It is spirit that gives significance to matter and apart from spirit nothing has any value at last. A little child strays from a party of sightseers and becomes lost on a mountain, and immediately the whole mental perspective of the members of the party is changed. Rapt admiration for the grandeur of nature gives way to acute distress for the lost child. The group spreads out over the mountainside anxiously calling the child"s name and searching eagerly into every secluded spot where the little one might chance to be hidden.
What brought about this sudden change? The tree-clad mountain is still there towering into the clouds in breath-taking beauty, but no one notices it now. All attention is focused upon the search for a curly-haired little girl not yet two years old and weighing less than thirty pounds. Though so new and so small, she is more precious to parents and friends than all the huge bulk of the vast and ancient mountain they had been admiring a few minutes before. And in their judgment the whole civilized world concurs, for the little girl can love and laugh and speak and pray, and the mountain cannot. It is the child"s quality of being that gives it worth.
Yet we must not compare the being of G.o.d with any other as we just now compared the mountain with the child. We must not think of G.o.d as highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to angel to cherub to G.o.d. This would be to grant G.o.d eminence, even pre-eminence, but that is not enough; we must grant Him transcendence in the fullest meaning of that word.
Forever G.o.d stands apart, in light unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between G.o.d and the archangel is infinite. The caterpillar and the archangel, though far removed from each other in the scale of created things, are nevertheless one in that they are alike created. They both belong in the category of that-which-is-not-G.o.d and are separated from G.o.d by infinitude itself.
Reticence and compulsion forever contend within the heart that would speak of G.o.d.
How shall polluted mortals dare To sing Thy glory or Thy grace?
Beneath Thy feet we lie afar, And see but shadows of Thy face.
Isaac Watts Yet we console ourselves with the knowledge that it is G.o.d Himself who puts it in our hearts to seek Him and makes it possible in some measure to know Him, and He is pleased with even the feeblest effort to make Him known.
If some watcher or holy one who has spent his glad centuries by the sea of fire were to come to earth, how meaningless to him would be the ceaseless chatter of the busy tribes of men. How strange to him and how empty would sound the, flat, stale and profitless words heard in the average pulpit from week to week.
And were such a one to speak on earth would he not speak of G.o.d? Would he not charm and fascinate his hearers with rapturous descriptions of the G.o.dhead? And after hearing him could we ever again consent to listen to anything less than theology, the doctrine of G.o.d? Would we not thereafter demand of those who would presume to teach us that they speak to us from the mount of divine vision or remain silent altogether?
When the psalmist saw the transgression of the wicked his heart told him how it could be. "There is no fear of G.o.d before his eyes," he explained, and in so saying revealed to us the psychology of sin. When men no longer fear G.o.d, they transgress His laws without hesitation. The fear of consequences is not deterrent when the fear of G.o.d is gone.
In olden days men of faith were said to "walk in the fear of G.o.d" and to "serve the Lord with fear." However intimate their communion with G.o.d, however bold their prayers, at the base of their religious life was the conception of G.o.d as awesome and dreadful. This idea of G.o.d transcendent rims through the whole Bible and gives color and tone to the character of the saints. This fear of G.o.d was more than a natural apprehension of danger; it was a nonrational dread, an acute feeling of personal insufficiency in the presence of G.o.d the Almighty.
Wherever G.o.d appeared to men in Bible times the results were the same - an overwhelming sense of terror and dismay, a wrenching sensation of sinfulness and guilt. When G.o.d spoke, Abram stretched himself upon the ground to listen. When Moses saw the Lord in the burning bush, he hid his face in fear to look upon G.o.d. Isaiah"s vision of G.o.d wrung from him the cry, "Woe is me!" and the confession, "I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips."
Daniel"s encounter with G.o.d was probably the most dreadful and wonderful of them all. The prophet lifted up his eyes and saw One whose "body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished bra.s.s, and the voice of his words like the voice of a mult.i.tude." "I Daniel alone saw the vision" he afterwards wrote, "for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground."
