depths our God must lift us.
IV. The height unto which He lifts
us. For this Love is not only broad
as our needs, continuous as our pil
grimage, reaches down to the depths
where we are. but it also lifts up to
the highest altitudes of the Divine
Life. The way to measure is to be
gin at the cross and the foul abyss
of evil and go up to the throne. This
wondrous Love lifts up from the low
est degradation and sin to the glory
of Sonship in the courts of heaven.
How high will it lift us? O, God,
Thou knowest.
Well, after we add all our powers
together and seek to apprehend the
love of Christ in its length -and
breadth and depth and height, the
superlative glory is all beyond us! It
passeth knowledge. Even when we
are filled unto all the fullness of God,
the overflowing is infinite! Let us
soon see to it that we use our indi
vidual power to its utmost. Let us
see to it that every capacity is hal
lowed- Let qs open tty innermost
chamber and let in the King, and by
the ministry of His love toward us
these highe-r perceptions may become
ours.
MINERS KILLED
BY CONSTABLES
Parading Strikers Precipitate Con
flict By Firing Upon Guards.
TEN ARE SHOT DOWN
Two Instantly Killed and Eight Wound
ed, Three Fatally—Employment of
Non-Union Men Resented.
The new mining town of Ernest,
Pa., on the Buffalo, Rochester and
Pittsburg railroad, was the scene Fri
day of a conflict between a detail of
state constabulary and striking coal
miners in which two strikers were
killed and eight others wounded,
three of them fatally.
A body of strikers, headed by a
brass band, marched from the Anita
mines in Jefferson county to receive
one of the mine officials expected from
Punxsutawney. On the way to the
station the marchers encountered a
detail of twelve members of the state
constabulary. As they passed a
member of the band fired his revolver
at the troops. No one was struck,
but the constabulary immediately re
taliated with a volley from their car
bines. \
When the smoke cleared away ten
strikers were lying on the ground and
the others had fled precipitately down
the hill.
After the excitement had subsided
the wounded miners were removed to
Adrian hospital. As the result of the
shooting a mass meeting arranged for
Friday was canceled and Sheriff
Wettling has ordered the arrest of the
leaders of the parade.
The mines at Ernest are owned by
the Buffalo and Rochester Coal com
pany. The strike began April 18.
Three weeks ago the plant was start
ed with non-union men and a detail
of the state constabulary has since
been guarding the coal company’s
property.
BEEF PACKtRS HOUSE fLEAMNG.
*—■" 'nt
liiey Make Almost Tragic Haste to Apply
the Whitewash Brush.
In response to a request from the
house committee on agriculture, Presi
dent Roosevelt Friday forwarded to
Representative Wadsworth, chairman
of that committee, the report made to
him by a committee of the depart
ment of agriculture regarding condi
tions in the Chicago meat packing
houses.
Accompanying the report was a let
ter from the president in which he
points out that there is no conflict
in the substance between the Neill-
Reynolds report and that of the agri
cultural department experts. It is
said in the latest report that the pack
ing house proprietors are manifest
ing almost “a humorous haste to clean
up, repave and attempt to plan for
future changes.”
New toilet rooms are being provid
ed, with new dressing rooms and clean
towels.
The report says this haste toward
reform “would be amusing u rt was
not so near tragic.”
The president says his investiga
tions have not been completed, but
“enough has developed, in my judg
ment, to call for immediate, thorough
going and radical enlargement of the
powers of the government in inspect
ing all meats which enter into inter
state and foreign commerce.”
DISMISSAL FOR GRaFIER AIKEN.
Railroad Clerk Who Accepted Stock of
Coel Companies is Fired.
Joseph A. Aiken, chief clerk of
Monongahela division, has been dis
missed by direction of President Cas
satt. In his testimony before the in
terstate commission, sitting at Phil
adelphia, Aiken said that while his
salary had averaged between S3O and
f 120, he owned nearly $75,000 worth
of coal stock.
He admitted having received checks
from coal companies and also gifts
from company stores.
BROWNINGS CAUSED BY STORM.
Nine People Find Watery Grave While
Crossing Niagara River.
During the height of a heavy storm
which swept over Detroit, Mich, early
Friday. Nine persons were drowned
on their way across the river to a
resort in Canada. Trees are down all
over the city, and much damage has
been caused to wires and telephones.
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