The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1909-10-05
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL.
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

were born in sin, shapen in iniquity;
in sin did my mother conceive me"
A general realization OF this fact
prevails amongst intelligent people.
Whether the how and the why, the
philosophy of the matter be discerned
or not, the fact is recognized. How
ever we may theorize that the same
| Creator who made the angels pure,
happy, holy, sinless, also made US.
we nevertheless are aware OF the fact
| that we are not pure, holy, sinless,
indebted. Righteousness should not,
| however, be considered the phenome-
non. but the original, proper condition
of things. Sin is the phenomenon
the popularity. the disorder-the DIS
arrangement of the proper order
which previously prevailed and by
right should everywhere prevail.
| Nowhere 10 the world do we ind
any explanation of present conditions
that Is satisfactory to us, except Id
the Bible, which teaches that God IS
Work is perfect; that he made man In
his own image and likeness; that SIN
full ambition brought IN rebellion
against the Divine regulations ana
| that present disorders are the result
of that rebellion degradation.
mental. moral. Observation-Disclosures
II is true that human philosophy mas
sought to solve the question OF mans
CONDITION of sin and imperfection
aside from the Bible. Its claim Is
that the Bible record is untrue; that
man was never perfect; that man
never fell from perfection into SIN
and death; that man, consequently.
moods no Savior from sin and death
and no restitution to original perfec-
tion-to original Edenic perfection.
Its claim is that If there is personal
God. he is not exercising any special
mowers. but merely allowing so-calied
Laws of Nature to operate.
If claims that in the surging OF the
salt waters of the ocean photoplasmic
life was generated. and that the micro
scopic germ polly-wogged and evoiut-
cd into a thousand different forms
worms and snakes, fish and whale,
beasts and birds and reptiles; and that
| finally one division Of the pouywog
family attained to monkeyhood. and
gradually getting used to stand on his
hind legs, became a man. 1t ignores.
If IT does not deny, sin and Its down.
ward tendencies, which we all know
af1ict the human family and must be
struggled and fought against. 1t de-
MES the need of q Savior, an Advo-
cate. a Mediator; and it holds that
each generation Of humanity dying.
helms onward the succeeding genera
ton to graDder development and that
eventually human perfection will be
| attained by the evolutionary process.
by mans own exertion. regardless or
whether there Is a Creator or not.
We can only assume that this Evo-
luton theory found friends and advo-
Gates because the Bible teaching has
been so grossly misunderstood. 1t has
been misrepresented as teaching that
practically all of the human FAMILY
were born under a Divine sentence OF
eternal torture and that only the few
reached in the present life by the Cos
Del can by faith in the Savior and by
thorough going conversion to saint
ship escape eternal torment and gain
eternal blessing. Thinking people. not
surmising that the Bible is misrepre-
sented by its own friends. by the
creeds in general. have looked about
for a substitute. Evolution. although
quite unsatisfactory to them, furnish
ed the only substitute they could think
of. while it ignored the Bible.
What the Bible Teaches.
Now as the electric lights supplant
the tallow dip, concordances and other
Bible study helps assist us to proper
understanding of Gods Revelation One
Scripture throws light upon another;
and thus gradually the errors of gross
darkness and superstition which pre-
vailed so generally In the dark ages
flee away. and the Lamp of Divine
Truth gives forth brilliant ray which
fully satisfies our heads and hearts.
and glorifies our Creator
In the light Of this newly-trimmed
Arc-light o. Truth. Gods Word. we
may now see that the real penalty for
sin is not a coming eternal torment at
the hands of fire-proof demons, but in
stead the reign of sin and death. Now
we may see how disobedience on the
part of Father Adam brought upon
him a death sentence, dying condi
ton, and that these, transmitted from
parent to child have increased the
calamity, century by century. until to-
day. amongst the most civilized, one
out of every one hundred and fifty
adults is in an insane asylum.-men-
tally dead to the extent that he Is I'M
able to care for himself. Millions more
of our race are in prisons and peni-
| tentiaries because of moral blemishes,
because "born in sin and shapen in
| iniquity," they have inherited vices
| which have been accentuated by aSSo-
citation with each other. Ali over the
world, too. we have hospitals ana In
| firlnaries and cemeteries. The reason
= exactly what the Word of God
teaches, namely, THE wages of sin is
DEATH" 1.-The soul that sinneth 1t shall
die" The great disease of sin. started
by our first parents in Eden. has
spread as a plague amongst all their
children. diminishing some specially in
one particular and some in another. bur
| corrupting the whole and bringing
death to all.
| Sin Atonemept.
Our minds agree to the foregoing
We agree, too. that 1t is proper that
| - -hl no ,rf
| God. that Justice should be 1.-The foun-
dation of his throne" his Government.
We inquire as to what is possible in
the way of sin-atonement. by which
original sin might be Offset and Adam
and all his race. who fell through dis
obedience, might be brought back to
Divine favor and be made again holy
and happy. as the angels, and recipi-
| ents of Divine favors, including eternal
| life. The Scriptures answer this in
| quiry. telling us that we are right in
| feeling that we are sinners; that we
| are right in believing that Divine JUS
tice must be met before reconciliation
can be effected. But they tell us that
| God has moved first In this matter
that he did not wait for man to appeal
to him for mercy, but that, while we
were yet Sinners" he sent his only
i begotten Son to be our Redeemer, to
bring us back into harmony with God.
F! The Old Testament Is full Of assur-
ances that Gods mercy will ultimately
be manifested to mankind through
that Redeemer and through the nation
| of Israel, upon which he would confer
the special privilege and honor OF
bearing the Truth to every other ma