To be near unto God - pagina 340
supper springs from the focus of The holy supper bears witness to him of the glory of Christ, but only in the congregation, not without it. Hence no higher and holier institution could have been given to men, than when "in the night in which he was betrayed" Christ brake the bread and poured the ...
To be near unto God - pagina 337
fellowship with the living God, which is the heart of all religion, upon the urgent desire of the soul to be ever more and more in constant touch with God. But here we always face an antithesis which we can never solve, before which all science stands helpless; even the antithesis between the inf ...
To be near unto God - pagina 341
ing the day in its fulness, though in fact we walk It is light, but that light is dim. in twihght. Even after conversion we continue therefore provisionally in a certain kind of sleep, and the convert can only gradually escape its after-effects. Such was Ihe case in the days of St. Paul, when the ...
To be near unto God - pagina 342
ship with God. Where it was night in the soul, the sun does not immediately after conversion stand at the zenith. Here also are transitions. Beginning with a first ray of light; a first parting of clouds; a first breaking up of mists until a glow from higher spheres strikes the eye of the soul. A ...
To be near unto God - pagina 344
heart. This thick darkness is the explanation of idolatry and of all heathen oppression. And Christ as in "a light," therefore Simeon rejoices so great, so beautiful, which having come down from the throne of heaven, lightens the darkened vision of the Gentiles. The densest darkness of all ...
To be near unto God - pagina 343
God shows this ever more clearl}' in the soul. favor in the personal life. Increasing brightness Less night and more day in our personal skies. in which ever more and ever clearer light is sown on our pathway. As an effect of this inner growth, there is greater exhibition of power. He who must tr ...
To be near unto God - pagina 345
but he gets farther and farther away from it. The transition is continuous from night into clearer day, until at length there is fellowship with God, which the world neither knows nor understands, but which to him is highest reality, the source, the ever free-flowing fountain of the strength of h ...
To be near unto God - pagina 346
so the}' said, and their heart still went out after the unknown Infinite. Now another step is taken. Even the appearance of godliness can be laid aside. Atheists have that among cultivated discovered especially classes they are represented by more people than they had dared to surmise. They obser ...
To be near unto God - pagina 348
it is said that at one time they themselves were without hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12). And this states painfully what we see all about us. With differences in degree many live year after year who think no more of God, and speak no more about him; no more religious books are found ...
To be near unto God - pagina 349
master of these present-day out-and-out people of the world. They still strive for higher things. They are lovers of art. They are zealous in works of philanthropy. They labor for general culture as they understand it. At times they dote with ideals that awaken the poetic talent in them. But far ...