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CHAPTER VII
THE
KNOWLEDGE
OF
GOD
BY
REV. DAVID JAMES BURRELL, . D.
D., LL. D.,
MINISTER OF THE MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, NEW YORK
CITY
The man who does not know God has not begun to live.
He may eat and drink, make merry, accumulate a fortune
or wear a crown; but he has not entered into that better life
of high hopes and noble purpo ses and aspirations which make
us worthy of our Divine birthright. For "this is life enternal,
to know God."
To put ourselves into just relati9ns with God is literally a
matter of life or death. All the ologies are worth mastering
but THEOLOGYs indispensab le. We must know God.
But where is He? "Oh, that I knew where · I might find
Him Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and back
~1ard but I cannot perceive I-Iim; on the left hand where He
doth work, but I cannot behold Him; He hideth Himself on
the right hand so that I cannot see Him " The horizons
recede as we approach them, and the darkness thickens as
we grope like blind men feeling their way along the wall.
There are three roads which are vainly trodden by multi:
tudes who pursue thi s holy quest. Each of them is marked,
"T his way to God"; .and ,each of them is a cul de sac or
blind alley, which leaves the soul still groping and crying,
"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him "
The first of these paths is Intuition
There are no natural atheists. All are born with an
in-
dwelling sense of God. We do not enter on conscious life
like the inferior orders; but "tra iling clouds of glory do we
come from God who is our horn
en
In regions of darkest
paganism there are traces of two innate convictions; namely,
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· a Divine birth and a sinful a]ienatiOn. Hence the universal ·
spirit of unrest so pathetically
expressed by Augustine:
''We
came forth from God, and. we shall be homesick ·until
we
re-
•
turn to· Hinri.''
No doubt there l1ave
been
some who, with no
Jight
but
t l1at wl1icI1shine·s along the pathway of Intuition, h.ave, made
the ·
acquaintance
of Go'd ;
but
the
vast
multitude
have simply ·
arrived at idolatry. They have made unto themselves gods
'''after t11e similitude of a man''; gods, like the Bro ,cken o,f
the Ha1·z mountains , p1·ojected on tl1e skies. An idol is a man
made god. It may be carved out of wood or conjured out
of the gray matter
of
tl1e brain; but a11 gods, whencesoever
. they co,me, are i,dols, except the one true God.
•
•
Tlie
second p thw y
of
tlie God-seekers is
Reason .
He,re we come upon the
p·hilosophers
and
thos ,e wh
1
0
travel
witl1 them, This also leads to disa·ppointment; as· it is writ- ·
ten, ''
1
The wor1.d
by
wisdom knew not God''.
The golden age of philosophy in Greece fo11owed close
•
on the decay of the Pantheon.. It was when the people had
lost confidence in their idols and the cry was heard, '~Great
•
Pan
is d,ead
I''
that
the
Groves ,and G.ardens an,d Painte ,d.
Porches
arose
on the hanks of the Ilyssus. The thoughtful
1nen who assumed th·e
na111e .Philosoplioi
that is, ''lovers of
wisdom'', were all seekers after God. The Stoics, Epicureans,
Cynics and Peripatetics all hoped
to
discover Him
by
the
light of reason. Ho,v vain the quest
When Sim.onides ,vas asked for a definition of
God, he
required some weeks for meditation and then
anSwered,
''The
mo1·e
I t·hink
of
Him, the
more
He
is
unl
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The Fit1tdame1itals
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· substantially of four arguments, to wit: (A) The ontological
•
argument;
to
the
effect that the
being
of
God
is involved
in the i,dea of God.. This is good as fa1
as it goes, bttt it
fa lls vastly short of demonstration; and in any
case it
reaches no c·onclusio
1
n as to the character of G,od.. (B) Tlie
cosmolo,gi,cal argument,
which reasons from
effect to
caus
1
e
.and
ex·presse ls
itself
in
the epigr,a~
ex 1iiliilo nihil
fit; out
of nothing
nothing
comes . This is equally · inconc·tusive,,I
since
thje neces sary Somewhat to wl1ich it leads is
but
the merest
shade of th.e shadow of a god. (C) The teleological ~gu-
m;ent, which proce ,eds from design to a designer; carrying
with it
a strong presumption as to infinite wisdom
b·ut
taking
•
little or no
1
C
ognizan ,ce of the mo
1
ral nature of God. (D)
And the antliropological
argunient,
wl1ich inf~rs the
1no1·al
nat ure ·of God from the mora l nature of man. This goes
further tha ·n the others; neve1·the·less it is so far from being
final proo1. i11 the mathen1atical s,ense tl1at on
1
n1ay re .ason·
ably questio11 whether any trutl1-seeker was evet .. really con- _
vinced by
it.
