son, He; second, thou; third, I." "He," means God, the first person in the first place; "thou," my fellow man; and "I," myself, comes last.
(1232)
GOD, FULNESS OF
The Scandinavian mythology tells of a
mortal who attempted to drain a goblet of
the gods. The more he drank, however, the
more there was to drink. His amazement
grew, until he found that the goblet was
invisibly connected with the sea, and that
to empty it he must drink the ocean dry.
So the soul may drink of God's life
forever without exhausting or diminishing
the supply.
(1233)
GOD, GREATNESS AND SMALLNESS OF
Collins, the infidel, met a plain countryman
going to church. He asked him where
he was going. "To church, sir." "What
to do there?" "To worship God." "Pray,
is your God a great or a little God?" "He
is both, sir." "How can He be both?" "He
is so great, sir, that the heaven of heavens
can not contain Him, and so little that he
can dwell in my heart."
Collins declared that this simple answer of the countryman had more effect upon his mind than all the volumes the learned doctors had written against him. (Text.)
(1234)
God Help Us All—See Forbearance.
GOD, IDEAS OF
The Indian's god falls in his estimation
as he himself declines. When confronted
by a people greater than themselves, the
Indians were easily convinced that their
deity also must be greater. We find similar
ideas among all uncivilized and semicivilized
peoples; when the people show great power
it is evidence that their god is a powerful
one. Thus Israel felt assured that Jehovah,
or Yahveh, was greater than the gods of
other people, because His people had conquered
others under His banner.
(1235)
GOD, IMMANENCE OF
The works of God, above, below,
Within us and around,
Are pages in that Book to show
How God Himself is found.
Thou who hast given me eyes to see
And love this sight so fair,
Give me a heart to find out Thee
And read Thee everywhere.
—Keble. (Text.)
(1236)
GOD IN A HUMAN LIFE
Mrs. Burnett has written a sweet and
powerful story that turns around an old
woman in a London slum. She had not
lived a good life, and, in her wicked old age,
lying on a hospital cot, some visitor had
told her the gospel story. She simply believed
it; no more than that. One who saw
her afterward, at a time of dire need, says:
"Her poor little misspent life has changed
itself into a shining thing, tho it shines and
glows only in this hideous place. She believes
that her Deity is in Apple Blossom
Court—in the dire holes its people live in,
on the broken stairway, in every nook and
cranny of it—a great glory we would not
see—only waiting to be called and to answer.
—James M. Stifler, "The Fighting Saint."
(1237)
GOD IN ALL CHANGES
I went back to the little town where I was
born. I saw the friends of my childhood,
and later I went out to God's acre. There
stood the little schoolhouse, and the old
academy. The great oak-trees swayed above
the house where I was born. The little brook
still rippled over the stones; once more the
fruit was ripe in the orchard and the nuts
brown in the forest trees; again the shouts
of the old companions were heard on the
hillside and the laughter of the skaters filled
the air; and yet all was changed. Gone the
old minister, who baptized me! Gone the
old professors and teachers who taught us.
In the little graveyard slept the fathers.
The stars shone over the mounds, the graves
were silent, but God was over all. And all
is well. For our times have been in God's
hands.—N. D. Hillis.
(1238)
God in Creation—See Creation, Joy in.
GOD INDWELLING
The late Maltbie D. Babcock is the author of these verses:
No distant Lord have I,
Loving afar to be;
Made flesh for me, He can not rest
Until He rests in me.