These experiences show that a vision of the divine transcendence soon ends all controversy between the man and his G.o.d. The fight goes out of the man and he is ready with the conquered Saul to ask meekly, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
Conversely, the self-a.s.surance of modern Christians, the basic levity present in so many of our religious gatherings, the shocking disrespect shown for the Person of G.o.d, are evidence enough of deep blindness of heart.
Many call themselves by the name of Christ, talk much about G.o.d, and pray to Him sometimes, but evidently do not know who He is. "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life," but this healing fear is today hardly found among Christian men.
Once in conversation with his friend Eckermann, the poet Goethe turned to thoughts of religion and spoke of the abuse of the divine name. "People treat it," he said, "as if that incomprehensible and most high Being, who is even beyond the reach of thought, were only their equal. Otherwise they would not say the Lord G.o.d, the dear G.o.d, the good G.o.d." This expression becomes to them, especially to the clergy, who have it daily in their mouths, a mere phrase, a barren name, to which no thought whatever is attached. If they were impressed by His greatness they would be dumb, and through veneration unwilling to name Him.
Lord of all being, throned afar, They glory flames from sun and star; Center and soul of every sphere, Yet to each loving heart how near!
Lord of all life, below, above, Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love, Before Thy ever-blazing throne We ask no l.u.s.ter of our own.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Chapter 14.
G.o.d"s Omnipresence Our Father, we know that Thou art present with us, but our knowledge is but a figure and shadow of truth and has little of the spiritual savor and inward sweetness such knowledge should afford. This is for us a great loss and the cause of much weakness of heart. Help us to make at once such amendment of life as is necessary before we can experience the true meaning of the words "In thy presence is fulness of joy." Amen.
The word present, of course, means here, close to, next to, and the prefix omni gives it universality. G.o.d is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone.
Few other truths are taught in the Scriptures with as great clarity as the doctrine of the divine omnipresence. Those pa.s.sages supporting this truth are so plain that it would take considerable effort to misunderstand them. They declare that G.o.d is immanent in His creation, that there is no place in heaven or earth or h.e.l.l where men may hide from His presence. They teach that G.o.d is at once far off and near, and that in Him men move and live and have their being. And what is equally convincing is that they everywhere compel us to a.s.sume that G.o.d is omnipresent to account for other facts they tell us about Him.
For instance, the Scriptures teach that G.o.d is infinite. This means that His being knows no limits. Therefore there can be no limit to His presence; He is omnipresent. In His infinitude He surrounds the finite creation and contains it. There is no place beyond Him for anything to be. G.o.d is our environment as the sea is to the fish and the air to the bird. "G.o.d is over all things," wrote Hildebert of Lavardin, "under all things; outside all; within but not enclosed; without but not excluded; above but not raised up; below but not depressed; wholly above, presiding; wholly beneath, sustaining; wholly within, filling."
The belief that G.o.d is present within His universe cannot be held in isolation. It has practical implications in many areas of theological thought and bears directly upon certain religions problems, such, for instance, as the nature of the world. Thinking men of almost every age and culture have been concerned with the question of what kind of world this is. Is it a material world running by itself, or is it spiritual and run by unseen powers? Does this interlocking system explain itself or does its secret lie in mystery? Does the stream of existence begin and end in itself? Or is its source higher up and farther back in the hills?
Christian theology claims to have the answer to these questions. It does not speculate nor offer an opinion but presents its "Thus saith the Lord" as its authority. It declares positively that the world is spiritual: it originated in spirit, flows out of spirit, is spiritual in essence, and is meaningless apart from the Spirit that inhabits it.
The doctrine of the divine omnipresence personalizes man"s relation to the universe in which he finds himself. This great central truth gives meaning to all truths and imparts supreme value to all his little life. G.o.d is present, near him, next to him, and this G.o.d sees him and knows him through and thorough.
At this point faith begins, and while it may go on to include a thousand other wonderful truths, these all refer back to the truth that G.o.d is and G.o.d is here. "He that cometh to G.o.d", says the Book of Hebrews, "must believe that he is" And Christ Himself said, "Ye believe in G.o.d, Believe also..." What ever "also" may be added to the elementary belief in G.o.d is superstructure, and regardless of the heights to which it may rise, it continues to rest solidly upon the original foundation.