Thes ·e
are the arguments whicl1
have be.en used by pl1iloso
phers from time immemorial ; and little has been added in
tl1e ·
process
of
the
passing
years. The
result,
as a whole, is
me lane .holy failure. T he worl
1
d by its wisdom, that is by
the exercise of its unaided reason, fias simp,ly reached Agnos
ticism; it has not foun ,d out
God .
Not to those who deem
tl1e1n
then1si1lve,, wise, ·b,ut rather
to the simple whose hearts are open
1
Godward, comes
tl1e
great revelation.
It
is one tl1ing
to know
about
God and
quite a11o,t.her· to know Him. John Ha .y kne,v all ·about
Pres ident Lincoln from his boyhoo ·d up; littl ,e Tad had 110
such information, but he knew his father, knew
him
·through
and thr .ough. The ey,es of Faith se:e
further
tha ·n those
of
\
rea son. Wherefore J·esus sa id, Exce p
1
t ye
become as a
little
chi.Id
ye shall
in
no
wise
enter into tI1ekingdom
of
God .
·
The ,t hird of the allitring pathway.s i .
that
of
the
Fiv
e
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Se1 ises.; that is, of Natt11·a] Science, wl1ich reache ·s its con-
clusions on
the ·
evidence
of tl1e
physical senses.
This rules out faith, which is the
sixth sense
divinely
given to
men for the ·
apprehension ~f spiritual truths. To
undertal,e to
solve a11yof the grea ·t problems
which have to
.
do with .our spiri tu,a.1 life
by
th,e
testimony
o;f
the
fin_ger
tips
is to l1ave one s labor
£01·
one s . pains; since, in the nature
of
the
cas·e,. ,,·s,piritual
,thing s are
spirituall .Y discerned .
T·o1·.
undertake to grasp
a spiritual
fact
by
the
p hysical
senses
is as preposterous
as
it
woi1ld
be
to
insi.st
on
se,eing
with
the ears or
he·aring with
the eyes. Faith i.s
not. cr,edu1ity,
nor
is
i·t
unsubstantial, n
1
or is it
belie·ving witl1out ,evidence..
On the
contrary,
it is
both substantia l
an,d
evidential:
only
i·t
is the substance of . things
hoped
for, the evid,en
1
ce
of
t.hings
not seen .. To
reft1se
to · exercis ,e
this .sixth
sense or
. power of spiritual . apprehension
is
to
sl1ut oneself out
for-
ever £ om the
possibility of
appr
1
eh·e11ding
Go
1
d
~r·
a·ny
o,f
the great, intangible, but real
truths
which center ·in
Him.
Yet we are constant]y hearing, in certain quarters, of
the
in1portance of pttrsui11.g
ott r
theological studies
by the
scien-
tific method . With wl1at result? W ,e have a world of ·
facts , tl1ey say, and fro .m. the se facts,
by
the
inductive
pr ,ocess, we rn·ust arrive
.at
our
conclusio ,ns .
It
is
like
an
example in
Algebra:
God is the
unknow n term ; let
this , be
expr ·essed
by
x : th ,e p
1
ro
1
hl
1
em then ~s to resolve x into
known terms by th ,e use of a multitude of seen and tangible
facts. Can
it
be
done?
G·o on and pursue yo,ur research ,es
along
the line ,s
of
evolution, until back of cosn,os you come to chaos,[
an.cl
back
of
chaos
to the
nebula, and
ha,ck
of
tl1e
neb11]a
o
the
primordial germ; a·nd that last infini ·tesimal atom will loo~ up
at you
with
t he ,old
question
on its
lips,
as
loud
as ever
and
involving
.a probl .em
as deep
as wl1en ,you began,
1
Whence
ca1ne I? What is your answer? God? Call it
1
God
if
yo ,u
please; in fact, however, it is s.imply an impersonal indefinable,
inescapable something or
otl1,er which,
for l.ack of a
better
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94 The Fundamentals ·
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t,erm, is designated as a ''First
1
Cause'', h'ut which is infinitely
far ·from what is meant by a
perso11al
God. .
