SUNDAY COLUMN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 93, 14 December 1912, Page 7

SUNDAY COLUMN.

LIMIT INC COD

“They said: ‘Can Cod. 0 ’” Psalm 78:19.

Can a man limit Codf At first sight it seems impossible and jet it is clone by multitudes every day. Even Jesus Christ was limited as to H;s miraculous power by the unbelief of the Nazarenes. To doubt Cod is to limit Him, and to make Him look smaller than He actually is. Why the Infinite should permit the finite to contract His dimensions and operations is a great mystery. I. Men too often limit the Majesty of Cod. He is the King' of all Kings, and all earthly monareiis are his vassals, but men all bold enough to rob His crown of its gems, and His breastplate of its splendours. 'J here is only room for one Cod in this universe and yet men are multiplying gods on every side. In their endeavours to define Cod they make Him appear less than he is in reality. The term “nature” takes the place of the term | “Cod”; the term “Jaws of nature” | takes the place of the term “Divine I attributes,” and the term “course 01 the world” is substituted for tire term “divine providence.” j 11. Men too often limit the power of I Cod. They cynically ask, “oan Cod i furnish a table in the wilderness?” I They limit His omnipotence, and thus | provoke Him to anger. They had heard of the marvels of His power in ; Egypt, and by the Bed Sea; they had I heard of Him who had spoken to their I leader in the bush burning with fire; I they beheld His pillar of fire by night, j and yet they had the audacity to doubt I His ability to Jay a simple table in the wilderness! In a lit of arrnt blas- ; phemy they trie to circumscribe His infinite powers and the people of Nazareth treated Christ in the same waj for their unbelief practically limited His power for a time. “The Word preached did not profit, because it was not mixed with faith in tiiem that heard it.” 111. Men too often limit the Holy Will of Cod. This will is the fundamental will of the universe, and yet many men dictate to Cod as if He were only an equal. Instead of our will being ours to make it Cod’s, wo make Cod’s will His to make* it ours. W T e murmur against Him day and night and show Him what He is to do and how and when. It is rank arrogance to say to the Almighty, “Thus far shalt thou go and no farther.”

We have no right to prescribe Clod's pathway in providence and to set np our feeble will as standards for Him. “Thy will—not ours—fbe done.” IV. Men too often limit the Wisdom of God. In a sense they chalk out the path for Him, and they say in effect, “This is the way; wait: thou in it.” What lessons we arc ready to teach the All-wise in the management of the universe! God works at opposite poles from man, and in due time Joseph is installed as Prince Minister of Egypt. Let us not insult the Divine omniscience by doubting God’s wisdom. *

V. Men too often limit the love of God. Love is the grandest thing in God, and yet some men seek to rob it of its glory. They are doing their best to reduce the Divine ocean into a tiny lakelet and to keep it under their own control. But we make His love too narrow By false limits of our own, And we magnify His strictness With a zeal He will not own. For the love of God is broader Than the measure of man’s mind, And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind. In the words of another, “Holiness is central in God, but love is central in holiness.” His holiness always includes love, and His love always expresses holiness. Never let us exalt one attribute at the expense of another. This ancient and Israelitish unbelief finds continual modern illustration. We are ever limiting tiro Holy One whom we profess to serve. Amid our wilderness of emergency, temptation, trial, our faithless hearts are asking the same question, “Who is the Lord that we should serve Him? How can He deliver us?” And God stands there, over against each one of u®, with an infinity of blessing in His hands—of deliverance, of present and abiding peace, of the promise of the land beyond; but unbelief is a staggering and blear-eyed creature, who often cannot see what God proffers, and even when she does, reaches forth such palsied hands they cannot reach and hold the blessing. '

TABLOIDS. A blue Monday means a wasted Sunday. No man can count the cost of an hour lost. If you have faith in what you pray for, you will say Amen, then roll up your sleeves and help God fill your order. The long prayer at home, heard mostly by'God, availeth more than the long prayer in public heard mostly by the congregation. The filter of misfortune separates true friendship from the scum. Never fear to bring the subliinest motive to the smallest duty and the most infinite comfort to the smallest troubles. .

PE AYER. Oh, my God! Thou liast rodeomod me for Thyself, that Thou mightcst liavo mo wholly as Thine own, posses sing, filling my inmost being with Tin own likeness, Thy perfect will, and the glory of Thy holiness. Reveal within me the great redemption as a personal experience, that my whole life may he one song of trembling and adoring wonder.