The teachings of the New Testament is that G.o.d created the world by the Logos, the Word, and the Word is identified with the second person of the G.o.dhead who was present in the world even before He became incarnate in human nature. The Word made all things and remained in His creation to uphold and sustain it and be at the same time a moral light enabling every man to distinguish good from evil. The universe operates as an orderly system, not by impersonal laws but by the creative voice of the immanent and universal Presence, the Logos.
Canon W. G. Holmes of India told of seeing Hindu worshipers tapping on trees and stones and whispering "Are you there? Are you there?" to the G.o.d they hoped might reside within. In complete humility the instructed Christian brings the answer to that question. G.o.d is indeed there. He is there as He is here and everywhere, not confined to tree or stone, but free in the universe, near to everything, next to everyone, and through Jesus Christ immediately accessible to every loving heart. The doctrine of the divine omnipresence decides this forever.
This truth is to the convinced Christian a source of deep comfort in sorrow and of steadfast a.s.surance in all the varied experiences of his life. To him "the practice of the presence of G.o.d" consists not of protecting an imaginary object from within his own mind and then seeking to realize its presence; it is rather to recognize the real presence of the One whom all sound theology declares to be already there, an objective ent.i.ty, existing apart from any apprehension of Him on the part of His creatures. The resultant experience is not visionary but real.
The certainty that G.o.d is always near us, present in all parts of His world, closer to us than our thoughts, should maintain us in a state of high moral happiness most of the time. But not all the time. It would be less than honest to promise every believer continual jubilee and less than realistic to expect it. As a child may cry out in pain even when sheltered in its mother"s arms, so a Christian may sometimes know what it is to suffer even in the conscious presence of G.o.d. Though "alway rejoicing," Paul admitted that he was sometimes sorrowful, and for our sakes Christ experienced strong crying and tears though He never left the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).
But all will be well. In a world like this tears have their therapeutic effects. The healing balm distilled from the garments of the enfolding Presence cures our ills before they become fatal. The knowledge that we are never alone calms the troubled sea of our lives and speaks peace to our souls.
That G.o.d is here both Scripture and reason declare. It remains only for us to learn to realize this in conscious experience. A sentence from a letter by Dr. Allen Fleece sums up the testimony of many others: "The knowledge that G.o.d is present is blessed, but to feel His presence is nothing less than sheer happiness."
G.o.d reveals His presence: Let us now adore Him, And with awe appear before Him.
Him alone, G.o.d we own; He"s our Lord and Savour, Praise His name forever.
G.o.d Himself is with us: Whom the angelic legions Serve with awe in heavenly regions.
Gerhard Tersteegen
Chapter 15.
The Faithfulness of G.o.d It is a good thing to give thanks unto Thee and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High, to show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night. As Thy Son while on earth was loyal to Thee, His Heavenly Father, so now in heaven He is faithful to us, His earthly brethren; and in this knowledge we press on with every confident hope for all the years and centuries yet to come. Amen.
As emphasized earlier, G.o.d"s attributes are not isolated traits of His character but facets of His unitary being. They are not things-in-themselves; they are, rather, thoughts by which we think of G.o.d aspects of a perfect whole, names given to whatever we know to be true of the G.o.dhead.
To have a correct understanding of the attributes it is necessary that we see them all as one. We can think of them separately but they cannot be separated. "All attributes a.s.signed to G.o.d cannot differ in reality, by reason of the perfect simplicity of G.o.d, although we in divers ways use of G.o.d divers words," says Nicholas of Cusa. "Whence, although we attribute to G.o.d sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, sense, reason and intellect, and so forth, according to the divers significations of each word, yet in Him sight is not other than hearing, or tasting, or smelling, or touching, or feeling, or understanding. And so all theology is said to be stablished in a circle, because any one of His attributes is affirmed of another."
In studying any attribute, the essential oneness of all the attributes soon becomes apparent. We see, for instance, that if G.o.d is self-existent He must be also self-sufficient; and if He has power He, being infinite, must have all power. If He possesses knowledge, His infinitude a.s.sures us that He possesses all knowledge. Similarly, His immutability presuppose His faithfulness. If He is unchanging, it follows that He could not be unfaithful, since that would require Him to change.