W 'elJ, then, s
1
hall the
quest be
given
up
?
Is
the universal
thought of God merely an ignis f atiius leading the hopef ttl
traveler into a r
1
eal111
f impenetr ,abie mists and shadows ?
Or
•
is there .still some way of finding , out God?
Yes,
there
is a foiirth road ·by w
lii ch we approacliRini; and
.
it is an liighway cast up by the King ,Hiinself. It is, calle~
Revelation , or tlie Unveiling.
•
Th.ere i,s an antecedent
pr ·esumption
in its
f lav,or;
to
wit,
that if there is a ,God anywhere in the universe He would not
Jea:ve us ~o gr
1
ope
QUr
way hopeles lsly
in
tl1e
dark towa,r·d Him, .
but would somewhere, somehow, unveil Himself to us,
· Well, her ·e ·is a Book, which claims to b
1
e Revelation. Of
all the books in the literature of the ages it is the only one that
claims to have been div·inely authorize
1
d and '',;v,ritten by holy ·
men as they were moved by the Spirit of God''.
It opens with tl1e words, ''In the begin11ing,God''; and pro
ceeds to set forth the tw
1
0 great doc,trines of Creat ,ion and
Providence. It affirms, on the on
1
e hand, that everything in the
universe ha ,s
its,
origin in
the
1
creative powe ,r
0
1
f
G,od.; and, 0
1
n
the other, , that everything is sustained
by
·the providence of
God. .
In these two doctrines we have the sum and
sub.stance
of
Bibl
1
e, truth. But
thi.s
is not all. In b
1
etwe
1
en tl1,e do,ctrines of
Creatio
1
n and Providence there walks, through all the co,rridors ·
of Holy 'Writ, a my s,terious Figure who is
the
foregleam of
anotl1er
revelation further on. At th~ outset this Figure
appears in the protev ,angel as the ''See ,d of Woman'•, who is
to come in the
fulln ,ess
of time
to ''bruise
the serpent's
hea,d'''.,
An
1
d He appears and re-appears, n,ow in
l{ingly
guise, again
as
a man of sorrows an.d acquainted . with gri ,ef, and again with
a.
name written on His ves.ture,
' 'Emmanu~l '',
which being inter-
•
preted is '' ,God ·with us''. ·
This Book, claiming to be the written Word of God, mal
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The Kno·wledge of
God
us acquainted
with
His
being,
personality a·nd
rnora·1 attri bu·tes ;
bttt it does not exhaust the theme. It leads us along· a road,
li,ghted
h.Y
visions
and prophecies,
untiJ
it
opens
into another
and
cl.earer
roa,d;
to
wit, The Incarnat ,e Word of God, .
And this fifth road t.he Inca-rnation is the way which all
tru th-seekers mi.is t·pursue
if
they would fina.lly arrive
at
a just
and sa·ving kn0:wledge of God.
I·t js he·re that we ·me·et Christ,
bringin lg
th
1
e mes
1
sage from
the
throne .. He comes
into
our
worl\d
with
t·he expi ess purpose
of making · God l
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teaching is postulated on the written Word, , o,f whic ,h He s,aid,
•
Search the Scriptures; for in them
ye
think
ye
have et
1
e1~nal
l
life; and they are they which testify of Me.
And
the moment
we turn from . tl1e I·ncar11ate Word t
1
0
the wri ·tten
Wor ,d, we
come ·upon the saying,
In
the beginning, God .
A.s to the moral att1·ibutes of God, the teach .ng of Jesus is
indUbitabiy
clear. God is a spirit , He says, and they that
· worship Him 1nust worship Him in spirit and in truth . It
11eed
scarc ,e1y
be said tl1at a. spirit,
t.hough invisible
and
impal
pable, is a real
s,elf-conscious
personality. The communion of
Jesus with this Spirit is that of one person with another. He
do,es,
not
s,p,ealc to
Law,
n,ot t
1
0
E·ne·r·gy, nor to, an ind 1
efinab]e
Something not
ou1~selves
that
maketl1
for right ,eousness , but
to One
with whon1
He is
on familiar terms. The only be
gotten Son which is in
t}ie b.0
so111 f the Father He hath de-
..
cla1·ed
Him . .
