SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14566, 31 December 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

THE unchanging GOD. '4§l I am the Lord. I change nnt • , sons of Jacob arc not conned a laeif°iiL J" ' - El- THE REV. C. H. SPUHGEOX It has been said by someone that- "the w t per study of mankind is man." I "nt r ' oppose the idea, but I believe it i ~ M true thai tho prop , r study of God'relcctt J' God: tbo nroper study of • «4B« i the Godhead. an m -J *There is something excoodingl.y iiprovh* 1 the mind ju a contemplation V tFl f &««.*. »1, . sll bjcct » vastfcfj: our thoughts are lost in its immensity- " /' deep, that our prido is drowned in its ; n ftn.tj Other subjects we can comoass Jj giapple with; in them -wo feel a "kind of self-content, and so our wnv with ■? thought, "Behold, I am wise." BuiKt wo come to this master-science, finding tfilf our plumb-line Cannot sound its de P th - »3 * that our oaglo eye cannot see its height »> turn away with the thought that vain ™ would bo wise, but he is like, a wild S3 colt; and with the solemn exclamation, "jl am but of yesterday, and know nothing." A BALM FOP. EV2KT WOUND. I • Nothing will so enlarge tho intellect, Doth ing so magnify the whole soul of man. a J a devout, earnest, continued investigating of the great subject of the Deity j n ? whilst, humbling and expanding, this suS is eminently consolatory. Oh, there i£h3 contemplating Christ, a balm or wound; in musing on the father there?* v a quietus for every grief; and in the 1 ence of tho Holy Ghost there is a baWl for -every sore. aisanv Would you lose your sorrows? WonUi ; you drown your cares? Tlicn W'„; yourself in tho Godhead's deepest'sea^ lost in His immensity; and you shall L, forth as from a couch of rest Z invigorated. I know of nothing whiA cS so comfort ,he soul, so calm the swelling billows, ot grief and sorrow, so speak peso! to the winds of trial, as a devout mS: upon tho subject of tho Godhead, 5 Thero aTe threo things about this text -first, an unchanging God; secondly tlx* persons who derive benefit from this gloriont attribute—"the sons of Jacob;" and thirdly, tho benefit they so derive—they are not consumed." We address ourselves to these points. 5

HE CHANGES NOT. ' First; of all, we have sot before us the! doctrine of the immutability of God "T; am God, I change not-." fere I shall at* ! tempt to expound, or, rather to enlarge the? v thought—and then, afterwards, to bring & tew arguments to prove its truth. 3 I shall offer some exposition of mv text -"s by first saying that God is Jehovah, and • ' He changes not in His essence. We cannot tell you what Godhead is. We do not know : what substance that is which wo call God It is an existence, it is a being; but what that is, we know not. However, whatever £ it is, wo call it .His essence, and that essence never changes. The substance of mortal things is ever i changing. The mountains with their srow-whit-e crowns doff their old diadems in sum™unJV lve f s trickling down their sides, while the storm-cloud gives them another coronation; the ocean, with its mighty floods, loses its water when the sunbeams kiss the waves and snatch them in mists to Heaven even the sun itself requires fresh fuel from the hand of the Infinite Almighty to replenish its ever-burning furnace. All creatures change. Mart, especially as - to ins body, is always undergoing revolution. Very probably there is not a single, particle in my body which was in it a few 63rS This frame has been worn away by activity, its atoms have been removed Jby friction, fresh particles or matter have { in tile meantime constantly accrued to my \k body, and so it has been replenished: but its substance is altered. The fabric of which this world is made is ever passing a-w; like a stream of water, drops are running away and others are following after,. keening the river still full, but always changing in its elements. But God is perpetually the same. He is not composed of any substance or material, but is spirit—pure, essential, and etlierecl spirit—and therefore He is immutable. He remains everlastingly the same. There are no furrows on His eternal brow. No age hath palsied Him; no. years have marked Him with the mementoes of their flight " He sees ages pass, but with Him it is ever ' now. He is the great I AM—the Great., Unchangeable. Ho changes not in His attributes. What ever the attributes of God were of old, that they arc now ; ancl of ouch of them we may sing, "As it. was in, the beginning, 1 , ,' is now, and cwr shall be, world without * end, Amen." Was He powerful? "Was Hetho mighty God when He spoke the world out of the womb of non-existence? Was He the Omnipotent when Ho piled the mountains and scooped out the hollow places for the rolling deep? Yes, He was powerful then, and His arm is unpalsied now; the strength of His soul stands the same for ever. Was He wise when He constituted this mighty globe, when He laid the foundations of the universe? Had He wisdom, when He planned the way of our salvation, and when from all eternity He marked out His awful plans? Yes: and He is wiso now. He is not less skilful. He has not less knowledge. His eye which seeth all things is undinnned; His ear which heareth f,ll the cries, sighs, sobs, and groans of His people is not rendered heavy by the. years which He hath heard their prayers. - ;• He is unchanged,' blessed ho His Xaracy ■ in His justice. Just and holy was Ho in '{■ the past; just and holy is He now. He is unchanged in His truth; He has promised, i:: : and He brings it to pass; no hath said it, and it shall be done.

