To be near unto God - pagina 69

The higher forms of Hfe are loved and for art. appreciated. Multitudes engage in the chase after pleasure and wealth, and obey the dictates of passion. By way ot reaction this has resulted in the fact that they who in other respects are faithful Christians have abandoned far too greatly the personal element in the living God, and in turn dote on the beautiful ideas of mercy and love, of peace and the higher good. But personal communion with the personal God is no longer cultivated with that warmth of devotion and consecration which was the secret of the heroic faith of the fathers. It is granted that the immortal ideal of love and mercy indicates the essential nature of God. But the trouble is that instead of saying, "God is love" or "love is God," one forms an idea of love for himself, transforms this idea into an ideal, which eclipses God from sight. And estranged from the living God, one dotes on creations of Applying this to Christ, we his own thought. reach the same result. In contrast with an image of an idol, God has set up his Image in his Only-begotten Son, as Christ is revealed in the flesh. This relegates ideas and ideals to the background. And in the foreground, in clear and

transparent light, stands the Christ, the incarWord. All the enthusiasm with which Christianity was carried into the world sprang

nated

from

this

heaven-wide

difference.

The

philos-

ophers of Greece and Rome doted on beautiful ideals. The Apostles were enthused with love for the living Christ, the tangible Image of the living

God. The secret of their power lay in this personal attachment of faith to the living Christ in 65

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