Asj to Divine providence I-Ie speaks i11 no t1nce1·tain tone~
The God whom He unveils is in .and ·ove1~all. Out on the
hillsides H ,e bi ·ds t1s Consider tl1e lilies,, how tl1ey grow , and
assures : us that 0~1r Father, who eareth f or
tl1em,
will muct1
more
care
for us . In pursuance of
this
fact
He
encourages
us
to pray, saying, Ask and it shall
be
given you, seek
and
ye
sl1all
find,
knock -
and
it
sha]]
be
opened
unto
you .
Oh,
great
heart of the Infinite, quick to respond to our every cry
for
l1elp The doctrine of prayer, as taught by Jesus, is simplicity
itself. We are to run to God with our longings as children to
their parents;
For
if ye, being evil, know how to give
gooc1
gift ,s unto YOUr c.hiidren, how much mor
1
e sha.11you.r
Fatl1er
•
which is in heaven give good things to them
that
ask
Him''.
As to
th ,e moral attributes
of God the
tea
1
ching of
Jesus
is
not
only
clear but most emphatic; be
1
1use at this point it
toucl1es vitally our eternal welfare. The Divine holiness is
pr ,esented not so .much as .an a·tt·ribute as the condition
of
God s
being. It is the light emanating from I-Iis thr 1n
1
e, of whicl1
Christ is the supreme n1anif
estatio .n,
as He said, I am
the
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light
of
t·he
world' '' ;
and
this light must ever be reflected in
the life of
His dis.ci·ple.s,
.as He said, ''Ye a.re the ligl1t
of
the
world ; let your
light
so shine
before
men
that
they may see
your good works and glorify God''. This holiness is not merely
freedom
from moral
contamination; but
sucl1 a
se·nsit ·ive,
aver
sion to sin as makes it impossible for God to 100k with
com
plac1·ncy u·po,n any cre~·ture ,vl10 is defiled by
it.
Hence the
appeal . o the
cultivati ,on
of .a ho1y life; since '',vithout holiness
no
man
sha.lI
s·ee Go,d''.
Out of this
atm :os.phere
of
holiness
proceed two attributes
\vhi,ch, like op ·ening arms ,,
embr,ace
the world.
1
0ne of
th,em
is Justice, or regard for la\iv. No teacher · ever lived,
·11ot
even
.Mo,,e,s, wh·o emphasized as deeply as d.i,d Jesus t.he integrity of
the mo·ra.1 law. He de,fended not only the law its.elf but th
1
e
penalties affixed to its violation. The Deca1ogue is not so
sev,ere an arraignmen ·t
1
0£
sin
as the
S,ermo
1
n on the ,
Moun.t,
which rings with the inviolability of law.
The other of
the
1
outstretched arm :s is Love. The
fullne .ss
of D
1
ivine love is set
fo·rth
in the words of Jesus: ''When ye
pray sa.y, 'Our Fat .her', .,. It was wisely
obs.erve
1
d by Mad .ame
de .Stael that if Jesus had nev,er do,ne an)rthing in the w·orld
except
to
teach us
''Our Father''
He wo,uld h.ave
,conferred
·an
· inestimable boon upon a11 the children of men.
God~s love
is
manifest i.n the unceasing gifts of His providence; but its
crowning token is the grace of salvation : ''God so loved the
world that He g3.ve H is only begotten
Son
that whosoever
believeth in Him shou1d not perish but h.ave everlasting life''.
And the reconciliation between Love and Justice is found
at the
1
Cro.ss,
Here ''mercy
and
truth
are
me.t
togeth ,er ;
rigl1t
eousness and peace have kissed each other''. As law is s.acred
an,d
invio1able,
i.ts
pen .alty
m.ust b,e inflicted; it
must
be. inflict,e
1
d
e1the·r upon the male·£acto,r 01· upon some
com·petent
substitut e
who sha.11volunteer
to
st1ffer fqr
him.
It i,s
the only begotten
S,on who ,
vo]u·nteers,
sayi·ng, ''Here am I, send Me '' The justice ~
'of God is shown in the suff er ,ng inflicted upon His only begot-
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ten Son; and Hi ,s l,ove is corre ,spondingly shown in 'the
proffer
of all tl1e 'be].J.efits of that vicarious suffering to every one on
the
so,Je condition
of
faith. . ·
. It pleased God to vindicate Hi~ supre me maj ·esty before Iiis ,
an
1
cien·t peop ·te in the controversy on Carmel. All day the paga?3
p,riests assemb led at their altar cried, . ''O Baal, l1ear us'' : but
·t'here was no voice nor any that regarded. At evening tl1e
lone p
1
ro
1
pl1
et
of J
l1ovah
stood be s.ide his altar and calmly n1ade
l1is prayer, ''0 God of Israel, . let it be known tl1is day that
Thou a1·t God '' Was there any tI1at· r,egar 'ded?