Any failure within the divine character would argue imperfection and, since G.o.d is perfect, it could not occur. Thus the attributes explain each other and prove that they are but glimpes the mind enjoys of the absolutely perfect G.o.dhead.
All of G.o.d"s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. No attribute contradicts the other, but all harmonize and blend into each other in the infinite abyss of the G.o.dhead. All that G.o.d does agrees with all that G.o.d is and being and doing are one in Him.
The familiar picture of G.o.d as often torn between His justice and His mercy is altogether false to the facts. To think of G.o.d as inclining first toward one and then toward another of His attributes is to imagine a G.o.d who is unsure of Himself, frustrated and emotionally unstable, which of course is to say that the one of whom we are thinking is not the true G.o.d at all but a weak, mental reflection of Him badly out of focus.
G.o.d being who He is, cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is, He cannot act out of character with Himself. He is at once faithful and immutable, so all His words and acts must be and remain faithful. Men become unfaithful out of desire, fear, weakness, loss of interest, or because of some strong influence from without. Obviously none of these forces can affect G.o.d in any way. He is His own reason for all He is and does. He cannot be compelled from without, but ever speaks and acts from within Himself by His own sovereign will as it pleases Him.
I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about G.o.d things that are not true, or from overemphasizing certain true things so as to obscure other things equally true. To magnify any attribute to the exclusion of another is to head straight for one of the dismal swamps of theology; and yet we are all constantly tempted to do just that.
For instance, the Bible teaches that G.o.d is love, some have interpreted this in such a way as virtually to deny that He is just, which the Bible also teaches. Other press the Biblical doctrine of G.o.d"s goodness so far that it is made to contradict his holiness. Or they make His compa.s.sion cancel out His truth. Still others understand the sovereignty of G.o.d in a way that destroys or at least greatly diminishes His goodness and love.
We can hold a correct view of truth only by daring to believe everything G.o.d has said about Himself. It is a grave responsibility that a man takes upon himself when he seeks to edit out of G.o.d"s self-revelation such features as he in his ignorance deems objectionable. Blindness in part must surely fall upon any of us presumptuous enough to attempt such a thing. And it is wholly uncalled for. We need not fear to let the truth stand as it is written. There is no conflict among the divine attributes. G.o.d"s being is unitary. He cannot divide Himself and act at a given time from one of His attributes while the rest remain inactive. All that G.o.d is must accord with all that G.o.d does. Justice must be present in mercy, and love in judgment. And so with all the divine attributes.
The faithfulness of G.o.d is a datum of sound theology but to the believer it becomes far more than that: it pa.s.ses through the processes of the understanding and goes on to become nourishing food for the soul. For the Scriptures not only teach truth, they show also its uses for mankind.
The inspired writers were men of like pa.s.sion with us, dwelling in the midst of life. What they learned about G.o.d became to them a sword, a shield, a hammer; it became their life motivation, their good hope, and their confident expectation. From the objective facts of theology their hearts made how many thousand joyous deductions and personal applications! The Book of Psalms rings with glad thanksgiving for the faithfulness of G.o.d. The New Testament takes up the theme and celebrates the loyalty of G.o.d the Father and His Son Jesus Christ who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; and in the Apocalypse Christ is seen astride a white horse riding toward His triumph, and the names He bears are Faithful and True.
Christian song, too, celebrates the attributes of G.o.d, and among them the divine faithfulness. In our hymnody, at its best, the attributes become the wellspring from which flow rivers of joyous melody. Some old hymnbooks may yet be found in which the hymns have no names; a line in italics above each one indicates theme, and the worshiping heart cannot but rejoice in what it finds: "G.o.d"s glorious perfections celebrated." "Wisdom, Majesty and goodness." "Omniscience." "Omnipotence and immutability." "Glory, mercy and grace." These are few samples taken from a hymnbook published 1849, but everyone familiar with Christian hymnody knows that the stream of sacred song takes its rise far back in the early years of the Church"s existence. From the beginning belief in the perfection of G.o.d brought sweet a.s.surance to believing men and taught the ages to sing.
