GOD IS THE KING OF ALL THE EARTH.

BY REV. JOHN T. OXTOBY, D. D.,*

Pastor First Presbyterian Church, Ionia, Mich.

Text: "God is the King of all the Earth." Ps. 17:7.

That God rules in the heavens, all who believe in the heavens will readily concede. But that God is the "King of all the Earth," some have dared to deny.

How magnificent is that idea of the government of God as revealed in the Bible! Think of it, as it is whispered that God pervades all things with his presence, inspecting, every moment, each and every portion, upholding all things by the word of his power. God's will orders each element wisely to do its function, -his goodness develops each atom lovingly and tenderly; his thought, not mere intellectuality nor play of the fancy, is power, tingling in the vine-roots and in the depths of the sea, as well as in the movements of the human mind! His actions, though a million times more

* A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, graduated with honor at Washington College, 1864, and at Allegheny Seminary in 1867; pastor at Petroleum Centre, Pa., 1867-70; married, June 9, 1868, to Miss Mary E. Veech, daughter of Hon. James Veech, L. L. D., of Pittsburgh, Pa.; pastor, North East, Pa., 1870–79; Saginaw, Mich., 1880-91; Ionia, Nov., 1891, to the present; was permanent clerk of Synod of Erie, also stated clerk Presbytery of Saginaw; moderator of Synod of Michigan, 1887; member of several general assemblies; visited Europe in 1883 and in 1896, at which latter date he represented Michigan as a member of the Pan Presbyterian Council at Glasgow, Scotland.

rapid than the motions of the light, are yet never confused; unwearied throughout all eternity, he is the "King of the Earth," as well as of the heavens.

Strange it seems that men once having attained such an idea should be disposed to let go of it. We would think that when the government of God is so clearly revealed, it would be a matter of rejoicing, as it not only explains the problems of life, but also brings harmony to the soul of man. There not only is truth and beauty, but joy as well, in the idea, "God is the King of all the Earth."

Whenever we fall into doubt, and imagine that this world is exclusively in the hands of men, we lose the only rudder by which we may guide the vessel. We then let go the only line which anchors us to the throne of God; we cut the link between the divine and the human; we are divorced from the natural relation of God as a sovereign, and of men as the developers of his plans. Strike out the idea that "God is over all," and we are victims of despair. If we believe that there is no God presiding over the affairs of men, we are ripe for revolution, for riot, disaster and darkness.

We sometimes smile at the theories of men, forgetting that men are shaped and colored by theories. Thackeray was surprised in America, to see how the humblest came in contact with the mightiest; the plainest husbandman was not terrified when he shook hands with the President; the lowliest was not affrighted when he was introduced to the great literary man. Why? Because we are brought up under the theory that "all men are equal," politically, that there is no station to which the American may not look forward, if he is fit for it.

So in morals, we are as the theories which we adopt. If we are led to believe that there is no God over all, it

affects not only the intellect, but the soul. It makes a difference not only in all the motives which impel us, but it colors differently all the life. If this land shall ever fall into the clutches of that form of thought, that God is not interested in us, then we may write "Ichabod" over her history.

Said a prominent business man: "If we fall into the hands of those who deny a personal God, God only can tell into what troubles we will fall." Is there any truer saying? Who can tell? Saturate the minds of the masses with the idea that no God is at the head of affairs, and what can we expect? If there be no God to whom we can look in hours of impatience, then we must resort to our fellow men alone; then the demagogue will be more to be feared than ever.

You have seen children playing with fire; what a good time they have! "Father was mistaken when he said this was dangerous;"-see the fun, as they light the matches, and the paper burns so brightly; "Those old fogies who said it was dangerous, we have had enough of them; let us have a good time while we may." But see! the carpet is on fire, the house is wrapped in flames;-call out the fire department! "Father was right after all," the children have seen many a time, in the ashes and ruins of a beautiful home.

Teach men that they may trifle with divine things; -that the Bible is a fiction;-that God is a myth; this is playing with that fire which may consume the fairest political and moral edifices which men have ever wrought.

It seems bold to sneer at the holiest thoughts, to hoot at all beliefs of the past, to brand believers in the Bible as fogies, to prate of liberty when they chiefly desire license.

I say this looks bold, but it is the boldness which

leads to demoralization. Rashness is often ruin. Remember that to disregard all the lessons of the past, is to fall in with that conceit which fits into the groove of this time, that the present is utterly cut loose from the past. Yet this sort of thinking is simply playing with fire in a more dangerous realm than the physical. As mind is more than matter, as soul is more valuable than body, so is the danger with trifling with moral sentiments more dangerous than any playing with fire by children.

In ancient mythology dragon's teeth were fabled to spring up armed men. But this is the truth of God: "They who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind." This is a law from which there is no escape: 66 As we sow so also shall we reap." Nations have proven its truth. France publicly declared that there was no personal God, enthroning reason as God, while the populace cheered with delight, imagining that the brighter era had dawned. But the Encyclopedists had only sown tares, and soon the nation reaped the awful harvest. That very populace which cheered so lustily was soon alarmed with the sights and sounds of an angry mob, while the guillotine slew the best of the land, and blood ran like water in the place called the "Place of Concord."

Trifle with scriptural truth, and ruin will stalk all over America. If this land shall let go her Sabbaths, her sanctuaries, what shall the harvest be? Dragon's teeth, moral, political death.

I am not now speaking of the future life. Of course none can picture the future of those who live without God. I am only trying to point out the lessons of the past as to the good of religion on earth.

There is no voice clearer-sounding than this, that when a nation falls into the hands of those who declare