River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-09-09

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blasphemies?" Their prejudice kept
them from drawing the right conclu-
sion. Their reason, uninf1uenced by
prejudice, would have said that he
who could work such miracles was
God and therefore had the right to
forgive sins. Under the control OF
prejudice these Pharisees were care
full to strain out little gnats of diff
Guilty while they swallowed camels OF
absurdity.
Self-interest is another influence
very powerful with our witness. 1t is
hard for a man to see a good reason
for what he knows to be against his
interest A mere excuse in the scale
with self is heavier than the strongest
reason. Read the parable of the hus-
bandmen in Luke 20, and you will see
how forcibly Jesus shows this weak
ness of reason when under the control
OF self-interest. when the husband
men saw him they reasoned with one
another, saying, this is the heir; let
us kill him, that the inheritance may
be ours" If they had been unSelfish
and loyal to their master their reason
would have said: "This is the heir;
let us pay our rent or give up the
vineyard to him if he wishes it, He
is here now to look after his own, and
it is reasonable that we should let
him do it," Their reason did the bid
ding of selffshness and led them to
murder And reason is still the slave
of self-interest.
Reason is controlled largely by the
affections. The Pharisees reasoned
in their hearts" Love is proverbially
blind, and to nothing is it binder than
argument. 1t leaps to conclusions. No
argument prevails with us against
those we love. A good deacon in
church of which l was pastor was
called in by a suffering wife to pro
tect her against a brutal husband
Reason was altogether on the wifes
side, and the deacon took advantage
of it to shame the brute into better
manners, but he had not proceeded
far before the wife took sides with the
husband and insinuated to the deacon
that his room was more desirable than
his company.
That reason is Influenced by so
many things is not altogether to it's
discredit. If you could find a man
who is Influenced only by reason,
whose affections, imagination, desire,
friendship and gratitude did not move
him to anything, but who decided
everything in the cold light of reason,
you would have the devil incarnate
There is something in God higher
than reason, else we had never been
redeemed. God SO loved the world
that he gave his only begotten SON."
Rationalism would turn men into de.
mons of cold calculation. God would
use their reason under the control of
truth and love. Come now, let us
reason together, saith the Lord" He
can furnish the knowledge necessary
to right conclusions. Such is the OBJ
ject of revelation, and all who are fol
lowing reason without revelation are
misled. Agnosticism is the worlds
latest admission that men cannot by
searching find out God. God, must,
therefore, reveal himself. In the Bible
he has done so, and for you to think
that without the help of such a reve-
lation you can be guided by tickle and
fallible reason is mistake which
every reasonable man ought to have
sense enough not to make.
Reason deals with the fitness of
things. ut is not reason" said the
apostles, that we should leave the
word of the Lord and serve tables"
The rich man of the parable was a
fool, in that he did not see the fitness
of things. He laid up in barns food
for his soul and said: Soul, thou
hast much goods laid up for many
years; take thine ease; eat, drink and
be merry" He was like a man who
would lay up for his family a winters
supply of earth, stones and stubble
things that they could not eat. God
demands of us nothing unreasonable
1t is fitting that we should love with
our whole hearts one who loves us so
deeply. 1t is fitting that we should
give all we have and are to him who
gave himself for US. When we think
of Calvary, with its love and suffering,
all for us, no sacrifice we can make
ought to be considered great The
heroism of the martyrs which led
them through fire and flood was no
fanaticism, but the most reasonable
return to God for what he had done
for them.
When Jesus asks What shall it
profit man if he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul?" He
appeals to men as rational beings to
choose the truly valuable rather than
the worthless.
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