Upon G.o.d"s faithfulness rests our whole hope of future blessedness. Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand and His promises be honoured. Only as we have complete a.s.surance that He is faithful may we live in peace and look forward with a.s.surance to the life to come.
Every heart can make its own application of this and draw from it such conclusions as the truth suggests and its own needs bring into focus. The tempted, the anxious, the fearful, the discouraged may all find new hope and good cheer in the knowledge that out Heavenly Father is faithful. He will ever be true to His pledged word. The hard-pressed sons of the covenant may be sure that He will never remove His loving-kindness from them nor suffer His faithfulness to fail.
Happy the man whose hopes rely On Israel"s G.o.d; He made the sky, And earth and seas, with all their train; His truth forever stands secure; He saves the oppressed, He feeds the poor, And none shall find His promises vain.
Isaac Watts
Chapter 16.
The Goodness of G.o.d Do good in Thy good pleasure unto us, O Lord. Act toward us not as we deserve but as it becomes Thee, being the G.o.d Thou art. So shall we have nothing to fear in this world or in that which is to come. Amen.
The word good means so many things to so many persons that this brief study of the divine goodness begins with a definition. The meaning may be arrived at only by the use of a number of synonyms, going out from and returning by different paths to the same place.
When Christian theology says that G.o.d is good, it is not the same as saying that He is righteous or holy. The holiness of G.o.d is trumpeted from the heavens and re-echoed on earth by saints and sages wherever G.o.d has revealed Himself to men; however, we are not at this time considering His holiness but His goodness, which is quite another thing.
The goodness of G.o.d is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing att.i.tude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.
That G.o.d is good is taught or implied on every page of the Bible and must be received as an article of faith as impregnable as the throne of G.o.d. It is a foundation stone for all sound thought about G.o.d and is necessary to moral sanity. To allow that G.o.d could be other than good is to deny the validity of all thought and end ill the negation of every moral judgment. If G.o.d is not good, then there can be no distinction between kindness and cruelty, and heaven can be h.e.l.l and h.e.l.l, heaven.
The goodness of G.o.d is the drive behind all the blessings He daily bestows upon us. G.o.d created us because He felt good in His heart and He redeemed us for the same reason.
Julian of Norwich, who lived six hundred years ago, saw clearly that the ground of all blessedness is the goodness of G.o.d. Chapter six of her incredibly beautiful and perceptive little cla.s.sic, Revelations of Divine Love, begins, "This showing was made to learn our souls to cleave wisely to the goodness of G.o.d." Then she lists some of the mighty deeds G.o.d has wrought in our behalf, and after each one she adds "of His goodness."
She saw that all our religious activities and every means of grace, however right and useful they may be, are nothing until we understand that the unmerited, spontaneous goodness of G.o.d is back of all arid underneath all His acts.
Divine goodness, as one of G.o.d"s attributes, is self-caused, infinite, perfect, and eternal. Since G.o.d is immutable He never varies in the intensity of His loving-kindness. He has never been kinder than He now is, nor will He ever be less kind. He is no respecter of persons but makes His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. The cause of His goodness is in Himself, the recipients of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense.
With this agrees reason, and the moral wisdom that knows itself runs to acknowledge that there can be no merit in human conduct, not even in the purest and the best. Always G.o.d"s goodness is the ground of our expectation. Repentance, though necessary, is not meritorious but a condition for receiving the gracious gift of pardon which G.o.d gives of His goodness.
Prayer is not itself meritorious. It lays G.o.d under no obligation nor puts Him in debt to any. He hears prayer because He is good, and for no other reason. Nor is faith meritorious; it is simply confidence in the goodness of G.o.d, and the lack of it is a reflection upon G.o.d"s holy character.
The whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the G.o.d of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty is eager to be friends with us.
But sin has made us timid and self-conscious, as well it might. Years of rebellion against G.o.d have bred in us, a fear that cannot be overcome in a day. The captured rebel does not enter willingly the presence of the king he has so long fought unsuccessfully to overthrow. But if he is truly penitent he may come, trusting only n the loving-kindness of his Lord, and the past will not be held against him. Meister Eckhart encourages us to remember that, when we return to G.o.d, even if our sins were as great in number as all mankind"s put together, still G.o.d would not count them against us, but would have as much confidence in us as if we had never sinned.
