“‘When the upper region was not yet called heaven, When the lower region was not yet called earth, And the abyss of Hades had not yet opened its arms, Then the chaos of waters gave birth to all of them And the waters were gathered into one place * * The moon he appointed to rule the night And to wander through the night until the dawn of day. Every month without fail he appointed assembly days. In the beginning of the month at the rising of the night It shot forth its horns to illuminate the heavens. On the seventh day he appointed an holy day And to cease from all business he commanded.’ “The supposed seat of earliest civilizations, as also the birthplace of several religions, was in the valley of the Euphrates. There man, enjoying the benefits of a tropical region, which counted for much in the beginning, had opportunity for intellectual leisure and gave thought to religion. These civilizations passed away and the seat passed on to the Mediterranean coast, where attention primarily was given to the development of material government; again the seat passed on to Europe and seems passing to America and to nations devoting their energies to the material wants of man. We are promised yet another; when ‘the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea;’ and that is the task assigned to Christendom. “To make the world Christian must we modify our definition—‘That God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and _unchangeable_, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth’—to ‘God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, but not _immutable_, seeking to preserve all his creatures as the best of shepherds each of his hundred lambs; anxious that all find the shelter of the fold—not having decreed from the beginning the fate of each lamb—but as time shows fitness culling for service; so anxious to save all the flock as to send his Son as a vicarious atonement.’ “Thus there comes into the continuity of the partnership between God and man, the chief character, the Son; transformed into the lowly man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, having no place to lay his head, hunted by enemies, stoned out of a city, disowned by kindred and by Peter, fleeing for his life, betrayed, crucified, suffering the fate of all reformers, to be despised and rejected, to be misunderstood, to live alone; yet not alone, because the Father was with him and he and the Father are one, and he had his mission of redemption.