Lo,
yonder
in t11e twilight sky a falling fleece of fire In awe-struclc
silence. t11e people saw it desc ,ending, lower ,and lower, until it
touched the sacrifice and cons11medit. The lo,gic of the argu
ment was ir1·esistible: they cried with one accor
1
d, ''Jehovah
i,s the Go,d '' .
The antitype and parallel of that great controversy is at
Calvary, ,vl1ete Christ, at once the ministering p
1
riest and the
sacrifice upo n tl1e alta1·, made I-Iis last prayer with hand s out
st ·retcl1ed upon
the cros .s ; and
the desce11di11g
ire consumed
14im as a wl1.0Ie burnt 0
1
ffering for the w,orld's sin. The logic,
here .also, is un ,answerable. In all the world
t'her ,e
is no
othe ·r
gospel
\Vl11cl1
dequately sets fortI1 the
Divi11e
love*
By
the
power of truth,
by
the trii1mph of
righteousness,
by
the
logic
of events, by the philosophy of history, by the blood of the
atonement, . let the world answ ,er, ''Our God is the God of
sa lvati o11; and th.ere is none otl1er beside Him ''
Tl1e fai lure of other religions and philosophies has been
•
grote ·squely pathetic: The irony of Elijah on C'armel is merely ·
•
an ecl10 of '
tl1e
D
1
ivine bttrs ,t
of
laughte ,r
out of
heaven
in
respons ,e to tl1ose who cry ,: ''Let us br
1
eak Hi ,s band asunder
and cast away I-Iis, cor
1
ds f r,o,m us ." He
th,at
si,tteth in the
I1eavens sha ll laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. ·
Th ,e pantheo ·ns cr ,umble an ,d the pri
1
ests die; one altar remains,
to wit, tl1e cross on C'alvary. It is the sole altar and supreme
argum
1
ent of tl1e true God .
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The Knowledge of od
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But every ,nan must f'or himself make answer to that argu-
ment. Each for
himself ,, must
figl1this way into
the tru .th.
It
is like the grapple which Jacob
had
with an
unseen .
antagonist at
'the br ,ookside. As, the,
nigl1t wore
on he cam
1
e to under ,stand
that ·· Omnipotence had laid hold
upon
him. ·
Then
came a
sudden
,vrench
an ,d Jaco ,b
fe'll, disabled.
God had thrown
him
I
H ,e sank a helpless man, but, clinging still, crie
1
d, ''I will not let
Thee go except Thou b,Iess me l'' And thereupo ·n the bless ,ing
was given,
a
blessing which God had waited through
the ,
weary
years to bestow upon him:
''Tl1y name shall
be called no
mor ,e ·
Ja ,cob, 'th "e Suppl ,ant ,er', but
Is ,rael;
for as a, prince hast , thou
pre ,vail ed with
1
Go,d''.
Then
and ,
there
he rec
1
eive,d his
guerdon
1
0f
knighthood and entered in,to
1
the higher l·if e. At the
clo,se
of that conflict the light of morning was g]owing on the hills of
Edom: how significant
the
words,
''And the
sun
arose upon
hi,m I'' · ,
The new life had begun ; th,e Jong,quest,was ,ove·r ;J cob had
found God. And
he went
his
way llll1l()ing
n his
shrunken
thigh.,
to
·bear
throu ,gh
all
the
after
years the
token of '
that
struggle until he came to heaven's
gate,.
at
peace
with .
It is
thu s
that every man
finds God;
in a close grapple
that
ends
'in self
surrender,
an
'Utter
yielding
to the
beneficent
powe·r of God. ·
•
So true Iife begins with knowing God. It begins when a
m,an, oppressed by doub
1
t an~ uncerta .inty, hears , His voice,
flaying,
''Reach
hitl1er
thy hand a11d hrust it into
My
side,
I''
It
begins when, standing under the cross, he realizes, as Luther
did, ''He died for
me,
for me '' Then
the
day breaks and
the
shadows flee away.
Love
conquers
doubt, and
the
soul,,
holding the unveiling
of
the Infinite in the passion of Christ., .
•
cries out, '''l\ y Lord and My God '· . ·
·-
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