Now someone who in spite of his past sins honestly wants to become reconciled to G.o.d may cautiously inquire, "If I come to G.o.d, how will He act toward me? What kind of disposition has He? What will I find Him to be like?" The answer is that He will be found to be exactly like Jesus. "He that hath seen me," said Jesus, "bath seen the Father."
Christ walked with men on earth that He might show them what G.o.d is like and make known the true nature of G.o.d to a race that had wrong ideas about Him. This was only one of the things He did while here in the flesh, but this He did with beautiful perfection. From Him we learn how G.o.d acts toward people. The hypocritical, the basically insincere, will find Him cold and aloof, as they once found Jesus; but the penitent will find Him merciful; the self-condemned will find Him generous and kind. To the frightened He is friendly, to the poor in spirit He is forgiving, to the ignorant, considerate; to the weak, gentle; to the stranger, hospitable.
By our own att.i.tudes we may determine our reception by Him. Though the kindness of G.o.d is an infinite, overflowing fountain of cordiality, G.o.d will not force His attention upon us. If we would be welcomed as the Prodigal was, we must come as the Prodigal came; and when we so come, even though the Pharisees and the legalists sulk without, there will be a feast of welcome within, and music and dancing as the Father takes His child again to His heart. The greatness of G.o.d rouses fear within us, but His goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid - that is the paradox of faith.
O G.o.d, my hope, my heavenly rest, My all of happiness below, Grant my importunate request, To me, to me, Thy goodness show; Thy beatific face display, The brightness of eternal day.
Before my faith"s enlightened eyes, Make all Thy gracious goodness pa.s.s; Thy goodness is the sight I prize: might I see Thy smiling face: They nature in my soul proclaim, Reveal Thy love, Thy glorious name.
Charles Wesley
Chapter 17.
The Justice of G.o.d Our Father, we love Thee for Thy justice. We acknowledge that Thy judgments are true and righteous altogether. Thy justice upholds the order of the universe and guarantees the safety of all who put their trust in Thee. We live because Thou art just - and merciful. Holy, holy, holy, Lord G.o.d Almighty, righteous in all Thy ways and holy in all Thy works. Amen.
In the inspired Scriptures justice and righteousness are scarcely to be distinguished from each other. The same word in the original becomes in English justice or righteousness, almost, one would suspect, at the whim of the translator.
The Old Testament a.s.serts G.o.d"s justice in language clear and full, and as beautiful as may be found anywhere in the literature of mankind. When the destruction of Sodom was announced, Abraham interceded for the righteous within the city, reminding G.o.d that he knew He would act like Himself in the human emergency. "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
The concept of G.o.d held by the psalmists and prophets of Israel was that of an all-powerful ruler, high and lifted up, reigning in equity. "Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." Of the long-awaited Messiah it was prophesied that when He came He should judge the people with righteousness and the poor with judgment.
Holy men of tender compa.s.sion, outraged by the inequity of the world"s rulers, prayed, "O Lord G.o.d, to whom vengeance belongeth; a G.o.d, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?" And this is to be understood not as a plea for personal vengeance but as a longing to see moral equity prevail in human society.
Such men as David and Daniel acknowledged their own unrighteousness in contrast to the righteousness of G.o.d, and as result their penitential prayers gained great power and effectiveness. "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces." And when the long-withheld judgment of G.o.d begins to fall upon the world, John sees the victorious saints standing upon a sea of gla.s.s mingled with fire. In their hands they hold harps of G.o.d; the song they sing is the song of Moses and the Lamb, and the theme of their song is the divine justice.
"Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord G.o.d Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou alone art holy: for all nations I shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest."
Justice embodies the idea of moral equity, and iniquity is the exact opposite; it is inequity, the absence of equality from human thoughts and acts. Judgment is the application of equity to moral situations and may be favorable or unfavorable according to whether the one under examination has been equitable or in-equitable in heart and conduct.