Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-04-24

VI fAeNSiiSA DuIDdIOSSI or KlCn3rl
the Lion Hearted or Count Baldwin of
Flanders cared picayune about
Christi Do you believe they were sin
cere. earnest. noble. self sacrificing
Christians, or do you believe that for
the most the crusaders of old were
freebooters and renegades and children
OF the fortunes OF war who cared not
whom they were fighting ms long as
they could live 10y conquest and fatten
upon the spoils OF their swords? When
the pope sent forth his emissaries to
peddle around his ''indulgences." do
you think that he cared anything about
the sins of the peopley Was IL not
rather that he adopted this means to
levy tax upon the whole world to
support the outrageous extravagances
of his ecclesiastical hierarchy? Do YOU
believe Henry VIII. was concerned
about the purity OF the church when
he separated from the pope and estab-
lished the Church of England? He.
like the potentates that had gone be-
fore him, sought from the church the
help and strength Ii might afford. 1t
was selfish design. out of which God
has brought good to the world. Wher-
ever you sec the church in olden times
grow powerful In temporal sense.
then ii became tyrannical and oppress-
i've, and IL any man refused to Join IL
he was looked upon as an enemy to his
country. In olden times the question
OF mans membership In the church
did not turn upon whether he loved
Christ and had his spirit. but whether
he believed in the technicalities OF n
sectarian creed which had been the
product of human ingenuity and had
little to do with the great purpose of
Christ's gospel
But there is another fact which has
split up the hard, rocky soil of the
earth for the gospel harvests-that Is.
some OF the ablest men of this century
have come out unequivocally in their
testimony to the truth of the Bible and
the Immortality of the soul The more
fully science has gone on I'm its in
vestigations the more the Bible is ac-
cepted in Its simplicity, the more the
greatest men of light and learning are
ready to accept It. This fact is not a
matter of doubt; it is susceptible of
proof.
About n year ago the editor of q
popular magazine published the an
swers TO a series OF questions which he
had sent out to thousand members of
the medical profession. One OF the
questions he asked was, do you be-
lieve in immortality?'' There were GOO
answers TO that inquiry, and of these
every physician but twelve answered
In the affirmative Think of that
Some Of us have supposed that the
medical profession was made up of
materiallsts. Five hundred and eighty
eight physicians out OF GOO confessed
that they believed I'm the immortality
or the soul And without any doubt
the larger proportion of those men also
believed in the divinity OF Jesus Christ.
What is true OF the medical profess
sion is true of the law. And what Is
true of the law Is also true TO n large
extent In reference 10 students of phys.
ical science. Said n prominent college
president TO me some time ago. "My
ambition Is 60 give my college the best
course of science Ii Is possible for it
TO have, for / believe the more we I'M
derstand the sciences the more we will
believe In the Holy Bible" The might
est reinforcement today we have for
Bible truth is the archaeologist's ham,
mer and the biologists crowbar-New-
ton and Faraday and Agasslz and Jo-
seph Henry and Sir William Dawson
and Professor Sayre,- the leaders OF
scientific thought. all firm believers In
God and his book.
Science on Side of Religion.
/ want 10 read the powerful testi-
mony Sir William Dawson. one OF the
greatest biologists OF our time, gave
some time ago before a body OF stu-
dents: Il have read recently-and.
confess, with feelings OF contempt
discussions respecting the supposed
limitations OF the knowledge OF Jesus.
Did he know the data of modern criti-
cism? Was he acquainted with the dis
coveries OF modern science? The fly
alighting on my hand might as we'll
attempt TO understand the thoughts
passing through my brain as criticism
TO gauge in this way the mind OF Je-
sus. To me as student OF fifty years
or nature. OF man and OF the Bible
such discussions seem most frivolous
since our Lords knowledge us we have
IL IN his discourSeS is altogether above
and beyond our science and phlloso-
ply. transcending them as much as the
vision of an astronomer armed with
one or the great telescopes of our time
transcends the unaided vision. Christ
viewed things from standpoint of his
own and through u different medium
from that of the atmosphere of this
world. His difficulty appears to be TO
convey heavenly thoughts to us
through the imperfect language I'm
which we speak OF heavenly thoughts"
On, my brother. is IL not a tremendous
TACT that some of the greatest leaders
Oh modern scientific thought are the
nrmest believers i'm the doctrine of the
iivine incarnation of Jesus Christ? If
men like Sir William Dawson SPEAK
words like these. is 1t too much TO say
mat we, the rank and file of the hu-
man race, are as Il great white harvest
heid ready for the gospel sickle?
AND this white harvest is not confin-
Ed simply TO our own land or to what
We call civilized countries. The forest
lands and the most remote people are
rapidly being brought into touch with
our nation. We are not independent
'r other countries; neither are other
countries independent OF us. What we
mink they must think, or. rather. what
Ihey think we must think, for more
and more the people OF this world are
gong TO become one in religion and
)ne in sentiment