Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-06-23

will advocate right and denounce wrong.
and just so long must man believe in Gods
care. Does God care? Our very constitu-
ton thunders Yes. No valid discovery Of
God in the future can be expected to over
throw the Overwhelming weight Of this ev.
ldence. Verify, God hath not left Himself
without a witness. We need not fear any
future discovery, however supposedly scien-
tltlc, to offset this constitutional evidence.
Whatever the evidence that God does not
care we will match and outweigh it by this
nearer, dearer, stronger evidence that He
does care. We have a Roland for their
Oliver
Then there are mans religious instincts
to be accounted for. These are not ac-
quired. Neither civilization nor Chris
tianity begot chem. We are not arguing
within a circle in referring to these. All
races, white, yellow, red, brown, black, ig-
sane, cruel or kind, instinctively feel that
God cares. Mind you, it is not that He is
propitious unto them Oftener that He is
not. But the very fact of inventing all
conceivable means to placate Him, some Of
them barbarous and revolving, indicates
so strongly that it almost proves Gods in
terest in mortals. It is an evidence so
universal that it cannot easily be ex-
planned away. Every fundamental need in
humanity has its satisfaction existing
somewhere. Hunger presupposes food.
Thirst indicates the existence of water for
its quenching. Nakedness instinctively
leads to the necessary coverings for it's
protection, even though beasts are slain,
cotton, flax and wool grown to accommo-
date it. So with all the hungers of rational
being, social, intellectual, moral, religious.
They all are evidence Of reality some
where answering to them. None of these
is more fundamental and imperative than
the religious, that which demands Gods
care. A most pathetic manifesting of this
longing G IS idol worship; y9 T.: The hsathen;
object lessons that can De apprehended by
the senses. To make God in their image
is the nearest they can get to the sublime
consciousness that they are made in His.
Better, it seems to us, no God than
wooden one. A spirit of negation and in
difference would save them so much use
less sacrifice and cruel practices and bar
barous acts of superstition by way Of sup
posed atonement. But whether better or
worse atheism is not constituent charac-
teristic Of man. Strange, is it not, that it
is never innate, but always an acquired ac-
complishment,. always the sad result OF
culture else of sin. By nature, and that
means by right, God is always the rightful
occupant Of the throne. But as our SELF
Importance grows, as we become con-
sciously great in thought and achievements
we become also great in arrogance, as Is
all science falsely so called, and the King
is asked to vacate the throne, and God Is
not even bowed out of the universe, but
heartlessly banished. Oh, no, denial is not
superstitiously that affirmation express it
self. It is evidence of Gods care much
needed to offset threatened evidence that
| He has not interest in the human race.
Notice the two possible results to which
these religious instincts lead: They are
| the receptacle into which Christianity fits.
Without them the Gospel of Jesus has no
| tianity introduces God to them. They
want an assurance of Gods care. Chris
| tianity assures them God cares for men to
| the uttermost, even enough to die for
| them. Creation thus prepares for revela-
ton, and welcomes its benefcent approach.
There is another result that shows the
helpfulness of the religious instinct univer-
| sal among men. It is the sorrow that pos
sesses us when we are told it is all a delu-
| sion. The moment you convince man there
is no God, or, if there is, that He is indif-
ferent to mans welfare, that moment the
| face loses it's complacency, the heart It's as
surance, the spirit its buoyancy, the mind
it's sense of satisfaction. Doubt, disap-
pointment, despair set in. Little to live
| for, nothing to die for is the cry that will
| not be comforted A stolid indifference
results that crushes out the hearts music,
| else wild despair that dethrones reason
and inficts self injury. Let me make a
prophecy more dismal in it's outlook than
| that one we are considering of future
! discovery that God does not care, pro-
phecy that if ever that dark day dawns
| poor humanity in despair will in an hour
| fall back from all hopefulness, aspiration,
| joyousness, and by one despairing plunge
! reverse the life satisfactlons OF thousand
| years.
Greatest of all these is the presence and
! worth of Christianity to be accounted for.
| Christianity is very unyieldlng fact. 1t
/ has become too deeply rooted in the earth
| to be waived aside and crowded out by any
discovery, however authentic, that would
| invalidate it's claims. 1t has been con-
liefs and scientific evidence against its IN
tegrity. The more it is opposed the more
fearlessly it asserts itself, comforting the
| heart, lighting the dark mind, inspiring
and reinforcing the spirit. A fact SO help
full to humanity in every conceivable ne
| cessity when shining and needing forgive
ness, when weak and needing strength,
even when suffering martyrdom at the
| stake in the amphitheatre of wild beasts,
| in heather lands, midst prosecutions too
numerous to be mentioned, but not too
many to be valiantly borne, must be con-
fronted with stronger, surer proof than 1s
at present conceivable that it rehnquish
us uOlQ UpOu 1uCA . CStCCin. LACAA ~ AAAeoe
/ if it were even proven God did not care;
for Christianity was rooted in Gods es-
TEEN before it found place in mans.
This is why we affirmed that God must
be discovered through internal revelation,
rather than through external investigation
The necessary approach, to be successful,
must come from Him to us, instead OF
from us to Him. God must grapple with
and subdue man before man can reason
ably expect to grapple with and conquer
Cod Mans attitude is, Let me under
stand and I will reverence; let me know
and I will love. Gods attitude is, You
: must reverence that you may understand
! YOU must love that you may know. Mans
attitude is as yet In prospect, only tne
dim hope of the scientific few. Gods at
titude is daily being verified and proven, to
the worlds sin sick, sorrow filled multi
tudes. All valid external discovery OF the
future will, I think, be along the line o1
and in harmony with revelation. Even
now there are scientific evidences in tins
direction. Immortality is being scientll
cally proven, not the fallacy OF 1T. Mucf
verifcation of Christianitys content ano
assertions may be expected from scientific
research. Gods universe is one. His crea
ton unified and harmonious throughout
all true discovery must confirm this, thai
consistency result Apostolic testimony II
good enough and preferable to all pro
| noOaf1On We DelleVe