NEED FOR A REVELATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 57, 28 July 1914, Page 6

NEED FOR A REVELATION.

ADDRESS BY EEV. C. H. OLDS. At a meeting of tiu Aew Plymouth Brotherhood oil Sunday last in the oci Templars' Hall, there was a j-ood attendance, and an address by the Rev. 0. I). Olds, 8.A., (the. first in; has delivered there) was listened to with great attention. The chair was taken by the Rev. I' 1 . Hales, and Mr. W. McClelhn sang "Tlie Man of Sorrows."

In opening his address, the speaker remarked:—

"A knowledge of God. if -iie exirt-. is of supreme importance. Is is a question of not mere knowledge of truth, but of life; lor if God is, human life must centre in Him. What is His nature? What is His relationship to us'i What are His purposes concerning us? The human heart asks these questions not from a mere desire of knowledge or love of truth. .Something has di.-organLsed the doiieate mechanism of human life. Where is He whose hands originally constructed the mechanism? Does he know of its disorganised state? Is he concerned about it? Is He powerless to effect a remedy? Thus the desire to know Ilim, interesting and important from a purely int-el--1 leetual point of view, becomes witli the, ing passion, and throughout the whole inm passion, and throughout'the whole of humanity a pathetic inarticulate cry. The burden of the cry is taken up by .lob hen, in the bitterness of his lot, he moans, "Oh that 1 knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to his seat." THE SEARCH FOR GOD.

| But can a man by searching find out God? Agnosticism says no! If God exists He must be unknowable to the finite mind. Scripture, however, gives us a different answer: "Ye slial seek fur me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart; and I will be fond of you/' saith the Lord. Notice,. this claims to 'be a message from God Himself —a characteristic feature of the Bible. It is God answering in person the ery„of the human soul. "I will be fond of you."Not merely "Ye fill a. i find mc," but "I will reveal myself to you." Nor without such self-revelation on the part of God could man, however earnest and thorough in his investigation, ever arrive at the adequate knowledge of his Creator. The fact of a specific divine self-revelations frequently denied on two grounds. It is unscientific and it is unnecessary. TfTK SC'fEXTI'FIC' MAN. Now the man of science formulates and verifies his theories so far as possible by observation and experiment. This is of course impossible with regard. to such a conception of God as is presented in the Bible. That conception has not been discovered from nor suggested -bv the facts of Nature, not is it capable of being proved true simplv by an appeal to nature. The finite' can never prove the infinite; and indeed the finite mind cannot hope fully to comprehend the infinite God. At the same time this fact by n > means disproves the Bible conception, while the universe in its vastness and complexity, in u« beauty and order, surely points to >. 'Being whose, groatue.-s' at le<i»f. approaches that of God. There is nothing in the ible conception that is unworthy, it (nlv transcends human powers of comipifeliension. But must the mind therefore reject it as unscientific'; The mind,, the body, life, matter, wttiat arc they? Science cannot tell, and yet they are a conception which lie at the very bottom of all scientific investigation. But. it is contended, a divme revelation is unnecessary. Man can -arrive at a knowledge, of God without it; lie can climb ''through nature up to Nature's God." Of the trustworthiness of the wenderful, evcr-ooen book of nature, tJliere. can be no question. Is man, however, qualified to read and in ttrpret what he sees? What can he unaided learn of God? Geology leads us back over millions of years and shows us the hand of the Creator unfolding the universe—brining l it, through innumerable stages covering millenniums, tp higher anil yet higher development Astronomy declares the vastness, the unity and surpassing gory of t'lie universe. The microscope, reveals an infinite microscopic world, marvellous jn perfection of form and beauty. But the mind is at times staggered by appearances of caprice, .cruelty, pitiless fate! Evil seems to flourish 'while virtue goes unrewarded. Might seems right, and the weakest goes to the wall. In view of life's apparent tragedies l , the complexity of the universe and of human 1 ifi\, it is impossible for man to arrive at an adequate knowledge of God. Mr Oids then proceeded to quote from the poets 011 the glories of Nature, and continued. "The Christian conception of God, however, if true, discloses another and yet more ,-criotls aspect of the question. In addition to being hampered by limitations inseparable from his present mode of existence, man in his search for God is also hopelessly handicapped by sin. If human life were normal, we might hope for the dawning of a day when as the result of n long night of weary research and heartbreaking effort, the light of truth would be let in upon the dark and perplexing problem t:f experience. But man is not normal, llis life is stained, bis affections enslaved, his judgment warped, by sin. He is blinded to his own highest interests and out of harmony with the general ton! of the universe. How then can lie hope unaided to find the way, the truth, the life? His quest is doomed to failure. As the scientist who is obessed with some pet theory finds in his observations to see things that do not actually exist and to over look and misinterpret facts that do not favor his theory, so man. wrapped up i'i depraved affections and blinded liv prejudices misses tin- path of duty and tai s to discover a God whose recognition and worship involve a revolution of tile whole life. ' Closely iii.ked with llii- dark fact, however, is the thought that sui-.li a God must inevitably meet our sore need by revelling and communicating Him-m-.L J'ile old Hebrew poei sivs: "Like

as a father pile-11l his children so the Lord, pitieth them that fc-ir llini." Til" Apostl" John declines that "God i- love." Ciirl-t' has taught ii- to pray v isr Father, which art in Heaven." while ill ill :»\i'es llis «onU will be i'!e ground if t.h" word\ highest hope and the inspiration of its noble-t a 'l'.irveiiienf: "Coil so inved the world il'it he -rave T ,; s only le'gotien Mtri that ' .i"".'!'!' bilievef'li in 11111. shall not 1. 1' hj, but have eternal life." If these •--rip' ure-i are true (and »e dare to I. la ve tie. y are) then it was inevitable that lie. who ill the beginning flooded th" <vn;-'d with light would send forth His spirit into the realm of man's spirit - eal darkness with the word, ''Let there be Light!" Mr Olds concluded by saving that such a God must inevitably meet mankind's sore need by a revelation of Himself. He quoted the Apostle John and tie Hebrew poets in support of this view, and remarked if t<eriptu.-" were true (and men dared to believe they were) a Divine revelation was inevitable.