The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1909-10-02


Sunday, Sept. pa realization Of
imperfection, of sin, is general. We
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,
undehled. 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 in the world do we find
any explanation Of present conditions
that is satisfactory to us. except in
the Bible. which teaches that Gods
Work is perfect; that he made man in
his W image and likeness; that sin.
full ambition brought In rebellion
against the Divine regulations and
that present disorders are the result
of hat rebellion-human degradation,
mental, moral. physical-dying-death.
1t is true that human philosophy has
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,
needs no Savior from sin and death
and no restitution TO original perfec-
tion-to original Edenic perfection.
Its claim Is that If there is a personal
God, he is not exercising any special
powers, hut merely allowing s~o-called
Laws of Nature to operate,
1t claims that in the surging Of the
salt waters Of the ocean photoplasmic
life was ge%rated. and that the micro
SCOPE germ polly-wogged and evolut-
ed into a thousand different forms
worms and snakes, fish and whale,
beasts and birds and reptiles; and that
finally one division Of the pollywog
family attained to m%onkeyhood, and
gradually getting used to stand on his
hind legs. became a man. II ignores.
if it does not deny, sin and its down
ward tendencies. which we all know
ainict the human family and must be
struggled and fought against. 1t de-
MES the need of a Savior, an Advo-
cate, a Mediator; and it holds that
each generation Of humanity dying,
helps onward the succeeding genera
ton to grander development and that
eventually human perfection will be
attained by the evolutionary process,
by mans own eXertion. regardless Of
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
pei a by faith in the Savior and by
a thOrough-going conversion to saint
ship escape eternal torment and gain
eternal blessing. Thinking people. not
surmising that the Bible is m~isrepre-
scented 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 1t ignored the Bible.
What the Bible Teaches.
Now as the electric lights supplant
the tallow dip, c%oncordances and other
Bible study helps assist us TO a prope,.
understanding of Gods Revelation. on :
Scripture throws light upon auotBer;
and thus gradually the errors Of ross
darkness and superstition which. pre-
vailed so generally in the dark ages"
flee away, aud the Lamp Of Divine
Truth gives forth a brilliant raw which
fully satisfies our heads and hearts,
and glorides our Creator.
In the light Of this newly-trimmed
Arc-light Of Truth. Gods Word. we
may now see that the real penalty for
sin is not a coming eternal torment at
the hands Of Gre-proof demons, but in.
stead the reign OF sin and death. Now
we may see how %disoOedlence on the
part Of Father Adam brought upon
him a death sentence, a dying condi.
ton, and that these, transmitted from
parent TO child. lave increased the
calamity, century I6y century, until to-
day. amongst tho most civilized, one
out Of every ode hundred and fifty
adults is in am insane asylum.-men-
tally dead to the extent that he is un.
able TO care for himself. Millions more
Of our race are IN prisons and peni-
tentiaries because Of moral blemishes,
bpcausa horn In sin and shaDen in