FOR THE RIGHTEOUS OUTSIDE THE CHURCHES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1194, 18 January 1895, Page 29

FOR THE RIGHTEOUS OUTSIDE THE CHURCHES.

GODLY HUMANITY. By Eev. William Bntcrf. “Beloved, Ictus love one another .. for God is loye.”—l John iv., verses 7 and 8. Love is more than a feeling within us ; it is the mightiest force that influences others. Before the appearance of the universe, Love arranged the plan, made the worlds, created and evolved instinctive and intelligent organisms, and when the Solar System shall be glorified—probably into one joyous star which needs neither the light of the sun byday nor.the moon by night—for the celestial forms in which we then shall dwell, love will rule us as it eternally rules God. 1. God reveals Himself as Love, and ONLY Love, Creativeness, purity and righteousness may be said to be the body, mind and habit, but Love is the inner self of God. When buying a business, you pay so much for the stock, &c., and so much for the “ good-will," which is at* accumulated drawing power to customers. In Greek, our text means God is love in the. will, or the motive which inspires Him in every thought and action is good-will. He does not say that everything as it now appears is good, but that He is good to everything He has made. He would cease to be Love, were He to bear ill-will to any creature. Whether it be demon, man or rat, God docs not behold it with repugnance, but 10ve...

You exclaim, but what about a man who is an unmitigated curse ? ’ I reply that Love would not on any account destroy the man, but always seek to save him. It is a relic of paganism to burn, hang or otherwise destroy an enemy or a bad man ; but it is the nature of God to pardon and deliver him, perhaps by pain, from his badness, and to heal, reform and save the lost. When Lovq smites, it is an agency to save not to destroy and the death of the human body is not destruction, but the medium of better li e. The vilest human creature is invited to come to God to be loved and trained for heaven—why? Because He love 3 them. This truth is the only force which will draw all men unto the God whose embodiment is the outstietched arms on Calvary’s Cross. With exception of scholarly Nicodemus and the wealthy Joseph, the Jewish religious rulers could not bear the true divine manifestation. They cried, “ This Jesus is not the Kevealer of God, but a demoniac, a blasphemer, who is unfit to live; crucify Him !" No creature is in reality what we understand as a curse ; no life, however degraded just now, is in the long run hurtful to the world ; and, though few of us can yet understand it, every life is practically an issue from God, a spark from the anvil of Love. Men who cannot accept revealed religion are prepared, like Mr Matthew Arnold, to admit that there is a Force at the back of all things working towards righteousness ; and this Force, I submit, is the expression of the Love who s eers mankind and the universe to the designed goal. Churchianity has loudly preached salvation to its members and damnation to all the rest; but the world, beholding Christ afar off and feeling unworthy to draw near, has been quietly learning to follow Him. What are the facts ? When morals and benevolence . are severely tested, the outside righteous ivorld bears the strain nobly as the

average churchman ; and in political and social upheavals, righteous publicans and sinners are as godly as when in sacred feuds concerning supremacy and creeds, saints have broken the church and almost cracked the world. Churchianity will never convert the world, until it sees that God is Love to every human being ; and until then, many of the best men and women who are influenced by noble aims and the purest love will continue to leaven the world outside. The reason why the official Christian portion of mankind is feeble, and Churchianity every year comparatively loses ground, is not because the world has been growing worse, but because the- churches, resting on old incorrect ideas of God, are unable to understand and preach that, in all circumstances and at all times, he is influenced only by love.

Do you ask, “ Is not God the Judge to condemn ?” I answer, No ; he is the Judge who saves. The spotless Christ took the blame in order that God might righteously treat sin as a human disease, not a divine crime. The name which best describes God to us is “ Our Father, who has Heavenly feelings to us,” which is the true meaning of “ Our Father which art in Heaven.” v\ hen the child was stricken with fatal sickness, King David fasted, prayed and wept. Why? Because he was father to the child. There was a similar powerful force in his heart over the rebellious ungrateful Absalom. “O my son, Absalom ! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son 1 ’ Likewise, men and brethren, we are equally dear unto “ Our Father,” who grieves over our transgressions and rejoices over our obedience. The vilest man or the most depraved woman is as dear to God as the apple of the eye is dear to us. While Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob, but could not bestow it on Esau, “our Father” yearns to bless us all. We are all equally entitled to pardon, grace to be pure, strength to resist temptation, and inspiration to be godly. In David, who would lay down his life to save his children, we have God’s feelings to every human soul. Deceive this truth and you will love God, as you win the love of your child. Eemember the day when your babe looked into your face with a smile which seemed to say, “I know you ; \ou are good to me ; [like you 1’ How delightful to hear your voice singing over the wee baii-n. Likewise, God rejoices when we open our eyes to recognise His love. It is sweet when Sabbath Day praise ascends to the sky, and it must be rapturously thrilling to hear the angels harping on their harps, but who can find words to describe the touching sound when our Father sings over lost prodigals who believe in His love and come home to be loved and saved 1 (Zeph. 3, 17). 11. By revealing Himself, God inspires US TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. In human godliness our Father has more joy than in moulding worlds. Those modern books are a curse which urge us to leave evil things alone to become worse in order that the community may be roused to remove them at one sweep. Because I cannot save a shipful of drowning men, shall I refuse to throw a lifebelt to one ? For want of engines the town is being reduced to ashes, and shall I, who have a private engine for my own premises, fiddle on the r®of while the town burns ?

Our apathy injures Godly growth and sanctions devilism, while to risk one’s life to rescue the drowning and to save neighbours from the flames will inspire other men to do the right. To refuse to save yonder

man from death because you want the world to remove that which causes his kind of death is scientific murder. The world is also suffering from individualism, which causes certain persons to form a clique, a party, a church, and complacently let everyone outside their “set” go to the devil —it is Hell reigning instead of Heaven God would break up such cliques and inspire us to love every man anywhere. If they were dying of hunger, thirst, or disease, should I refuse to save your brother or aiste’ 1 because they do not belong to my church ur to my set? God forbid. As we train men in cricket, football, and regiments to sink individualism, so, inspired by God’s love to all men, let us unite in ameliorating the evils around us. God and man will always be two, but as the ancient Confucius wrote, “ Let God and man be like two instruments of music, tuned to the same pitch.” And as we should be grateful to the man or woman who does a kindness to our son or daughter in their time of need, so our Heavenly Father will ennoble those who come from tteir individualism and scientific apathy to rescue the perishing and save the dying. Let us be Godly men and women.