The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-03-20
DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH.
Il Con tribufed to The Sentinel. ]

The Bible is the most wonderful
book in existence. 1t claims to be
the word of God The word of Him
who cannot err; who is Interchangeable
the same yesterday, to-day and
forever; who is all-wise, all-powerful,
and not only lovely, but love itself;
who from love created and continual
ly sustains all things; who is the way
and the truth, and yet, although
this book was recognized as the
word of God by Him who 'spake as
never man spoke" it has been sup
posed to teach just anything and
everything. 1t seems no man has
ever examined it's pages without find
ing proof of what he was already in
clined to believe, and SO the christian
world, upon the assumed authority
[fQf its teachings, has divided itself
into sects until their name is Legion.
Now men do not disagree in this way
about the meaning of any other
book. Why then does the Bible APP
pear to teach SO many different doc
trines? Because, as was seen in a
former article, it was written accord
| ing to the laws of correspondence
between matter and mind, or bet
ween natural and spiritual things,
and often, in the letter or outward
form, according to appearances, and
mot according to the real truth. 1t
is SO written, however, that the true
doctrines appear even IN the literal
sense, and are always confirmed by
the spiritual sense, which, though
| hidden from the world for ages, is in
every word of the literal.
But many ask, "Why has God so
long concealed the true sense of the
Bible? Why has he deceived us?
| Why did he not tell us the whole
truth at once?' "This is not God
like, and therefore can not be true. y
| Before / answer these questions, let
me ask the reader if God has not de-
ceived him and the whole world, in
regard to the true nature of every
thing in the world. The very first
impressions he gave you were only
appearances of truth, and therefore,
deceptive. The first thing you saw
when you opened youreyes was light,
and this appeared white or colorless.
But it is the only thing in existence
that has any color at all. You were
deceived. Next you saw some color.
ed object, but were again deceived; ii
has no color at all, but only reflects
one of the colors, of light. You saw
the sun. pass through the heavens
sink out of the sight in the west, and
reappear the next morning in the
east. You concluded it had gone
round the earth, but you were de
ceived-it had been in the same place
all the time We see stone lying
Lon the street, and to us, it is simply
q stone, but the mineralogist sees il
it many things that we do not, anG
the Geologist reads from it the his
tory of creation. So we see, by al
| the difference between the evidence o
the senses and revelations of science
God has deceived us. He reveal.
things to us as we need them. Fol
ages the steam rose from the boiling
| kettle without revealing it's tremen
dous power. For ages men saw tn
lightning as it darted it's fiery ton
/ CUES from the angry bosom of thu
storm-cloud, without dreaming thai
they had any further business will
it than to keep out of it's way. Blu
in Gods own good time he gave tt
the earnest and deeper questioning
of man a better Interpretation o
| this power; thereby revealing thu
laws by which it is related to othel
things; it's likes and dislikes; tn,
tpaths by which it travels, &C., thus
enabling us, by complying with these
laws, to make it our willing servant
and advance to higher states of mat
erial prosperity.
But by means of steam and cleo
tricity God has also taught us an
other lesson. Hehas taught us thai
| without proper political and socia
| that they give all the products o
labor into the hands of tie few, anG
destroy one class by the pride ano
arrogance of riches, and the other by
the envy and hate born of poverty
and the conviction that they arr
robbed of their just share of the bless
ings intended by our Heavenly Faith
er for all his children. And, if we arr
not blind, we can see how God, by
these means, is leading us to the re
cognition Of the universal brother
hood of man, and is to-day, in every
christian land, marshalling the
Ghosts of Labor" for the last anC
decisive conflict against tyranny
and oppression, and the advent o
those conditions that will make il
possible for him to answer the oft re
peated prayer: "Thy kingdom come
They will be done in earth as it is il
heaven" Now why has he been sc
| slow in telling us the real truth about
nature, and about the Bible? Be
cause this is the way in which III,
makes Man. The mere external form
of q man, with character like 6
brute, is not Man. Man, in the high
est and true sense, means the regen
crate mailman in the image of God
And. to be this, he must have
| thought nationally. But how, coult
| he think without something to think
about-or reason with nothing tt
reason about?, If men had beer
born with knowledge of all the rea
truths of nature and revelation Their,
would have been no necessity fol
thought, nor would it have been pos
sible to reason about anything The
mind would have been a stagnan1
i pool and man, like all other animals
would have used only his externa
i senses. f;s
49, 4..s ITO b&continued.l 400
I.a s -,----- ,->.>.>-s--.------l 80
ihThe Rainbow Of Promise it;,i
from the store-house Of nature cam,
4 L