TIIE SUNDAY OltEGOXIAlV, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 10, 1922
FATHERHOOD OF GOD DECLARED ETERNAL
TRUTH AND REAL FOUNDATION OF KINSHIP
Simple Christianity of Jesus Cements Family Ties and Gives Comfort and Aid in Daily Life, Broadening
Fellowship in Church and Love in Home Relations.
8
BY THE RIGHT REV. BOTD VINCENT
D. D..
Bishop of Southern Ohio.
A sermon preached Sunday, September
S, at St. David's church: ,
Text Ephesians, 3-15 "The Father
(of our Lord Jesps Christ), of whom the
wholA family. In heaven and earth, is
named."
WHAT is the sign of blond
kinship of family relation
ship? It is your father's name
the family name; is it not? If
your family name rs Brown or Jones
or Robinson you know that every
one else who has the same name is
somehow connected with you. So,
in God, "the whole family" of man
kind ;all spirits in heaven and on
earth is but one . ta-miiy. - It all
takes its life, as on earth it would
take its name, from the one
"Father" of all in heaven. Jesus
said: "Call no man your father
upon the earth: for one is your
Father which is in heaven." Matt.
23-9.
But now we may also read this
came text in a different way. "W'e
may read: "The Father, from whom
every family in heaven and earth is
named." That js, the very idea of
the family of family life has not
been carried up from earth to
heaven, but brought down from
heaven to earth, from God to- man,
as we shall see.
For, again, we may read: "the
Father, from whom all fatherhood
in heaven and earth is named."
That is, "fatherhood" among men is
a derived idea; it is a relationship
-which belongs only to time. But
Fatherhood in God is an eternal
truth an eternal fact before ever
time and men were. For Love and
the procreation of children to be
loved is of the very essence of the
Divine. But there cannot be a
father without a son; you cannot
'even think of the one without the
other. Eternal Fatherhood in God,
then, necessarily means also an
Eternal Sonshlp In Him. And is not
that the very way which St. John
teaches us so beautifully to think
of the" eternal pre-existence of
Jesus? "The only begotten Son who
Is in the bosom of the Father," he
says; that is, who is in God's nature
from all eternity. Both Fatherhood
and Sonship, therefore, were always
necessarily in God. This is the
eternal truth from which the very
idea of human fatherhood comes
and in which it is to find its own
highest ideal.
But, whichever way we read our
text, we instantly see that here w
have a great and inspiring idea; an
idea wnich links up an numan
fatherhood and so all family life, in
this world and the next, directly
with God the universal Father. In
deed, what I want to show you now
is that this simple, striking idea is
really the most central, the most
vital and the most helpful truth in
ail Christianity, i
to be so often overlaid and ob
scured by other ideas, even by
Christians themselves. They lost
their sense of proportion; they lost
their judgment of relative spiritual
values, even in what is written. Kt
Paul. for instance, even though he
still proclaimed this family, idea
here in our very text, yet he un
consciously changed the emphasis
and directed our attention far too
much from the human Jesus : our
brother to the glorif'ed Christ as
our lord and judge in heaven. The
Greek mind, with' its love of meta
physicSj must' needs occupy itself
overmuch with the mere mode of
God's existence within himself.
The Roman mind, w"ith its instincts
of law and order, substituted out
right 'n the Roman church,1 the idea
of a kingdom for that of the family.
The mediaeval schoolmen, reviving
Greek philosophy, tried to refine
and define everything, even 'the
mystical In the Lord's Supper, until
they turned , that into the material
and the miraculous. Lutheranism
could not let go the idea of law
even under,, the gospel; and so
preached justification instead of
reconciliation. Calvinism saw only
sovereignty instead of fatherhood j
in God. Anglicanism has always
been too much inclined to think of
the nation instead of the family in
its religious life. Evangelicanism
rightly emphasized personal re
ligion, but too often forgot the fet-
lowship of the whole; fuseyism
threw the emphasis back again-on
corporate religion, to be sure, but it
was in the life of the body rather
than that of the family.
Is it any wonder, then, that with
all these attempts to improve on
the simple Christianity of Jesus and
the gospels, we should so often be
distracted and bewildered, as to
what Christianity really la, and so
lose the Inspiration and comfort and
strength which that first simple
idea of it was meant to give us?
of our dying brother's love; the
pledge of his life not only given for
us but also given to us; and so the
symbol of what should be our obe
dience, as sons and our brotherly
love among ourselves. What is
Christian marriage but the earthly
symbol of that mystical union of
Christ with his . bride, the church?
