River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-06-03


ton of sap during the long drought. 1
saw the mesquite bush with its large,
long roots evidently designed to store
sap during the brief rainy season and
keep in touch with the underground
streams that the branches above
ground might be supported during the
drought. l saw the giant cactus with
it's storeroom for water, which is filed
during the rainy season and preserved
for it's own use and the use of man
and beast during the drought. Now
the naturalist says that Mature" does
these things for a specific purpose.
And as I stood among these evidences
of design in the desert i asked the
| question: us Nature a thing or a
| thinker?" If Nature does not think,
how can Nature design? And If Ma
ture thinks, Nature is not thing but
a personality. My mental machin-
cry is so made that thought. compels
me to infer a thinker and design
designer. Intelligent result compels
me to infer intelligent cause.
Every man, therefore, has his god,
the thinker, behind the thoughts ex-
pressed in Nature, the design behind
the designer, the intelligent cause be-
hind the intelligent result. The bush
man of Africa gives to his fetch the
power to think, design and act. The
Chinaman gives to his idol in human
shape the same attributes. A philos-
opher like Herbert Spencer calls his
idol "the great unknowable."
1 am a Christian, again, because I
am nationalist, willing that sound
reason should be my guide, and sound
reason is modest and honest enough
to admit that it is not infallible or
even sufficient as a guide. There is
no such thing as universal reason.
What appears reasonable to one is ut
terly unreasonable to another. There
are degrees of reason from the half
idiot to the philosopher Reason may
be diseased and is more or less con-
trolled by passion and ignorance. Even
a healthy reason may go wrong, I'M
less it knows everything, for il there
is ignorance in the premises there
will be a flaw in the conclusion.
My own reason is modest enough to
admit that it is very fallible and
imperfect guide, and, believing as /
do in a personal God who cares for
his creatures, my reason leads me to
expect that he will reveal himself
through some other channel. Agnos-
ticism, which is a sort of science of
ignorance concerning God, ia a strong
witness in favor of a revelation of God
in some direct way, for, if 1t be true
that man cannot discover God by look
ing into his own inner consciousness
or through the telescope and the mic
roScope, this furnishes a strong pre-
sumption that he will reveal himself
in some other way. am thus pre-
pared to receive the revelation of
God in a book, and, though there are
difficulties and mysteries which 1 may
not fully understand, | believe that
the proof in favor Of the Bibles being
a revelation from God is so over
whelming that man who knows the
proof cannot reject it without doing
violence to his reason. The true ra-
tionalist is the man who is led by
sound reasoning to see that reason,
mere light on the deck, is not suffi-
cient as a guide for the ship The
light on deck serves a useful purpose,
but if the pilot would not wreck his
vessel he must steer it by the Polar
Star of Revelation.
am a Christian, again, because I
am a scientist. 1 do not mean that I
devote all my time to scientific inves-
I,,k E..
tific method of gaining and verifying
knowledge by exact observation and
correct thinking" An ounce of fact is
worth ton of theory. A group Of
philosophers were debating the ques-
ton whether a fish introduced into a
bucket of water would increase it's
weight and one Of them had proved to
his own satisfaction that it would not.
LET us try it," said Benjamin Frank
lin. A bucket of water was brought
in and weighed. Then a fish was in
troduced and the weight was increased
by the weight of the fish. That set
tied it.
1t is scientific to account for facts
with little heed to fads and fancies.
And there are two facts which must
be accounted for-the Bible and Jesus
Christ. The proofs in favor of the BIZ
BILE as the inspired word of God and
of Jesus Christ as the incarnate God
are so abundant and conclusive that
any one who knows the proofs and
refuses to accept the Bible as inspired
and Christ as divine does violence to
the scientific spirit. He refuses to
admit the existence of the sun while
it is shining in the heavens.
am a Christian, once more. he
cause I am a man whose every. need
of mind and heart is met in Christ
"the Son of Man His ideal of hu.
man greatness attracts me. The world.
ly ideal is power which masters 9th
ers Christ's ideal is service. "Who-
soever will be chief among Won Iet
him be your servant, even as the Son
of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give his
life a ransom for many" The climax
of this greatness is seen on the cross
as the Son of Man suffered for orr
sins, the just for the unjust. that he
might bring us to God" settling for
ever the sin question for all who will
accept him as Saviour and Lord.
No back ever breaks under the bur.
n