The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-01-29
Caln1aQe
sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt TalmaEe, D. Z.

| happiness here and hereafter if men
| would cease to strive and quarrel over
| Biblical interpretations and hair
| breadth differences III creeds ANA core
| monies and with simple Christian faith
unite in fraternal efforts for the com
mon good. The text IS Titus iii. ..
But avoid foolish questions
Have You fathom line: Then drop
| it into the seas. Have You Il telescope:
Then cleanse its lens and focus il
upon the stars. Have you Il CrOW}lar:
Then with it pry open the Theoretically
sealed doors of the geological libraries
and finger the leaves OF rock and read
| the genealogical histories OF the Spe-
cies. Have You Il microscope: Then
with the bacteriologists roam through
the corridors of the intiniteSimal and
find an aquarium in a drop OF wafer
ana exquisite beauty in the end Of a
fy's wing God would not have placed
the wonders of the heavens above u
and the wonders of the deep beneata
us and the wonders Of the land about
us if he had not meant Us to explore
them and to try to make the works Of
his fingers part of our lives.
You never yet met an intelligent
man or woman who was not continual
ly asking questions and striving to TN
derstand the unknown. The indiSpoSi-
ton to investigate and the unwilling
ness to attempt the solution Of the
problems OF life about lis are always
the signs of an intellectual Weaklrlg
In the spiritual life, as well rs in the
political and the mechanical ana tie
philosophical world, the one word
which should be most often spoken ny
the human lips is Why" We should
be continually asking Why this and
why that" and why the other
thing" The human mind and soul
cannot mark time, The mind must
either broaden out or shrivel up. The
Interrogation point is Il golden key
with which we should try to unlock
the manifold mysteries of the uni
verse.
But there is an intelligent way Of
pushing that word why" and very
foolish way There is q way of asking
Why" which proves to the world that
you are sincerely DESTROYS to obtain
knowledge. Then there is Il way OF
asking why" which proves to the
world that you do not wish to learn,
but are moved by curiosity only or by
a desire to unsettIe fundamental ques-
tons. There never was il foreigner
who came to America who asked more
questions than Ii Hung Chang. But
the questions which lie asked were gen
orally frivolous and to our IDEAS imper
tment He would ask aged maiden
ladies why they never married and
how old they We're He would ask PEG
pie why they wore false teeth. He
would ask this question and that and
the other question until he made every
one around him uncomfortable. Thus
some people push that word "Why:' in
most ridiculous way. BY the so
cratic method they try to argue God
and Christ and the Bible out Of the
minds and hearts of their friends.
With the Interrogation point they
would advertise to the world their
transcendental reasoning powers when
they are only advertising their trans
occidental curiosity.
ST. Paul's Advice.
Paul in his epistle to young Titus
advises him to beware of such frivo-
lous curiosity. When he tells him to
avoid foolish questions he is not cir
cumscribing the intellect of this young
man by telling him not to think and
not to Investigate. He is laying down
the broad principle which you and /
would do we'll to heed when he said,
Avoid foolish questions and genealo-
gies and contentious and striYingS
about the law, for they are unprotita-
BILE and VAIN" In other words, avoid
those foolish questions and contentious
which have nothing to do with pressing
home the great purposes of the gospel.
Live only for those divine truths and
self evident facts which will draw US
nearer and nearer to the cross of Jesus
DuElSt. liz pUSt SApi SSo1u MY iiAtS"I
pretation of Paul's meaning when he
wrote:
Some read the blessed book-they don't
know why
1t somehow happens in their way to lie,
While others read it with uncommon
care,
But all to find some contradictions there.
Some read to bring themselves into repute
By showing others how they can dispute,
While others read because their neigh
bors do
To see how long twill take to read it
through
Some read to prove a preadopted creed,
Thus understand but little what they
read,
And every passage Of the book they bend
To make it suit that all important end.
Some people read. as | have often
thought
To teach the book instead Of being
taught.
Paul is saying, Titus, my son, study
the spirit of the Scripture instead Of
the letter of the law" We should net
be among those Bible students who are
spiritually nearsighted and hold their
eyes so close to the sacred pages that
they can only see a sentence or a word
| at time, and they do not realize that
some of the passages of Scripture had
special and exclusive reference to the
times in which they We're written and
10 the geographical conditions of the