And the church itself, what is that?
Not an insurance company, not a
saints' club, but : God's family on
earth, meant to be a real brother- ;
hood and so part of our divine feU ;
lowship here, even with those in
heaven. . :
Is it not plain "enough now
that, in Jesus and his simple grospel,:
this family idea was mant to run
all through Christianity and bind It
all together In such a simple, beau
tiful, perfect whole?
How men in all ages have strug
gled to get at the truth about God
and ourselves! The poor savage
thought he saw a separate god in
every -power of nature, in every
mountain, river or tree; and so he
made idols of them all as hideous
and bloodthirsty as himself.
The ancient classical religions
fairly peopled heaven with so-called
"gods"; but after all those were
only so many deified men '- and
women, with all our vices as well
as our virtues. True, great think
ers among those ancients at last
began to see the oneness oi ioa
and loved to think and speak of
Him as pure Light and Life aiid
Reason. But it was the Jews who
first rightly thought of God as the
One Supreme Being and Creator of
all things, even making man in His
own image. Afterward, to be sure,
the Jews long thought of God only
as their own Jewish tribal God, a
"Lord of Hosts" fighting their bat
tles for them, or else as a kind of
awful Oriental Sovereign in the
skies, writing His commandments on
tables of stone and punishing all
ignorance and disobedience with
almost relentless anger and cruelty.
Here and there, though, as time
-went on, there were traces in Jew
ish religious thought of another and
far worthier idea of God.. For in
stance, the prophet Malachi asks:
"Have we not all one father? Hath
not one God created us?" Tou see,
It was just a faint glimmer of this
same great thought of God as Fa
ther, and of Love as His true char
acter and so the rule of all our life
In Him and with one another.
So that when Jesus came, with His
God-given Spirit, it was just this
Idea, among all the religious ideas
of His people this idea of God's
Fatherhood on which He seized as
the real truth about God and then
gave to it all the force of a fresh
an full and final revelation from
God. All Christianity was to be
built up around this truth as its cen
ter. Christianity was to be a religion
of family life. Jesus would take
Just this most familiar thing in
daily human experience, the life of
the family, and idealize it and
spiritualize it and sanctify it and
glorify it as the, counterpart of all
life'in God himself, and so make
of it a religion for all men. -The
greatest inspiration in such a re
ligion would come from the very
simplicity of this central idea- in it.
Its greatest power would lie- in its
ttppeat 10 ail maL eseeiii uiuest. real
and most beautiful in life both in
men and in God. Never mind, for
the present, what other expounders
of Christianity have tried to make
of it. -But consider only Jesus' own
teaching in the simple gospels; and
you will see that here, in this ideal
ized family lift of God and his hu
man children, is the very heart of
Christianity. Indeed' the - final
revelation on this point was all
summed up in one great object
lesson, viz: the fact of the incar
nation. He, Jesus, the eternal son
of God, had come to earth and be
come also man, not only to tell us,
but also to show us in himself the
perfect son, what God the Father is
and what we, who also are his sons,
should be, too. The whole meaning
of our human life the one reason
why we are here on this earth at all
why God made us and made us in
his own image, is that, as his chil
dren, we should do our Heavenly
Father's will. That will has but
one law, the law of love; love and
obedience toward God above all and
love and service of our brother men
as much as ourselves. Here is our
Ideal family life as Christians.
Will you say that what Jesus
really preached was "the kingdom
of God" and not the family of God?
Well, then, remember how plainly
he taught us that they are Just
one and the same thing. For did he
not teach us to pray: "Our Father
in heaven, Thy kingdom come, Thy
will be done on earth as in
heaven?" But one of our own
American poets has caught and
fixed the same truth, too, very
beautifully, it seems to me.
'Thy kingdom come" Yea! bid it come!
But when Thy kingdom first begau
On earth. Thy kingdom was a home,
A child, a woman and a man.