And, blessed bo His dear Name, Ho is unchanged in His love. vVhea He first % wrote the Covenant how full His heart was - \ with affection to His people. He knew that His So must die to ratify the articles of that agreement. He did not hesitate to ' sign that mighty covenant, nor did He shua rj its fulfilment. He loves as much now as ■;/- He did then, and when suns shall cease to ■'£«. shine, and moons to show their feeble light, /sg He still shall love on for ever and for over." Take any one. attribute of God, and I will % write semper-idem on it (always the same). :i Take any one thing you can say of God $ now, and it may be said not only in the dark past, but in the bright future it shall ■ always remain the same: "I am Jehorah, J| I change not." i Then, again, God changes not in His 1 ■ If plans. That man began to build, but was ;• not able to finish, and therefore he changed. Ij, his plan— every wise man would do in such a case; ho built upon a smaller foun- ■'& dation and commenced again. But. has it | ever been said that God began to build but , was not able to finish? Nay. When L'o jj hath boundless stores at His command, and -> when His own right hand would create | worlds as numerous as drops of morning fdew, shall He ever stay because He has not 'y power; and reverse, or alter, or disarrange $z His plan, because He cannot carry it out? if Yet, again, God is unchanging in His ;•! promises. All, we love to speak about /ho if sweet promises of God; but if we could ever supdoso that one of them could bo changed, fig wo would not talk anything more about them,. If I thought thai the not«>o of the • 'd Bank of England could not bo cashed next 13 week, I should decline to take them; and if T thought that God's promises would !'(• never be fulfilled—if I thought that God ''?■ would see it rieht to alter some word in - ".$ His —farewell Scripture! 4>l I want immutable things; and I find that J,fs I have immutable promises when I turn •>; to the Bible. For, "by two immutable , ';'d things wherein it is impossible for God to " ; 'E/ lie," He hath signed, confirmed, and sealed every promise of His. The Gospel is not ■ yet "yea and nay," it L not promising to» /. (lav and denying to-morrow; but the Gos- J " . pel is "yea, vea" to tho glory of God. . Believer, there was a delightful promise which you had yesterday; and this mora*- ?■§> insr when you turned to the Bible, th« J® promise was not sweet. Do you know why? •. Do yott think the promise had changed? |k: Ah. 110! You changed; that is where the . matter lies. You had been eating seme of ;• the grapes of Sodom, and your mouth was thereby put out of taste, and you could nofc'/ife detect tho sweetness. But there was tho-j|p ; same honey there, depend upon it: the:-® same preciousness. "Oh !" says one child of ' : -f ; God, "I had built my_ house firmly once v; upon some stable promises: there came t> *&. wind and I said. 'O Lord, I r.m oast doffti and I shall be lost.'" .

Oh. the promises were not east down, the '& foundations were not removed. It was your jig " wood, hay, stubble" hut that you had -ife been building. It was that which fell down, 0, You had been shaken on the- rock ; not the rock under you. "tij'f But lot me tell you what is the best way :K<i. of living in the world. I have heard thai a gentleman said to a negro, "I can't think' 'r X how it is you are always so hapny in the ; Lord, and I am often downcast." " Whji >. massa," said he, "1 throw myself flat do*®' . v on the promise there I lie; you stand Oj*;the promise—you have a little to do 'fig* it, and ('own you go when the wind sout?*', . and then you cry, ' Oh! 1 am doffffig' whereas I go flat on the promise at ai!p and that is why I fear no fail." *£3? Then let us always say, ' Lord, the«? ?j|f- . the promise; it is Thy business to fulfil 1 t . Down Igo on the promise, flat; no m® ing up for me! That is where you-saouwg go—prostrate on the promise; and,a«®«»to.ber, every promise is a rock, an uncoangi Bathing. Therefore, at His feet cast ,'fours. jand rest there for ever. " "ip i ■ <