Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-07-30

kind, unjust, the Bible declaration that
our Creator condemned all of Adams
race with him on account of Adams
"Original Sin" But now, in the light of
the clearer unfolding of Gods Word, we
are privileged to see differently. Now
we perceive, not only that God did no
injustice to Adams children, but. con
trariwise, that in this very particular.
he did them kindDess-that II was in
the interest of humanity In general
We are aware that this statement APP
pears paradoxical to those who have
not yet gotten the proper focus upon
the Divine Plan The key which I'M
locks the difficulty Is the proper appre-
citation Of the penalty imposed upon
Adam and his race.
The erroneous, unscriptural view of
this penalty which came down to us
from the dark ages" teaches that God
damned father Adam. mother Eve, and
every child born to them to an eternity
of torture at the hands of devils. 1t is
this unscriptural and irrational view
of the wage Of Original Sin which
caused all our difficulty. Indeed, II is
safe to say that no other false doc
trine held by Gods people ever drove
away from God. from the Bible and
from the fellowship of the Church so
many intelligent minds. Thousands OF
bright, honest minds. after seeing this
teaching of the Christian creeds formu-
hated In the dark ages, have quietly
withdrawn from them In heart. il not
outwardly. saying to themselves. Evil
IDENTITY my reasoning faculties are of
different kind from those of many 9th
ers prominent In the Church; without
tiisputing the point. | simply conclude
that must think for myself and that.
In 80 doing, | am forced out of sym
patty with the majority of fellow
Christians on this basic doctrine.
Whore Lies the Diffcultyf
The difficulty is that while the ma
Jority Of Christian people heartily re,
pudiate these misrepresentation OF
God and his Word. nevertheless the
subject is not clear to them and they
fear that to repudiate this doctrine
would be to repudiate the Bible and to
become open intidels. And just here is
their mistake The majority OF them are
not Bible students Even amongst min
listers of the Gospel comparatively few
have any degree OF knowledge Of Gods
Word. They know what they think
about the Bible; what they believe that
At teaches; what they have been told
that Ii teaches what the catechisms say
1t teaches; but they have never made
critical Investigations of the Bible
themselves TO ascertain its teachings.
1t is O part of our endeavor to arouse
Christian people everywhere 10 search
and study the Scriptures and to assist
them with Bible study helps, Bible
keys, etc. And, thank God, there are
thousands In Spiritual Israel who are
not bowling their knees to Baal, hut
who are anxious to know, TO rightly
understand. the Word of God. Glasses
in Bible study are springing up all
over the world. These have recently
adopted the name OF "Interna tional
Bible Students Association" God l.
blessing them, not only with the open
ing of their own eyes more and more
widely, but also in using them TO bring
others "out OF darkness into his mar
Vicious light" Il Peter ii. 81.
The Scriptures speak Of famine.
not for bread nor for water. but fol
hearing of the Word Of the Lord.
This famine is upon us now. Not only
are Christian people hungry and thiIs-
~ for the bread Of life and the water
OF life but many Of the worldly are
feeling a longing for something better
than the husks which they have We
do not know that all Church members,
nor all of any one Church member
ship, are thus hungering and thirsting
for Truth. But we do know that every
where in all the various Churches OF
all denominations there is d hungry
class which cannot be satisfied 10 dis
honestly misrepresent itself as In bar
mony with the creeds. These bewil-
dered sheep are. of late years, finding
the green pastures aud still waters of
Divine Truth and grace-near to them
In LLt NOfu Oh GOu-ulOutu uuuti
the rubbish of ignorance and supersti-
tlon, MISREPRESENTATION and misiuterpreta-
tion.
But aE for the masses OF all demon
nations: Alas, they are falling into
unbelief! The popular form Of infdel-
ity known as Higher Criticism has al
ready swallowed up more than one
half Of the ministry and OF the most
intelligent part Of the laity. The only
hope for any Of these is In leaving the
chaff and husks Of medieval nisin-
terpretatious OF Gods Word and 10
finding It's true meaning. In which is
refreshment, strength and new life.
THE Wages of Sin is Death"
However we read our Bibles in the
past we read into them from the creeds
of darker time the mischievous error