What a tragedy it Is, then, that
this simple Ideal has tome at length
But now let us reverently test
this idea of family life and see how
it -works out In the different parts
and actual practice of Christianity
Take the theological side of
Christianity; take the doctrine- of
the trinity. We will not deny the
difficult idea and distinction of
'persons" in God as set- forth, for
nstance, in the Nicene creed; but
we will not concern ourselves over
much nowadays about It. We loyally
confess all that, as part of the
church's historic statement and de
fense of hr corporate faith. . But
in actual practice, In our own per
sonal religious life, who and what
else is God to us than just 'what
Jesus taught us to call him, that is,
"Our Father"; the giver of all life
and light and strength to our bodies
and our souls? ' Who arid what is
Jesus himself but a son, God's per
fect son, and. at the same time our
human brother, living for us and
dying for us, his erring brethren to
show us our Father's love and win
us back again to him. And who and
what is God the holy ghost? Noth
ing magical, nothing mysterious
(indeed, how I wish that that mis
leading and repellant word 'ghost"
never had been used here). But,
God thS holy spirit? Who and what
is he, but just what the creed calls
him, the spirit which proceeds from
the Father and the son, that is, the
spirit of a father and a son, that is,
the spirit of all true family life, the
spirit of love and obedience and
service?
Or take the ethical side of Chris
tianity, its system of morals, its
principles of right living. What is
its law of duty, as Jesus taught it?
Not a law of mere commandments
any longer ("thou shalt" and "thou
shalt not"); butv again the simpLe
law of family life, the law of love
making all commandments unneces
sary. For Jesus had but one rule of
life, for himself and for us, toward
God: "I always do," he said, "the
things which please my Father." And
for the rest, all he said was, "You
are all brothers"; that is, go and do
the .actual deeds of brotherliness
among yourselves. What is sin in
Jesus' eyes? Not a law broken, not
justice violated, no such! abstract
unreal thing as that: but rather an
intensely personal thing. Sin is a
son's disobedience to a holy father's
consequent pain (not anger). And
forgiveness? This, too, is another
personal act. It is the father's in
stant reconciliation with his peni
tent ' and returning prodigal " son.
And heaven? Just "my father's
house". Jesus called it. And hell?
Just the refusal and so the loss of
all that family joy and blessedness.
Or, once more, take the institu
tional side of Christianity. ' What is
baptism, but just a new spiritual
birth into God's family? Or confir
mation but just a father's blessing?
Or the holy communion but just a
family meal; the Lord's supper; the
celebration of a son's utterly self
sacrificing obedience; the memorial
Just two or three other thoughts
in conclusion: . : !
Do not fail to see the greatness of
thsi ' truth in its very simplicity.
Once,- you will remember, after
Jesus- had sent out the 70 to test
this simple gospel and they had
come back rejoicing over their suc
cess, he was lifted up in the spirit
and said: "I thank thee, O Father,
that thou didst hide these things
from the wise and understanding
and didst reveal then! unto babes."
For ages, before Christ and since, as
we have seen, men have tried to
solve all the mysteries of truth and
life in God by their own wisdom,
and failed; failed just because they
never thought, or would not believe,
that the solution lay in anything so
simple and familiar as this family
idea. But every little child in
stantly understands such a religion,
and loves to. For the very first
word it learns to speak, the world
over, is "father"; its very first word
of prayer Is "Our Father, who art
in heaven." So with all of us, when
we are ready to give over our own
wisdom and self-sufficiency and
"become," as Jesus said, "like little
children," we find that the whole
necessary truth about God, the
whole meaning of our human life,
lies right here in this family ' ideal.
It Is this very simplicity which
makes the greatness of Christianity
and fits it to become a universal re
ligion, a religion for all men.
Next, always remember that this
simple Christianity of Jesus is a
good enough religion to live by and
also to die by. Your growing
Christian experience will teach you
this. All the elaborate apparatus of
salvation of which some Christians
are so proud and so fond and all
the subtleties and mystifications
about Christianity which tou used
to think so important will seem
less and less so to you as they cer
tainly do to God. Jesus' one simple
law of duty is guide enough' for our
daily life. We have an understand
ing and merciful father and an. af
fectionate and sympathizing brother
to be our example and comfort and
help in all our earthly trials. We
have what was meant to bo a true
family fellowship in the church. And
at the earthly end it will be enougn,
will it not, just to fall asleep, con
fidently and peacefully, in the
bosom of our heavly father and his
eternal love.
And, then, lastly: Try, from the
very start, to keep this religious
family ideal alive in your own ac
tual home life. It will be hard to
make much of It in your religious
life if its beauty and power are
being constantly mutilated and
denied in the spirit of your home
life. Ask yourselves, you Christian
fathers, how faithful or unfaithful
you have been, both by : teaching
and example, in inculcating in --our
children's minds this same religious
ideal, this Christian family iife of
love and reverence and obedience
and service, both in heaven and on
earth.
And you young people, do yoa
gladly respond to all this? Or, on
the other hand, do you not see what
danger there is that, in your
thoughtlessness and selfishness,
you, on your part, may ".-a drifting
far away from this right spirit of
children in your home life? Do
you not se that, in spite of -your
wilfulness and false spirit of in
dependence, there are still family
ties and home obligations which,
both in God's sight and your own,
must forever rest upon you? But,
unhappily, there are too many fam
ilies where the only Ideal is that
of parental sovereignty and a hard
law of commandments, to be en
forced by blows.- Oh, how far away
this Is from that true fatherhood
and true sonship which carry with
them, all througn life, tha joy and
blessedness of a happy comrade
ship and a real brotherliness. But
if you want to see and have your
children see, how beautiful such a
Christian family life can be, get and
read "President Roosevelt's Letters
to His ' Children." I wish the book
could be In every home in the land.
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LIVELY SCENES PRESENTED
BY GREAT MOSLEM FEAST
Harvesting of Crops On in Palestine and Syria: Prototypes of
Ruth arid Naomi Seen in Every Field. -. - ' 1
JERUSALEM. Sept. 9. Thl, is
the. great, Moslem feast " of
c-r Bairam, and Palestine and
Syria present scenes of unusual
gaiety and animation. The two
countries are really one. Only the
artificial division to suit the ideas
of British and French mandates
make them two. The people are the
same. Aleppo, by the extraordinary
French , agreement with Mustapha
Kemal of . Angora, is now deprived
of all its hinterland and all Its
trade, and it must either die or be
returned to the Turk again.
The crops , are being reaped, the
barley cut, and the fields are re
splendent with flowers. One can see
prototypes of Ruth and Naomi in
every field, cutting the corn with
the sickle and gleaning afterward
as they did in Biblical times, on the
southern slopes of Bethlehem. This
scene probably has been painted a
hundred times by American and
European- artists, but they have
never got it quite right. For the
women of the East squat on their
heels to reap, using the left hand
to hold the sheaf and the right to
use the sickle. In pictures Ruth is
always shown as gracefully bend
ing, but no Arab ever bends. In the
east no one ever walks where he
can ride, or stands where he may
sit, or sits where he can lie down.
This is the land of true repose.
The Arab custom is to have three
great blocks of arable land, and to
cultivate them, one every third
year, leaving the other two great
fields lying fallow. They use the
same primitive methods of cultiva
tion as of old; a camel yoked with
a donkey to pull the wooden plow,
and the sickle as the only Instru
ment of husbandry.
Jerusalem is a perfect kaleido
scope of color. Jews with long side
curls and brightly colored robes,
not yet accustomed to their new-
I found liberty, slink along the pave
1 ment with downcast-' eve: young.
bold, self-assertive Zionist Jews in
white shirts open at the throat;
Russians in white blouses; defiant,
contemptuous Arabs, with their
flowing white headdresses; Moslem
women shrouded in black veils, and
PasFing. them the modern young
women of Jerusalem in cheap silk
stockings and high-heeled shoes.
Up and down the street the pic
turesque Palestine . Gendarmerie
ride upon their gray Arab ponies,
or talk to the town police, In khaki
and black astrakhan fez. It would
be hard to find such a strange mix
ture of races even on. the east side
of New York. The sober British
infantry or garrison artillery, smart
and alert, take up, position along
the Jaffa . road to see the pretty
girls go by. As usual Tommy Atkins
is quite inconspicuous, and it is dif
ficult to believe that he . alone
allows all these warring races and
creeds to meet and pass in peace.
He keeps the peace in all the near
east now. Were it not for him,
many lives would be in- danger.
Not far distant from the ancient
capital is a different Dicture. In
the fields of Beersheba, Gaza and
tne Mount or Olives the traveler
sees 10,000 crosses marking the
graves of the British soldier dead,
to whom the subject races of the
Holy Land owe their redemption.
Tangelo Is New Fruit.
Scientific American.
The department of agriculture is
turning its attention to the angelo,
a cross between the orange, tan
gerine and grapefruit that in ap
pearance resembles a round orange.
There are two varieties, the Samp
son and the Thornton; the latter, is
less acid than the former, but both
are delicious in flavor, while the
Thornton exhibits little tendency i
to squirt when the spoon is inserted!
:
Poster Beds
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Two distinct patterns are of
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Things You'll Need for
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There is always something in our big Ju
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No Interest
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$44.50 is the usual price. A
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This Five-Piece Breakfast Set
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fin f I'mt lV, jrhr
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No Interest
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